Business ethics, generally known as a “social conscience” of enterprises, is expressed in many different ways, such as developing healthy relationships between employees and companies, the active reduction of pollution emissions and organizing charities. However all of the business ethics are based on the profits of the enterprises themselves, which makes it hard to literally achieve the goal of ethic.
Apple, as one of the most significant and successful companies, has a wide range of customer group all over the world. By taking the advantages of Chinese cheap labour force, Apple cooperates with Foxconn, the electronic manufacturing company, to open the Chinese market. However what makes the Foxconn famous worldwide is not about the manufacturing itself, but the “Foxconn suicide” accident started from 2010.
Since the first employee of Foxconn jumped off the enterprise building in January, 23, 2010, this kind of accidents seem frequent inside this company. Reports shows that one of the most important factor leads to those suicide is the severe work pressure. Pressures of employees are mainly defined as two categories: bad working environment and low incomes. During the manufacturing, the noises inside the factory disturbs employees and damage their health, while the average income of manufacturing employees is 1300 RMB, which is under the level of lowest income standard 1448 RMB.
Foxconn itself as the biggest manufacturing cooperating company with Apple in China, gains billions of profit. However the way how Foxconn treats the employees could be expressed as cruel. In my position, as a manufacturing company, under the circumstance of gaining profits, it is Foxconn’s responsibility to offer employees with an appropriate level of salary and clean working environment. Employees as the biggest labor force of a manufacturing company, have their rights to get proper salary and work in safe environment.
The lack of business ethics of Foxconn, expressed as not protecting employees’ standard rights to get appropriate salaries and offering them with high-pressure working environment, has made Foxconn’s market value smaller, as well as Foxconn has also gained negative rumours about itself. In conclusion, an enterprise should always has business ethics, for not only keeps rumours away, but also accomplishes the social responsibilities.
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Work cited:
Zimmerli, Walther Ch., Klaus Richter, and Markus Holzinger. Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance. Berlin: Springer, 2007. Print