With Apple’s newest flagship product the iPhone 5s selling at a starting price of $649 for the 16GB model, it is clear that Apple is expecting high demand for it’s newest product. After all what’s not to love about Apple’s iPhone 5s with its improved hardware and fancy finger scanner. As a fellow iPhone user myself, it is easy to forget that Apple Inc. is also guilty of unethical business conduct.
This Article titled “The woman who nearly died making your iPad” by Aditya Chakrabortty was published last month on 5 August 2013. The article describes the ordeal of a young woman named Tian Yu, who attempted suicide back in 2010 after being overworked at Foxconn Technology Group’s factory which assembles Apple’s products.
Shockingly, the article concluded that till this date, no real action was taken and that Apple may still be turning a blind eye to the unethical conduct of their factories. With this article being posted only 1 month before the release of the iPhone 5s, I am surprised by how little attention has been garnered by such an important issue. While I agree with the importance of business ethics in relation to moral conduct, this article has made me question how much unethical business conduct really affect’s a business’s sales if it has a large loyal customer base. And also made me realize how much further we have to push in the fight for business ethics if major companies like Apple are not even setting the right example.
Article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/05/woman-nearly-died-making-ipad