Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies Essay - 1

Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies - Essay Example Apple had started a program in 2011 that would track whether their suppliers are abiding by the rules set. The suppliers are supposed to inform the authorities in advance when they would need extra working hours in order to meet the production requirements (Apple, 2014). Then again, there have been instances where Apple’s claim of 95% compliance with the 60 hour work week has been found to be false. There are suppliers who still exploit the workers by requiring them to sign overtime work documents on the first day of their training program as part of the contract. Such behavior forces them to comply with the clause of voluntary overtime. The concept of â€Å"Unusual circumstance† is a major loophole in the policy structure as it does not specify nature of the circumstance and leaves the same to the discretion of suppliers. Moreover, the Chinese Labor Law mandates a 48 hours’ work week. Thus, Apple is clearly not complying with the Chinese regulation while conducting business therein (Klein, 2011). Apple has also stated in its policies that the company believes in providing students with quality internship opportunities, but often the vocational schools fail to offer the students their appropriate internship programs. In order to correct the same, Apple had partnered with Stanford University’s Rural Education Action Program (REAP) and Dell Inc for encouraging suppliers to match interns with appropriate work. This process will help the students receive quality education as well as facilitate proper accountability for the vocational schools, thereby leading to proper evaluation of the internship and education program. 2. Some of Apple’s major suppliers have previously been found to violate rules, which had subsequently led to the tarnishing of Apple’s reputation. Two of Apple’s major suppliers, namely Foxconn Technology and Pegatron, are perfect examples related to such a