There is a glaring lack of ethics in terms of Apple’s supply chain management practices, as suggested by the New York Times. Many Asian suppliers are violating basic ethical principles. Here are some of the questionable practices cited:
- Horrendous occupational safety violations
- High suicide rates due to stressful working conditions
- Long working hours: repetitive 60-hour, 7-day weeks
- Employment of children as young as 15 years-old
Although Apple has responded to problems in its Asian supplier base by conducting supplier audits, the worlds’ largest company—in terms of stock market value—has been reluctant to put its foot down. The fate of a 22 year-old college graduate, Lai Xiaodong, is a case in point. He moved to Chengdu in southwest China to take a job at Foxconn, an electronics supplier that employs 1,000,000 people. He was quickly promoted to oversee a team that polished iPad cases. This process 
generated dust, which is a known safety hazard. Mr. Lai and 3 teammates died from a ghastly explosion, which also injured 14 other workers. After the accident, which seared 90% of Mr. Lai’s body, Apple contacted “the foremost safety experts in process safety,” and assembled a team to make recommendations to prevent future accidents. In December, 2011—7 months after Mr. Lai was killed—another iPad factory exploded due to aluminum dust. As a result, 59 workers were injured; and 23 hospitalized.
I was initially shocked after reading about the story of Mr. Lai, and Apple’s apparent lack of commitment to correcting poor worker-safety practices. Although allowing unnecessary accidents—resulting in worker injuries and deaths—cannot be condoned, we must take a more nuanced view regarding Apple’s predicament, from both a historical and cultural perspective.
In a supply chain management class that I recently taught, we discussed the ethics associated with the use of child labor in developing countries. One of my students grew up in India. He indicated that poverty in India is severe, and compulsory education is not mandated by law. To survive in this environment, some families require that their children work. Were we to impose our ethical values and prevent children from working in Indian factories, we would be depriving Indian families of sorely needed income. It is easy—but wrong-headed—to believe that our ethics and moral values are superior to the moral values held by other societies.
The reasons against using child labor are not moral as much as they are practical ones. It is bad business to permit children to build Apple’s products, if young people are simply being used as a means to an end. Consumers in the west will no longer think that it is “cool” to own i-Phones, if they have been built by Chinese teenagers. How many parents would want to be part of a 21st scene, taken from a 19th century Dicken’s novel?
In Viet Nam, Nike has implemented an innovative solution to this dilemma. Although some of Nike’s Vietnamese suppliers employ children, they also provide employees with a regular wage, free or subsided meals, free medical services and training and education. Nike, as well as western consumers, benefit from low labor costs. At the same time, the workers improve their standard of living and also receive access to education.
Regarding the various safety issues that were described by the New York Times, one has to put them into a cultural context. I recently interviewed an executive who lived in China for 13 years, setting up factories and growing American businesses. During the course of our conversation, he made the point that public safety is non-existent. When walking down the street, you have to always be on the lookout for possible hazards. There may be a big hole in front of you, which is not blocked off with barriers. Or, there could be an electrical wire dangling at eye-level. If unaware, you could walk right into it. If a lack of public safety is the norm in China, how can one expect the private sector to be any different? Would we be correct to impose our ethical standards—as relates to public safety—onto the Chinese? Specifically, should we preach that barriers should be placed in front of Shanghai’ s sinkholes?
Getting back to Apple, from a business perspective, the company must enforce strict, safety practices for all of its suppliers; otherwise, more articles—such as today’s scathing indictment in the New York Times—will appear, tarnishing Apple’s brand. Only by adding teeth to Apple’s supplier responsibility reports and recommendations, will the company avoid future, public relations disasters.
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In conclusion, with global competition, superior supply chain management results in consumers receiving products at low prices. But our western ethical tastes are repulsed at stories of worker abuse. Apple must take strong, corrective measures against suppliers who use workers solely as the means to an end, namely, achieving low, production costs. In supply chain management, good ethics makes for good business.
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