No company actually "cares" about workers. A company is as inanimate as objects get. It is the people in the company that make the difference- or fail to make a difference.
he owned the company. but i think there is a disconnect when you have a certain number of employees and a disconnect at big stores like supercenters and big k. small mom and opo stores never seem to have that disconnect between management and the people on the floor.
You are wrong. In Germany and Austria we have companies that care about their workers. They still produce in OUR countries, even if manufacturing in Asia would be cheaper. Have you ever heard about MIELE (the company whose products Steve Jobs so admired)? Family owned for more than 130 years. Every single piece is produced in Germany. Their products are more expensive but they do very well because they produce QUALITY. Their slogan is: Reliability for many years. My mother has the same MIELE dishwasher since 1985.
The same is the case with AUDI, VOLKSWAGEN, RED BULL and many other cooperation.
Greed is not good. Even in the US you can find companies whose values are still more than just the "bottom line" ($$$) as you put it.
No not if Apple told them to. It would take a few LARGE hardware vendors to do this to force factories like that to change. If only Apple did this the factories would tell them to screw themselves and go on. Apple's costs would go up while their competitors would not. they'd come begging to do business again with those factories.
"According to an analysis by iSuppli, Apple's margins on the iPhone 4S are high. A no-contract 16GB iPhone 4S sells for $649. According to its analysis, Apple pays $188 for the components per unit and $8 for the manufacturing. Costs of $196 on a $649 device make for profits of nearly 70 per cent."
That's why they're expensive. Because they're screwing their customers. Not because they're paying a measly 8 dollar per phone.
Perhaps Apple should not care about their workers, etc. But in that case, Apple should ensure that they completely disavow their old campaigns of "1984", "think different", etc. They should go so far as to scrub any archive of them off the Apple website, because Apple has truly become what it used to loathe.
“We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still going on,” a former Apple executive told the NYT. “Why? Because the system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice.”
I disagree, if you know your chocolates were made from the child labours in Africa, will you stop eating chocolates? I would!! If someone cares and stop buying from companies who closed their eyes on human rights abuses, is a giant leap for human civilization!
It certainly doesn't help that when a corporation decides to do the right thing more often then not the stock market punishes them, I'm sure people remember when the yes men went on CNN pretending to be whatever the corporation was and announced a strategy to clean up some big environmental mess caused by a company they had purchased and the stock market reacted by selling the stock resulting in millions of dollars in losses.
Actually, I think that it is more then just size. Companies that get huge and are still ran be the person with the original vision still tend to treat their employees well, if they treated them well to begin with. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Walmart... yes even Walmart, if you go back in time, prior to Sam's death, cities and communities would fight to get a Walmart, people liked working for them and they had low turn over and treated people fairly. After he passed, they missed the point, it wasn't about low prices and big profits, it was about ensuring that the middle class had a place to buy affordable good and people that worked their had a good job. Heck. Walmart was making billions and same only mad a self imposed 350k, better then a worker, but no where near the million all the money hungry people in their now make. I think it depends if management is doing for a purpose, or just for money. If it's just money, then people are just numbers, and this is just sad.
GT777 sadly enough the statement "better than most" isn't my opinion but the viewpoint of the companies themselves and that was even highlighted by the former Foxconn executive who was the Whistle Blower in the TImes. I personally agree with you 'It's nuts" -- The problem is who should we buy all our electronics from. Companies like Foxconn make products for all the major electronics manufacturers. If you ask my opinion they should be made in America. :)
norman619Jan 27, 2012Buried
Apple is like any other corporation. They care about the bottom line. Profits. Only the naive actually expect otherwise.
angrycat70Jan 27, 2012Buried
No company actually "cares" about workers. A company is as inanimate as objects get. It is the people in the company that make the difference- or fail to make a difference.
worthwildJan 27, 2012Buried
Apple is a corporation. Corporations are not people and cannot 'care', 'love' or engage in any emotion at all.
Corporations are in business to give profits to their shareholders.
Apple (and many other tech corporations) effectively have a slave labor force in China.
tylorlilesJan 28, 2012Buried
he owned the company. but i think there is a disconnect when you have a certain number of employees and a disconnect at big stores like supercenters and big k. small mom and opo stores never seem to have that disconnect between management and the people on the floor.
rupawJan 28, 2012Buried
You are wrong. In Germany and Austria we have companies that care about their workers. They still produce in OUR countries, even if manufacturing in Asia would be cheaper. Have you ever heard about MIELE (the company whose products Steve Jobs so admired)? Family owned for more than 130 years. Every single piece is produced in Germany. Their products are more expensive but they do very well because they produce QUALITY. Their slogan is: Reliability for many years. My mother has the same MIELE dishwasher since 1985.
The same is the case with AUDI, VOLKSWAGEN, RED BULL and many other cooperation.
Greed is not good. Even in the US you can find companies whose values are still more than just the "bottom line" ($$$) as you put it.
norman619Jan 27, 2012Buried
No not if Apple told them to. It would take a few LARGE hardware vendors to do this to force factories like that to change. If only Apple did this the factories would tell them to screw themselves and go on. Apple's costs would go up while their competitors would not. they'd come begging to do business again with those factories.
cranelakeJan 27, 2012Buried
"According to an analysis by iSuppli, Apple's margins on the iPhone 4S are high. A no-contract 16GB iPhone 4S sells for $649. According to its analysis, Apple pays $188 for the components per unit and $8 for the manufacturing. Costs of $196 on a $649 device make for profits of nearly 70 per cent."
That's why they're expensive. Because they're screwing their customers. Not because they're paying a measly 8 dollar per phone.
norman619Jan 28, 2012Buried
I'm sorry. Did I give the impression that I did?
amaoicanJan 28, 2012Buried
Your dad is a person, not a company.
drcrankJan 27, 2012Buried
Perhaps Apple should not care about their workers, etc. But in that case, Apple should ensure that they completely disavow their old campaigns of "1984", "think different", etc. They should go so far as to scrub any archive of them off the Apple website, because Apple has truly become what it used to loathe.
cranelakeJan 27, 2012Buried
“We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still going on,” a former Apple executive told the NYT. “Why? Because the system works for us. Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have another choice.”
Enough said.
jasonrspencerJan 27, 2012Buried
I read the new york times expose it's no that Apple doesn't care--sadly the working conditions at Foxconn are still better then other factories in China. Apple like HP and Dell still primarily cares about their profit margins.....http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?pagewanted=all
gt777Jan 28, 2012Buried
I disagree, if you know your chocolates were made from the child labours in Africa, will you stop eating chocolates? I would!! If someone cares and stop buying from companies who closed their eyes on human rights abuses, is a giant leap for human civilization!
craigreedJan 27, 2012Buried
It certainly doesn't help that when a corporation decides to do the right thing more often then not the stock market punishes them, I'm sure people remember when the yes men went on CNN pretending to be whatever the corporation was and announced a strategy to clean up some big environmental mess caused by a company they had purchased and the stock market reacted by selling the stock resulting in millions of dollars in losses.
craigreedJan 28, 2012Buried
You haven't got a clue what xenophobia means do you.
mvaJan 28, 2012Buried
Actually, I think that it is more then just size. Companies that get huge and are still ran be the person with the original vision still tend to treat their employees well, if they treated them well to begin with. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Walmart... yes even Walmart, if you go back in time, prior to Sam's death, cities and communities would fight to get a Walmart, people liked working for them and they had low turn over and treated people fairly. After he passed, they missed the point, it wasn't about low prices and big profits, it was about ensuring that the middle class had a place to buy affordable good and people that worked their had a good job. Heck. Walmart was making billions and same only mad a self imposed 350k, better then a worker, but no where near the million all the money hungry people in their now make. I think it depends if management is doing for a purpose, or just for money. If it's just money, then people are just numbers, and this is just sad.
KurtisFzJan 27, 2012Buried
That is so f**ked up man. Do you really believe that? Do the people who voted you up believe that?
gt777Jan 28, 2012Buried
You must be nuts!! So many suicides in one year and you say is better?
jasonrspencerJan 28, 2012Buried
GT777 sadly enough the statement "better than most" isn't my opinion but the viewpoint of the companies themselves and that was even highlighted by the former Foxconn executive who was the Whistle Blower in the TImes. I personally agree with you 'It's nuts" -- The problem is who should we buy all our electronics from. Companies like Foxconn make products for all the major electronics manufacturers. If you ask my opinion they should be made in America. :)