Situation Analysis

After Apple outsourced the manufacturing of products to foreign suppliers in the

early 2000’s, accusations began to arise blaming Apple “for building its profits on the

backs of poorly treated and severely underpaid workers in China,” according to

Chicago Tribune (“Apple Steps Up Labor Audits, Finds Underage Workers”). The issue

turned into a crisis when a number of reports over the past 18 months describing the

poor working conditions at Apple's foreign factories emerged along with news of

employee suicides at Foxconn, Apple’s manufacturing partner and supplier in China.

Although according to Investorplace.com, it was Foxconn that was accused of treating

employees as “expendable cogs” who “reportedly work in inhumane conditions that

have resulted in many worker deaths and injuries in recent years,” this negative

publicity reflected poorly on Apple (Agnello, “Apple’s Labor Issues and PR Miseries”).

I. Testimonials

To make matters worse, Apple’s unnamed former executives affirmed reports

about manufacturers’ labor abuses. One former executive told The New York Times,

“We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still

going on. Why? Because the system works for us” (Bradsher et al., “How the U.S. Lost

Out on iPhone Work”). In response, Apple had denied that this allegation to its

consumers and employees. Chief executive Tim Cook asserted that the accusations

are false and that Apple’s partnership with the Fair Labor Association indicates that

Apple has done everything to prevent labor abuse in an email sent to Apple’s

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employees according to The Telegraph (“Investigation Finds Widespread Abuses at

Apple China Factories”).

However, more testimonials emerged from former Apple executives that casted

a doubtful light on Cook’s claim. For example, another former executive described how

Apple relied on Foxconn manufacturing to revamp the iPhone just weeks before the

device was “due on shelves” in 2007 (Bradsher et al., “How the U.S. Lost Out on

iPhone Work”). The following excerpt is from The New York Times article “Apple Labor

Audits Uncover Underage Workers” by Reuters, depicting the level of inhumane

treatment of Foxconn employees:

Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant in Foxconn near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside of Foxconn’s dormitories and after each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, they were guided to a workstation where they started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into iPhone frames.

In 2007, when the first truckloads of cut glass arrived at Foxconn City in the dead of night, according to the former Apple executive the managers woke thousands of workers, who crawled into their uniforms — white and black shirts for men, red for women — and quickly lined up to assemble, by hand, the phones. Within three months, Apple had sold one million iPhones.

According to article in The Washington Post on February 9, 2012 protesters

gathered at Apple Stores in cities across the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia, and India

to demand that Apple take action (Tsukayama, “Apple Store Protests Taking Place

Around the World Thursday”). There is also a petition currently posted on Change.org

titled "Apple: Protect Workers Making iPhones in Chinese Factories" which has more

than 200,000 signatures. The petition was started by Mark Shields, an Apple customer

calling for ethical iPhone manufacturing.

Company

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According to Apple’s website at Apple.com, Apple is committed to protecting the

environment, health and safety of their employees, customers and the global

communities in which they operate. They recognize that by integrating sound

environmental, health and safety management practices into all aspects of their

business, they can offer technologically innovative products and services while

conserving and enhancing resources for future generations. Apple strives for

continuous improvement in their environmental, health and safety management

systems, while upholding environmental quality of the products, processes and services

they offer.

Apple company started out in America, and although there is an Apple Store in

every state, much of its manufacturing employment has been outsourced abroad,

specifically in China. According to Los Angeles Times, the company was established in

1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne to manufacture and create

Macintosh computers (Hiltzik, “Apple Inspires Magical Thinking”). In August 1988,

Apple was split into four operating divisions in the USA, Europe, Pacific, and just Apple

Products. According to USA Today, Apple went through multiple management changes

before Steve Jobs took over as CEO in 2000. After Steve Jobs resigned due to health

complications, Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as the current CEO (Swartz, “Apple

Marks Year Without Steve Jobs”). Although Apple started off privately–run, after it went

public it acquired many employees. Now, Apple employs 43,000 people in the United

States and 200,000 overseas. In Foxconn alone, where the iPhone is assembled, the

facility has 230,000 employees. Last year, Apple earned over $400,000 in profit per

employee, more than Goldman Sachs, Exxon Mobil or Google according to author of

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the Business Insider article (Love, “Apple Makes More Money Per Employee Than

Exxon And Google”).

I. Principles On Which Apple Operates

Apple’s Supplier Conduct of Conduct found at Apple.com identifies the values that

lie at the core of how they conduct business worldwide, as well as how their suppliers

and manufacturing partners should operate. The following is an excerpt from their

conduct booklet:

Honesty

Demonstrate honesty and high ethical standards in all business dealings.

Respect

Treat customers, suppliers, employees, and others with respect and courtesy.

Confidentiality

Protect the confidentiality of Apple’s information and the information of our customers,

suppliers, and employees.

Community

Conduct business in a way that benefits the communities in which we operate.

Compliance

Always comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

II. Apple’s Reputation Over The Years

Apple has become a globally renowned and respected company, in part through

their skillful way of conducting business all over the world according to Australian

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Financial Review (“Foxconn Puts Apple’s Core On Display”). Apple’s success can also

be attributed to their outstanding publicity and advertisement, which marketed the

company as the most technologically innovative in under a decade. Apple brought a lot

of value to the nation and the world.

However, Apple is well known to be very secretive about what goes on within

company walls.

III. Issues After Foxconn Crisis

The Supplier Code of Conduct found on Apple.com requires Apple’s suppliers to

“ensure safe working conditions, to treat their employees with respect and dignity, and

to establish and maintain environmentally responsible manufacturing processes.” The

reports that emerged claimed that Foxconn were treating employees poorly, which

meant that Foxconn broke the rules laid out in Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct and

damaged Apple’s reputation as an exemplary corporate citizen.

A

nalysis of Target Publics

After following the crisis through various publications, the following were

identified as the relevant publics affected by this controversial issue:

i. Customers: Apple consumers and buyers who use Apple products

ii. Producers: Apple employees

iii. Producers: Manufacturing supplier(s)

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iv. Customers: Potential Apple customers who are looking to invest in Apple

product(s)

v. Enablers: Human rights activists

However, Apple did not target all of the publics listed above. Instead Apple rightfully

chose to focus on three target publics which have been identified to have a direct

relationship with Apple, giving Apple maximum accessibility to them. The main target

publics are the following:

i. Customers: Apple consumers and buyers who use Apple products

Apple targeted this group because they wanted to respond to customer’s

concerns about ethical manufacturing of the Apple products while

maintaining their customer base.

ii. Producers: Apple employees

Apple targeted this group to ensure them that, despite looming allegations

declaring otherwise, they did work for the company that had regard for

human rights. By addressing this target public, Apple hoped to boost their

employee’s morale about their employer.

iii. Producers: Manufacturing supplier(s), primarily Foxconn

Apple targeted this group because the reports identified various violations

occurring there that needed rectification. Moreover, Foxconn is also a

manufacturer for big brands like Dell, Sony, and Microsoft. Apple’s repair of

employee conditions at Foxconn would also affect the working conditions in

which the Dell, Sony, and Microsoft products are made, thus portraying Apple

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as a hero in this situation. This is an example of how Apple saw a threat and

turned it into an opportunity to promote itself a responsible corporate citizen.

All three publics are of various demographical characteristics, but they are

distinguishable through their involvement and understanding of Apple’s crisis. The

customers and the producers targeted are active publics and have high level of

knowledge and involvement of the issue. Their attitude and actions matter to the

organization because they have interdependency with Apple. Moreover, these publics

care about the issue, and the customer(s) want Apple to take steps to resolve the

issue, which is demonstrated through a petition that was started on Change.org.

Apple did not do extensive research to find out who their target publics were, nor

did they implement a crisis management campaign because there was serious doubt

that consumers would start boycotting Apple products due to the information in the

reports. After all, just about every major electronics brand manufactures in China, and it

is far from clear if Apple’s competitor products were made under better conditions.

Furthermore, by downplaying the situation and sending the Fair Labor Association to

do internal audits at Foxconn, they averted the increase of magnification of the crisis in

the media according to The Telegraph (Richmond, “Apple and Foxconn Improve

Conditions, Says Watchdog”).

However, Apple should have researched more about their publics, such as their

media habits and aspects of psychographics, in order to effectively and efficiently

disperse information to them. Apple would have benefited from both doing public

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opinion polls through secondary research and interviews with employees through

primary research.

Objectives

According to Investor Place, “Due to increasing press coverage of [exploiting]

labor practices, Apple has on its hands, in addition to a crushing human rights problem,

a real PR problem” (Agnello, "Apple’s Labor Issues and PR Miseries”). Overall, Apple

wanted to tackle both of these problems: the issue of human rights and the issue of the

organization’s relationship with their publics being potentially damaged. In order to do

this, Apple’s efforts were focused on what each of their specific target publics in this

crisis (Apple consumers, Apple employees, and Foxconn officials) would need so that

the situation could be rectified in both of these ways.

Although Apple did not state any formal objectives, there were a few apparent

objectives that Apple seemed to be working with in response to this crisis. Each of the

following objectives was constructed to adhere to each of Apple’s target publics for this

case as the organization sought to correct this problem of human rights and public

relations.

I. Awareness Objective: Increase Apple Employees’ Awareness of

The Organization’s Values

As the word spread about the crisis occurring at Foxconn, many began raising

questions about Apple’s employment practices and standards. According to The New

York Times, BBC News Technology and The Times, people criticized Apple for using

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Chinese workers (Duhigg & Bradsher, "How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work”),

questioned if the company cared about the poor working conditions (Cellan-Jones,

"Apple and China - time for a new PR strategy"), grew skeptical of Apple’s overseas

manufacturing (Duhigg & Bradsher, "How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work”) and

disapproved of the company employing underage workers at Foxconn (“Children on the

Factory Floor at Apple Supplier”). In a New York Times article, President Obama is

even noted as asking the late Steve Jobs why Apple could not bring the manufacturing

jobs to the United States (Duhigg & Bradsher, "How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone

Work”). In the midst of all of these questions, Apple had to address their employees

and ensure that none of their staff would be lost due to the media’s portrayal of the

company. The following objective was created in light of this aspect of the crisis:

To increase Apple employees’ awareness of the company’s values regarding their

employees by 40% by January 2012.

This objective specifically addresses the need for this target public to gain more

awareness of Apple’s values and their true opinions on their workers and their internal

operations. The measurable estimate accounts for the amount of knowledge about

these points that the employees may have had prior to this crisis, while still aiming to

greatly increase this level of awareness. The ending time of this objective is based on

the time in which tactics pertaining to this objective were implemented by Apple

officials.

As an active public, Apple employees were not only knowledgeable about the

crisis and varying opinions on Apple because of the situation, but they were already

invested in the company. However, their reaction to their employer was yet to be seen.

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By increasing employee awareness of their actual values, Apple could subdue any

potentially negative effects from the media’s depiction of the company.

II. Acceptance Objective: Maintain Apple’s Existing Customer Base

As an additional active public, Apple consumers had already made the decision

to purchase Apple products in the past. Apple’s main concern in this crisis was that

they would continue to do so despite the potentially negative effects the media could

have on their consumer’s opinions of Apple as a company. The following objective was

created in response to this aspect of the crisis: To maintain 95% of Apple’s existing

customer base by 2013.

The desire to monitor and uphold their customer base would have driven Apple’s

efforts throughout the entire time this crisis was gaining media attention. Therefore, the

end time for this objective is in accordance with the latest implementation of tactics

responding to this crisis: the release of Apple’s Supplier Responsibility Progress

Report. According to the Apple Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, this document

was released in 2013 (Apple Incorporated, “Apple Supplier Responsibility 2013

Progress Report”). When Apple officials could say that the majority of media attention

and effects from the crisis seemed to be over, then they could lift their heavy concerns

about their customer base being affected by the events at hand.

This objective is specific, realistic, measurable, time-definite and achievable. It

accounts for the realistic idea that a small percentage of Apple’s customer base could

potentially be lost due to this crisis, but it seeks to maintain the overwhelming majority

of current Apple consumers.

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III. Action Objective: Move Foxconn Officials to Improve Working Conditions

According to Investor Place, in addition to the public relations problems this

crisis caused, it also brought to light the human rights problems taking place at

Foxconn (Agnello, "Apple’s Labor Issues and PR Miseries”). Apple needed to take the

necessary measures to change the way their workers were being treated. The following

objective was created in response to this aspect of the crisis: To move Foxconn officials

to improve working conditions by 30% by 2013.

Foxconn officials are an apathetic public, being aware of the conditions at hand

but doing nothing to change them. For example, according to The Washington Post,

after one incident of “fighting between almost 2,000 workers left 40 hospitalized,”

Foxconn spokesperson Louis Woo said that the event “probably won’t be significant” in

regards to production (“Apple Supplier Resumes Production at Factory in China After

Violence”). With this in mind, Apple would need to move them into action to change the

conditions at the company.

Although completely improving Foxconn working conditions would be desirable

in this case, it would not be realistic or achievable to do so. Therefore, this objective

states that Apple aimed to do this by 30% by 2013, the time of the most recent

implementation of tactics responding to this crisis, identifying the progress that has

been made to date (Apple Incorporated, “Apple Supplier Responsibility 2013 Progress

Report”). This objective specifically addresses the need to reach this target public for

the sake of resolving the human rights issue of this crisis.

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Programming

I. Awareness Objective: Increase Apple Employees’ Awareness of The

Organization’s Values

Apple chose to send out an internal email from CEO Tim Cook to the employees

highlighting the core values of Apple as a whole and driving home the image that Apple

truly does care about their employees (Cellan-Jones, “Apple and China – Time for a

New PR Strategy?”).  Apple also came out with a report detailing how the company

would improve the working conditions for employees in China.  This included better

working environments, stricter rules regarding health and safety, and better living

conditions within the dormitories (Apple Incorporated, “Apple Supplier Responsibility:

2013 Progress Report”).  This strategy for reaching out to its employees was an

effective way to get their message across to those working for Apple, not just for those

working in the factories, but those in the whole company.  This acted as a rectifying

reactive strategy for the company because Apple attempted to improve the situation at

hand.  Apple also used a proactive approach by partnering with the Fair Labor

Association to promote better audits and working environments (Tahmincioglu, “Apple

Asks Labor Group To Probe China Suppliers.”).

II. Acceptance Objective: Maintain Apple’s Existing Customer Base

        During the crisis, it was important for Apple not to forget that consumers could

potentially boycott Apple products upon hearing about the crisis.  Apple customers also

demanded transparency from the company by petitioning on websites such as

Change.org for Apple to research the working conditions of their employees

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(Tahmincioglu, “Apple Asks Labor Group to Probe China Suppliers.”).  For this reason,

Apple became a more transparent company by allowing the public to see the audits

that both the FLA and Apple were conducting.  Cook also took a new role within Apple

as the spokesperson of the crisis and the new communicative CEO.  By changing the

way that Apple communicated with news media and their target public, Apple again

attempted to resolve the situation all around and proactively become transparent.  By

conducting audits of the factories, Apple also became the image of the company that

cared and took the extra step.  "In one deft move, Apple has pivoted from villain to

crusading hero" (Oremus, “iWin: How Apple Turned the Foxconn Scandal into Another

Way to Beat its Competitors”). These tactics by Apple helped drive home the image of

a caring company.

III. Action Objective: Move Foxconn Officials To Improve Working

Conditions

Apple wanted to ensure that their customer base was not disrupted by the

information about the Foxconn working conditions and suicides. Therefore, they

needed to change the way their consumers associated their company with the crisis.

Apple sought to change the image by working directly with the FLA to find the problems

with health and safety situations on the factory floor and in the living spaces and create

a plan to improve those changes immediately. This again tied in to both a reactive

strategy of rectifying the situation and proactively putting a plan in place to minimize the

risk of a second crisis occurring.

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IV. Key Message

The key message of the campaign was to let the target audiences know that

Apple was working to make the conditions at their factories safer.  Despite reports of

unethical working conditions, Apple sought to let their publics know they heard the

issue at hand and were working to improve those conditions. This issue transcended

not only Apple employees, but also investors and future and current Apple consumers.

Therefore, being straightforward with the media and their target publics about working

conditions and how they would improve them had to be the number one goal of

handling the crisis.

V. Communication

i. Ethos With Spokespeople, Partners and Sources: Credibility, Charisma

and Control

Apple chose their spokesperson for the situation to be their CEO, Tim Cook.  Cook

used his credibility as the CEO of Apple to demonstrate his expertise in the subject

matter, as well as his honesty in the situation to encourage acceptance in current

consumers and stockholders in the company.  Cook was also charismatic in his stance

that Apple was a company committed to making conditions better for employees and

build on the Apple core values.  Cook also used his control over the situation to show

his authority over the situation.  Apple wisely chose Cook as the spokesperson

because it helped improve the transparency and reliability of Apple.  The public’s

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perception had been tainted because of the allegations regarding working conditions,

so having the CEO at the forefront of the communication was a smart move.

ii. Pathos Of Emotional Appeals: Positive Or Negative Appeals with

Specific Examples Each

Apple did not use any positive or negative appeals towards their crisis.  They

recognized that supporting the employees and creating better working environments

would have more of an effect on their target publics than putting out any ads promoting

the brand that related back to the crisis.

iii. Logos: Reasoned and Rational Verbal Evidence and Statistics

Apples used the logos communication principle to reach out to their target publics.

After the incident, Apple released information letting the media know that they would be

hiring tens of thousands of workers, tightening rules regarding safety and overtime

hours, and also build better employee dormitories (Oremus, “iWin: How Apple Turned

the Foxconn Scandal into Another Way to Beat its Competitors”).  Apple also used

internal audits to communicated information regarding the working conditions.  This

provided hard evidence that could be used to tangibly measure working conditions

within the factories, as well as to provide a source of reference about this situation for

Apple.

In 2012 Apple issued a 27 page report detailing working conditions of their factories

(Vascellaro et al, “Apple Navigates China Maze Firm Details Labor Conditions as

Unrunly Fans Mar Bejing Debut of New iPhone.”).  In 2013, Apple released the Supplier

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Responsibility Report detailing Apple’s commitment to not only fixing the problem of

working conditions, but also establishing a way to prevent future issues. This second

report contained detailed sections directly relating back to the key message of

improving working conditions within Apple’s factories and increasing transparency

within the company.  Prior to Cook’s appointment to CEO of Apple, getting information

from the company was extremely difficult.  Now Cook is communicating more with the

media and Apple’s publics to get information to them.

VI. Verbal and Non-verbal Communication

Apple used this crisis to get their spokesperson answering questions in the

media eye for verbal communication.  Using Cook as a spokesperson for the company

and increasing communications helped transition from a non-communicative Apple to a

more receptive and open company.  Having previously restricted verbal communication

within the company, the changed caught the attention of more media outlets.

Non-verbal communication efforts were still used within the company as well.

Working off of internal emails and public reports kept Apple to their word of creating

better working environments and being more open and honest about their conditions.

VII. Communication Tactics

Apple took to using interpersonal and organizational communication tactics after

their crisis.  They also transitioned into communicating more with media outlets to

disseminate information.  Prior to the allegations of unsafe working conditions within

Apple’s factories, Apple was known to be a company that did not talk to news media

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before it was ready to.  When former CEO Steve Jobs held the reins of the company,

no employee was allowed to talk to news media if they did not obtain approval from

Jobs himself (Cellan-Jones, “Apple and China – Time for a New PR Strategy?”).  After

Cook took over, communication tactics opened slightly and transparency regarding the

crisis improved (Gupta, “Apple Reveals Supply Chain, Details Conditions.”).

Communications were released by the company in response to the news media and

personal interviews with reporters from certain news outlets took place.

To improve interpersonal communication within the company after the crisis, Cook

sent out an internal email this his employees pushing the message that Apple really did

care about its employees.  “We are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people

are questioning Apple's values today... We care about every worker in our worldwide

supply chain... Any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us,”

wrote Cook (Cellan-Jones, “Apple and China – Time for a New PR Strategy?”).

As an organization, Apple released a report in 2013 entitled Apple Supplier

Responsibility.  This 37 page progress report detailed the commitment to transparency

within the company, how the Apple audits work, empowerment of workers, labor and

human rights, and environments the employees work in.  This public document

promoted Apple as a company keeping to their word and working to improve and

combat reports, but it also established a clear line of communication within Apples

comfort level.

Apple partnered with the Fair Labor Association to conduct “special voluntary

audits” (Tahmincioglu, “Apple Asks Labor Group To Probe China Suppliers.”) in the

factories as a way to be more transparent in their efforts to where the problem was in

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their factories.  “We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair

work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the

performance of our largest suppliers,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Tahmincioglu,

“Apple Asks Labor Group To Probe China Suppliers.”).  Conducting these audits

promoted the image Apple was trying to uphold.  Other electronic companies also

partnered with Foxconn and used the same factories to make their products, but Apple

took the high road to conduct the survey of all their factories, not just the ones that

produced solely Apple products. This helped to ensure conditions at Foxconn were

improving (Reuters, “Work Conditions Said to Improve at Apple Supplier.”), not only in

terms of underage workers or prevention of suicides, but also in terms of improving

working hours in the factories (“Apple Moves to Slash Hours in Chinese Factories”).

Although Apple rejected the idea to form a human rights committee within the company,

the company argues that it remains determined to let the core values of the company

shine and make sure each employee is treated fairly (Walker, “Apple Rejects Call to

Form Human Rights Committee”).

VIII. Communication Analysis

Based on the 2013 progress report that was published by Apple, the communication

principles and tactics were effective in satisfying the action objective.  There are

statistics provided within the report showing that conditions at Foxconn have improved,

or owners of factories were told to pay employees or treated correctly. This is a marked

improvement in continuing on with transparency by showing conditions that were not

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met and how Apple moved to change those conditions (Apple Incorporated, “Apple

Supplier Responsibility: 2013 Progress Report”).

Based on research and recent articles, there is no mention of whether employee

awareness of the values of Apple increased or decreased.  This would be an area for

improvement.  There are several employee wellness surveys that can be conducted

that would measure employee mental wellness and feelings towards the company, and

these findings could also be published by Apple.  This would also touch on the

acceptance objective of keeping the existing customer base because consumers of

Apple products could see for themselves the change within the company.

Apple is still producing products in China, as well as producing new products in

general; therefore it is safe to say that the customer base is still there for the company.

A second suggested area of improvement for Apple lies here.  Communicating more

with news media outlets and the general public by releasing personal statements from

the CEO is a way that Apple can keep an open line of transparent communication from

the company to its publics.

E

Valuation

Due to Apple’s global prominence as responsible corporate citizen with a large profit

margin, the company had to implement strategic tactics to save its reputation and make

sure the crisis was handled both in a timely and concise manner. Soon after the media

started to publish the reports regarding working conditions and incidents at Foxconn,

Apple released information of all its manufacturers to the media. This was a strategic

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attempt at being transparent to the publics. Below are the evaluations of the objectives

behind the strategy and how they were achieved.

I. Awareness Objective

After the crisis was published in the media, in order to evaluate Apple

employee’s awareness of the company’s values Apple should hold an internal company

meeting for each department to explain what is going on and how Apple is going to fix

the situation to align with the company values. Shortly after, Apple should send out a

company wide survey to assess their employees’ recall about the values which should

be implemented in the working environment. Moreover, to boost Apple employees’

morale, the company should do several focus groups to gage its employees’ attitude

about the work environment. Since the strategy for this crisis was reactive and this was

the first time Apple was facing a crisis of this type, the only way to evaluate this

objectives is the after - only study. Although this study would not be able to show strong

cause - effect correlation, Apple could use their internal record to compare how many

employees’ worked for the company before and how many employees’ stayed with

Apple after the crisis.

II. Acceptance Objective

Although acceptance objectives are usually not evaluated, it is necessary to

evaluate them because achievement of this objective is a precursor to achieving the

action objective. This objective was significant to maintain Apple’s consumer base.

Apple needed to make sure that this crisis did not significantly decrease its consumer

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base. Apple needed to retain 95% of their consumer base. To realize this objective

CEO Tim Cook needed to implement both organizational and interpersonal tactics.

Apple needed to disseminate surveys to their target publics to see if they still supported

the company and believed that Apple operated according to the core values that it says

it operates by. Apple could have also used their public relations department to gather e-

mails and customer service phone calls specifically regarding consumers attitudes

towards the company’s products after the crisis. Apple could also perform content

analysis of comments made by their target publics on social media and other various

websites measuring the acceptance rate of their consumer base to continue buying

Apple products. This could also give Apple the information that is needed for the base

their rectifying strategy to maintain its customer base.

III. Action Objective

This objective was vital to reform the working conditions at Foxconn. To reach

this objective, Apple asked the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to conduct regular internal

audits at Foxconn. This step forward by Apple showed that they are weeding out any

supplier who is not following Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct. Furthermore, Apple

needed to continue to focus on organizational tactics and be transparent with their

employees and consumers. They could have done this by putting links on their website

to show the public the FLA’s audit content of Foxconn and what Apple was doing to

improve the factories working conditions. Aside from organizations tactics, they also

needed to continue improving interpersonal tactics by having their public relations

department research discussion boards and forums to see what the Apple consumers

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actions are after the crisis. Based on what this information, Apple would know if the

publics are buying their products at the same rate. An appropriate evaluative technique

Apple could use with this objective would be the before - after study where the profit

range of Apple products are compared before and after the crisis occurred. However, a

limitation to this technique is that there might be confounding factors which affect the

profit range before and after the crisis.

The following questions can be used to measure the achievement of the above

objectives:

i. After tactics were implemented to increase Apple’s employees’ awareness of the

company’s values in regards to their employees, how much more aware of these

values did the employees feel in comparison with their previous level of

awareness?

ii. What was the size of Apple’s customer base before the crisis occurred, and what

was the size of this group after the latest implementation of tactics in response to

this crisis?

iii. How have Foxconn working conditions improved since the efforts Apple made to

monitor and change these conditions by utilizing the service of the FLA?

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is maintained that Apple ought to better communicate and

acknowledge its company values, strengthen active and transparent communication

with its publics and further improve conditions in all Apple working environments.

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By making Apple employees and the general public more aware of Apple’s

company values, perhaps through a newsletter or website, the organization will

demonstrate social responsibility and appeal to consumers who deeply value a

company that evidently practices for the greater good of its people and its surrounding

world. Active communication not only strengthens relationships, but also it can foster

the development of new, beneficial relationships in which Apple, its employees and

consumers may all utilize in the future, such as consumer loyalty and desired feedback.

Lastly, as Apple improves its working conditions, it may use this situation to generate

positive publicity for the organization and, most importantly, the issue of human working

rights in general. In turn, this allows Apple to further demonstrate social responsibility

and generate conversation about the company that can later be steered in any direction

the company should favor.

Apple’s tactics were very effective considering the targets in which they focused

communication efforts. As it is stated earlier, Apple’s immediate response to the

concerns of the community, media and employees was indeed the best course of

action. In doing so, Apple publicly accepted responsibility for the issue at hand and

proceeded to work with the media to communicate its position and efforts to correct the

circumstance. Furthermore, appointing Apple CEO Tim Cook as the campaign’s

spokesperson helped establish authority in having a knowledgeable vocal source of

information. Cook also exercised a great deal of credibility when he issued a newsletter

to the company’s employees reiterating the importance of the company’s mission and

values.

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Apple did well in utilizing this unfortunate occurrence to build long-term

relationships with its targeted publics. By accepting responsibility and cooperating with

the media, Apple may now use its new media stature to carry out other business

strategies that may not only involve crisis management. Apple also built transparency

between itself and the public that is incredibly beneficial for obvious reason: publics will

no longer have reason to believe that Apple is not operating both ethically and

honestly.

In addition, Apple’s new alliance with the FLA and its organized efforts with

Foxconn may lay the foundation for advancements in working environment procedures

and conditions. As it is mentioned earlier, this may further Apple’s cutting edge

reputation if it can be first company to reevaluate these conditions and work

significantly to make them ideal. To ensure that the conditions at Foxconn never return

to such a low point, Apple might continue implementing its random audits in partnership

with the FLA to continue monitoring current working conditions.

It is recommended that Apple’s strategic communications team capitalize on the

existing open flow of communication it has generated. Apple executives should

continue with both internal and external newsletters. Internal newsletters will maintain

the healthy conversation between the organization and its constituents. These

newsletters might include surveys or other response-oriented call to actions from time

to time to gauge employee morale, concerns, etc. External newsletters will further the

transparency Apple has exemplified and allow it to actively maintain a personal

relationship with active or information seeking publics. These newsletters would of

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course include product information, as well as updates involving additional aspects of

the organization, such as working environments and company operations.

Furthermore, Apple will want to continue its appreciation tactics. Through

creatively constructed promotions or events regarding customer appreciation,

employee appreciation or Foxconn worker appreciation, each public may feel

sufficiently acknowledged and appreciated. Such events could include, but are not

limited to, a themed employee appreciation week at corporate offices or a day of

discounts for all Apple associates and loyal consumers. Foxconn appreciation efforts

could involve specially catered meals or longer breaks. These tactics would generate

media coverage that could further demonstrate how much Apple does truly cares.

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