Analysis of Apple's responsibility in child miners' deaths

The impact of global commerce and positioning of studies managed by Apple

Two Different Work Experts, So i Provide Them On The Article And Explain To Them Article Should Be Followed Is Apple.

The essay is prepared to discuss about the analysis of a business case study considering the business organisation named Apple, which has been held responsible and sued for the cause of deaths of multiple child miners. Considering the analysis of the business case, it has been found that four major articles have to be prioritised on including the dynamics of systems, values and identity, positioning the studies and theories of global commerce. From these multiple articles, the two major theoretical articles that have been emphasized are the theories of global commerce and positioning the studies that have been related to the case study analysis involving Apple to gain a bigger picture of the entire scenario and ensure completion of the assignment perfectly (Hockerts 2015). Moreover, it has also been found that Apple, being a major multinational business organisation, has managed to serve customers worldwide, but at present, it has been named in the landmark lawsuit by holding it responsible for committing unethical acts and undertaking approaches, which resulted in the deaths of multiple children who worked in the mining activities for acquiring cobalt, considered as a major fossil fuel used in the batteries of smart phones for charging purposes (Sharma 2016).

The aim and purpose of the paper is to analyse the impact of global commerce and portioning of studies managed by Apple. The thesis statement represents the motion about how the management of these aspects can be linked with the company’s approach towards prevention of child labour in the Congo region. Considering the analysis of the business case, it has been found that Apple, along with other companies too faced major issues because of the occurrence of deaths of multiple children who were found to be involved in the mining of cobalt in the Democratic Republic region of Congo. The company was found to be named in the federal class action lawsuit that had been filed in Washington, DC and mostly the human rights lawyers were associated with this. It was also found that while mining in the Democratic Republic region of the Congo, there were accidents such as due to the collapse of walls and also due to suffocation while working in the tunnel, which finally led to the fatal consequences (Donnelly and Whelan 2017). The human rights lawyers made sure to provide justice to the children and also their families, according to the International Rights law, which also aimed at preventing child labour and abuse of children found to be innocent and forcing them to work at such a young age in the mining regions. Apple was held responsible for intentionally benefiting from the management of cruelty and use of child labour in the concerned region of Congo. The mining of cobalt was done so as to use those in the batteries used to charge the electronic devices such as the smart phones used by people. Also found in the form of evidences, about forcing them to work for managing their educational expenses further lead to making them work in those regions, which were not secure and safe, thereby, resulted in collapse of tunnel and created other hazards too, which might even affect the overall supply chain of Apple (Mayer 2014). Thus, it has been understood that child labour has been a major issue here and also Apple’s aim to gain intentional benefits further made this consequence worse, finally, led to asking for compensation by the families due to the assumed forced labour and getting named in the landmark lawsuit too (Wakefield 2016).

Child labour and unethical practices in mining

Based on the statement of Gaffikin (2008), it has been believed that there are various accounting theories that are basically used for the purpose of conducting research and for managing the rules, laws and regulations and also the accounting practices to ensure keeping up with the trends. The positioning of studies has been highlight here considering the business case analysis, which showed that the theories would allow for understanding why a thing has been done and what should be done for meeting such purposes (Gaffikin 2008). The positioning of studies, according to the journal article proposed by Gaffikin (2008), should also be benefit for gaining in-depth knowledge and information about the scenario, thereby, manage resolving of complex issue that might be responsible for the failure of business and even the prosecutions of various practices that could be unethical and inappropriate.

The positioning theory has been a principal analytical tool used for the purpose of establishing a stance where the various factors influencing the collaborative study would be understood and even analyse the interaction among the researchers who have been part of conducting he research regarding the same. The positioning theory has been based on the social constructionism, which represented the fact that the human behaviours have been driven by the goal orientation and thus established a major portion of social science too. Not only does this theory ensures acqusitions of knowledge and information about the company’s approach towards positioning of studies, but also shed light on the different ways of improving collaborative learning as well as investigate the dynamics of group interactions, required to make the research successful and noteworthy. Based on the positioning theory and statement made by the author in the journal article it has been found that with the use of theory and by positioning the studies, foundations of knowledge has been laid, which could also create enhanced level of scopes and opportunities required to assess whether the knowledge and information have been reliable or not. According to the statement of Kun and Brenner (2015), the philosophical terms include the ontology and epistemology, which could lay foundation of knowledge and also make assumptions such as how the business organisation named Apple could be benefited by allowing management of child labour and other young individuals to work at the mining regions for extensive supply chain management (Kun and Brenner 2015). The company checked into the various aspects of the ontology philosophy so as to develop the reality based on various situations and different settings too. On the other hand, the process of epistemology, as stated by Klakegg (2016), has enabled acqusitions of knowledge and information about the current scenario and how the negative consequences emerged due to the casualties in the region of Congo. Though humans here generated as well as acquired knowledge about the casualties while working at the Democratic Republic of Congo, still they were lured in the name of providing money to manage their educational expenses and future, which further made them work at the mining areas keeping in mind that risks might occur any time.

Positioning theory and the foundation of knowledge

Based on the findings of the issues and acquiring knowledge and information about the same, it has been depicted by Klakegg (2016) that the research methodology could be useful for determining the various methods and techniques, furthermore, investigate or evaluate about the knowledge purpose and how information has been acquired. From the business case analysis, it has been found that understanding the studies play a critical part in the assessment of the entire situation, thereby, ensured that the Washington-based group International Rights Advocates and even the human rights lawyers to gain information and do necessary justice for them too (Klakegg 2016). The company, on the other hand, analysed the information with the understanding of complaints made by people regarding failure to regulate the supply chains properly, which made the company also fail to implement the policies that actually prevailed claiming to prevent child labour while managing supply chains. The various philosophies, on the basis of the journal article, represented the fact that responsible sourcing of materials would be required along with management of ethical practices to prevent child labour, furthermore, remain aligned with the policies and principles implemented by the organisation as a whole.

Another theoretical article is based on the theories of global commerce, which also has been related to the information and knowledge about child labour. The global commerce, as stated by van Horn (2019), represents the management of purchases and selling of goods and services globally considering the economic exchange of these goods and services. The impact of global commerce has been immense, because it has not only helped in managing trade activities across boundaries, but also has helped in better transfer of technology, outsourcing activities, better flow of capital management and also foreign direct investments, which could be essential for managing global business effectively (Jupille et al. 2013). Apple has managed to operate worldwide, which extends the ability to manage financial exchange across boundaries, while at the same time, focus on the global markets to analyse the demand and how much supplies are required to meet those (van Horn 2019). On the other hand, the management of networks done with the help of virtual connections and other ways of communication have to be precise for coping up with the corporate culture, remain aligned with the values and beliefs, thereby, manage self-reinforced behaviours within quick time (Suttle 2014). Considering the statement of Whitney et al. (2015), the theory of Imperialism helped in identifying the markets and also assessed the opportunities to make investments for raising the working capital and improve business functioning. It has also allowed Apple to manage global capital and exploit the lesser developed nations much more comprehensively, which should have been considered properly so as to prevent child labour in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Whitney et al. 2015).

Research methodology and evaluation of knowledge purpose

Moreover, the World Systems Theory has been centred on the international division of labour along with the management of skills, global capital and Government involvement too. Though there have been multiple benefits including enhancement of foreign direct investments, trade activities across boundaries, better communication flow management, there were certain disadvantages too and it could be quite relatable with the functioning of the business organization, i.e., Apple. Based on the theories of global commerce, it has been found that the employees of the organisation have experienced exhaustion and they even had to move on to the global locations, which created shortage of labour in some areas too (Gaffikin 2008). Not only does the globalisation created harm to the environment, but also there has been increased in the child labour and slavery, which could be a major example for Apple as well. The company was also found to be responsible, because the children were forced to work at the Democratic Republic of the Congo for mining cobalt, which is a major component used in the lithium ion batteries used to charge electronic devices. Due to this, here were multiple accidents in the region such as collapse of wall and while working inside the tunnel as well, fatal injuries were experienced by children, ultimately leading to death of many children. Thus, the global commerce theories were associated with the identification of issues experienced such as been found while analysis the case scenario for Apple (Suttle 2014). All these issues also contributed to the management of unethical practices, which further deteriorated the brand image and thus the company had been part of the alleged misconduct, which further made it named in the landmark lawsuit as well. Thus, in order to implement some major changes and also make sure to become successful in the globalisation era, the unethical practices have to be mitigated as well as shed light on aligning the legal frameworks and policies with the global business management practices. Also to be noted that the corporate social responsibilities must be managed properly for benefiting these people working at the organisation while even creating educational opportunities to them for keeping their morale high and ensure higher level of motivation among them too (Whitney et al. 2015). This should improve the potential of the organisation to remain sustainable, ensure improvement of brand image with the help of preventing unethical approaches to be conducted, for smooth transition of business.

Theories of global commerce and child labour

The essay demonstrated the valuable insights acquired on the basis of business case analysis, which has been made possible with the help of using two theoretical articles related to the positioning of studies and also the global commerce. The Positioning of studies allowed for the management of philosophical approaches including ontology, epistemology and methodology for gathering relevant data, knowledge and information required to determine how the incidents occurred revolving around the child labour at the Democratic Republic in Congo. This also helped in the assessment of approaches and practices that were termed as unethical to lure the children towards working at the mining regions for cobalt with the statement of providing benefits and monetary rewards so that they could bear educational expenses. On the other hand, the global commerce theories helped in determining how the global commerce though managed to help the organisation to manage business across boundaries, then also led to the management of child labour, which has been already found from the case scenario involving Apple. Therefore, based on these theoretical articles, an in-depth understanding has been gained, which could help in making sure that the organisational policies had to be followed and must be aligned with the corporate goals as well to promote ethical business and attain long term sustainability in the future too.

References

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Garside, J., 2013. Child labour uncovered in Apple’s supply chain. The Guardian, 25.

Donnelly, J. and Whelan, D.J., 2017. International human rights. Hachette UK.

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Jupille, J.H., Jupille, J., Mattli, W. and Snidal, D., 2013. Institutional choice and global commerce. Cambridge University Press.

Klakegg, O.J., 2016. Ontology and epistemology. In Designs, Methods and Practices for Research of Project Management (pp. 87-96). Routledge.

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Mayer, F.W., 2014. Leveraging private governance for public purpose: Business, civil society and the state in labour regulation. In Handbook of the international political economy of governance. Edward Elgar Publishing.

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