Alphabet Investor Relations Essay: Ethics Statement.

What do People Think?

Discuss about the Alphabet Investor Relations And Ethics Statement.

Ethics is the science of customs or habits of human beings or companies. It is the science of the habitual conduct of men which results from the formation of will or character. Thus ethics means the judgment of a person's conduct which generally is based on his or her character. In this paper, I will be evaluating the different ethical issues surrounding the major internet companies namely Google, Dell, Apple and Facebook.

Survey question used: On a scale of 1 to 10, How ethical do you think each of the following companies is?

The following results were collected from the survey created in SurveyMonkey with the link

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Z9CWFYK

The following table summarizes the ethical score of the four companies.

Out of the 10 respondents who took part in the survey, all of them answered this question. The average score for Google is 10 meaning that people believe Google to be completely ethical.

Out of the 10 respondents who took part in the survey, all of them answered this question. The average score for Facebook is 9 meaning that people believe Facebook to be ethical. This can be attributed to the recent summoning of Facebook CEO to the US Congress where he was to explain how the company is handling data for its users.

Out of the 10 respondents who took part in the survey, all of them answered this question. The average score for Dell is 9 meaning that people believe Dell to be ethical.

Out of the 10 respondents who took part in the survey, all of them answered this question. The average score for Apple is 10 meaning that people believe Apple to be ethical. Apple Inc. objective is to continually be the company that provides computer software and hardware to its clients globally. The company significantly values its relationship with all stakeholders who have contributed to its successes.  It will continue to plan growth strategies especially where new supplies and manufacturing entities are available to participate.

“Always remember that we are asking users to trust us with their personal information. Preserving that trust requires that each of us respect and protect the privacy and security of that information. Our security procedures strictly limit access to and use of users’ personal information, and require that each of us take measures to protect user data from unauthorized access. Know your responsibilities under these procedures, and collect, use, and access user personal information only as authorized by our Security Policies, our Privacy Policies, and applicable data protection laws.”

Ethical/Code of Conduct Policies

A misconduct in the way a Google employee acts can lead to them facing the disciplinary and possible termination from their jobs.

“It is of the utmost importance that all Facebook Personnel treat user data with extreme sensitivity and caution. Facebook's brand, the trust users put in us, and, quite bluntly, your employment or other relationship with Facebook, all depend on your exercise of good judgment and discretion when using tools that allow you to see user information that would otherwise not be visible to you on the site"

This is an indication that Facebook is completely committed to the fulfillment and wellbeing of their client. There are huge amounts of individual data inside Facebook that could break somebody's wellbeing and security and Facebook isn't reluctant to alleviate somebody of their activity for not treating the user’s security with the most extreme regard.

“How we win” provides the ethical code of conduct guidance for anyone who is involved in business with Dell technologies. First the company is set to follow all US laws as that is where its headquarters are. Then all employees globally are set to follow laws of those countries with Ethical Global guidance sort when local laws conflict with US laws

Apple Inc. regards aligning its activities with the social, economic and environmental expectation of all its stockholders as extremely vital, because it has become a multibillion dollar technology related company. Apple Inc. believes that being a good corporate citizen is the right strategy to pursue at this time, as it will ensure that the company remains a sustainable and going concern for several years.  As such, it has built its ethical values into all its policies and procedures, to ensure timely gains in the future.

Globalization, has brought enormous pressures to bear on companies, in the sense that they are compelled to try to attract customers at any cost to obtain short term results. Apple has recognized that this has made many companies turn blind eyes to good corporate ethics, falling prey to the competitiveness of the market, instead of investing into the future, where customers are expected to reward them for their earlier responsible actions.

 “Apple is committed to ensuring that working conditions in Apple’s supply chain are safe, that workers are treated with respect and dignity, and that manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible. Apple’s suppliers commit, in all of their activities, to operate in full compliance with the laws, rules, and regulations of the countries in which they operate. This Supplier Code of Conduct goes further, drawing upon internationally recognized standards, in order to advance social and environmental responsibility.”

Ethical Behaviour

We accept responsibility to ethically inform and educate our employees, independent contractors, suppliers, stakeholders, and other associates through our communication network, as this will ensure our values and beliefs remain uncompromised, in the pursuit of growth, sustainability, and mutual development.

Apple will institute compulsory orientation programs for all its new employees, suppliers, and associates at all levels, and in all countries to effectively communicate and generate measures of understandings of the Code of Ethics they are expected to conform to, while performing or interacting with the company.

Despite having ethical laws, standards and regulations to follow, it is often the case you find these internet companies facing one or two lawsuits once in a while to unethical actions.

Google for instance was being sued by Viacom Corp. for allowing its YouTube users to post clips of their TV video shows as their own.

Not once, but in several instances Google have been sued for taking books and reading materials belonging to writers and putting them up in Google Books as their own without prior permissions.

Facebook have been on the news for the wrong reasons. Mishandling of personal data. Facebook had a data lab that they have entrusted to Cambridge Analytica to do various test. The personal data belonging to over fifty million Facebook users was being handled by a third party. However, Facebook CEO came out clearly to explain how they handle data.

Dell have not been on the rim light for being unethical so much. However, there are some complains that have been registered especially with the customer agents. Customers call with specific instructs with Dell customer agents promising to do that and then they never meet the customer instructions fully.

The company shall listen to all the ethical concerns of it stakeholders, and where feasible, use them to draft new ethical codes of conduct that will enable it to maintain its image as well as profitability.

Apple Inc. have especially been ruthless to their employees. When auditing they don’t include all their employees. In 2011, in their China stores, four workers died out of an explosion that occurred due to aluminum dust. Also, Apple have been accused of using slave labour to achieve their work.

There have been numerous cries from workers for working long hours daily and without any day off all week.

Apple will make it its responsibility to educate right across all layers of its organization, to ensure that its ethical strategy is tailor fit for the business.  It will ensure ethics training include vignette and theories that come from the company situations and experiences, so that all can more relate to real life issues. Training will focus on specific issues like health and safety, labor and human rights, proper work ethics, environmental operational impact, quality assurance, rewards systems, as well as suppliers and employees responsibilities.  This will ensure that overtime the levels of values and motives will be elevated to serve the company well, in its pursuit of mutually established goals and objectives.

“Multinational firms such as Google and Facebook are now paying tax in Australia based on profits earned there instead of shifting income abroad, the government has said.”

All the multinational companies’ including Google, Facebook, Dell and Apple are now remitting their full taxes to Australian federal government after a crackdown to all multinational companies.

All the four companies as I have discussed above seem to be conscious of their ethical responsibilities. Some companies like Dell seen to have done better in managing their ethical conducts. Facebook despite being on the headlines for sharing personal data with a third party came out clearly explaining their move.

I think, if these companies follow their commitment, their ethical statements, then they are performing well. On the rank I would give all the four companies an eight with Apple Inc. receiving a seven.

References

Alphabet Investor Relations. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2018, from https://abc.xyz/

Apple Inc. - Code of Conduct (Ethics Statement) - BUS100mlmuseAppleInc. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2018, from https://sites.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/bus100mlmuseappleinc/home/apple-inc-code-of-conduct

Ethics Statement - Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2018, from https://sites.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/bus100kdwyer/home/ethics-statement