Apple and Its Suppliers: Corporate Social Responsibility
Individual Case Paper
Jack Aube
IB540.01 Global Business
Professor Hall
March 7, 2021
“People come first in everything we do.” This is the first quote one can find when
viewing Apple’s Supplier Responsibility page on their website. When consumers think of Apple,
they imagine the company’s sleek, powerful tech products like iPhones and MacBooks, or their
sprawling campus located in Cupertino, California. However, there was a stark difference
between the work Apple was doing in Silicon Valley and the labor they put their employees
through at their suppliers in foreign countries. In the case, the primary issue with Apple was their
lack of labor standards at Foxconn, a supplier in China. The issues with Foxconn were unknown
to the general public up until 2009, when a factory worker committed suicide after losing an
iPhone prototype. This event started a snowball effect, with 18 more workers attempting suicide
and 14 workers perishing at the Foxconn Facilities. It was revealed that poor labor practices and
unsafe working conditions led to the unfortunate demise of these workers. This event pushed
Apple’s social responsibility issues even further into the limelight and they began working with
