S

ituation Analysis After Apple outsourced the manufacturing of products to foreign suppliers in the early 2000s, 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, Apples 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, Apples Labor Issues and PR Miseries).

I.

Testimonials To make matters worse, Apples unnamed former executives affirmed reports

about manufacturers labor abuses. One former executive told The New York Times, Weve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and theyre 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 Apples partnership with the Fair Labor Association indicates that Apple has done everything to prevent labor abuse in an email sent to Apples 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 Cooks 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 iPhones 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 Foxconns 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.

ompany According to Apples 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 privatelyrun, 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

the Business Insider article (Love, Apple Makes More Money Per Employee Than Exxon And Google).

I.

Principles On Which Apple Operates

Apples 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 Apples 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.

Apples 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

Financial Review (Foxconn Puts Apples Core On Display). Apples 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 Apples 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 Apples Supplier Code of Conduct and damaged Apples reputation as an exemplary corporate citizen.

A
i. ii. iii.

nalysis of Target Publics After following the crisis through various publications, the following

were identified as the relevant publics affected by this controversial issue: Customers: Apple consumers and buyers who use Apple products Producers: Apple employees Producers: Manufacturing supplier(s)

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 customers 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 employees 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. Apples 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

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 Apples 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 Apples 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

opinion polls through secondary research and interviews with employees through primary research.

O
ways.

bjectives 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, "Apples Labor Issues and PR Miseries). Overall, Apple wanted to tackle both of these problems: the issue of human rights and the issue of the organizations relationship with their publics being potentially damaged. In order to do this, Apples 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

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 Apples 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 Organizations Values

As the word spread about the crisis occurring at Foxconn, many began raising questions about Apples employment practices and standards. According to The New

York Times, BBC News Technology and The Times, people criticized Apple for using 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 Apples 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 medias portrayal of the company. The following objective was created in light of this aspect of the crisis: To increase Apple employees awareness of the companys values regarding their employees by 40% by January 2012. This objective specifically addresses the need for this target public to gain more awareness of Apples 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.

By increasing employee awareness of their actual values, Apple could subdue any potentially negative effects from the medias depiction of the company.

II.

Acceptance Objective: Maintain Apples Existing Customer Base

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

to purchase Apple products in the past. Apples main concern in this crisis was that they would continue to do so despite the potentially negative effects the media could have on their consumers opinions of Apple as a company. The following objective was created in response to this aspect of the crisis: To maintain 95% of Apples existing customer base by 2013. The desire to monitor and uphold their customer base would have driven Apples 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 Apples 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 Apples 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, "Apples 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 wont 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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rogramming I. Awareness Objective: Increase Apple Employees Awareness of

The Organizations 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 Apples 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. i.

Communication 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 publics perception had

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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 Apples 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 Apples factories and increasing transparency within the company. Prior to Cooks appointment to CEO of Apple, getting information from the company was extremely difficult. Now Cook is communicating more with the media and Apples 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

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Apples factories, Apple was known to be a company that did not talk to news me dia 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

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a way to be more transparent in their efforts to where the problem was in their factories. We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why weve 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 t erms 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.

Valuation Due to Apples 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

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strategic 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 employees awareness of the companys 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 Apples 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 emails and customer service phone calls specifically regarding consumers attitudes towards the companys 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 Apples 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 FLAs 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 Apples employees awareness of the companys 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 Apples 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?

onclusion 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 Apples 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. Apples tactics were very effective considering the targets in which they focused communication efforts. As it is stated earlier, Apples 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 companys employees reiterating the importance of the companys 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, Apples 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 Apples 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 Apples 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 course include product information, as well as updates involving additional aspects of the organization, such as working environments and company operations.

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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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orks Cited

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