Apple & Foxconn Case Study

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Foxconn: Impact of globalization on labor conditions.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd which trades as Foxconn Technology group or as the media calls it Foxconn has been in media limelight recently due to labor problems that have surfaced from the organization. Foxconn is a major equipment manufacturer supplier to electronics giants like Blackberry, Apple, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo Wii. The internet has several articles and controversies regarding the deplorable worker conditions and cases of suicides by the workers.

Foxconn has factories in Asia, Europe, Mexico and South America why is it that only China’s Foxoconn was in highlight and not any other country? While the Chinese factories happened to be the largest factories in China, these factories are also facilitated with dormitories and other infrastructure to host the workers and provide workers to go back at end of the 12 hour shift to relax and reenergize for the next shift. A quarter of the employees live in these so called dormitories. My Case study will analyze how the various news sources revealed the global sweatshop to the world and the reactions by the companies who were using Foxconn to manufacture electronic goods. The Chinese newspaper displayed Foxconn employees having social and psychological reasons leading to suicides whereas US news showed it as human rights violation. Both of them did not acknowledge the social justice and world economy aspects and steps that were taken by the electronics giants to rectify the problems that were being faced in Wuhan, China.

Central facts and assumptions

The central facts for Foxconn involved protest by 150 of the 32,000 employees at its campus in the city of Wuhan in China and suicides by 18...

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China Labor Watch. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/: http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/pro/proshow-127.html

Greene, J. (2012, September 25). CNet.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnet.com/news/riots-suicides-and-other-issues-in-foxconns-iphone-factories/

National Chamber Foundation. (March 2012). Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Economic Development in China. 7-12.

Sethi, S. P. (2012). Two Faces of Apple. Carnegie Council.

Shanghai, M. M. (2010, May 27). Inside Foxconn's suicide factory. Retrieved from The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/7773011/A-look-inside-the-Foxconn-suicide-factory.html

The Telegraph. (2012, August 22). Retrieved from www.telegraph.co.uk: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/9492839/Apple-and-Foxconn-improve-conditions-says-watchdog.html

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