Apple stakeholders

A stakeholder is defined as a person or group that has an investment, share, or interest

in something, as a business or industry. This is not just limited to someone who has
purchased stock in a company, which is defined as a shareholder. Apple incs aims are
to keep creating new and up to date products for their customers and also to keep
making profit and also to keep an edge over their competition.
Apple’s success is partly due to its ability to satisfy stakeholders and corporate
social responsibilities (CSR). Stakeholder groups impose demands that translate to
corporate social responsibilities, which influence firm performance. In Apple’s case,
stakeholders significantly affect the business in terms of customer perception and
sales revenues. Considering the continued high value of its brand, Apple effectively
accounts for stakeholders in its strategies and policies. For instance, the company
addresses stakeholders’ environmental concerns through a policy on sustainable
material sourcing. Apple has a firm and holistic approach in addressing the interests
of stakeholder groups significant to the business. These stakeholder groups compel
Apple to improve, and Apple affects them by satisfying their interests.
Apple’s stakeholders have varied concerns encompassing product quality and
function, business sustainability, employment practices, and financial performance.
These interests highlight the need for a holistic approach in corporate social
responsibility efforts, which Apple already uses in its aims to satisfy major
stakeholder groups.

Apple’s Stakeholder Groups

Apple considers the interests and concerns of a number of key stakeholders in its
policies and programs for corporate social responsibility. Stakeholder groups impose
varying demands in different aspects of business. In Apple’s case, the following
stakeholders are the most significant:

1. Customers/Consumers
2. Apple’s Employees
3. Investors
4. Employees of Suppliers and Distributors
Customers/Consumers.
Apple prioritizes customers as its top stakeholders in devising corporate social
responsibility strategies. This stakeholder group is composed of individual and
organizational buyers of Apple products. The main interest of customers is to have
effective and efficient products that are reasonably priced. Apple products have higher
price points. However, Apple’s premium pricing strategy is acceptable because it
matches the high quality and aesthetics of these products. The company also has
environmental programs for recycling and responsible sourcing to address customers’
demands for business sustainability. Thus, Apple’s corporate social responsibility
efforts satisfy the interests of customers as the top stakeholders of the business.

Apple’s Employees.
Employees are the second-priority stakeholders in Apple’s approach to corporate
social responsibility. This stakeholder group is composed of employees at Apple’s
facilities. The main interests of these stakeholders are proper compensation and career
development. Employees as a stakeholder group are important because they directly
determine Apple’s human resource capabilities to innovate and develop profitable
products. The firm addresses the interests of its employees through compensation
packages competitive in Silicon Valley. Thus, Apple’s corporate social responsibility
efforts satisfy the concerns and interests of employees as a major stakeholder group.

Investors.
Investors are typically major stakeholders and determinants of corporate social
responsibility programs in businesses. In Apple’s case, investors are interested in
maximizing the returns on their investments. The company effectively addresses this
stakeholder group through excellent financial performance. For example, Apple is
now one of the most profitable companies in the world. The firm maintains high profit
margins. Apple also has a strong financial position, which involves high liquidity
through large amounts of cash. The company has also managed to avoid debt. Based
on these corporate social responsibility conditions, Apple effectively satisfies the
interests of investors as stakeholders.
How did Apple communicate to these stakeholders?
INTERNALLY
Apple’s “suppliers employ more than 1.5 million people in 20 countries and every one
of those people is treated with dignity and respect” (Apple, 2016, Supplier
Responsibility Section). They “partner closely with suppliers to end bonded labour,
underage labour and excessive work hours” (Apple, 2016, Supplier Responsibility
Section). Apple communicated the core business issue of employee working
conditions to its suppliers and employees through many different methods, including:
1. Communicating with weekly reporting
2. Partnering with management and communicating daily
3. Receiving feedback through a new complaint system
4. Having an Apple team onsite within 24 hours
5. Interviewing worker’s daily

These new communication policies were set up after Apple “audited the factory in
2010”, (Apple, 2016, labour and human rights section) discovering factory violations
including “uncontrolled working hours and age discrimination during recruiting”
(Apple, 2016, labour and human rights section). After this audit, Apple “partnered
closely with management to help improve conditions for the 35,000 workers” (Apple,
2016, Supplier Responsibility section). This “need for change… highlights the
importance of internal communication” (Quirke, B 2012). It has been stated that “an
organisation’s employees constitute one of the most significant and challenging
groups for whom communication must be managed” (Durutta, N 2011). This conveys
the difficulty Apple faced in communicating with its employees at the supply
factories, before auditing the factory in 2010.
Apple introduced weekly reporting, which allows them to “work with suppliers and
the business partners to make changes in real time” (Apple, 2016, Supplier
Responsibility section). It was proven that this system was successful, as they
achieved “97 percent compliance across all workweeks” (Apple, 2016, Supplier
Responsibility section) in 2015, with “full-time employee hours averaging 55 hours
per week” (Apple, 2016, Supplier Responsibility section). This partnership program
also ensured daily communication, as “working with the suppliers instead of policing
them has improved their compliance significantly”. This is highlighted through the
concept that “it is a two-way effort that encourages employee engagement” (Durutta,
N 2011). This engagement ultimately suggests that internal communication ensures
“greater employee involvement and dialogue” (Quirke, B 2012). Apple also looks at
complaint systems to “encourage workers to report workplace violations and
retaliations” (Apple, 2016, labour and human rights section). Apple teams are “onsite
within 24 hours”, (Apple, 2016, labour and human rights section) offering their
support to the suppliers. They also interview workers daily, which highlights Apple’s
two-way communication with employees. This is important as “building trust,
dedication and loyalty among employees should be a primary goal of all managers”
(Durutta, N 2011).

EXTERNALLY

Apple communicates its core business issues through ways unlike any other tech-
company. Apple have communicated about the issue of employee working conditions
externally through:
1. Press releases
2. Progress report
3. Website
4. Letter from CEO
5. Media relations

Apple communicated these issues to its customers through multiple press releases on
their website. These press releases help update customers on any issues in the
organisation. A good reputation is important for Apple as all stakeholders rely on a
reputable organisation. For example, customers are usually concerned with the
“reputation for producing high quality, safe products…through ethical behaviour”
(Nicholas, A.J 2011). The press releases Apple released to the public highlighted
concerns and issues surrounding the working conditions that also led to the suicides of
the Foxconn suppliers. These were then circulated throughout the media, creating
awareness amongst its customers. While Apple have experienced “highs and lows in
reputation”, (Mattu, R 2015) they have “been most successful in re-establishing itself
at the top of the tree” (Mattu, R 2015). Through their “clarity about its purpose”
(Mattu, R 2015), Apple have been able to successfully communication their strategies
to customers. On their website, they also have updated yearly progress reports,
highlighting improvements in labour and human rights. These reports feature letters
by Jeff Williams, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, creating a connection and
communication online between Apple and its customers.

Unlike many large organisations, Apple do not use social media (refer to PESO).
Apple has an unusual social media presence, with no official Facebook and twitter
account, as “Apple doesn’t need to, nor does it have a history of, communicating
updates to either [Twitter or Facebook],” says Brian Solis, principal analyst at
Altimeter Group. (Kapko M, 2015). However, it is argued that “the way in which
communication occurs…is changing dramatically and quickly”, as “advances in
digital communication is changing how we communicate” (Young, A, Hinesly M,
2014). As Apple is one of the largest technology manufacturing companies in the
world, it is interesting that they do not use social media as a way to communicate to
its customers. In this instance, social media may have been used to circulate press
release information, informing customers of the factory audits that violated policies.
Despite the lack of social media presence, Apple have been able to retain customers
worldwide, which can be attributed by their other communication processes externally
and internally over the last few years.

Employees of Suppliers and Distributors.

Workers in Apple’s supply chain are also significant considerations in the company’s
corporate social responsibility efforts. These workers are indirect stakeholders in
Apple’s business, but determine the firm’s corporate social responsibilities. The main
interest of this stakeholder group is similar to the interests of Apple’s own employees,
such as proper compensation and job security. Also, this stakeholder group is
interested in ethical employment practices. To address these interests, Apple has a
Supplier Code of Conduct. The company monitors and imposes requirements on the
employment practices of firms in its supply chain. Part of Apple’s policy is to
terminate business relations with suppliers that continue to fail or refuse to satisfy this
Code of Conduct. Apple’s 2014 assessment of suppliers shows that 92% of suppliers
now comply with the 60-hour workweek rule. Thus, to a certain high degree, Apple’s
corporate social responsibility efforts satisfy the interests of the stakeholder group of
suppliers’ workers.
Apple’s CSR Performance in Addressing Stakeholders’ Interests
Apple has a considerably high performance in addressing its corporate social
responsibilities by satisfying the interests of stakeholders. The company satisfies the
interests of customers, Apple employees, and investors. However, Apple has the
opportunity to improve its corporate social responsibility performance in addressing
the interests of the workers of firms in its supply chain. Imposing rules on suppliers is
difficult, considering differences in organizational contexts. However, Apple has the
power to compel suppliers to comply with its Supplier Code of Conduct. Thus, the
company’s main corporate social responsibility effort should be to improve overall
compliance in its supply chain.
References
Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What we know and don’t know about corporate social
responsibility a review and research agenda. Journal of Management.

Apple Inc. Form 10-K, 2014.

Apple Info.
Avetisyan, E., & Ferrary, M. (2013). Dynamics of Stakeholders’ Implications in the
Institutionalization of the CSR Field in France and in the United States. Journal of Business Ethics.

Backer, L. C. (2013). Transnational Corporations’ Outward Expression of Inward Self-

Constitution: The Enforcement of Human Rights by Apple, Inc. Indiana Journal of Global Legal
Studies, 20(2).

Dhaliwal, D. S., Li, O. Z., Tsang, A., & Yang, Y. G. (2011). Voluntary nonfinancial disclosure
and the cost of equity capital: The initiation of corporate social responsibility reporting. The
Accounting Review, 86(1), 59-100.