Information technology has facilitated the establishment of numerous organizations to promote communication and information sharing through IT. One of the companies established is Apple Inc., which has progressively grown and enhanced communication on a global level since its launch in 1977 ( Clarke & Boersma, 2017) . The company is responsible for mobile communication media and services while consequently developing programs, services, and networking solutions internationally. Similarly, Apple Inc. has invested in the manufacturing, marketing, and sales of mobile devices, personal computers, and digital music players. This paper aims at evaluating a significant challenge faced by the company, its resolution strategy, and possible future recommendations. As mentioned, the company has invested in a variety of products and services ranging from the iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod and Apple Watch to the Apple TV; all of which have identified as luxury devices over the years ( Clarke & Boersma, 2017) . Additionally, the incorporation of third party digital content and applications have become a robust foundational pillar for the brand as most competitors fail to deliver the exceptional quality and value for money provided by the company.
Key Stakeholders
Research has identified that the success and continued sustainability of Apple Inc. as an organization is due to its ability to fully satisfy its key stakeholders and corporate social responsibilities. Based on the influence of stakeholders’ demands on the company, Apple is effectively able to meet its corporate social obligations, which are further reflected in its performance ( Stephan, 2017) . The stakeholders who ensure the company's efficiency in holistically improving their products and services include the customers, its employees, principal investors, and financiers as well as the suppliers, distributors, and their employees.
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The customers are individuals who remain consistently invested in Apple's products and services and hence defined as the top stakeholders for the company. Their primary interest is the accessibility to affordable products that promise longevity and high quality to provide value for their money. Apple's employees, on the other hand, are considered second priority whose main interests revolve primarily around appropriate compensation and active career development. While investors are a significant aspect of Apple's success, the two significant stakeholders discussed above have ensured the prevailing sustainability of the brand in the current market.
However, investors are interested in maximizing the returns on their investments, which is fulfilled by the company's exceptional financial performance. The suppliers and their employees are consequently considered critical stakeholders based on the fact that they determine their corporate social responsibility ( Stephan, 2017) . The consideration of these stakeholders is observed in their vision and mission statements which focus primarily on providing high quality user experience to customers who purchase Apple products and services. The company further sees itself as a significant contribution to the IT industry currently and in the future and hence its vision.
Apple's strict principles and beliefs led to the creation of a code of conduct and ethics which focus primarily on ensuring effective supply chain management. The company requires that suppliers' and their employees' labor and human rights are protected. The code of conduct emphasizes anti-discrimination and fair treatment, as well as the protection of workers' wages and benefits. Consequently, the code of ethics emphasizes more on business integrity, whistleblower protection, as well as the protection of intellectual property ( Clarke & Boersma, 2017) . These codes of ethics and conduct ensure the organization's operations run smoothly while consequently guaranteeing the overall performance based on the fulfillment of all stakeholders' needs.
Organizational Challenge
Based on the severe emphasis on appropriate conduct of all its employees', Apple risks potential challenges which could damage its reputation. However, some problems have already been resolved by the company due to effective organizational leadership, which facilitates a productive corporate culture capable of handling unprecedented ethical issues. A significant challenge, therefore, is misconduct which undermines the ethical principles for which the company stands. Misconduct may be observed in various ways, such as the lowering of product quality, privacy for customers, and the company's sustainability.
Apple has experienced success and increasing revenues due to an expanding clientele base due to its assurance of high quality products and services that will ensure customers experience value for their money. This has consequently proven effective through the identification of the appropriate target audience as well as understanding its needs and demands ( Johnson, 2017) . Ethical misconduct has proven to lead to risks regarding the quality of products and services provided to customers, as observed in the case of the iPhone 4, which has been associated with reception issues. This further led to the lack of endorsement of the product by numerous companies and hence, the introduction of compensation programs and products to resolve the issue.
Similarly, previous ethical misconduct has led to employees disregarding consumer privacy as depicted by Apple's revelation that specific features on their devices access the individual's location. Both customers and the federal government saw this stance as a violation of individual privacy and hence the need for effective communication channels to reduce similar cases in the future. Additionally, the company resolves this issue by announcing that users could disable the feature despite its apparent ineffectiveness. This then resulted in the provision of new software which allowed for enabling and disabling of the location of the device depending on the customer's preference.
According to scholars, Apple has reduced its environmental impact at its factories ( Stephan, 2017) . Nevertheless, this continues to be ethical misconduct for Apple as it defies the company's principles which emphasize on the need to ensure a green environment. Studies reveal Apple products and devices produce 9.6 million metric tons of metric gases which affect the environment severely ( Clarke & Boersma, 2017) . Another way in which Apple's ethical conduct has been criticized is with regards to its product launch as customers are then forced to keep disregarding older devices for newly upgraded devices provided by the company ( Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015) . Numerous devices are then discarded and hence, the introduction of recycling initiatives by the company.
Over the years, Apple has pursued various cases of intellectual property theft as seen from the notable lawsuits against numerous companies. However, some cases involved Apple's lack of ethical conduct, such as the case regarding the domain name " iTunes.co.uk ." While this domain name belonged to an individual who redirected users to a company that was a direct competitor of Apple, the latter wanted to purchase the domain name and hence used a mediator who ruled in favor of Apple. This then resulted in multiple complaints from smaller companies arguing that Apple was favored to due its brand name and prestige.
Challenges Addressed
According to research, there exist various theories proposing the reasons behind Apple's success and continued sustainability ( Miller & Laurie, 2018) . However, one key factor remains its undisputed leadership as it continues to hold firm and practical leadership positions. Despite the different leadership styles accompanying each new executive at Apple, there are two notable leaders to which the company's success can be attributed; Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. Steve Jobs focused primarily on Apple's critical stakeholders, as mentioned above and ensured engagement, employee involvement, and the introduction of incentives, which encouraged job motivation.
Tim Cook, on the other hand, has boldly raised the financial standing of Apple with a current market capitalization of $1 trillion ( Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015) . As discussed above, there exist numerous cases of ethical misconduct which continues to be a challenge for Cook and hence the resolution of the same in the annual supplier responsibility progress report as such issues as the environmental hazards are addressed in their respective supply chain locations. The organizational leaders have further focused on improving the aspect of product quality as they have a closed system that controls every part of the supply chain from manufacturing to retailing.
This promises to efficiently resolve the issues associated with product quality and privacy, as Apple's organizational leaders focus primarily on the subject. Additionally, the leaders have developed normative strategies through which the company shifts the burdens of cost and production to other companies in the supply chain despite maintaining strict control over their productions. These strategies could have been done more effectively to ensure that the company's reputation remains flawless.
Recommendations to Future Leaders
Scholars define ethical leadership as a form of governance that is considerate of respect for others' ethical beliefs and values ( Hoch et al., 2019) . Consequently, it involves values and morals that are both common and unique among people. Ethical leaders, although rare, exhibit a set of various characteristics that often govern their decision-making processes as well as their socialization. Scholars have, for example, identified that a significant characteristic of an ethical leader is justice, which allows for the lack of unfair employee treatment or discrimination ( Hoch et al., 2019). Claims reveal that Apple employees in regions where there exist supply chains suffer from exploitation based on their race and ethnicity. This text thus recommends the incorporation of ethical regional managers and leaders to improve Apple's ethical conduct.
Future leaders should, therefore, maximize fairness and equality as well as the lack of discrimination, which then promotes respect within an organization. Respect for other people's beliefs and values has been identified as a trait of an ethical leader who listens attentively and corrects team members with compassion. While Apple's leaders invested in this, it has proven ineffective in the various regions where employees complain of low wages and labor exploitation. Accordingly, ethical leaders should be brave and courageous enough to support strict principles that undermine ethical misconduct within the workplace and in turn, promote a productive working environment.
Studies further reveal the four stages of principle-centered leadership such as the personal level which then reveals one's core moral values (London & Mone, 2016). Similarly, the interpersonal step involves team-building capabilities as well as the incorporation of trust as a foundational pillar for these teams. Leaders should further demonstrate ethical leadership at the managerial level to empower others to make appropriate and practical decisions while consequently guiding the implementation processes of these decisions. The organizational level then involves the synchronization of one's goals with those of the organization to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
Furthermore, leaders should consider investing in demonstrating corporate social responsibility and in turn, reveal ethics and integrity. While thousands of organizations strive to maximize profits and minimize costs, they fail to give back to society. Principled leaders should, therefore, include this as a primary objective for the company to share both energy and profits with the community through the promotion of social welfare (London & Mone, 2016). Ethical leaders understand that they must contribute to the economic growth of the communities within which they are located or risk losses due to economic underdevelopment. Scholars have therefore defined this as the third element of principled leadership.
Recommendations for Apple Inc
As discussed above, Apple's primary area of concern is ethical misconduct, which has raised international concerns since its identification. While there are various cases of ethical misconduct discussed, this text recommends the incorporation of multiple factors which will prove useful in improving this situation. The company's CEO, Tim Cook, should focus primarily on strict policies and codes of ethics with regards to contracted companies in the supply chain. This will address the issues associated with the lack of reception in Apple devices as well as the production of high quality products that guarantee customer privacy ( Evans, 2017) . Similarly, Evans (2017) reports that the prevalence of child labor in countries such as China where Apple has contracted manufacturing companies.
The organizational leaders should, therefore, emphasize on the zero tolerance to child labor policy and integrate it into the supplier code of ethics with severe repercussions included. Similarly, to minimize the cases of employee exploitation and the lack of appropriate wages, Apple should conduct comprehensive audits multiple times annually to detect any transgressions or abnormalities in the financial statements of contracted companies. Similarly, regional leaders of these supply chain organizations should be critically evaluated to determine their competence and level of morals, which will then improve the ethical misconducts reported.
Consequently, while some scholars contend that Apple should build their products in the US and hence stop outsourcing these services, this essay finds that this fails to be effective due to numerous reasons. First, the US lacks with regards to the amount of expert labor produced in China ( Evans, 2017) . There fail to be enough experts for the job as well as the fact that there would have to be more workers employed and hence increased costs for Apple. China is beneficial based on its providence of expert individuals who produce high quality products at relatively low prices. However, this text proposes the use of a hands-off approach with regards to worker welfare.
This will save the organization numerous lawsuits and cases that tarnish its reputation and in turn, promote ethical conduct as the leaders can control and manage the products effectively. Additionally, this would ease the burden of being invested in all aspects of the company's manufacturing, marketing, and retail processes. The organization would be adequately equipped to market and retail their products and hence the reduced ethical risks. Increasing communication and transparency within the organization will also prove useful based on the fact that principled leaders who encourage the same experience legendary success and ensure the sustainability of the company.
Based on the fact that there may exist challenges with regards to Apple maintaining a hands-off approach to worker welfare, the company should then invest heavily in external companies in which they have contracted for these processes. Component suppliers and contracted companies should be well compensated to ensure maximum productivity and in turn, hold them accountable in the cases of ethical misconduct. While research by Khan, Alam and Alam (2015), suggests that Apple is pursuing this option, scholars find that it's involvement and investment is inadequate and hence fails to be effective.
In conclusion, this essay has identified a significant organizational challenge faced by Apple Inc. Similarly, a brief description of the company has detailed its products and services as well as its vision and mission. Key stakeholders have further been identified as customers, employees, investors, and suppliers, as well as their concerned employees. Furthermore, despite the company's growth and financial success since its launch, research has revealed numerous flaws in the company's ethical conduct and organizational structure.
However, this essay has focused primarily on the most significant issue, which is ethical misconduct and therefore, numerous examples relating to the challenge. Instances of misconduct have been identified in the company's lack of customer satisfaction with regards to quality and the provision of privacy to its customers. Additionally, various cases of intellectual property theft have been associated with Apple as well as favoritism and reported acts of worked exploitation and child abuse. The text has further evaluated effective strategies through which Apple and future leaders can avoid ethical misconduct.
References
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Evans, D. S. (2017). Why the dynamics of competition for online platforms leads to sleepless nights but not sleepy monopolies.
Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases . Nelson Education.
Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., & Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management , 44 (2), 501-529.
Johnson, C. E. (2017). Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow . Sage Publications.
Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of internal and external environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management , 3 (6), 955-961.
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