How the US lost out on IPhone work Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Why did Apple replace “Made in America” with “Designed by Apple in California; Assembled in China”; that is, why did they move the manufacturing portion of their operations offshore? Do you support their decision? What might be some arguments against it?

In 2007, just after the launch of Apple’s iPhone in the market, the CEO, Steve Jobs had gathered all the top executives of the company in a conference hall and putout his iPhone from the pocket and showed them a dozen of tiny scratches on its plastic screen. He asked them that he would not sell his product with such a major defect and directed them to replace the plastic screen with an un-scratchable glass on immediate basis. For this purpose the company had consulted the Foxconn city to develop a number of accessories and work as an assembler for their iPhone and iPads. The company had shifted their manufacturing facilities to China and other Asian countries, i.e. Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc….Not only because of the cheaper labor of these countries, but also the efficiency and quality of their work and the skillful workforce in these countries. One of the executive of Apple Inc. commented about the speed and flexibility of the Chinese workforce and said that when a truck fully loaded with the screens of iPhone arrived at the Chinese plant near the midnight, the company had immediately arranged a workforce of 8,000 people and started fitting the glass screen into beveled frames. Just after a period of 96 hours, the Plant has produced more than 10,000 iPhones. Similarly, another executive had commented that when the company required about 8,700 industrial engineers to guide and monitor the 200,000 assembly line workers, the Chinese manufacturing facilities had arranged these people within a period of 15 days only, while in the USA this could be only possible in a period of 9 months or more. Therefore, the company had shifted its manufacturing facilities abroad and increased its revenues to $108 billion in 2011. I really support this initiative of the company because being a corporate entity, its major focus should be maximizing the shareholders’ value and earnings instead of creating job opportunities for the US citizens. However, most of the analysts and human rights organizations made a number of arguments against the company’s initiative of going abroad. They said that the company’s suppliers were using certain below standard and humiliating working environment for their employees, which had resulted in a number of workplace accidents, i.e. the explosion in the iPads assembling facilities and a number of other accidents in which employees lost their lives. Most of them also argued differently and said that being a US based company, Apple should help the country by creating a number of employment opportunities for its citizens and retaining its manufacturing facilities in the country, which will contribute towards its economic growth.

What is the impact of the recent wave or recalls on the GM supply chain? What role does sourcing and supplier management play in this situation?

The recent recall has evaluated a number of facts, which gives the investigators a deep insight into the actual matters of the problems faced by the General Motors. It has been evaluated that almost all the suppliers have informed the responsible authorities of the company on a timely basis regarding the flaws in their products. For example, on the investigation of the Delphi’s employees it has been found that the lead switch engineer of the GM, Raymond DeGiorgio, had rejected to upgrade the ignition switch in 2006 and didn’t record the fact in the company’s records with a new part number. It has also evaluated a number of other defects in the Chevrolet Cruze model, i.e. the air bags, which are manufactured by the Takata Corporation, can cause a rupture to the inflator due to incorrect assembling of the part. However, later on after proper investigation GM is found guilty of its ignorance.Moreover, the executives of GM have recognized the potential drawback of outsourcing and weak supply management. It is due to the ineffective supply chain management of the company that led it to such types of lawsuits and negatively affected the company’s brand image and corporate social responsibility...............................

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