...Apple: Human Rights Problem in China? For companies that rely on overseas workers, such as the Apple Company, there are accusations of a big and very important issue: human rights. It is the belief that every human, whether one is working or not, is entitled to the right of equality, freedom from enslavement, and freedom from discrimination. The Apple Company is accused of unsafe dormitories, overcrowding, and injuries in its factory over in China. Apple is an immensely large company and practically everyone on this planet knows the Apple name and their logo. For the Apple Company, to be accused of a human rights problem is problematic. It is an important situation that needs to be fixed because the company is one of the leading electronic manufacturers in the world and it stands as a first-rate and high quality company. Many electronic users, Apple users, and other rival companies are interested in what the future holds for the Apple Company. Users will also want to know how the company will respond and what they will do in this situation. According to Steven Foley, from The Independent, “in 2010, a spate of 13 suicides or attempted suicides at that factory, known as Foxconn City, first turned a spotlight on the companies Apple uses to build its devices.” Those incidents were one of the first problematic situations that put the Apple Company in the limelight. Foley states that any of the workers believe Apple needs to fix the problem of “long work hours, harsh management...
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...DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA: The Human Rights Challenge CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION China: World Economic and Manufacturing Centre Why Are Human Rights so Important for International Business? Chinese Legislation: Gap Between Theory and Practice p. 3 p. 4 p. 6 II. SPECIFIC ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Freedom of Association, the Right to Form and Join Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining 2. Working Conditions 3. Discrimination 4. Forced Labour 5. Forced Evictions 6. The Rights of Children 7. The Right to Freedom of Expression and Information p. 8 p. 12 p. 16 p. 20 p. 23 p. 26 p. 29 p. 32 p. 33 p. 34 p. 37 III. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO COMPANIES IV. CONCLUSION V. LEGAL STANDARDS AND SOURCES VI. CONTACT ADDRESSES 2 I. INTRODUCTION China: World Economic and Manufacturing Centre Over the years China has become one of the largest economies in the world and the manufacturing centre of the world. Since the seventies, China has sought joint venture partners and encouraged technology transfer through foreign investment. Chinese firms are successfully manufacturing products on behalf of numerous foreign companies. The Chinese government provides massive contracts to foreign firms in order to build up the infrastructure required for its industrialization. Many companies establish distribution networks in China in order to benefit from the large home-market and increasing purchasing power of Chinese consumers. Last but not least, in 2008 China organized the first...
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...1 discusses that a higher power determines human’s rights; whether they are granted by God as part of the divine plan for the universe or allocated by our own government, our rights are not inalienable. It is generally agreed upon that the most important function of government is to secure the rights and freedoms of individual citizens; but what rights are our democracies supposed to secure? Until this question is answered, there is little likelihood that we can correctly determine how a government can best secure them. The source is explaining that if we accept that a force gives our rights to us more powerful than man alone, we must also acknowledge the fact that they can be denied as well. The author’s perspective is that man creates government, and people cannot delegate a power that they do not possess. This source presents a negative perspective towards globalization because it illustrates that our rights only exist when our government says they do....
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...Saxan (Chen Shicai) Prof Warmbrand August 8, 2013 ENG 1203 Why Chinese Take a Different View on Human Rights: A Review of Literature China often faces the criticisms in human rights records. Comparing to the eagerly expectation of improving human rights situation from west world, the response of China government and Chinese seems far from warm. These strange reactions raise an issue. Furthermore, I will try to find the possible causes and the consequences of this issue, and finally, put forward some possible solutions. The Issues China has many issues in human rights. The beginning of critiques comes from the Tiananmen Accident. As Wan Ming pointed out, “Western rights pressure since 1989 has had an indirect impact”. Since the US and some other countries put strong pressure on Chinese government, Beijing realized that legal form is a necessity in human rights progress (Wan). However, after noticing the democratization could “erode the party dominance”, CPC (Communist Party of China) choose to resist the pressure from Western (Wan). The most severe critiques of China’s human rights come from the one child policy. China adapted birth control since the population pressure since Mao era; and then, China became the only country that “using legislation and administration power to control the birth rate”(Chen). Since China has a traditional patriarchal mentality misconception, there are many baby girls being abandoned. As Chen cited the statistic from Sarah Lubman, “Close...
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...Kaamashri Latcha Every year, the United States studies and presents reports on hu- man rights practices in more than 190 countries around the world. In the 2010 Human Rights report, China was chastised by the U.S. for its poor human rights record. The Chinese government has been accused of imprisoning citizens for practicing their religious faith and op- pressing freedom of expression and information. The one child per family policy has been attacked continuously by the U.S. and they have also con- demned the arrest, detention and disappearance of Chinese citizens. This latest human rights report issued by the U.S. has highlighted many human rights transgressions in China. Yet the U.S. criticism on China’s human rights has been contradicted by China. As the fastest developing economy in the world, China is intent on defending its position where human rights are concerned. The two countries have had dialogues on human rights issues, the latest being held on April 27-28, 2011 in Beijing. The discourse came after prolonged foot- dragging on the part of both nations; talks were suspended for a few years. Both countries have not been able to publicly accept their human rights errors, but each has been focusing on violations committed by the other. Against the backdrop of military buildup by both countries, the con- troversy over whether the U.S. is morally justified in criticizing China’s hu- man rights can have far reaching and devastating effects for the entire world. The two “powers”...
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...Google in China’s World Lauri Mak Ottawa University October 19, 2012 Abstract This paper will discuss Google, one of the largest internet search engines decision to enter the China internet market and the deviation against their very own corporate ethics policies. It will identify the key stakeholders involved and will look at the primary non-marketing issues and analysis each issue. Introduction In 1996 Larry Page and Sergey Brin began developing a search engine called BackRub while enrolled at Stanford University. In 1998 the company was renamed Google Incorporated and launched their search engine from a garage in Santa Margarita California. First held as a private company, they went public in August of 2004. Google grew extremely quickly by taking their single language website and adding different products including but not limited to the development of various forms of advertising and web applications from a variety of different tasks as found on the company website http://Google.com. Google.com quickly grew to be the most popular search engine in the world. “Their technology used an algorithm to find possible Web pages with search criteria provided by the user. Google’s PageRanktm technology measures the importance of different Web pages by solving an equation with more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms.” (Martin, 2011) Google’s decision to enter the Chinese market was based on greed and increased market share rather than their company’s highly publicized...
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...Levi Strauss & Co. and China From: Case Studies in Business Ethics 5th ed. Al Gini (pp. 294-298) The market that is the people's Republic of China consists of more than 1 billion consumers and offers low production costs, but its human rights violations have long been condemned by international bodies. In 1993 Levi Strauss & Co. (LS & Co.) faced one of its more difficult decisions in a long corporate history. Would it continue to conduct business in this enormously promising market or honor its relatively high ethical standards and withdraw? Levi Strauss: History and Ethical Stance Founded in the United States in 1873, LS&Co. enjoyed consistent domestic growth for generations and began overseas operations during the 1940s. The company became the world's largest clothing manufacturer in 1977 and achieved $2 billion in sales by the end of the decade. Having offered stock to the public during the 1970s to raise needed capital, management decided fourteen years later to reprivatize in a $2 billion leveraged buyout, the largest such transaction to date. Management's reasons included its heightened ability to "focus attention on long-tem interests (and)… to ensure that the company continues to respect and implement its important values and traditions." By 1993, LS&Co. Produced merchandise in 24 countries and sold in 60. LS&Co. has been a leader among U.S.-based corporations in recognizing the importance of business ethics and community relationships. Two...
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...GOOGLE IN CHINA Google China was formed in 2005 headed by Kai-Fu Lee, who was a former Microsoft executive and the founder of Microsoft Research Asia. Microsoft sued Google and Kai-Fu Lee for the move, but reached a confidential settlement. Google's Beijing based office was located at NCI Tower. A Chinese-language based interface was designed for google.com and was launched in 2006 (google.cn) in which the results were censored by the Chinese Government. Q1. What considerations are relevant to a Government's decisions concerning the internet governance? Please use context of this case study. (5 marks) The People’s Republic of China has a socialist government rather than a democracy, thereby aiming on complete filtering of the flow of information amongst their masses. Internet, being the largest and such an open platform for the whole world to share and express their views can have a significant impact on the thinking of the people. Therefore China being aware of the consequences of free information to its public has censored the internet content mostly in their favor. Relevant considerations for the Government regarding internet Governance: Censorship on Chinese historical events where they have blocked certain key words so that the public don’t get access to certain search results that might start a rebellion movement. Some of the key words include ‘Tibet’, ‘Dalai Lama’, Chinese forces activities in Tibet etc. Every nation has a specific culture, but Internet is a...
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...Companies (MNC's) have toward human rights ZHOU QING Herzing University The responsibility Multi-National Companies (MNC's) have toward human rights The development of the world economy as a major driving force of globalization multinational companies, in particular, play an active role in the development of the economic development of the host country has been widely recognized by the international community, the role of multinational corporations on the economy to improve the enjoyment of human rights conditions has become the consensus of the people. However, the negative impact of the activities of transnational corporations or work for human rights has often been overlooked. In the 1950s and 1970s, the United Fruit Company and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, involved in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Guatemala and Chile scandal was revealed, causing the international community, especially the developing countries concerned about the activities of transnational corporations, and led to the development of countries expand movement multinationals nationalization. In addition, multinational companies are still developing countries, a large scale in grab natural resources, and corrosion of the activities of the government of the nation-state. In order to chase profits in global multinational companies also often in partnership with repressive governments engaged in large-scale violations of human rights activists, or the implementation...
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...CHINA’S ROLE Trades Issues China is one of the world’s largest economies and an important trading partner for the EU. It’s also one of the biggest traders in the world, it is now the EU’s second trading partner behind the United States and the EU is China’s biggest trading partner. It’s being said that the EU is now committed to start trading relations with China. However, China needs to ensure to trades fairly, respects intellectual property rights and meets its WTO obligations. It’s well known that China is placed in a good position talking about trades, but this doesn’t mean that China is going to settle for this. This country has many possibilities to continue expanding their connections around the world, but of course there are always boundaries that are there to be crossed. One of these opportunities it’s the one mentioned before with the UE. So in order to open these doors with the UE, China wants to propose to support the national security, transparency and sustainable trade. These with the hope of demonstrate that China is committed to conduct business responsibly. Environmental Degradation The cost of environmental degradation in China was about $230 billion in 2010, three times that in 2004. This is based on costs arising from pollution and damage to the ecosystem and it is a high price that China is paying for its rapid industrialization. China is looking forward to transform from the explosive growth of the past 30 years to the sustainable...
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...Google in China Case Study 1. From a business perspective, what are the arguments for and against entering the market for Internet search in China in 2005? There were many arguments for and against Google going into China like legal, cultural, and ethical challenges facing Google when the decision was made to provide services to China. When Google entered China, locations and hosted servers were maintained by Chinese employees in addition to strict censorship regulations governed by the Chinese government. Google was faced with managing employees and a business that followed different laws and cultures compared to their American counterparts. Arguments For | Argument Against | Rapidly growing internet population | Strict Government regulation | Source of revenue and talent | Cultures | One of the fastest growing economies | Breaking own “Code of ethics” | | Violating Ethical Standards | 2. From an ethical perspective, what are the arguments for and against entering the market for Internet search in China in 2005? From the ethical perspective Google has an obligation as a Multinational corporation toward human rights, corruption, and freedom of speech. Google’s values are to make the world’s information “universally accessible and useful” and to its informal corporate motto, “Don’t Be Evil”? Going into China the Chinese government as a communist government did not want information made readily available to the public for any content pertaining to certain...
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...China Town Hall By Gradi Muyembi The China Town Hall of 2014 was a wonderful and unique experience from listening to the president carter to discussing about the subject in our community after Dr Melinda's speech. “Local Connection and National reflexion” was an important theme for this event. It allows us to find how we could increase our relationship with China in terms of business and other financial opportunity since China is actually the 2nd largest economy of the world. But at the same time it gives us an opportunity to think about the Chinese policy and the environmental and human rights issues that spoil the country. First, getting a good relationship between China and USA is the key to stability in the world. China is and will always be a good partner for the USA. As the president Carter said, since 1978, both countries economy grew significantly after the partnership. I think USA is the world leader in terms of new technologies and industries, but the Chinese workforce stays the most competitive in the world certainly due to his massive population which is almost 15% of the world's population. Today China has a pretty great defense system, so if USA-China relationship get really worse, I think the world 3 rd war will be at the door. But I think this is why we have this reflexion to understand the importance of each other which should bring us in Partnering instead fighting so that every one can win. The Other reflexion about this event will certainly be on the environmental...
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...over the world have a choice of either becoming a solution to the problems bedeviling the world or join in and add to these problems. Global warming, corrupt practices, involvement of child labor in the supply chain are some of the problems occasioned by the growth and expansion of multinational corporations. It is incumbent upon these businesses to ensure that they operate ethically and by so doing avoid these dilemmas. Businesses are also expected to actively participate in upholding human rights. The Global Compact proposes presents the framework and guiding principles that can help these MNC’s navigate past these dilemmas as they enter new growth environments. This paper will report on the issues raised on the Bloomberg Interview and the Four Corners Program on Apple. The Global Compact (GC) is a proposal from the United Nations, which asks companies, MNCs included, to embrace and inculcate universal principles in their company operations and partner with the UN to ensure that human rights violations are not perpetuated in the business world (Rasche, et al., 2012). The UN GC has grown to become a crucial platform through which the UN gets to engage and interact constructively with the numerous enlightened global businesses. The GC’s primary goal is to encourage businesses to engage in businesses as forces of good and not evil. Multinational corporations are impacted by the GC which expects them to conduct their businesses is ethical manners. The Global Compact is...
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...Hi Darryl, Would you please review our debate statement? Opening statement: We believe that China should give up the one-child policy. The disadvantages of China’s one child policy are many. It has caused appalling human rights abuses in China, including forcible abortions and sterilizations. Since the policy went into effect, China has had a significant gender imbalance, an abnormal sex ratio. China’s rapidly aging population—combined with lower fertility rates—is expected to present significant social and economic challenges. It also brings other problems, for example, the "four-two-one" problem and unequal enforcement. Argument 0: One-child policy benefits exaggerated The government states that 400 million births were prevented by the one-child policy until 2011; this claim is disputed as official propaganda by Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, and Cai Yong from the Carolina Population Center at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, who put the number of prevented births from 1979 to 2009 at around 100 or 200 million. Argument 1: Low fertility rate can’t maintain the sustainable development of society. According to the sixth census population, currently one couple only has 1.2 children on average. In cities, the number is less than 0.9. Even for people from countryside, it is 1.5. Under ideal mathematic model, the fertility rate should be 2.1. The 1.2 fertility rate means the number of population decrease 40% every generation...
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...1. Do you think the U.S. government should consider human rights when granting preferential trading rights to countries? What are the arguments for and against taking such a position? A. China is frequently cited as a violator of human rights, trade with the U.S. is very important to China, as China views the U.S. as an important market. The U.S. is also an important source of certain products. Thus, the U.S. has some leverage with trade when trying to influence China’s human rights policies. For this policy to have much effect, however, other nations important to China must adopt similar policies. Otherwise China will simply choose to work with other countries, and U.S. consumers and producers may be more negatively impact than the Chinese. Another concern with tying MFN status to human rights is that denying MFN may make the human rights situation worse rather than better. By engaging in trade, the income levels in China will increase, and with greater wealth the people will be able to demand and receive better treatment. 2. Whose interests should be the paramount concern of government trade policy - the interests of producers (businesses and their employees) or those of consumers? A. The long run interests of consumers should be the primary concern of governments. Unfortunately consumers, each of whom may be negatively impacted by only a few dollars, are less motivated and effective lobbyists than a few producers that have a great deal at stake. While in some instances...
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