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As Apple moves forward to address environmental problems in its supply chain, the opportunity is wide open to become a model for other companies to follow.
As USA Today reports, Apple is moving forward with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), a Chinese NGO, to address environmental problems in factories in its supply chain in China. The company has already put corrective actions in place in more than a dozen factories and is gearing up to identify and then address other existing environmental problems elsewhere.
Cynics are probably right that none of this would have happened unless Apple got in trouble. IPE released a detailed report in September on more than a dozen factories in Apple's supply chain that had been cited by government officials for environmental compliance problems, (The Other Side of Apple II).
As those of us who have worked in China heartily agree: by the time government cites a factory for environmental discharge problems, things are probably pretty bad. So this list of violators caught everyone's attention, including Apple executives.
However, I think most people would also agree that if Apple can get this right, a lot of companies will follow.
That's why we jumped into this with both feet. After four years of work in China in other sectors, I can tell you that it is not easy to find motivated and highly functioning international entities of any sort to solve the environmental problems caused by globalization.
As I have found to be the case with almost all companies, Apple's corporate responsibility programs now fall short of what is necessary to effectively address egregious environmental problems. But the company is stepping up. It is too early to say what its effort will amount to, but I have found there a genuine desire to get on top of this problem and get the job done right starting now. And the company is certainly capable of taking this on and becoming a model for other multinationals operating in the wild, wild east (The Ugly Side of Globalization).
Next Page: The five major links in responsible supply chains.
I'm not sure the IPE report
I'm not sure the IPE report is the actual reason Apple started taking action on its supply chain issues. It's not like Apple hasn't completely ignored many previous reports about issues in its supply chain. Sadly, I think Steve Jobs had to die before Apple was ever going to take responsibility for the environmental and labor aspects of its supply chain. Jobs was a visionary in so many ways, but if you watch the interviews where he's asked to address the reports of bad things happening in Apple's supply chain, it's clear he truly believed there was nothing major that needed changing. I don't have any inside information, but I believe that for years there have been employees at Apple who have been dying to use the *huge* purchasing power of Apple to change the entire tech manufacturing paradigm in China for the better. But they couldn't until now. And now, the changes are coming like a river. As if a floodgate of consciousness was suddenly and at-long-last opened at Apple. Obviously, Apple can't change the conditions of their supply chain overnight, but I'm relieved that Tim Cook appears to be giving people of conscience within Apple the chance to take some action. Either that, or they *finally* got the risk management memo.