Apple vs. Walmart

Parent Cafe
1

<p>

</p>

<p>Lookingforward raised this question in the Walmart thread, I thought it deserves a new thread about this. No question that Walmart carries a lot of their stocks made in China, but few CCers really question about Apple.</p>

<p>Well, Apple product is manufactured by Chinese labor, Apple escapes the media spot light because the company which manufactures Apple product(we call it OEM manufacturer) shoulders all the negative publicity. This OEM for Apple is called Foxconn or its parent Hun Hai, NASD: HNHPF. Foxconn is one of the 50 largest company in the world, they employee 1 million people world wide, but mainly in China. Foxconn’s facility in China is as big as a small to medium city USA. Except a few, all employees are housed on site, in one kind of dorm or the other. In one of the facility, Shanzhen, Foxconn hires 400,000 employees.</p>

<p>In May of 2010, Employees in Foxconn’s Shanzhen facility started to jump off the roof. First it was considered as an individual incident and was ignored by the press. However, the movement continues, one by one, day by day, when the 12th employee jumpped off the roof on May 26th, the media started focus on the situation and brought it to the headlines. All told, from May to August, 2010, there were 20 employees jumped off the roof and or suicided. The owner of Foxconn(Mr. Gou, the richest man in Taiwan) moved on to the campus and brought in 100’s phychiatrist to handle the problem. In the mean time China BLOCKed all media reporting from the Foxconn’s facility to “avoid copycats in other areas”. </p>

<p>And you know what? Foxconn since had announced that they are moving “some” of the facilities in Shanzhen to inland Chengdo…Away from the spot light…</p>

<p>Then comes the May 2011, Chengdo Foxconn explosion incident, 3 died…</p>

<p>That is the story behind your iphone and ipad … The hippest device made by WHO?</p>

<p>BTW, Apple pays Foxconn no more than $10 to $20 for its iphone, soup to nuts including shipping, not sure if the tech support included or not. The balance of the cost are all design, marketing, advertising, public relations and overhead as such.</p>

2

<p>Awesome post! I can’t wait to see some responses from the Apple-ites.</p>

3

<p>Why is this a question of hip V un-hip? Do you really look at criticism towards the biggest retailer in the world as a form of class warfare? Look a little closer at how big Walmart is and exactly how their procurement policies affect manufacturing in this country and them we can talk. And I am talking about manufacturing accross the board, not just electronics. Walmart is that big.
Apple is small potatoes.
I would love to hear from other posters,like myself, who actually run a business in the US who are struggling with this. Come on there has to be someone who knows what it’s like to try to stem the tide. Not just Walmart frequenters who think that O’l Sam Walton was just a regular fellah runnin the local dry goods store and lookin out fer regular folks. Not like them Arugala eatin Apple hipsters.</p>

4

<p>Never considered myself an Apple fan, but since I commented on the other thread, I should post some thoughts here, too.</p>

<p>Not a fan of the manufacturing practices of either company (and hold no stock in either). One BIG difference is that the former invents its technology-rich products which lead to revolutionary changes in the way we communicate by catalyzing the creation of a global wireless network (think Facebook, Twitter, Arab Spring, 99-Percenters, etc.) vs the latter simply resells things that were being sold elsewhere.</p>

5

<p>Apple is small potatoes. Funny. Fanboy in the room?</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>All Foxconn does is assembly. There’s a dozen other companies around the world that build the components that go into it, that cost around $180 or so. And then there’s shipping, software development, patent licensing, etc., these all add to the cost of the phone.</p>

<p>[Infographic:</a> How Much Does Each Piece of Apple’s iPhone Cost? - Nicholas Jackson - Technology - The Atlantic](<a href=“Infographic: How Much Does Each Piece of Apple's iPhone Cost? - The Atlantic”>Infographic: How Much Does Each Piece of Apple's iPhone Cost? - The Atlantic)</p>

<p>Is Apple paying Foxconn a “fair” price for assembly? I don’t know. If you look at the teardown sites you’ll see it’s not that hard to put together.</p>

7

<p>"Apple is small potatoes. Funny. Fanboy in the room? "</p>

<p>compared to Walmart…you bet</p>

<p>Run the numbers</p>

8

<p>^^
But what if Apple ceased to being “small potatoes” at some point? What would you say then? At what point would you decry Apple?</p>

9

<p>Apple market Cap 376 Billion, Wal-Mart Market Cap 190 Billion…</p>

10

<p>Walmart’s revenues: $430-ish billion
Apple’s revenues: $100-ish billion</p>

<p>While Apple is currently only 1/4 the size of Walmart, Apple is growing an order of magnitude faster or more.</p>

<p>And $100 billion isn’t exactly chump change.</p>

11

<p>Hey lets talk about NOW, but in the meantime, NO I DO NOT LIKE TO SEE APPLE PRODUCTS MANUFACTURED OVERSEAS></p>

<p>Artlovers: Market Cap is irellevent in this scenario. This is about perceived class warfare.
Have you done business with Wal Mart? Have sat across from that table in Arkansas?
Let’s talk about the company who has the single biggest effect on manufacturers in this country. The biggest gorilla in the room.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>When Apple stops inventing and innovating in the US.</p>

13

<p>I don’t think any of us like to see products manufactured overseas. At the same time, how many of us are willing to pay/can afford to pay significantly higher prices for something to have it made in the US? </p>

<p>I admit to using price as a criteria for my purchases. That is why I don’t/can’t buy a Prius, for example, even though I recognize how much better these types of cars are for the environment. That is why I can buy an iPhone 3G for $99, but I could never afford to buy it for $400.</p>

<p>Am I willing to pay $100 for the pair of jeans is made in the US compared to $35 for the pair made in Sri Lanka or someplace like that?</p>

<p>Bottom line, we don’t like that our US companies manufacture overseas, but do we put our money where our mouth is and only buy made in US?</p>

14

<p>Bottom line, we don’t like that our US companies manufacture overseas, but do we put our money where our mouth is and only buy made in US?</p>

<p>Bottom line is- are our actions solely influenced by our bottom line, or do we hold values that influence how we spend our time and money?</p>

15

<p>Humans are such complex creatures! We have so many variables and reasons for the choices we make, and we are often inconsistent even within ourself.</p>

<p>I shop at WalMart, and look for price as a criteria. Part of that is because 16 years ago our family made the decision for my husband to quit work and be a stay at home dad. Then six years ago we made the decision for me to have my pay cut in half to work for a nonprofit. So, we live very simply. We can say that we are living our values, but we also have a very tight bottom line! As a result, I have to weigh global social justice issues against my family’s well-being (including the ability to send my kids to college) and the need to be part of local social justice. </p>

<p>I’m sure most of us are the same: our values do reflect what we do, how we spend, but we can’t always be consistent on everything.</p>

16

<p>*Quote:</p>

<h1>At what point would you decry Apple?</h1>

<p>When Apple stops inventing and innovating in the US. *</p>

<p>???</p>

<p>So, it’s ok to have techies design here…but ok to have manufacturing elsewhere? don’t many companies do that and many here don’t like that either???</p>

17

<p>mom2collegekids, please read my first post on this thread. As I said, I’m not a fan of manufacturing practices of Apple, but if I had to pick one vs the other, I’d go with the innovator and inventor, Apple. When Apple shifts its innovation abroad as some co’s do, I’ll lump it with Walmart. </p>

<p>Innovation and inventions are what made the US the world leader, and, according to the MIT President, revival of high tech manufacturing is what can bring us back on track:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/opinion/manufacturing-a-recovery.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/opinion/manufacturing-a-recovery.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

<p>More in the article.</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>Of course Apple is the target of criticism over its manufacturing practices. The play, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” has been the darling of American intelligentsia since it hit the road last year:</p>

<p>[Mike</a> Daisey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Daisey]Mike”>Mike Daisey - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>Has anyone written an e-mail to Apple questioning their practices? If you had done so while Jobs was living you would have received a reply, signed by him, addressing their efforts to remedy the situation. </p>

<p>How inconvenient for Mike Daisey that Jobs had to die before his big premier in LA.</p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>I agree with this. </p>

<p>I would also wager a bet that most Apple employees in the US earn a living wage/have health insurance verses Wal Mart where most of their employees have neither.</p>

20

<p>^ More like Apple employees that have been there for more than a little bit of time are probably mostly millionaires.</p>