Here’s a quick doodle about this week’s release of Apple’s Supplier Responsibility Report, listing the companies behind 97% of Apple’s material and services spending.
Apple’s committing to a new level of transparency as the first tech company to join the Fair Labor Organization - at a time when scrutiny of working conditions at Apple’s suppliers is at an all-time high, and the company is facing mounting criticism.
I’ve done some work with the sustainability and social justice certification community, and it warms my heart to see consumers increasingly concerned over the ethical behaviour of the companies they deal with. Apple has probably attracted so much attention because toxic, abusive and exploitive working conditions clash so powerfully with its brand. Here’s hoping that once people get a taste for this kind of ethical accountability, they demand more of it – from Apple, but also from the thousands of other brands they choose from.
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Rob, Thanks for this post about transparency in corporations. Right on!
Not just in for-profit companies, though. There is a great need for a code of accountability and transparency among NONprofit orgs, as well. Too many are afraid to open the doors and windows (or, more crassly, the kimono), in fear that they’ll lose donors or 501(c)(3) status (in the States).
There are Standards for Excellence: A Code of Ethics and Accountability that address this, at http://www.standardsforexcellence.org . I wish more nonprofits could see that transparency actually attracts donors and good board members and employees.
Full disclosure – I’m a Standards for Excellence Consultant, but I became one because I believe strongly in the need for openness.
Best, Susan