Apple

• Benefits of TNC for host country

  • Generates jobs and income
  • Brings new technology
  • Gives workers new skills
  • Has a multiplier effect
• Problems of TNC for host country

  • Poor working conditions
  • Exploitation of resources
  • Negative impacts on environments and local culture
  • Economic leakages/repatriation of profits
• Benefits of TNC for the TNC

  • Lower costs because of cheaper land and lower wages (fewer unions)
  • Greater access to new resources and markets
  • Fewer control such as environmental legislation
• Problems of TNC for the TNC

  • Ethical issues such as the image of environmental damage or "sweatshops" can be detrimental to their reputation
  • Social and environmental conscience
• Benefits of TNC for country of origin (TNC base)

  • Cheaper goods
  • Can specialise in ina dial services and R&D occupations
• Problems of TNC for country of origin (TNC base)

  • Loss of manufacturing jobs
  • De-industrialisation
  • Structural unemployment
• Apple Inc.


  Transnational electronic tech company with its company headquarters based in Cupertino, Northern California
• Apple's products


  • iMacs
  • iPhones
  • iPods
  • Ipads
• In 2015 Apple launched a new smart watch product 'Apple Watch' and a new version of Apple TV
• Apple's locations


  • HQ in California
  • 3 further data centres in the USA
  • Newly built centre in N.Carolina
  • Apple HQ found in Cork, Ireland
  • Main production occurs in North of Hong Kong, China
• Apple has 98,000 full time employees and 453 retail stores, 110 of which are found in Europe / Middle East and 25 in China
• Apple


  • Second-largest IT company by revenue
  • Third largest mobile phone manufacturer
  • Largest music retailer through iTunes
  • Number 1 global brand by value (US $482 billion)
  • Nearly twice more as valuable as Microsoft which is placed no.2 on best global brands 2022
  • Apple Market Capitalisation is $2.41trn
• Factors behind Apple's success

  • Stylish and well designing products
  • Slick marketing and branding
  • Innovative products
  • Focus on highly mobile devices (easy to transport = pocket size)
  • Selling, via the internet, products such as music and apps
• Foxconn City is a business park and has a number of factories belonging to different manufacturers who assemble high-tech products, dubbed as 'China's Silicon Valley' with over 400,000 workers employed
• In 2006, 200,000 workers who lived and worked in the Shenzhen factory were regularly working more than 60 hours a week for around $100 a month
• In 2010, 50 workers at a Lianjian factory in Suzhou (Jiangsu province) were poisoned by a toxic chemical used to clean iPad screens, and they then decided to sue Apple
• Foxconn used students and children to maintain a low-cost and flexible labour force, and employees under 18 are subjected to the same working conditions as adults
• In 2009, a Foxconn factory worker committed suicide after coming under pressure following the disappearance of a prototype model of an iPhone4, and by the end of 2010 there were 14 reported suicides
• Apple relies on non-renewable resources to supply electricity to its data centres, uses toxic chemicals in its manufacturing processes, and its factories in China were discharging pollutants and toxic metals into local water supplies, threatening public health
• Apple's European HQ is based in North Cork, Ireland, and it is the only fully Apple-owned manufacturing facility in the world, employing 4000 workers directly on its iMac production line & call centre, and generating up to a further 2,500 jobs for workers employed as part of the supply chain