kjpopp
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@mldelvecchio @mldelvecchio, I did not say it WAS a lump sum payout today. I said, quoting the NYT article, it was a $427 Million valuation IF fully vested today. Even w/o being fully vested today, Mr. Cook's annual package is $59 million. Hmm, Chen said in the article you referenced above she now earned a bit over 4,000 yuan a month ($634). Let's see, with Apple stock at $640 per share, she couldn't buy even one share with a months salary.
Interestingly enough, that the "Chinese worker is only about 25% as productive as their US counterpart, is another piece of the puzzle: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/02/02/why-made-in-china-is-starting-to-get-too-expensive/
Meanwhile, think about your own capabilities to work 12 hour shifts and 60 hours of overtime each month. How much time is even left for the basics of life? What type of life does that mean for these workers? These types of abuses were the reason labor laws were enacted in the US in 1926.
There is a shift, and contrary to Trevor's premise in his commentary, and many US companies are bucking the offshoring trend. Last August, a report, published by the Boston Consulting Group stated that outsourcing manufacturing to China is not as cheap as it used to be and that the United States is poised to bring back jobs from China. Titled “Made in America, Again: Why Manufacturing Will Return to the U.S. it's once again, the economics which will matter. Some economists say that the gap between cost/benefit will be closed as soon as 2015. https://www.bcgperspectives.com/Images/made_in_america_again_tcm80-84471.pdf)
@antnisP @ antnisP, There was a mass exodus of tech manufacturing in the 90's. HP was the "leader" when Carley jumped onboard. Dell, Intel, and Apple were also making the move too. I think all the tech companies are equally culpable.
@macintux @macintux, the NYT article says a lot of what we already know...cost versus profit...but even though Duhigg and Bradasher make some good points, there is a lot that could be interpreted differently than their own "conclusions." I mean, while it may be great news for a Chinese company to be able to turn around a product fix so quickly, there is clearly a human cost in doing so.. this after Apple decided to make a change "A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day."
A biscuit and cup of tea and then told to get to it, even if it means working 12 hour shifts? I don't know what you think about that, but it kinda sounds like indentured slavery to me. Apple needs to be a leader, not a follower, in correcting these type of abuses.
If they started manufacturing in the US more, I bet the other "suppliers" might also feel compelled to re-visit the topic. Then we have the topic of Mr. Cook's compensation, "Mr. Cook, Apple’s chief, last year received stock grants — which vest over a 10-year period — that, at today’s share price, would be worth $427 million, and his salary was raised to $1.4 million. In 2010, Mr. Cook’s compensation package was valued at $59 million, according to Apple’s security filings."
$427 million if he were fully vested today. $59 million would take even the best of us a while to spend. Is it really so unreasonable to think that Apple can't "think differently" about this topic in terms of bringing jobs back to the US?
@nathanielmott @KenG @nathanielmott, From an American pov, the technical workforce is not necessarily the same labor as a factory workplace, so the comment about state aid should not be a blanket when looking at USA unemployment generally. I would venture some unemployed American worker(s) are absolutely interested to work in a state-of-the art manufacturing facility, where cool Apple products are being manufactured. Not all of my neices and nephews want to work in technology, and an Apple manufacturing plant might be a great option for them--much better than Starbucks or Target. Look at US car companies, who rested on their laurels for way too long, almost running the automotive manufacturing process completely out of the US in the process, and who are now moving into the right balance of US versus foreign car manufacturing. Maybe the businessman needs to look at it's nightmare more closely to get conscious of a dream come true. I think in watching the corruption on wall street that we have witnessed in the US that in the final analysis, it really isn't all about making a buck at the expense of all else.
@mldelvecchio I find it hard to believe that a) there are not ways to create similar super-agile supply chains in NA. Anyone have a recent reference? I would love to be enlightened, and b) haven't seen recent stats in terms of where the majority of Apple's consumers are located. Maybe buried in an annual Apple annual report somewhere?
@mldelvecchio @AlexanderCox Apple market share is doing nothing but increasing in the US, an argument can be made the puck is going to bounce around NA for quite a while to come. Referring to the expose of the factory workers at Foxconn, it is clear those workers aren't buyers of the technology now, and the question that begs to be answered is how many generations out will it take before they become actual consumers?
I think that one of the issues does become a fiduciary social responsibility, and that is one of the reasons the Foxconn (interesting name there, Foxconn..) investigations and allegations of horrible work conditions and terrific stresses of workers have been making headlines. Corporate America takes the profits where they can get them the fastest, and later cleans up the mess, or in the case of Apple, shining the light on the practices have in effect caused Foxconn to at least say they are making changes. Eventually, labor costs will begin to close the gap between profitability and then what? I think Apple should take a look at Global Foundries, who is in the process of building a new 300mm fabrication plant in Saratoga County, New York. The argument to have Apple move some of it's manufacturing operations back to the US is a solid one, that deserves more attention and consideration by Apple. The positive aspects of bringing a plant or two to the US to an area which has been particularly hard hit by the recession and job losses would no doubt provide even more value and benefit to Apple in the long run. I appreciate Trevor's pov, but disagree with his conclusion.