Internal Memo

Ethical Issues

Name: John Blair

Institutional Affiliation: Rasmussen College

Ethical Issues

The consumer electronics industry is highly changing as various players strive to drive strategies such as presenting customers with cutting edge devices. More so, there are more and more new entrants that are changing the manner in which traditional players are meeting the needs of the consumers. For instance, companies such as Samsung and Apple are diversifying the product offering mainly through offering third-party products in a bid to reach a higher customer satisfaction level (Stahl, Timmermans & Flick, 2017). As changes continue to be experienced in the industry, there are new ethical issues as looked into in the following section.

One, the players in the industry are aiming at presenting consumers with devices that are low-priced which is introducing a new ethical concern. The companies are manufacturing devices with low quality materials. For a number of times, smartphone devices have exploded leading to common questions whether the manufacturers are utilizing best materials in the assembly line. The manufacturers are looking for cheaper components and materials so that unit cost of the products can be low, a new ethical dilemma. When such is done, the well-being of the consumers is put at risk. More so, when such is done, such devices are likely to wear out fast meaning that consumers are not presented with devices worth their money. Essentially, the manufacturers need to focus on use of materials and components that do not compromise the quality of the devices.

Two, there have been cases where companies have been found to “steal” or “copy” some technological feats from a rival company. When such happens, the company that has copied from another faces litigation and may be heavily fined (Page, 2009). However, the companies being fined are worth billions of dollars meaning that they may copy technologies such as software and wait for the suit to be filed. Mainly, when an organization copies and uses the technology, there are more benefits such as presenting consumers with devices with the latest technologies hence likely to satisfy the consumers. In such a scenario, an organization is faced with an ethical dilemma, whether to copy the technology and reap the benefits and then get fined or to completely refrain from such a behavior. Mainly, organizations will choose to copy and face a litigation.

Additionally, there is a new ethical dilemma being faced by the manufacturers when it comes to management of the relationship with the customers. There have been several cases where organizations realize that devices already released to the markets are faulty. In such a case, the manufacturers are faced with an ethical dilemma, whether to recall them and incur the costs or let consumers continue using them. This normally happens in a case where the faults do not lead to occurrences such as exploding. Normally, especially with new entrants, it is common for devices to have faulty software that consumers are not likely to identify hence the organizations are likely to ignore due to expenses that may be incurred if recalled. Essentially, if the faults have no potential of causing injuries, the organizations are not likely to recall them. It can be seen that the consumer electronics industry is facing a number of ethical issues not yet in the limelight. The organizations need to ensure that consumers are prioritized and their needs met effectively for them to sustain their market share and profitability.

References

Stahl, B., Timmermans, J., & Flick, C. (2017). Ethics of Emerging Information and Communication Technologies: On the implementation of responsible research and innovation. Science and Public Policy 44(3), 369–381.

Page, T. (2009). Feature creep and usability in consumer electronic product design. International Journal of Product Development 9(4), 31-59.