Apple Shook the Tree

By Bahar Gidwani

Apple’s recent decision to reveal details about its supply chain practices has provoked a storm of articles, comments, and protests. Although I already offered my thoughts on this subject in a previous post, I wanted to point out some articles our readers might have missed.

The first article appeared just last week. It tied Apple’s release of a new iPad to the “human cost” of that device. As you may guess, the author—who has personally visited some of Apple’s factories—did not encourage his readers to rush out to buy this new product.

Another article a few weeks ago had a similar message regarding the iPhone. The author examines whether or not we should feel guilty, if we own and use an iPhone—you can guess his conclusion.

Finally, a third article described a protest that greeted the recent opening of a new Apple store.  Interestingly, the author of the first article was taking part in the protest, and is quoted in the third article.

Why would you have missed these pieces? They were printed in the New York Daily News—a decidedly middle market publication that brags about its sports pages and that still has room for two pages of comics. (Although they used to have three pages, not so long ago!) The presence of these articles in “mainstream media” is another proof that supply chain performance has become a mainstream concern. Apple has shaken the tree and is reaping the fruits of its labor! We are happy to see supply chain concerns becoming core consumer and business issues.

Bahar Gidwani is a Cofounder and CEO of CSRHub. Formerly, he was the CEO of New York-based Index Stock Imagery, Inc, from 1991 through its sale in 2006. He has built and run large technology-based businesses and has experience building a multi-million visitor Web site. Bahar holds a CFA, was a partner at Kidder, Peabody & Co., and worked at McKinsey & Co. Bahar has consulted to both large companies such as Citibank, GE, and Acxiom and a number of smaller software and Web-based companies. He has an MBA (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School and a BS in Astronomy and Physics (magna cum laude) from Amherst College. Bahar races sailboats, plays competitive bridge, and is based in New York City.