Tell me, what do you think about when you hear the words “Apple” & “Samsung”? “Best Andorid” & “iPhones”, right? But are they really just these titles? Don’t they have much more to their names other than being producers of different devise? There is a lot of articles that will insinuate otherwise, as well. One of the most important aspects, in this day, to consider while discussing these two industry giants should be about their corporate social responsibility as to what their contributions really are towards the society, towards us! And, throughout this article, we will continue to explore and contrast the two companies in terms of their CSR efforts.
As of now (2023), Samsung still holds the higher ground in terms of market share in the industry with a staggering 20% market share whereas Apple is not too far behind with a market share of 17%. But, how does it reflect with their CSR efforts? Let’s try to create a list of the two companies in relation to their CSR activities.
- Education: Firstly, one of the key areas that both companies focus is education. As for Apple, it has introduced some training courses alongside management education for its employees as well as other people which have facilitated more than 4 million people since 2008. However, when it comes to education, Samsung clearly has more at their tables. For instance, it has introduced Samsung SMART which has enabled thousands of people to take classes to improve themselves. Moreover, the company runs “Dream Class”, “Smart School” etc. in South Korea which have been producing great results for the country’s education.
- Equality: In terms of equality, between Apple and Samsung, the prior clearly takes a lead. Firstly, Apple maintains a 1:1 payment and around 47% of its open leadership roles are managed by females. On the other hand, Samsung is not too far behind yet, it hasn’t been able to achieve feats on the levels of Apple. Currently, it has around 35% of female employees in its entire fleet of workforce, however, the payment is not characterized by that of Apple.
- Environment: For environmental protection, both the companies are putting their paddles on the accelerator as two of the companies intend on being carbon neutral globally by 2030. However, in this regard, Apple is the only company which needs to be made to bring changes which are obvious. The recent shift to USB Type-C cable across all the devices can be used as an illustration. Apple adopted such a change only because the EU Council made it mandatory to supply devices with universal connector. In this regard, Samsung has been adopting measures which are both environmentally as well as user friendly, to begin with.
- Organizational Code of Conduct: Lastly, both the company’s code of conduct regarding the treatment of their employees remain to be industry leading, however, Apple maintains the toughest code of conduct in that regard. Although Samsung is also concerned with industry leading practices regarding their employee treatment, it still isn’t on par with that of Apple’s.
So, the question stands! Who does it better, then? Although the question as to which brand makes the best smartphones is still debatable, however, the simplest answer to which one does a better job at CSR would be, BOTH! But, in complex situations, Apple still takes the lead with its industry leading code of conduct and practices alongside great maintenance of equality at its organization where Samsung hasn’t been able to excel as much as Apple has.
To help you recap the whole thing, this article has incorporated some of the major CSR activities of Apple & Samsung and presented a list of the two companies in relation to their dominance in the market. Several aspects have come ashore, thanks to the comparison made. To sum it up, Apple has surely been winning the battle of corporate social responsibility in the industry.
