Case Study, Foxconn Technology Group (A)
Grace Pyne
1/28/15
Assignment 2
HBS - Foxconn Technology Group
Foxconn was founded in 1974 by Terry Gou as Hon Hai Precision Industry Company
Ltd. Foxconn Technology Group was the largest and fastest growing multinational company in the EMS industry. Terry Gou designed the factory and housing to exploit cheap land and labor in
Shenzhen, a major city in Southern China’s Guangdong Province, north of Hong Kong, and
China’s first Special Economic Zone. Mr. Gou demanded intense loyalty, telling employees that the company’s benefit was more important than their personal benefit. He was famous for his 16hour work day and believed in discipline in his management team. More than 1,000 security guards were employed to keep order and shield the plant from outsiders. Mr. Gou created intense and brutal working conditions to keep product output at a peak, paying no mind to the detrimental effects his tyrannical working conditions took on his employees. Despite the meager pay and harsh conditions Foxconn was one of the best places to work for low-skilled workers.
The employees were provided with legal contracts, got subsidies for housing, meals and insurance, and could choose to live rent-free in company dormitories.
What happened at the Longhua plant in 2010 focused everyone’s attention on the conditions of low-skilled labor and migrant workers. Allegations of employee mistreatment appeared as early as in 2006, when the UK newspaper The Daily Mail criticized Apple for using
Foxconn, as a sweatshop supplier Only fans were installed, so workers often felt suffocated during the hot and humid summer. A poor smell persisted and nobody cared about cleaning the common place. Workers referred to the dormitory as “the garbage dorm.” On each floor, a public shower and restroom were shared, but workers were not allowed to wash their own clothes.
Instead, they were required to participate in a factory-managed laundry program to prevent them from consuming too much water. Security guards
1/28/15
Assignment 2
HBS - Foxconn Technology Group
Foxconn was founded in 1974 by Terry Gou as Hon Hai Precision Industry Company
Ltd. Foxconn Technology Group was the largest and fastest growing multinational company in the EMS industry. Terry Gou designed the factory and housing to exploit cheap land and labor in
Shenzhen, a major city in Southern China’s Guangdong Province, north of Hong Kong, and
China’s first Special Economic Zone. Mr. Gou demanded intense loyalty, telling employees that the company’s benefit was more important than their personal benefit. He was famous for his 16hour work day and believed in discipline in his management team. More than 1,000 security guards were employed to keep order and shield the plant from outsiders. Mr. Gou created intense and brutal working conditions to keep product output at a peak, paying no mind to the detrimental effects his tyrannical working conditions took on his employees. Despite the meager pay and harsh conditions Foxconn was one of the best places to work for low-skilled workers.
The employees were provided with legal contracts, got subsidies for housing, meals and insurance, and could choose to live rent-free in company dormitories.
What happened at the Longhua plant in 2010 focused everyone’s attention on the conditions of low-skilled labor and migrant workers. Allegations of employee mistreatment appeared as early as in 2006, when the UK newspaper The Daily Mail criticized Apple for using
Foxconn, as a sweatshop supplier Only fans were installed, so workers often felt suffocated during the hot and humid summer. A poor smell persisted and nobody cared about cleaning the common place. Workers referred to the dormitory as “the garbage dorm.” On each floor, a public shower and restroom were shared, but workers were not allowed to wash their own clothes.
Instead, they were required to participate in a factory-managed laundry program to prevent them from consuming too much water. Security guards