1. Do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks of Apple outsourcing the assembly and production of most of its products to foreign countries? What may be some future costs and implications of this decision? What are some current implications?

2. Should Apple's decision to outsource set an example for other MNCs in the United States? Explain your reasoning.

Siri, Where Were You Made? When Apple rst began making Macintosh computers, Apple CEO Steve Jobs bragged that it was a machine \"made in America.\" Today, however, the effects of a globalized economy have changed things, and Apple has turned to foreign manufacturing. Ask Siri, Apple's famous personal assistant program on the iOS operating system, where the iPhone was made or where it was manufactured. Siri's usually quick, accurate, and sometimes whimsical responses are absent as the iOS clearly tries to avoid the question. It may tell you it was designed in California, but it won't tell you it was manufactured in China. It certainly won't admit it is really a mixture of parts and labor from all over the world. The iPhone is made of hundreds of components, more than 90 percent of which are manufactured outside the United States. For instance, the rare metals come from A'ica and Asia, chip sets 'om Europe, display panels from Japan and Korea, and advanced semiconductors from Germany. The nal assembly is done in China by Apple's major subcontractor, the Taiwanese MNC Foxconn. In fact, of the $179 it costs to produce an iPhone, 34 percent goes to Japan, 17 percent to Germany, 13 percent to South Korea, only 6 percent to the United States, and 4 percent from China. So, even though the iPhone was designed in California and manufactured in China, only 10 percent of its labor and components come from these two countries; Globalization played a major role in increasing the iPhone's quality for the price; Indeed, turning to those outside a domestic geographic domain can account for roughly one-quarter of successful innovations within companies today; That said, outsourcing to emerging markets can have drawbacks. Problems such as poor working conditions tolerated by its subcontractorslow pay, long hours, unsafe factorieshave plagued Apple's decision to source products from different markets and move manufacturing overseas. Those are not the kinds of problems a brand-conscious company like Apple wants people talking about. In addition, many argue that because only 6 percent of the cost of the iPhone goes to the United States, Apple has actually moved many jobs out of the country. Had all the components and labor been sourced at home, Apple could have created jobs and helped U.S. families and the economy. However, when compared with the allure of maintaining crucial supplier relationships, low labor costs, and fast delivery of new products, problems like these tend to take a back seat lAndrew Batson, \"Not Really 'Made in China': The iPhone's Complex Supply Chain Highlights Problems With Trade Statistics,\" Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2010. gMorris, Shad S., Bijuan Zhong, and Mona Makhija. \"Going the distance: The pros and cons of expanding employees\" global knowledge reach.\" Journal of International Business Studies 46, no. 5 (2015): 552573. :Ibid. 4Christopher Minasians, \"Where Are the iPhone, iPad and Mac Desiged, Made and Assembled