How has corporate social responsibility developed in the mobile phone industry in recent years and are social and environmental standards improving as fast as the product applications? This briefing will include a follow up on the ‘High Cost of Calling: Critical Issues in the Mobile Phone Industry’ report4, with the focus mainly on sourcing policies and practices and supply chain responsibility of the major brand companies.
General Electric Co. manufactures electrical equipment, lighting products and household appliances. It also owns the broadcasting network NBC. In terms of market capitalization, GE is the world's second largest company and also second in the BrandZ ranking. In the 1960s, aspects of U.S. tax laws and accounting practices led to a rise in the assembly of conglomerates. GE, which was a conglomerate long before the term was coined, is arguably the most successful organization of this type.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation is a telephone company that dominates the telecommunication market in Japan. Once established as a monopoly government-owned corporation, the company was privatized in 1985 to encourage competition in the telecom market. The Japanese government still owns roughly one-third of NTT's shares.
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Germany and in the EU. Deutsche Telekom was formed in 1996 as the former state-owned monopoly Deutsche Bundespost was privatized. As of 2005, the German government still holds a 15.7% stake in company stock directly, and another 14% through the government bank KfW. 4.5% of the company is owned by the Private equity firm Blackstone Group.
Motorola is the second largest maker of wireless handsets after global leader Nokia. After its spin-off of its semiconductor unit, Motorola reorganized to focus on enterprise mobility, mobile devices, and home and networks mobility. It also supplies wireless infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations, amplifiers, and servers. In 2006, it had sales of $43 billion and profits of $3.6 billion.
Comcast is the largest cable provider and the second largest internet service provider in the United States. It has had a reputation for abysmal customer service and is being investigated by the FCC for blocking customer's access to internet content.
