Hon Hai on the Hot Seat after Employee Suicide
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, known better by its trade name, Foxconn Technology Group is in the spotlight not for its notoriety of being the fastest growing multinational manufacturing service provider in the world or for being Apple’s longtime manufacturing partner in China. Instead, Foxconn is in the center of a shocking story that’s simply hard to believe. Police in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen are investigating the suicide of an employee of Foxconn Technology Group. Sun Danyong, a 25 year old Engineer for Foxconn, allegedly committed suicide on July 16, 2009 after realizing that one of the iPhone 4G prototypes that was entrusted to him was missing, according to Chinese media reports. Sun was responsible for shipping iPhone prototypes to Apple.
Sun reported the missing phone to Foxconn, which, according to various Chinese media reports, searched his apartment and questioned him about the disappearance of the device. Though said to be cooperating with the investigation and expressed regret over the suicide of Sun Danyong, Foxconn has yet to respond to repeated requests for comment and family and friends of Sun are shocked and horrified by what has transpired.
Local authorities said Mr. Sun jumped from the 12th floor of his apartment building in Shenzhen last Thursday, July 16th, 2009. Neither company representatives nor police disclosed further details surrounding Mr. Sun’s death or the role the company may have had. Rumors and speculations have continued to surface that when the IPhone was reported missing, Sun was interrogated and mistreated making him turn to such desperate measures. But in an acknowledgment of local media reports that Mr. Sun may have been mistreated while under questioning, Mr. Lee said, “We never authorized anyone to conduct any moves beyond the law.”
Making a major reflection on Hon Hai’s management style, which has been criticized extensively over the years, many are using Sun’s suicide as strong evidence of the clear inadequacy of internal management. More will be determined as Chinese authorities get further details.