An Overview Of Apple Inc.

History of Apple Inc.

Discuss about the Overview of The Workplace Approach to OHS.

Over the last ten years, the Apple Company has grown to become one of the most powerful companies in the world of technology and innovation spanning over generations and cutting across continents and geographical locations. The Giant American tech company represents innovation, creativity, and quality at its best. The company is prolifically known for its novelty, regarding technological creation, unique product experiences, and designs. The Apple Company has quickly grown to become one of the most sought after entities by both consumers of her products and investors alike. The portfolios of these investors have well been served by holding firm to the company. The company has had a fair share of negative media publicity due to emergent issues that surround the company’s overseas assembly plant in China that have been known to seek cheap child labor and at the same time subject the workers to tough working and living conditions. Like any other technology company, the Apple Company has had her fair share of the issues that touch on suppliers and management of resources. Despite the gloom, though the company remains one of the most socially responsible businesses in the world and this essay is an analysis of the same.  

Apple Company is an American technology conglomerate that specializes in the creation, design, and manufacture of technological tools like desktop computers, laptop computers, smartphones, tablets, iPods and the sale of online computer services via subscription. The company was founded by Ronald Wayne, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak in the year 1976 with the sole purpose of selling and creating personal computers (Aggarwal, 2015). Steve Jobs is the most popular of the founders for the pivotal role that he played in the starting of the company. The Company was incorporated as Apple Computers Inc. in 1977. The company headquarters is in Cupertino, California. Other products under the belt of the company include the Apple smart watch, Apple TV, software media player and a web browser (Aldrich et al., 2015). About revenue, the Apple Company is the largest technology company of information, and it is the largest technology company regarding total assets.

With a highly versatile mobile market, the technology industry remains one of the most risky businesses to invest in yet one of the most rewarding at the same time. Several factors pit the Apple Company at the top of the pyramid of the world leaders in computer manufacturers and innovators (Alshubiri, 2015). The Company employs effective research into the needs of the market, superior design, innovation, and marketing strategies to get their products to their consumers. The use of effective research and innovation ensures that their consumers always have something to look up to with every new launch (Ansari & Hasan, 2016). For a long time, fans of personal computers enjoyed buying their parts and putting them together on their own. Alshubiri (2015), posits that at the same time, makers of PCs were building standard hardware’s and software to be assembled into Personal Computers. The Apple Company has taken the design standards of the personal computer into an entire new level. The Company prides in taking the ordinary and turning it into something unique and extraordinary. With the right strategies, the Apple Company has the capacity to stand out from the competition and remain a leader in the world of computers. 

Products and Services

The Apple Company has to deal with an array of hazards that range from environmental, economic to political and managerial issues. Apple Inc. was formerly referred to as the Apple Company and it is a manufacturer and distributor of personal computers, consumer electronics, servers, and computer software. The Company also distributes media content in the form of computer software, music, and entertainment (Bank Muscat , 2016). The Company was started by Steve Jobs and his college friends. At the time of beginning, the Company Jobs was a 21 years old college drop out. Jobs lived with his parents in Los Altos in California. He had two friends with whom he would hang out in the garage of his parents’ house. This garage would go on to become the first home of the world’s greatest computer in all of man’s history.

Steve Jobs and his friend Wayne had both worked at a company for making video games. His other friend Wozniak had worked for the Hewlett Puckered Company at that time. The three put their various experiences and together led to the formation of the Apple Company in first of April 1976 (Cedillo Torres et al., 2012). Steve Jobs and his friend would go on to become leaders of the greatest computer company in the world. The company started out with the sole intention of making personal computers and later venture into the world of smartphone manufacturing (Cruz et al., 2011). The Company was founded in Cupertino California by the two friends. It was known as the Apple Company Inc. for the first 30 years that it was in existence.

Wozniak built the Apple personal computer kits at the beginning before he developed technology for developing the same kits. The first Apple computers went in sale on July of the same year that the company began (El-Masri et al., 2016). Business magnate Mark Mukkula provided the needed capital for the beginning of the company at the start of the business. The company has grown to become the world’s largest in terms of the amount of worth in assets (Farrell, 2016). The computer differed with major rivals at the time of its introduction into the market because it had colored graphics compared to the other computers, which had black and white graphics only.

The Apple Company takes part in the design, manufacture, and the marketing of smart phones, computers, and other technological devices like the smart watches and the iPods. IPods are portable digital music players in which music can be stored and played. The company is headquartered in the United States and has many regional headquarters in Asia Pacific, Japan, greater China, and the Americas (El-Masri et al., 2016). Before the formation of the company, they sold Blue Boxes with telephone buttons on them. People used the Blue Boxes to make telephone calls from payphones and did not have to pay for these calls. The Company produced its first iPhone in 2008 (Cruz et al., 2011). The Company did not truly begin until the debut of the second version of their computers in 1977. The Apple Company is presently the world’s most valuable company with almost a trillion dollar market value. Some researchers believe that the company is dramatically undervalued and could actually be in the regions of $ 1.25 trillion (Cruz et al., 2011).

Market Share and Growth Strategy

Various organizations rank global brands based on various metrics. The Apple Company is ranked as the most valuable brand in the world. The only other company that competes with the Apple Company is Microsoft and Google, which come in at second and third positions respectively (Bank Muscat , 2016). The Company reports profits of up to $ 18 billion, which are the largest for any single company in the entire world. The biggest moneymaker in the company is the iPhone. The company earned more than 90% of all the profits realized from the smartphones market in the entire world. The company reports problems of cash hoarding in the sense that it does not spend enough (Glowacki-Dudka & Treff, 2016). The company has an advantage over rivals because it has won in almost all the wars it has staged with them. The Company has clashed with Microsoft, IBM, and Google and has always appeared to win. 

The Apple Company largely depends on its marketing for success. The Company has a generic strategy that is directly related to its strategy in pricing and the marketing of its products. The Company demonstrates that the generic strategy it uses is a major source of success against other firms like the Samsung Company, LG, and other smartphone brands (Groves & LaRocca, 2011). The Company’s intensive strategy for growth supports their ability to maintain their strong position in the global market. The Company prides itself with a high level of innovation, creativity, and high-level craftsmanship in the design of their products.

The Apple Company records high levels of success albeit their high prices compared to other smartphone and computer products in the market. The Company’s generic strategy is aligned with the Porter’s model and follows in the Company’s intensive growth. The generic growth of the company follows the development of key features that focuses on beating their competitors (Hackert et al., 2012). The Company emphasizes on the manufacture of elegant designs, user-friendly interfaces, and over the top level of branding that it different from that of its competitors. The broad differentiation of its products means that the company always aims to set its brand apart from that of its competitors.

The Apple Company primarily focuses on differentiation of key features that are beneficial to the consumers. The Company reaches out to the business community and to individual by the sale of the MacBook product line, which is efficient in the lines of business. The generic strategy of the broad differentiation of the company enables the company to remain the leader in the world of business (Heorhiadi et al., 2014). Apple’s use of the broad differentiation strategy has had tremendous impact on the business prospects of the company for all of their time in existence. To continue to apply this strategy in their business the company has to continue placing emphasis on research, development, and innovation.

Branding and Marketing

The Apple Company is the largest smart phone manufacturer and seller in the United States taking 41.6% of the entire US mobile market. Market capitalization is one of the greatest assets of the Apple Company (Hughes et al., 2016). The Apple Company has to continue coming up with new products that employ new technological innovation. Apple competitors eventually catch up with their new trends and hence the generic strategy makes them want to come up with new products to meet the needs of the market and to stay ahead of the competition. Continuity in innovation and creation of new products is hence one of the company’s strategies in helping it keep at the top of the competition (Zula & Chermack, 2014). The company face the need to ensure that it expands its market needs to help it remain relevant over the long run. The Company does not narrow down on any specific market segment and this allows it to sell to more people in h the world of technology (Warrick, 2014). 

The main undoing of the Apple Company would be its market price that is hardly able to reach out to the needs of the low end of the market, which is majorly dominated by the Android platform. The disadvantage can be covered up with the fact that the company delivers high quality products in all of its offerings (Wang et al., 2015). The Apple Company uses development of products as its main intensive strategy for growth. Effective development of products requires the company to remain consistent in offering attractive products to expand its market share and grow its performance (Sardar et al., 2011). The Company carries out the implementation of this intensive strategy in growth by the use of innovation in the processes of research and development. The mission and vision statements of the products are specific about the development of products for the wider market. The Company keeps on innovating by the use of products like the iPhone, the iPod, and the smart watch (Sardar et al., 2011). In the process of innovation, the company also develops new products for the consumer market. The creation of new products and models allows the firm to generate more revenue streams and this places them at an added advantage over their competition.

The Apple Company employs the use of market penetration as the second most significant strategy for growth. Venturing into new markets allows the company to expand its revenue streams and allows the Apple Company to make more profit. This approach is important as it helps the Apple Company to make an impact in places where it has not had significant effect (Sarabi et al., 2015). The Apple Company employs the use of promotion through various modern means of communication to reach out to their market. The use of advertisement and flashy commercial on the social media sites encourages more people to purchase the Apple products (Porter, 1996). This strategy agrees with the Company’s broad differentiation strategy because it allows the company to capture more of the market share. 

Success Factors

Traditionally there are key business imperatives that have been used to judge the effectiveness of the business. Competitive differentiation, the amount of sales made, the ability to attract and retain talent, return on investment, efficiency in operation, and level of profitability are the traditional parameter that has been used to measure the amount of success in business (Oman, 2014). With the advent of new technology, globalization, and communication that is more interpersonal the parameters that measure the success of the business have effectively been altered to reflect the present reality (Lakshmi, 2014). A new element today is making a prolific difference in gauging the overall performance of an organization. Corporate social responsibility is changing the way that people look at businesses to determine whether or not they would like to foster a relationship with the ideals of the company. As the world moves deeper and deeper into stratifies, modes of industrialization in the new age of commercialization industries look at consumers as partners that need to be retained than as passive purchasers of products and services.

Corporate Social Responsibilities can be defined as practices that are carried out by companies with the aim of giving back or benefiting the society. Corporate Responsibility for the business can be taken to mean many things. At times, it means giving away a part of the company proceeds to charity. Other times it means to champion for green business solutions in the society in ways that lead to the protection of the environment (Khandelwal & Taneja, 2010). Corporate Social Responsibility in the business environment today can be placed into four broad categories. The four broad categories include efforts to protect the environment, efforts towards philanthropy, practices of labor and ethics and volunteering.    

Positive Corporate Social Responsibility efforts boost the morale of the employees, and this leads to better retention of talent and reduction in the cost implications that accrue from constant firing and hiring of new staff. The stability of the employment within the organization normally directly translates into the stability of the corporation. With a better Corporate Social Responsibility, there is the likelihood that the employees will be more motivated and will strive for better work output and hence the success of the corporation. When companies have good relationships with the local authorities, it becomes easier to work with them for the betterment of the organization. Corporate Social Responsibility can act as a cushion in times of adversity and emergency image destruction. Corporate Social Responsibility endears consumers to the product and creates a relationship between them. Therefore, in the cases that there emerge cases of image destruction it is possible for the consumers to stick to the company’s safe choice.

Social Responsibility

As a key component of creation and innovation, CSR is emerging as an avenue via which corporations can assert the image of being a leader in not only the business that they do but also about the life of the people that live around it. According to a 2010 research study by elder man, of all the consumers of the products that were interviewed 67% of them said that they would support companies that have a huge hand in corporate social responsibility and community outreach programs with the aim of benefiting the society. The figure was 11% more than the same research that had been done the year before. Astute business ventures that understand the role of Corporate Social responsibility in the promotion of the business are taking more actions about it and are consequently allocating more funds towards that end.

Social Responsibility initiative and programs are led by Lisa Jackson. Lisa is placed under the Office of the Vice President of initiatives that cater to the responsibility of the apple company to the environment. The office of corporate social responsibility is designed to directly report to the office of the Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook and this goes to show the significant role that philanthropy and association to the public play in the heart of the management of the Apple Company. With Steve Jobs at the helm of the management of the Company, there was not much attention paid to CSR, but with Tim Cook, the situation has totally been different. The Company values association with the environment to the point that it has a special report every year that outlines the details of important Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and programs that the company takes part. The Company carries out CSR in various categories.

When looking at Apple Company’s responsibility to the environment and the consumers, it is easy to select it out from the rest of the crowd. The Company is known to exceed the energy star guidelines. According to the Clicking Clean Report by Greenpeace, the Apple Company is the only company to be awarded a clean energy index of 100% (Cedillo Torres et al., 2012, p.62). By the year 2014, all Apple operations in the United States were powered by green energy whereas 87% of the Company’s global operations were powered by renewable energy. The Company operates programs of recycling of electronic waste in 99% of all the countries in which it appreciates. Beginning the year 2008 the company has recycled more than 508 million pounds of electronic waste from landfills. Apple is hence not only a leader in technology and innovation but also in CSR.

Challenges and Competition

Conclusion

In more than one way, companies are using all that it in their powers to create a positive image about themselves to the consumers. Companies are more interested in delivering results in every way possible. Research studies conducted in the world of business reveal that world leaders in business usually consistently take the same approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. There is a formula for the how market leaders choose to invest in CSR with the aim of accumulating the best results possible out of their investments. A partnership with experts, concentrated efforts, depth of information, a clear theory of change and a social purpose based on business are some of the markers of the way that market leaders like the Apple Company invest in the Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies are interested in spearhead mission that are unique to them, and that set them aside from the crowd. 

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