Introduction
Apple Company is an American multinational Company which designs and manufactures Consumer electronics and software products. The products include Macintosh computers, pod, iphone, Pro line laptops, desktops, consumer line laptops, servers, and Apple TV, as the Hardware.
The Company was started in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronaly Wayne. The Company was initially called Apple Computer Inc but the word Computer was dropped. Apple has about 35000 employees spread across the world and had sales amounting to over thirty two billion for the period ended September, 2009. One of the milestones of the company is the sell of 6.9 million iphones in the first quarter of 2008 (Crittenden, 2003).
The Mission of Apple is to provide guidance to upcoming companies so that they can gain prominence in the markets and therefore help the customers realize the success of the company. The Vision of Apple entails the merging of the expertise team of managers with an emphasis on the companies operative structure to foster an increase in its growth and hence more financial gains (Benner, 2004).
Apple’s Company business lines
Apple Company has a variety of business lines. The most successful is SBU with direct consumer products in the environment. Apple also provides SBUs in line with its objectives and goals to the consumers. Its SBU has become an important commodity in the market, the Apple Advantage SBU as it is commonly known and is dedicated to offering sales, technical and product management resources (Duncan, 2005). Apple line SBU enables efficiency in Apple products and also provides access to hardware, software and service offerings. The SBU ensures professional audio/video installations and key aspects of the health care system (Coulson, 2006). The Apple base SBU recruits additional vendor business partners to ensure that those who resale the products are required to sustain the latest most profitable Apple based solutions. The Apple SBU makes it possible for the distribution of Apple products which entail desktops, notebooks, storage, ipods, accessories and software. The company ensures the efficiency of this strategy through training of the people and institutions that need to use the facility. The current products of the Apple Company in more detailed analysis include the Mac and its accessories which are the Macmini, iMac ,Mac Pro, workstation, Macbook, MacBook Pro and Mac Book Air (Crittenden, 2003). The Apple TV is a good innovation from the Apple Company. It is a set top video device planned to overpass the sale of the content from the iTunes. The device syncs either a wifi or a wired network, with ones computer’s iTunes library. All these are chiefly marketed using SBU (Duncan, 2005).
Apple’s Inc Industrial competitors
The Competitors of Apple Company have played a critical role in keeping the company on its source in order to make it achieve its objectives in the modern world. “The analysis of competitors in the market is a necessary tool for the development of Apple Company,” (Benner, 2004, p. 46). The following table indicates the performance of these companies in comparison to those of Apple. The table indicates the various aspects of the competition such as the market capital, the number of employees that are working for a certain company, the net returns, gross margin and other factors relating to competition.
Apple’s Inc Market share
The market share for the iphones has grown tremendously from 5.3% in the first quarter of 2008 to 10.8% in the first quarter of 2009. “In terms of unit sales, Apple moved from 1.7Million in the first quarter of 2008 to 3.9 million during the same period in 2009. Its blackberry market share rose from 13.3% in the first quarter of 2008 to 19.9% in 2009. The company’s unit sales grew from 4.3 million to 7.2 million over the same period” (Crittenden, 2003, pp. 47-57). The Operating systems that are used by Apple have seen net climbing and this has been good news to its users throughout the world. “Reports indicate that Apple has a 9.93% share of OS users for January of 2009 up from 9.63% the previous month. Windows OS market shares measured 88.26% in January, dropping slightly from 88.7% in December.” (Hedggre, 2008, p. 49). The organizational structure of Apple ranges from the CEO (Hedggre, 2008). This is the top most level of management which is then followed by the worldwide product marketing manager then the SVP iPod division, software engineering, Design, Applications and General Counsel. The vice president in charge of various regions is also present.
From the result, the company is expected to show continuous growth in the next years suppose other factors will remain constant.
Stock Price Analysis
Net sales and net profits have been increasing for the last five years. Revenue has been fluctuating however. Return on net sales increased to 10% in 2006 and 2008 further moved to 15% in 2008 and 2009. The movement is a clear indication of the Company’s growth. Suppose all other conditions remain constant, the overall sales are predicted to increase further.
Foreign Operations
An example of Apple’s subsidiary is Irish located in Cork (Ireland’s largest city). The Company has registered as unlimited Company. Since its registration, as unlimited company and alteration of the name, Apple has had nothing to do with its financial analysis or filing its accounts. As Apple, Irish targets all computer literate people (Coulson, 2006). Irish has a variety of business lines, the most successful being SBU with direct consumer products in the environment (Hedggre, 2008). Over the past three years, though the sales have not been that good but have been recommendable. The Company showed a positive increase in sales in the second year by 2.56%.
Global Analysis
In the event of an economic slowdown in the U.S., the company’s overseas revenue generation might not serve to shelter the parent from slow or negative growth in the U.S. market. The economic downtown took place amid 2007 and 2008 but by that time, Irish had not developed enough to offer financial support (Hedggre, 2008).
Conclusion
Apple has achieved a rare fit in the technology arena as it has been flexible in its management procedure to a level of allowing creativity and innovation; this has resulted due to the development of a culture that tends to distance itself from authoritarian kind of leadership. Apple Company has existed and improved its services and products as a result of the huge profits that they obtain that make them more competitive than other information technology companies. It has strived to create a brand that is recognized not only in America but the rest of the world and hence taking advantage of the new markets.
The weaknesses of Apple Company have been a source of continuous research on the ways to turn them into profitable methods. The company has endeared itself to its customers especially when they replaced faulty machines free of charge. This has made the company the most established and healthy IT organizations in the world. The company has contributed to the overall growth of the United Sates economy and the world at large. It has provided jobs to designers, engineers and community development workers. The environmental campaign run by the company has been instrumental in the reduction of the adverse effects of global warming. It has also laid out policies that have attracted admiration especially on electronic waste management and disposal.
References
Benner, M. (2004). Moving Technologies to greater heights: Analysis of the Advancements of the Apple Company. New York. Touchstone Publishers.
Coulson, E. (2006). Global Trade: Introduction on Strategic Planning. New York. McGraw Hill.
Crittenden, Y. (2003). Research on Strategic Management in Non-Profit Organizations. New York. Howard Publishers.
Duncan, P. (2005). Simplified Strategic Planning: New York. Chandler Publishing.
Hedggre, P. (2008). Technological Changes of the Apple: A New Technological Sunrise. Chicago University Press, New York.