Case Study : Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation, from the greatest companies in the world which designs and manufactures electronics and computer software. It has been known as the best for its’ hardware products Macintosh computers, iPod, iPhone, softwares including the Mac OS X operating system, iTunes and other creativity softwares like iWork that represents the face of the music, phone, and computing industry. The company operates more than 250 stores in 16 countries and an online stores.

Apple Inc. as many know the Company as Apple has managed effectively to be a successful company in the technology industry despite the heated competition in this industry (Apple, 2012). The organization has managed to be successful by being innovative, applying differentiation in terms of products and running their business, offering high-quality products with up-to-date technology as well as good customer service. The organization operates and maintains high standards in its operational base especially in the third world countries where most of its manufacturing takes place. The company has to be at its level best in order to maintain the high standards set by the corporation.

Apple Inc., which was formally known as Apple Computer Inc., is a multinational corporation that designs, develops and sells a wide variety of consumer electronics, personal computers, and computer software. It is located in United States of America California and has its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Among its adequately known hardware, products in the market industry are; iPhone Smartphone, iPad tablet computer, and iPod music player among many other computer accessories. Moreover, it develops and sells the following computer software; iOS and OS X operating systems, Safari web browser, iTunes media player, and iWork and iLife creativity and productivity collections. The market for smart phones equated to normal cell phones is comparatively small but will upsurge in the future. Currently apple has approximately 4.2% of the global handset share of the market. The objectives of this plan are to upsurge market share to 6% by July 2012 and to surge to 10% by January 2013. To obtain 5 additional fortune 500 indentures to utilize the iPhone.

Apple Inc. started off as a small computer company and rose to prominence over the following years. They faced great challenges and obstacles to evolve and become one of the top notch corporations today. Having a great CEO, Steve Jobs, is credited for the success of Apple. Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple was able to innovate industry changing technology.

Founded in 1977 Apple Inc. has provided an extended range of products and services to meet the increasing demands of consumers worldwide. Apple has multiple lines of consumer goods including. Computer software and cell phones along with consumer electronic products globally Apple values their shareholders and consistently creates new goods and ideas is a way of life for Apple. Apple has over 300 locations across ten different countries giving them a significant presence in the market. Apple has become a prime example of a prosperous business organization that is thriving globally. Apple is known for their high levels of customer satisfaction and retention and is one of the most well known global organizations (Graziano,2013).

This report based on the case study 'Apple Inc.'s Corporate Culture: The report is tried to investigate and find out what is good and what is detrimental to the organisational culture in terms of Human Resource strategy and practice in Apple Inc. Though the case study has included wide area of analysis including Apple’s operation, marketing, accounts etc. This theoretical research gives us a reasoned and academically critical analysis as well as provides coherent and justified recommendations for changes to HR strategy and practice in Apple Inc.

Q1. Perform an industry analysis of the smart-phone industry. Do you believe Apple was effective in neutralizing the threats and capitalizing on the opportunities posed by the forces in the smart-phone industry? If yes, explain how. If not, explain why not.

Apple Inc. is the most revered corporation of the USA, both in terms of brand equity and market capitalization. The company’s international competitive strategy is focused on the innovative product development, which Apple controls through its eight business segments: Portables, Desktops, iPads, iPhones, Music related products and services, peripherals and hardware (Lam et al. 2005).

This graph shows the total number of Apple employees at the end of each fiscal year from 2005 to 2016. As of 2016, the total number of full-time employees had reached more than 110 thousand. Apple is the most valuable brand in the world in 2016 (Forbes, 2016), but it is not the world’s largest companies in terms of staff. A lot of companies in technology industry, such as Amazon and Samsung, have a larger number of employees than Apple.

When looking for great employees Apple strays away from the norm. Instead of looking for great salespeople who have a great track record of using sophisticated technology Apple has decided to do it differently. They look for people who love their product and enjoy using it. Apple is looking for people who, “isolate true enthusiasm and believe in the Apple products” (Jason Colquitt, 2011). Black cards are the new invention at this company. Apple has a new strategy to have their people hand out black cards t employees at other organizations. These cards have the apple emblem and have something written on each side. On the front of the

Apple Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells personal computers, computer accessories and computer related software. The company also offers peripherals, networking solutions and other related services. Additionally, Apple computers designs, builds, and markets a wide array of portable digital music players, telecommunication devices alongside related accessories and services (Cameron & Quinn 2011, p 288). Apple Inc owes its recent success in the highly competitive computer industry to its situation, marketing strategy and product mix that have gone a long way market the Apple brand as leader of good quality and satisfactory experience. The success of the company borrows draws a

Apple Inc. is a globally recognised pioneer in the tech industry. It is a corporation that designs, develops and sells electronic products such as tablets, computers and phones. Founded by Ronald Wayne, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, it is a multinational corporation with headquarters in Cupertino, California. Tim Cook has been CEO since Jobs’ passing in 2011.

Apple is a global company represented in many parts of the world, but born in the United States by computer wizards by the names of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who founded the company back in 1976 (Capon, 2008). The organization deals with the design and sale of computer hardware, software and offers tech support to its customers. Examples of the hardware the company manufactures and sells include mobile phones, personal computers, iPads, tablets and iTunes with associated brands, like the MacBook and iPhones that represent Apple’s driving force towards its success. It is recognized as a brand leader in consumer electronics by the world in terms of quality and customer satisfaction and despite the wide product range, Apple manages each product in a distinct way that is a single business unit (Mittan, 2010).

Apple Inc. has launched its iPhone in January 2007 (telegraph) as a new product in the market with latest technology and it was the first multi touch smartphone adding the feature of iPod and received an overwhelmed response by selling 270000 units. It had created a new record for a new company like apple, iPhone had laid a stepping stone for the success of Apple and till this time iPhone is the best seller product of Apple Inc. during first quarter of 2016 apple has sold over 74 million iPhones worldwide. (statista, 2016).

This paper presents a case study of Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is a technology based corporation with emphasis on computer software and hardware (MAC and Apps), tablets (IPad), smart phones (IPhone), and mp3 plays, (ITouch). Apple Inc. has grown tremendously over the years and ever since 2001 has expanded its brand and retail stores to over 375 stores/outlets globally. The business has seventy two thousand eight hundred employees in thirty eight countries. Apple Inc. has truly become one of the most efficacious corporations within its field behind or competing with Microsoft and Google Inc.