The Supply Chain Management Of Apple Essay

Revenues are recognized in a net basis and only commissions they retain from each sale are reflected under the company’s financial statements.

This additional elasticity in Apple’s business strategy shows its aspiration to conquer Dell, HP and Microsoft, done with a exceptional and groundbreaking mixture of digital media and personal computer creations.

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).

In relation to Apple’s internal environment, the company encourages an innovative culture, involving staff creativity and open-mindedness to novel ideas. In addition, Apple stresses the use of environmentally friendly practices, and protection of employees’ safety and health at work (Schneider, 1995, p. 70). Apple’s external environment poses a challenge to the company in terms of emerging firms in the technology business line, competitors selling substitute products, charging lower prices that entice customers because of their affordability, in comparison to the high quality and pricing of similar items from Apple (Apple, 2012, p.1).

Based in Cupertino, California, Apple Inc. has become one of the titans of the technological industry in the 39 years since it was created in the spring of 1976. This growing company employees over 115,000 people and has 450 retail stores in 16 different countries. With an annual revenue of $233 billion in 2015 Apple Inc. is the most prosperous technological company in the world. Along with its many retail locations Apple also runs the online Apple Store making it a truly global brand. Over the years Apple has expanded their product line; in its infancy the company specialized in personal computers but more recently the main product line is phones and tablets. Apple’s other significant products include computer software and other consumer electronics (iPod, Apple Watch, and Apple computers).

Global supply chain management is a complex business function that requires the company can manage multiple supply chain partners around the world. It is easy to identify that global supply chains can have more opportunities to meet specific challenges and risks comparing with domestic supply chains, such as culture shocks with suppliers and longer delivery time. Thus, the aim of this report is to analyse some global supply chain risks by using Apple Inc. as a case study. In the first part of this report, Apple’s supply chain will be break down into several parts and a potential risk analysis will be allocated for each part. Then, the degree of the circularity and some suggestions for Apple to improve its supply network presence will be provided.

Apple’s renowned for their brilliant abiltity to cope with changes in market demand. They strictly control every aspect of the supply chain to ensure that both the distribution and supply-and-demand relationship are near perfect. They use a Make-To-Stock method of Supply Chain Management that allows customers to walk into any Apple Store and make a purchase the same day, which is coupled with an extremely low inventory level that means the system has nearly Make-To-Order characteristics. Apple uses SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing), a German Enterprise Resource Planning software, to power the global supply chain and implement a strategy to “purchase raw material and reserve manufacturing capacity ahead of time “ [1] in order to make this possible.

On the other hand, this is a tech corporation whose very existence relies on creativity. Th

Apple’s supply chain is a huge reason for its success. However, just because they’re prospering now, it doesn’t mean that they can just sit back and rest on their laurels. There may be certain competitors or market forces that come into play in the future which will force Apple to either adapt their ways of doing business or get left behind.

(1) The supply chain managers should address the sustainability issues and should look at the entire supply

It is beyond all doubt that Apple Inc is one of the most successful and well-known companied all over the world nowadays. What’s more, the company is considered to be the leader of the industry The Apple products are of high quality and in high demand on all the markets. Apple services and stores are the gold standards for all the followers and niche players of the industry. Moreover, the majority of Apple customers are extremely loyal to the brands. Once they started using its high-technical products they keep doing it. At the same time the market share of the company is increasing constantly. Probably all the competitors are questioning what is the key to Apple Company’s success. It is important to note that the whole strategy determines the success of the business and the strategic analysis of the company can help to identify the main criteria. Thus, the object of the research paper is to develop a strategic analysis of Apple Inc, including its internal and external environment.

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).

In 2010, PepsiCo Beverage Company (PBC), a working unit of PepsiCo Inc. (PepsiCo), the second biggest sustenance and refreshment organization on the planet, got the inventory network advancement recompense from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). PepsiCo was given this grant for its creative conveyance procedure, the "Direct to Store Delivery show", that decreased framework wide stock, disposed of stockroom space imperatives, upgraded the potential for boundless SKU development, and conveyed distribution center expense reserve funds. In the wake of indicating tremendous development in the 1990s and early2000s, PBC thought that it was hard to deal with its dispersion focuses and distribution centers.

Apple Inc. is a manufacturing company that produces and markets mobile and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players. In addition to these devices, they also sell a variety of software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications that can be accessed through the devices. Some of these popular devices that are manufactured and sold by the company include Macintosh computers, iPhones, iPods, and iPads. The Macintosh computer may be the most popular device that has been created by Apple. When it was released in 1984, it became the first computer to successfully use a Graphical User Interface. This allowed users to navigate the device by selecting pictures on the screen by using the click of a mouse. The success of this creation inspired the development of modern computers. It helped to launch the use of the Graphical User Interface that most modern-day computers use today.

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).