COMPANY OVERVIEW
A. A Brief History of the Company
Apple Inc is a technology company located in the United States that belongs to the technology industry. Its responsible for the production of iPhone mobile phones, Macintosh computers, music players and tablets. The company was founded on 1st April 1976 by Steve Jobs who later incorporated it with and Steve Wozniak in 1977 (Mashable, 2005). Jobs and Wozniak came together in the seventies when they were both working in Hewlett and Packard. They decided to combine their efforts and their computer and gadget savvy to work towards achieving the same goal; creating the first Macintosh computer (techieapps, 2012). Based on mobile phone devices, Apple is the third-largest company in the world. Based on profit and revenue, it’s the largest company in technology (Mashable, 2005).
B. Stakeholders:
All shareholders of Apple Inc stock are stakeholders in that they have invested in the company. Should the stock value go down, they lose money as well.
Apple employees depend on the success of Apple Inc for them to remain employed therefore making it their source of livelihood (Brownlee, 2010).
Suppliers are stakeholders as well since Apple is a major consumer of resources such as power therefore as long as they stay in business; the suppliers will experience no losses.
Manufacturers as well as their employees share an interest in the survival of the company because their source of livelihood depends a great deal on them. Apple Inc is always coming up with new products that require manufacturers and their employees in order for them to make the products a reality.
Customers are perhaps the most important stakeholders of Apple Inc because without them, the company would fail. As long as Apple keeps their needs n mind, the consumers will remain satisfied.
Software developers develop the software from an idea and therefore if it does well in the market, it enhances their credibility and value in the software market.
Lenders including banks are also stakeholders because the success of Apple means that Apple can comfortably repay their debt therefore ensuring they have good credit.
The Music Industry is also a stakeholder because Apple has made access and exposure of music much better through their iTunes browser and iPod music player (Datamonitor, 2006)
EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
A. GENERAL ENVIRONMENT
Apple Inc has its headquarters located in United States. There are however several Apple stores all over the world.
Political issues are part of the general environment. Increased taxes would lead to increased expenses on the company therefore may affect the salaries of the company’s employees. The laws of the land may also inhibit or increase sales of the company depending on whether or not they’re affecting the product’s distribution. For example in countries like China, technology has been embraced thus affecting Apple Inc positively by leading to increased sales.
Social factors include things such as how customers are served. There are Apple stores found all over the world in order to cater for any customer complaints. Product availability is also catered for by the presence of these stores. Apple has also made their products aesthetic which makes them appealing to customers thus resulting in increased sales due to popularity of the product (Datamonitor, 2006). Apple is also working on making their products more environmental friendly, for instance, the iPhone4.
Economic factors also have an impact on the company. They include consumer spending behaviour. The more cash at hand consumers have, the more they are willing to spend. This matters especially because Apple products aren’t exactly a necessity therefore their products need to be appealing enough so that the consumers may remain interested. The recession has resulted in tighter credit, unemployment and decrease in the company’s income. This may negatively affect sales of the company’s products.
Technological factors also play a major role on Apple especially because it is a technology company. They have to keep up with the trends in order to stay ahead of their competition. Apple Inc is also responsible for some of the current technological trends such as iTunes, iPads, siri(the voice command ability on iPhones) among others. This has helped propel them to the top spot in the technological world.
B. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
.New Market Entrants
Apple Inc has several products such as mobile phone devices, computers, music players, software among others. In each of these markets, Apple has made an impact and has helped propel the world into the next technological era. It is the number one technological company in the world.
In the computer market, Apple is ahead of both Microsoft and Google (Mashable, 2005). It is unlikely that a new company may make an entry and compete successfully with Apple. In the mobile devices market, it comes third to Samsung and Nokia (Mashable, 2005). Several new mobile phone companies have come up and many more are likely to enter the market. The software market keeps changing and improving, there are always new entrants in this market since there re several software developers located all over the world.
Buyer Power
In the case of Apple Inc, the consumer is the one with the power. This is because Apple products are not a necessity; this motivates the company to make their products as consumer friendly and as appealing as possible.
The largest numbers of consumers of Apple products are mainly the young generation and. This is because they are in touch with the latest developments in the technology industry. Business people are also major consumers because all industries are being revolutionized by new technological improvements (Datamonitor, 2006). They have made transactions much easier to carry out as well as monitor.
Supplier Power
The supplier has power when the price of resources is high while the consumer is in power when the price of resources is low. This is because the when the price is low, the consumer has the option of looking for suppliers with more favourable prices. When the price is high, the consumer has to remain with his current supplier since other suppliers may be offering even higher prices.
Apple requires resources such as power. Power is a resource they can’t do that because all their gadgets and computers run on electricity. Therefore with the decline in oil prices, so do the costs of the company.
Competitive Rivalry
When Apple Inc first started making waves in the technology industry, Microsoft was the largest producer of computers as well as operating systems. Microsoft is still a competitive force, but Apple has already caught up and surpassed it. This is why Apple is the largest technological company. Other major competitors of Apple when it comes to computers and computer hardware aside from Microsoft are Hewlett and Packard(HP) and Dell. (Schoenig C, Sundberg M, Pazoki C, Torres D & Marshall H, 2011)
Financial ratio comparisons
Current Ratio:
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Apple 2.81 3.39 3.25 2.50 2.63
Dell 1.00 1.05 1.43 1.48 1.03
HP 1.61 1.48 1.53 1.53 1.51
(Schoenig C, Sundberg M, Pazoki C, Torres D & Marshall H, 2011)
Quick Asset Ratio:
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Apple 2.58 3.16 2.96 2.26 2.33
Dell .96 1.01 1.38 1.40 .95
HP 1.37 1.25 1.15 1.15 1.125
(Schoenig C, Sundberg M, Pazoki C, Torres D & Marshall H, 2011)
Market Share
