Apple Company Essay: Overview, Mission, And Operations Performance.

Apple is information technology American company that deals with the hardware and software application of many electronics gadgets. As America is the host country it enjoys the benefits and the advantages that apple provides. Employees in this company are very satisfied with the company as they are always given preference and are valued for their work. Apple stores are located almost everywhere in this world. Beside this it also owns the flagship stores in most of the posh area of the location. Being an expensive brand it mainly targets the elite customers that help to increase in their sales. Main apple products are iPhone, ipad, Macintosh, apple watch, macOS, iOS and many more. It also has subsidiaries like Beats electronics, file maker Inc. and many more (McGuire and Baker, 2010).

 Apple is the famous well known American multinational company. Its main head quarter is in Cupertino, California. This company deals with the designing, developing, and selling of the electronics for the consumer, computer software and also online services. The hardware products of the company include many products such as iPhone, ipad, iPods, apple smartwatch and apple TV. Main founder of apple was Steve Jobs and it was founded in 1976. Today it has become one of the largest information technology companies in the world by revenue and it is the second largest mobile phone manufacturer by volume in the world (Schept, 2010). As of now apple employs about 115,000 employees and is successful in maintaining 478 retail stores in 17 countries. Many stores are available in the shopping malls but this company has also built their own flagship stores in the most posh locations of the world.

Apple is a company that comes under information technology industry. This industry basically deals with the application of computers that helps in storing, studying, retrieving, transmitting and manipulating data related to the business. It is basically a subset of all the data and communication technology. This industry deals with both the hardware and software products.   

 The vision and mission statement of apple are the bases of the success of the company as it is one of the most valuable companies in the world. Apple is called the symbol of innovation and there is so much elegance in the designs of the product. Hence these characteristics are involved with the mission and vision statement of Apple that helps in motivating the employees of the company to gain the competitive advantage (Rowland, 2017). Recently the original mission and vision statement of the company has been changed by Tim Cook.

 The vision statement of the company is manly detailed and provides reflection on the comprehensive approach to ensure the growth and success of the company (Price, 2012). The statement also gives emphasis on the innovation which is linked with the innovation strategy of the company. It also describes the simplicity of the product design and development. The vision statement of apple is satisfactory as it also describes the direction of the company.

Industry Overview

The mission statement of apple is very specific as it indicates what company does and what it will do in future. Macs, OSX, iLife and others are mentioned in the mission statement which describes about the setting of the baseline for the actions done in the future (Salem, 2012). Further the statement also describes the plans that focus on the research and development on the mobile devices. Therefore the mission statement of apple is accurate as it depicts the situation and goals of the company.

Like any other businesses apple also avoids full vertical integration so that cost of the outsourcing physical production can be reduced. The capital factor of the production of Apple Company mainly includes the machinery and warehouses technology. Apple uses the external labor for manufacturing and even reduces the production cost for the computers and other related apple products. In the production sector of the company there are many people involved in this like Mac hardware engineering, human resources, retail corporate and many other.

In the marketing segment Apple mainly targets three segments. As apple is one of the most premium brands it used lifestyle segmentation.  This segment generally includes the people who have high buying power capacity. Another segment which is targeted by apple is the music lover. Apple IPod an ITunes all targets the people who have interest in music.  Beside this apple iPhones are huge success in the market and everybody wants to have it, so they target the teenagers for the tablets, MacBook and other gadgets that attract the consumers.

Apple had quarterly revenue of $4.2 billion and net income of $7.8 billion in 2016. Gross margin was also increased from 38 percent to 39.7 percent in the year before this quarter. There was also an increase in the international sales that is 63 percent of the quarter’s revenue. In the fourth quarter of 2016 the revenue of apple was between $45.5 billion and $47.5 billion with the gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38 percent (Press release, 2016). The expenses that come while operating is between $6.05 billion and $6.15 billion and other income expense accounts for $350 million for apple (Heracleous, 2013).

The products of apple are the most valuable products and it is also the most cherished company in this world. The main motto of making an apple product is to enhance the lives of the users. The products not only look elegant and timeless but with that they work in a very simple and effective manner. The products have an enduring quality and usability and that is what matters the most for the customers. Every time a product is launched in the market the quality of the product is increased and has been improving with every product. Apple has a quality that it never rushes a product in the market. Although the iPhones are not the first smartphones that came into the market but because the way it functioned made this brand and its product unique (Srivastava and Thomas, 2010). The quality of the apple products is so unique that from teenagers to senior citizen everybody uses these products with ease. Apple does not manufacture its products rather it is dependent on several other manufacturing companies. Most of the apple products are manufactured from china. Many a times few of its parts are collected from different places and then it gets assembled at one place. For this apple does not want to depend on others rather they are trying to make their own manufacture company so that cost is reduced for the company.

Mission Vision And Strategy Statement

Cost

• Apple is an expensive brand and it uses straightforward strategy that is price maintenance strategy that takes advantage of the popularity of the product. Almost all the products of apple are expensive and not everyone can afford it. But it has been noticed that these products are somehow cheaper in the US as this is an American company and home country always has an advantage and enjoy the benefit of the expensive products. The cost of apple products like iPhones, ipad, Macs and MacBook have increased I the UK since Brexit took place. Although the apple has not stated it particularly but it looked way connected as after this only there was hike in prizes (Macro, 2017). Some of the products that have been increased in the prizes are as follows:
• The prizes of iOS apps on the app store will be increased in 2017 itself. Apps that used to cost 79p in UK now cost 99p. This is a rise of more than 25 percent.
• The prize of iPhone 7 plus 256GB was £819 and now the increased prize is £919 that means there is an increase of £100 which is way more than expected (Tabini, 2014).

Speed

Thunderbolt is basically the hardware interface that is developed by the Intel. It is considered to be the most powerful and versatile port ever. Thunderbolt 3 delivers double the amount of bandwidth of thunderbolt 2. So this thunderbolt 3 has been used in the apple products which automatically increase the transferring speed of the data.

Flexibility

Apple is a great company for the employees to work for as this company provides a lot of flexibility.  Beside the flexibility this company provides the upward mobility with the most unique experience for the employees. Consumers are treated well in his company and even the consumers love the products and solutions that apple provides to them. Employees are also happy with the benefits they are given and there is also a fantastic growth programs for the employees. The marketing strategy of apple requires flexibility in the manufacturing sector. And this flexibility can be in various forms such as new product flexibility, volume flexibility and product mix flexibility (Strategos, 2017).

It is basically a logistical exercise that many of the new devices are being sold weekly in the apple. The main process actually starts from china where a number of iPhones move from factories to the retailers in unmarked containers that are accompanied by the security detail. Further the containers are loaded in the truck and then shipping takes place.  And finally the journey ends in the stores where the adjustments are made related to the demand. Finally from these stores distribution takes place to the different apple stores around the world. Beside the shipping process there is also the aspect to the logistics of devices components that can be together in order to make the assembly process begin (Farlane, 2003).

This method helps in determining a relationship between the cost, revenue and the profit that are made at the different level of output. It also helps in finding out the point where revenue is equal to the costs. Breakeven point is the point where there is no loss and no profit. At this point the revenues are equal to the total cost and the margin of contribution is equal to the total fixed cost.

SOURCE: Alnasser, 2014)

This is the breakeven analysis for the iPhone where green line indicated the fixed cost of the product, red line indicates the total cost and blue line indicated the total revenue of the product. The yellow part which is highlighted in the graph describes the profit made by the organization (Sarros, Cooper, et.al. 2011).

The purpose of this method is to survey for the plants, warehouses and retail locations and even the facilities in the logistics network. Center of gravity approach basically represents the single facility location. This approach is basically useful where transportation cost is for the dominant location. This approach also helps to compute the geographic coordinates for the single new facility that ultimately minimizes the cost. Main inputs of this approach are markets, volume of goods shipped and shipping costs.

Main Function Of The Organization

Apple is known for its design and innovation and is considered to have the best supply chain in the world (Supply chain 247, 2013). This company uses various location methods but the one that is best for this company is the transport location method as compared to the other location method because it is very popular mode of transport that most of the suppliers use in order to deliver orders. This method is usually beneficial for the short distance and it is very easy to monitor the location of goods that are being transported. Other advantage of using this method is that it becomes very easy to communicate with the driver.

Conclusion

Here by from this report it can be concluded that Apple is one of the best companies for the employees to learn innovative things as this company provides the best designs possible to the customers. A detailed description of this company was explained in this report which includes the mission and vision statement as well. All the main functions related to the field of production, marketing and finance were also provided in the report. The main objective behind the operations performance was discussed in this report which includes the quality, cost and speed of the product. Various location methods that are used by this company are also described in this report with the justification of the best location method. And after the evaluation it can be concluded that transport location method is best for this company.

• Apple should use their strength so that opportunity can be exploited and distribution network can be expanded (Smithson, 2017).
• To develop a strong product line this company can use its brand image.
• This company can also make products that are affordable for the middle class people also, hence there will be more marketing of the brand.

References  

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Heracleous, L. (2013). Quantum Strategy at Apple Inc. Organizational Dynamics, 42(2), 92-99.

Macro, A. (2017). Apple price rises UK | Apple Brexit price hike: Apple raises UK app prices, after quietly increasing price of iPhones, iPads, MacBooks & more in UK Apple Store. [Online] Macworld. Available on: https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/apple-price-rises-uk-apple-brexit-price-hike-iphones-macbooks-apps-go-up-3646277/. [accessed on: 20/03/17].

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Price, W. H. (2012). Vision Statement Impact on Organization Strategic Roles. Business Journal for Entrepreneurs, 2012(1), 27-42.

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