The World of Apple

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Foundations of Global Business
Global Business Environment
Global Business Strategy and Organization
Managing Global Business
Conclusion
References

Introduction

We are living in the world of rapid changes and innovations. Different companies are fighting for a place in the sun and trying to expand globally to win the customers’ attention, remain competitive and achieve success. The markets are full of various businesses, and it is critical for them to show their advantages and supremacy.

Realizing this, I decided to choose a prosperous company, which is known to everyone, to find out what makes it so unique and attractive. When searching for the companies with the best performance in the world market, I understood that Apple Inc. perfectly meets my demands.

This organization manages its operations in the market of digital devices, which is very broad. Moreover, the models of its products are alike so that it seems to be strange that the crowds of people are gathering near the stores when they are emerging. Thus, the fact that Apple Inc. became an extremely popular company in a relatively short period of time attracted my attention and made me select this company for the project.

Apple Inc. is a well-known and successful company that is focused on technologies. The company bases its operations on the production of “personal computers, mobile communication devices, and portable digital music and video players and sell a variety of related software, services, peripherals, and networking solutions” (Annual Report 2009, 2009, para. 4).

These products are sold worldwide so they can be seen not only in domestic market but also in 80 foreign ones. The official headquarter of the company is located in Cupertino, CA in the US. Here the majority of products are designed, constructed and then spread to different locations. The organization is known for its innovations, such as iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, etc.

Foundations of Global Business

The majority of big businesses use their best practices to globalize successfully. In this way, they gain an opportunity to get in the larger market and increase their profit. Apple Inc. is not an exception. According to the report, which was made several years ago, its products can be found in 80 countries all over the world (Annual Report 2009, 2009).

Today, Apple operates mainly in the US, UK, Canada and China. These countries are located in Europe, the continent of North America and Asia, which allows the company to reach various destinations easily and become popular in the countries with a large population. Needless to say, that such approach increases the profit, but it also requires efficient cooperation among the personnel who has different nationalities.

The company operates in these countries also because they are the members of WTO for many years already as well as of the World Bank and IMF. As they act according to the guidelines of these facilities for more than a decade, Apple Inc. can be sure that its business is safe. If these countries failed to follow the guidelines, the company might never increase the number of operations in them and could manage only online selling.

Except for that, the fact that the countries have a transparent political institution and their judiciary systems establish justice makes them more attractive for businesses. Moreover, they promote globalization. The US had even implemented a global democratic reform some years ago. The UK, in its turn, has less experience of globalization, but it practices the economic expansion even though many institutions left non-global.

Canada is closer to the US in its operations. The country follows the Transparency International and promotes globalization. Except for that, it is one of the best-governed countries. China is known today as the country that gathers different businesses and has cheap labor. Such features along with particular rules of operating make the country preferable for many companies.

The US, UK, Canada and China utilize practice policies that promote globalization. Moreover, these countries implement lots of changes to support and spread the idea of globalization. As a result, a range of alterations aimed at the enhancing of business procedures abroad were made, which influenced the government, promoted steps to avoid corruption and emphasized democracy.

Apple Inc. creates innovative products, so the property rights are very important to it, as, being supported by the law, they ensure the success of operations. So the organization can implement its best practices to expand globally and remain competitive without facing any difficulties. As Apple’s products avoid tariff barriers, the company has an opportunity to create many stores abroad and produce its devices in lots of places.

The company operates on the geographic basis and its trading bloc consists of America, Europe, Asia and Retail segment (Apple Stores). The majority of the operations are held in the US, which allows the company to keep a huge amount of income in its native country. As a result, Apple Inc. has an opportunity to remain competitive even if in the countries where it operates political, economic or other conditions turn out to become adverse.

Thus, local business ensures the safety of the business; Asia provides cheap labor, and Europe promotes expansion for the organization. As Apple is already a well-known company that is appreciated worldwide, there is a possibility that it would perform better under the WTO or other systems like it. In this way, the company would have an opportunity to enter a bigger market and avoid many trade barriers. It would also be supported by various experts so that there would be fewer disputes.

Global Business Environment

Apple Inc. is an extended company that operates in many countries and is known worldwide. It means that rather often the employees need to communicate with their colleagues from abroad. To interact successfully and avoid possible misunderstanding, the workers from the US need to modify their behavior.

In Asian countries, for example, people have different beliefs and views on some things. That is why the personnel that works with the representatives of other nations receives training beforehand. As the company is multinational, people can easily get familiar with the features that are peculiar to German or British people, etc. When communicating with associates from China, American representatives of Apple Inc. take into account that they are very collective, which is not peculiar for the US, where individualism is more valued.

Moreover, their power distance is high. Japan is less individualistic than the US but more than China. As a result, the US employees show that they are a part of a collective and cooperate with associates tightly but maintain distance. They also consider the long-term orientation instead for the short-term one till they return home. Some people claim that Apple Inc. made a mistake when decided to create a huge amount of its products in China because it is politically risky, as its court depends on the government greatly.

However, the company assessed the situation and came up to the decision that the profit gained due to the cooperation is higher than the risks of the government interference in commercial and other disputes. Apple even operates in India, which is a developing and economically risky country that does not have a stable economy, as distributors allow it to expand without serious adverse outcomes.

Apple operates in both civil law and common law countries. Still, the majority of the firms are found in the common law countries, which are similar to the native one and make it easier to manage the business, as the organization is familiar with the case law. However, the number of firms in civil law countries is not much lower in total, which proves that Apple does not consider such differences to be critical.

The innovations made by Apple Inc. are claimed to be its key intellectual property. To protect it, the company trademarks the products, refers to patents and copyrights as well as licenses. However, Apple seems to have no insurance from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Corruption is the issue that is discussed widely today. The countries where Apple operates have different corruption perceptions indexes, which proves that this criterion was not the main one when deciding where to expand. Still, Apple Inc. is aware of the high risks of corruption in China and keeps a close eye on the employees.

Sometimes the organization is reported to confront with other companies in the market and produce the products using almost economic slave labor in China. But, generally, Apple’s global operations are ethical, as they take care of the employees, teach them and award, promote trust and openness.

Global Business Strategy and Organization

When operating worldwide, the company is to control its global business and adjust to it at the organizational level. That is why Apple Inc. has a particular structure and maintains strategies that enhance its performance.

Mainly, the company enters new countries with the help of distributors, who sell its products with the similar ones that belong to other firms. In this way, Apple checks how the population reacts to the products (apps and online stores also show this). Seeing that they are in demand, Apple opens its own retail store in the country. Unfortunately, less attention is paid to the exit strategy, which might be a mistake. However, creating the products in the countries with cheap labor, it benefits greatly and has no reasons to exit.

Apple is an innovative company, and its corporate mission statement deals with the creation of change. Creative ideas and unique design of the products allow the company to develop and operate successfully all over the world, which proves that the chosen strategy is working. Apple is interested in the total performance of the company but not just the stock, which allows categorizing it as a stakeholder orientation.

Being mainly focused on the US, it occurs to be not a stateless corporation. Apple’s organizational structure allows the company to increase its benefit and become more and more popular every year, which proves that it is really successful. Having collaborative structure with command and control hierarchies, Apple makes the employees close to each other, creates a supporting environment and enhances the process of achieving common goals.

With the help of collaboration, people design more effective innovative ideas, which allows the company to act according to its mission statement. Apple may also utilize matrix structure as it can be advantageous due to its flexibility and absence of isolation. As the communication among the personnel with different views is motivated, more new ideas will occur.

Managing Global Business

When globalizing, companies are to make sure that their personnel can manage all expected activities. The employees receive special training; the organization refers to other businesses to create its products, etc. Apple also manages the global business in a particular way, which differs from the one implemented by small organizations.

The company has numerous employees that work in various locations. However, they are not the members of labor unions and are not covered by collective bargaining agreements as many others. It may happen because the company disregards such approach, considering it to be unfavorable. Still, the employees are looking for changes that will let them benefit.

As the company operates in different countries, it needs some staff members to work outside of the United States at least for some time. So Apple refers to expatriates when it expands to make sure that the operations are managed appropriately. Like all other workers, they are trained regarding their future duties.

Except for that, expatriates receive additional training and support before moving. As the products that are sold by Apple in the international markets are the same that can be seen in the US, expatriates do not need to learn additional information about them. But they need to know the peculiarities of formal communication that are accepted in the country as well as main values and beliefs.

Such information is gained not only during training but also when communicating with people who live in that country (online, for example) and by surfing the Internet (read articles, books, and people’s comments). It is not considered to be extraordinary, as Apple operates in a digital world and uses the Internet and Intranet to train the personnel. Moreover, the majority of processes related to employee training and development are held in this way, as such approach streamlines them.

The products made by Apple Inc. reach remote destinations through different distribution channels in local and international markets. The company refers to its own retail stores that are available in several countries, online store, which allows attracting more clients worldwide and, of course, to the wholesalers even though they place its products along with others. Apple tends to emphasize that its devices are different from the others in the market.

To do this, it promotes the products with the help of unique advertisements that can be found in different places. The ads are printed, viewed on TV and outdoors. Of course, the promotion in the international markets differs to some degree from the local because of the cultural peculiarities of the targeted audience.

Apple devices are made not only in the US, and the company is practicing global procurement. The majority of the vital components come from China, which is not a surprise, as the company has a large business in it and a huge amount of devices are made there. Moreover, the country has cheap labor and often provides efficient innovations, which streamlines the process of achieving success and reduces expenditures.

Thus, it can be said that Apple is practicing global production. The company is producing the majority of its devices in China. The US is at the second place. It produces more than 5 million tons while the rest of products are made in “Italy, France, Germany and Poland” (World Apple production, n.d., para. 1). Mainly, Apple refers to outsourced goods and services to save the money needed for production but it also has insourced products.

The supply chain is very important for any organization, as it allows the company to export its products successfully. So it is of advantage that Apple has its supply chain, which includes such companies as “BYD Company, Compal Electronics Inc., Flextronics, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. LTD., Pegatron Corporation, Quanta Computer Inc., and Wistron Corporation” (Supplier responsibility, 2015).

Apple import goods from China, as a rule. It exports them to Africa, Middle East and Europe (including Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italy, France, and others) (Annual report 2009, 2009).

Conclusion

Taking everything mentioned into consideration, it can be concluded that Apple Inc. is a successful company, which operates worldwide. It enters new markets being not afraid of potential risks that exist in some countries. The company has an advantageous business strategy, which allows it to manage decent performance.

The employees are trained in local and foreign locations. They are targeted at cooperation and creation of innovative ideas, as they make Apple popular. The organization produces its devices in the US and abroad and spreads its products through retail stores, online store and with the help of wholesalers to reach a large audience. Globalization is extremely important for Apple Inc., as it provides the company with an opportunity to gain more profit and remain competitive.

References

Annual report 2009. (2009). Web.

Supplier responsibility. (2015). Web.

World Apple production. (n.d.). Web.

Click Here To Order Now!