Business Plan
APPLE INC.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
1-409-996-1010
04/04/2021
Tim Cook, Jeff Williams, Deirdre O’Brien
This document is confidential.
Table of Contents.
Executive Summary.
Vision/Mission Statement and Goals.
A. Vision Statement
B. Goals and Objectives.
C. Keys to Success.
Company Summary.
A. Company Background.
B. Resources, Facilities and Equipment
C. Marketing Methods.
D. Management and Organization.
E. Ownership Structure.
F. Social Responsibility
G. Internal Analysis.
Products and/or Services.
Market Assessment
A. External Analysis.
B. Customers.
C. Industry Analysis
D. Strategic Alternatives.
Strategic Implementation.
A. Production
B. Resource Needs
C. Sourcing/Procurement Strategy
D. Marketing Strategy
E. Performance Standards
Financial Plan.
A. Financial Projections.
B. Contingency Plan.
The vision and mission at Apple Inc. is to provide its consumers with high quality products. Apple is always reaching to achieve great goals by keeping the consumer and environment in mind. The company will continue to strive to be successful through the operations of the business.
At Apple they thrive on being a leader in computer software and online services. Apple tries to use only high quality resources for production and marketing. By offering quality products it makes the marketing much easier and that allows management to stay focused on improving of what they have and what they will produce in the future. With operations of such a large company it puts a lot of social responsibility on the corporation to do what is best for the surrounding communities and environment. By keeping things right and in order it keeps the brand image strong and desirable.
With Apple offering a great product, it also tries to offer a great customer service as well. By doing so the company continues to grow to a stronger organization.
Apple is always watching and learning things that can benefit them in the general market. Ways of being active in this is by customer analysis by figuring the needs of the customer. Another way is by industry analysis to figure away to achieve a competitive advantage. With that being said, Apple keeps alternatives in place if unexpected events arise.
The company will continue to produce great products by focusing on resource needs to continue to grow. By sourcing through on-line marketing it allows Apple to carry on with great marketing. Apple still monitors the performance of products by offering high quality products with user ability in mind.
The plans at Apple Inc. is to continue to be a leader in the world of technology. By being a leader they will continue to offer the best product with user capabilities in mind. With that being said, Apple expects to grow financially and with more popularity in the world market and to continue to be a world leader.
The vision of Apple is to be the leader in technology. To achieve the vision they plan to always be producing high quality electronic devices with the most up to date software. By doing so they can continue to provide users of all ages a simple operating system.
The key to continue a successful business is to continue to offer a high quality product to its consumer. The way this will be accomplished is by a great team that will always work together and support each other.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company that was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. The company thrives on being a leader in computer software and online services. Some of the major milestone that have been achieved at Apple would be the introduction of Macintosh in 1984 and then later on the creation of the I-phone.
With various resources from across the world, Apple is able to produce a high quality product that they hope is well received by all consumers. Most products are produced outside of the U.S. by way of supply chain relationship with other countries. Resource providers are reward by receiving great discounts on products and services.
At Apple their annual sales revenue in dollars will vary year to year and in 2020 the revenue was 274.5 billion. Some the ways of achieving this is by return buyers. The main way to keep people returning is by offering the most up to date products with quality components. Other way is by contract sales of devices and trade ins to allow the consumer to always have the upgraded device. By doing so the consumer is always purchasing new accessories.
The management team at Apple is headed by Tim Cook CEO. Management responsibilities have been divided in many ways at Apple and some include Craig Federighi as Sr. Vice President of software engineering, Jeff Williams as Chief Operating Officer, Deidre O’Brien as Senior Vice President of Retail. The lines of authority all stem back through Sr. Vice President to Vice President and then to Chief Executive Officer.
Apple’s team has a great reputation in its communities with the support they give to local businesses and families. Along with supporting their local communities they need to be aware and focus also on what the business team needs to make jobs easier and the company profitable. The key people in the company to help make these things possible would be Sr. Vice President of Peoples and Retail along with the Chief Operating Officer.
If problems would arise from within the company the employees would be directed to the Sr. Vice President of People for advice and support. Apple is always looking for ways to help their employees excel in their job by offering Corporate Development Programs.
CEO – Sr. Vice President – President – Human Resources
A couple of the primary stakeholders in Apple Inc. would be Tim Cook and Jeff Williams. The form of business Apple runs would be a corporation. By being a large organization Apple is required to hold several permits. Some of those permits include missions management, solid waste, and environmental permits.
F. Social Responsibility
Apple follows strict environmental plans to prevent any contamination from being let out into the atmosphere. By using strict manufacturing guidelines on the handling of chemicals helps in the implementations of their plans. Other ways is by implementing policies to filter odors from production sites and controlling noise and dust as well.
The management and employees are strongly encouraged to interact within their respected communities. Apple tries to support all levels of community organization by helping out and giving when, where, and what is needed.
When new employees are brought in they begin a lengthy orientation. During this time they will be given the training and information that is needed to handle all hazardous materials. Along with this training the employees will be given training of safe operations of equipment that will apply to their respected position.
Some of strengths of Apple would be their sturdy brand image along with the self sufficient of developing its own hardware. But, when there is strengths there will always be weaknesses. Some of them would be product cost. Also a weakness would be a software that is not compatible to work with other software.
Apple has several units within the business and they all have certain strengths. Some of those would be in retail by the ability to advertise and make sale. Some of the things Apple is out doing its competition on would be by offering cutting edge technology. There are always things to build on and some of those things would be offering a great product at an affordable price.
At this time I feel Apple should maintain the units that they currently have. With that being said there are some areas that show more promise. One in particular is the I-watch where technology stays with you constantly.
Some of the products that Apple plans to keep on the market would be the Iphone, Ipad, and Mac computers. With offering a great product, they also offer a great customer service by the user friendly functions. By offering these great product with a unique working concept that is in my opinion one the of the most user friendly operating services on the market.
At Apple they are producing a differentiated product that is incomparable to other mobile device service providers. With such a high quality product it also carries a lofty price as well. I myself have been an Apple customer for several years and would have to say that I think it is the best operating service available.
At Apple the market is characterized by the offering of a quality product. When offering products, Apple has to consider the geographic area in which they are selling to. By doing so they can provide the right product and service to the consumer. With Apple offering a great product and being so intact to the consumers needs, they are able to continue to fulfill customers expectations. As long as Apple continues to meet and exceed expectations for each segment, it will continue to grow and become a much more powerful business.
Some of the threats within the company would be a competitor introducing a better product, but Apple does such a great job of research that it keeps them an extra step ahead. When using the Fire Force Model we see that Apple has several competitors and they are always looking for ways to get a step ahead. One of Apples biggest competitors would be Google and they are trying to figure ways to offer a more appealing system at a more reasonable price. Some of the trends that are relevant to Apple would be the consumer wanting the capability of running their lives through the palm of their hands. By doing these things Apple has to be continually advancing their system accordingly.
Some of the environmental laws that effect Apple would be the laws regulating environment pollutions such as air and water. There are also legal issues as well, such as copyrights, patents, and health and safety laws. (fernfortuniversity.com)
Apple continues to offer advanced features and capabilities for its products and services. With offering these services the consumer keeps the most operator friendly and up to date equipment. By doing so, Apple continues to keep a competitive advantage in the technology market.
A. Production
Apple products are produced with the highest quality products. The value in Apple products would be the user friendly software and the high quality of its products. There are many competitive advantages in their products such as the features and capabilities of its products. The technology used in Apple products are many. One in particular would be their GPS systems that allow families the ability of locating other family members and also lost devices.
The processes used for production would start with market analysis to see the consumer needs. Another step would be the design and functionality of a product followed by production and then sending market. The anticipated timeline from market analysis to market sell can vary depending on the product being brought to market.
B. Resource Needs
At Apple the business looks for employees that are very smart, determined, wide curiosity, team focused, and people who will not accept the status quo. With the need of 145,000 to 150,000 employees, Apple uses a decision making committee to decide on employment. By having this committee Apple is able to choose the right person for each position.
Apple uses networking capital to measure the cash flow and service debt. By using this system Apple is able to determine the capital available to them.
In all types of resources that are required for the production of products will only be of the highest quality. At Apple they will always only use quality over quantity. The company wants to continue to provide its consumer with the best product available.
C. Sourcing/Procurement Strategy
The main ways of basing a decision to purchase products or services would be quality and price. When looking to buy certain products a person will usually choose the highest quality for the most reasonable price. There are sometimes a convenience factor will play a part, but with the technology of online purchasing it makes most things easier to access.
D. Marketing Strategy
At Apple the sales plan is to offer a high quality product that appeals to the consumer at a reasonable price. There will always be special promotions that are brought to consumers attention by advertising in many different areas and ways. The product will be available for the consumer through online purchasing or they will also have the option of visiting a brick and mortar location. When offering the product in different ways the consumer will be able to purchase them by their preferable method of open market or contract sales. By offering products through contract sales, the company will have a better chance of keeping consumers purchasing their product.
With Apple being the only qualified supplier of the whole Itunes, Icloud, and other Apple networks they will be able to adjust price accordingly. Apple is also able to price a product by having set prices on equipment and components needed to produce products. The company uses market contracting as a tool to offer more consumers the opportunity to have their product. By doing this, Apple takes the risk of consumers not fulfilling their commitment. That is one of the reasons that Apple carries an insurance that will help offset the loss if purchaser doesn’t meet terms of contract.
E. Performance Standards
Some of the performance standards used to monitor Apple would be the user ability and availability to the consumer. The acceptable standard would be the highest quality with the user ability in mind. The yield of output would be adjusted by the demand of the product by the consumer and the parts available to the producer for the product being produced. When setting efficiency levels, Apple has set a standard that is so high so that the savings can be passed on to the consumer.
The procedures used to monitor performance will be by the quality of product produced along with quantity. The person responsible for monitoring performance will be the V. P. of Production. Benchmarks will be set that assess performance by how user friendly a product is to a consumer.
At Apple the funding of the business is done mainly through the selling of shares on the stock market. As always though there will be some debt assumed by the company and as of now the debt to equity ratio is 50%. Most of Apples capital debt funds are provided through bonds due to little to no interest rates. By the selling of stocks and bonds Apple does use outside investors for the capital needed to operate the business. ( Oct. 28, 2019 Chase CarMicheal )
Apple Financial risk are handled by CFO’s who spend considerable time figuring out the risk exposures and devising strategies to manage them. By Apple keeping a debt equity ratio at or around 50% it is able to adjust its spending limits for developing and still have some capital secured for debt. As with in most businesses you have got to have an assumption that things can happen to affect the projection of the business. There can be times when sells do not meet expectations and there can also be times that there are failures in production and must prepare for all.
The plan at Apple is to monitor its ROA so they are able to take into account the amount of debt that the company has. By knowing the amount of debt in which the company has, they will be able to adjust the amount that they are able to invest in new products. Some of the procedures used to monitor business performance will be by monitoring customer feedback on products sold. The level of performance that Apple will shoot for is to sustain the current performance the first year and then to increase by 2 to 3% a year for the next 5 years. By having these levels of performance goals set, Apple should hopefully see a 10 to 15% growth in the next 5 years. Also, Apple should see that the levels of efficiency should grow to a much higher standard.
The plan at Apple is to continue to follow the primary plan, but if something was to happen and was not able to proceed then Apple would imply its emergency plan of action. Apple’s emergency plan of action would be to evaluate the current situation and to make decisions based on information provided and to do what is best for its shareholders. By setting an emergency plan, Apple has given its employees and stock holders a piece of mind that are prepared for unforeseen circumstances.
Apple is driven by great leadership, but if something was to happen to key members they would evaluate the present situation and proceed accordingly.