Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Prices of goods can affect our overall economy. With inflation driving prices up, people buy less, and with hyperinflation things gets a lot worse, especially when their salary does not follow inflation, and in rare situations, deflation may drive the prices down and then every business in the country weakens. The recession is one of the main factors that can bend the economy and change consumers’ purchasing mindset.  Apple’s target market is a unique example for every company in the world. Apple, knowing that their products are pricey, just recently announced the iPhone 5C, a plastic-cased, cheaper version of its flagship smartphone.

The iPhone 5C will help Apple target customers in emerging economies, something analysts say the company needs to do in order to stay ahead in an increasingly saturated smartphone market. Apple is more popular in North America and Europe but lags in developing regions like China, India, South America, the Middle East and Africa. Apple hopes that a cheaper iPhone will change that trend in these countries. At the same time, Apple is trying to comply with the slowly growing number of buyers in the USA who are moving away from the two-year contracts that subsidize the cost of a phone and buying their phones outright. Cell phone carriers like Virgin Mobile are asking customers to pay for more of the cost of their phones, and customers are also starting to choose more flexible contracts for unsubsidized phones. In addition, Apple is trying to engage the untapped US smartphone market that is mostly among the poorer and the elderly, neither of whom are likely to splurge as much on their first smartphone.

Ch. 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

Apple has set as one of their main strategic goals, as is stated in their Facilities Enviromental Report, to be " committed to protecting the environment, health, and safety of its employees, customers, and the global communities in which it operates". For more than 20 years, Apple has been working on ways to minimize the impact of the company and of their products on the environment. Apple is working toward 100% renewable energy. In fact, in 2012 it launched the redesigned iMac, which uses 68 percent less material and generates 67 percent fewer carbon emissions than earlier generations. In addition, the aluminum stand on the iMac is made using 30 percent recycled content. Also, Apple achieves 100 percent renewable energy use in corporate facilities in Austin, Elk Grove, Cork, and Munich; at many sites in Australia; at the Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino; as well as at data centers in Newark, Maiden, and Prineville. Impressing, when considering all the Apple corporate facilities worldwide; 75 percent of the total energy used comes from renewable sources — a 114 percent increase since 2010. According to Apple's official site, Apple states that "the most important thing we can do to reduce our impact on the environment is to improve our products’ environmental performance. That’s why we design them to use less material, ship with smaller packaging, be free of many toxic substances, and be as energy efficient and recyclable as possible. So as we continue to grow faster than the rest of the industry, we’re doing it with products that are friendlier to the environment than ever, and we remain committed to creating products that have the least amount of impact on the environment. Though our revenue has grown, our greenhouse gas emissions per dollar of revenue have decreased by 21.5 percent since 2008. And we’re still the only company in our industry whose entire product line not only meets but exceeds the strict energy guidelines of the ENERGY STAR specification. "

Source: http://www.apple.com/environment

 

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Apple is one of the most well-known companies in the world. But where can Apple Inc. attribute its popularity? Its success could not be attributed to anything else than to its strategic planning which the company implemented successfully the last few years in the competitive society we live in. Apple's Inc strategic planning has helped to set the company apart from other colossal ones in the industry. This is what we call in marketing, competitive advantage. That is to be able to provide the same value as its competitors but at a lower price, or to charge higher prices by providing greater value through differentiation. It's important to mention that up until recently Steve Jobs the CEO of Apple's Inc was announcing the new products to the public which I believe was a great strategic plan because just from watching the presentation you felt connected to the company. Apple’s CEO was making sure to differentiate its products on every presentation by referring to them with extreme detail there by showing why you should try Apple and why you should spend your money on one of its products. Steve Jobs was describing Apple's Iphone as a superior and unique product with better hardware, software, operating systems and support. He also emphasized how important it is for Apple to satisfy their customers. Unfortunately, we all heard about the death of Steve Jobs. People automatically felt that a part of Apple’s fame might be lost. In the end, Steve Jobs was the founder and heart of Apple's Inc. However, 2 years later Apple Inc keeps thriving as forecast show, and with the introduction of Iphone 5, and its new features and better CPU, Apple's revenues beat analyst's forecasts, with a 20% rise in iPhone sales in the latest quarter. Apple shows that the company can still be innovative, following a strategic plan that is far more elaborate than we ever thought.

 

 

Ch.1 – Brief History and Mission Statement of Apple Inc.

Apple Inc's Brief History 

 Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino California. It was founded on April 1, 1976 by a group of friends Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Their first sale was the Apple I personal computer kit, a computer single handedly designed by Wozniak. Apple was incorporated on January 3, 1977 and a few months later, on April 16, 1977, Apple II, also invented by Wozniak, was introduced in the market. Apple II had the distinct honor of being differentiated from its competitors because of it's ability to successfully mass-produce microcomputer products first and it was this product that would boost the image of Apple Inc. as a whole. Today, Apple Inc. has become the world's second-largest information technology company by revenue after Samsung Electronics, and the world's third-largest mobile phone maker after Samsung and Nokia. Currently the company designs and manufactures computer hardware, software, and consumer electronics, such as smartphones(iPhone), portable media players(IPod), tablet computers(iPod) and with more than 408 Apple retail stores in fourteen countries, Apple is the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization.

Apple Inc's Mission Statement

 

"Apple desings Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices."

Source:Apple's Investor Relations FAQ