Internal and External Environment of Apple Company - Essay Example

? Essay about Apple Company Contents Introduction 3 Internal Environment of Apple Company 4 External Environment of Apple Company 6 Conclusions 8 References 10 Introduction A business organisation to successfully operate in the competitive business environment must render adequate focus on both the external and internal business factors. These factors generate a huge impact on the functioning of the business organisation as a whole. To this end, it must be noted that the business organisation can render effective control over the internal factors pertaining to human, technological and financial resources. On the contrary the external business factors divided along the micro and macro parts remain uncontrollable by the business. External factors like customers and suppliers along with competitors and government bodies and the different environmental events pertaining to political, economic, social, legal and technological landscape affect the organisation in a potential manner. Similarly the international and socio-demographic environment also affect the operations of the business concerns (Jain, Trehan & Trehan, 2009, p.7-14). In regards to the above discussion the essay now focuses on analysing the internal and external business environment of Apple Company. The company has gained a wide recognition in the international market for producing computer and other information technology related products which focus on rendering high amount of sophistication and innovation. This fact enables the company to gain a large market share in the international arena in a much lesser time span (Lliev, Lindinger, & Poettler, 2004, p.6). Internal Environment of Apple Company The internal environment of Apple Computer Incorporation can be studied in respect to the human resource factors. Apple Computer Incorporation works on a strategic mindset while recruiting the proper quality of human resources in order to meet the organisational objectives. The company focuses on enhancing the quality of the workforce to help in enhancing the creative and innovative potential of the concern which thereby augments the productivity and organisational competence. Apple Computer Incorporation’s human resource policies thus strongly focus on gaining the right workforce which would help the company to deliver the best possible designs and technological innovations in the products produced. Further the company’s human resource function also renders potential importance in recruiting large amount of people to operate in creating attractive designs and contents on the web. This segment is rendered greater importance by the company for it helps the concern to reach a larger consumer base. Apple Computer Incorporation also reflects a huge potential in controlling the attrition rate of the employees in the concern. Through effective human resource policies the organisation successfully targets to retain key organisational people to help in generating large amount of productivity. The management team of Apple Computer Incorporation strategizes the formulation of organizational mission and visionary principles to help motivate the internal people in achieving stated ends. The visionary and missionary objectives should be strategically formulated by the business concern so as to develop a positive and lucrative image of the concern in the eyes of the principal stakeholders both internal and external. Human resource policies of Apple Incorporation also focus on helping the employees rise up the organisational ladder depending on their productivity and performance parameters. Thus the internal environment structure of the concern is quite amicable for the employees to develop their personal productivity. Another key feature of the human resource policies of Apple Computer Incorporation involves the outsourcing of human resource activities to key external human resource consultants. This function of outsourcing helps the business organisation to better manage the large scale of human resources spread along large geographical territories. Apple Computer Incorporation also helps in enhancing the knowledge environment in the concern by helping the employees gain access to potential company information. Similarly the employees also gain the right to render effective decisions in regards to the designing of key products. This helps in generating large amount of employee loyalty in the concern. The business organisation also focuses on developing the training activities for helping the employees adapt to changing organisational dynamics. Training functions in the organisation are mainly divided along different sets like those which focus on enhancing the productivity of the people in both the existing and enhanced business environment. The training functions also focus on augmenting the soft skills and expertise of the internal people and also in helping the employees gain a better knowledge of any changes brought about in the business sphere. Another measure taken in controlling the human resources of the concern and in enhancing their productivity is the generation of an effective performance appraisal procedure in the concern. The performances of both the managerial and subordinate team of the concern are appraised and effective feedback is rendered thereof to help in the enhancement of skills and expertise of the organizational people. Performance Appraisal procedure followed by the organisation can also be shown through a diagrammatic presentation as follows. Figure 1 (Source: Lliev, Lindinger, & Poettler, 2004, p.94) Through the above human resource policies Apple Computer Incorporation rightly focuses on gaining a huge advantage of maintaining such a productive and innovative workforce which helps the concern to counter potential competition rendered by other key market players. (Lliev, Lindinger, & Poettler, 2004, p.88-96). External Environment of Apple Company The external environment of Apple Company can be analysed on the basis of the PEST Model. Through the use of the PEST Model the political, economic, social and technological scenario of United States of America is surveyed to gain a holistic picture of the firm’s external environment. Political Factors The political factors in United States of America are found to have helped in the expansion of the information technology industries. Thus the governmental policies of United States helped the concern to develop a large plethora of products both in terms of software and hardware. Large scale diversification endeavoured by Apple technologies to render software products to other companies was hugely encouraged by the American government. Moreover the government of United States also helped the companies to form strategic business alliances as Apple had entered with IBM to render potential competition. The American government policies also helped in creating a large market for software products which thereby helped companies like Apple to grow. (Brown, Johnson & Warlick, 1995, p.2.1-2.4). Economic Factors In regards to the economic scenario it is found that Apple Computer Incorporation gains success in generating huge amount of potential revenues and market share. In making a comparison of the 2005 revenue figures for the company against the 2004 period it is observed that the American market contributed a hike of around 47.3 percent to the gross revenues of the firm. However the American market alone recorded a huge hike of around 64 percent during the stated period. Moreover the American region also highlights the growth of huge demand for sophisticated technologies with wire free connections which helps in the growth of companies like Apple. The highly innovative products produced by the concern pertaining to wire free environment tends to get huge amount of appreciation in the American market. Owing to the above factors the company had been able to augment its market share of the MP3 Player from 71 percent during 2005 to around 78 percent during 2006. (Datamonitor, 2006, p.17, 20). Social Factors Sophisticated consumer profile in United States helps information technology companies like Apple Computer Incorporation to gain a huge market base. Consumer profile in America endeavours to rely more on branded products for which the companies like Apple becomes able to gain large amount of market recognition. Moreover the craze of young consumers to gain hold of multimedia enabled gadgets helped companies like Apple to generate a large plethora of products like iPods in the United States market. (Datamonitor, 2006, p.19). Technological Factors The American government helps to render potential support for information technology firms like Apple Computer Incorporation to operate largely on research and development activities in order to produce more effective and sophisticated products. Gaining relevant support from the governmental bodies has helped the firm to produce a large plethora of information technology products starting from computers, to other online gadgets and unique digital music and video systems. Considerable focus generated on research and development activities further help Apple Computer Incorporation to venture into newer territories pertaining to the wireless environment. (Datamonitor, 2006, p.19-20). Conclusions Every business organisation operating in a competitive business environment needs to render considerable focus on both the external and internal business factors to help generate larger profits and market share. Internal environment mainly consist of such factors which can be controlled by effective managerial actions of the business corporation. However the external business factors pertaining to the social, economic, political and technological environment are seemingly uncontrollable by the business concerns. The paper in this regard focuses on a significant case of Apple Computer Incorporations which has gained a large recognition in the United States market. The internal factors of the company are judged on the basis of human resource factors in which the separate policies pertaining to recruitment, training and employee appraisals are closely studied. Again in regards to the external business environment the different political, economic, social and technological set of factors analysed also reflect favourable business environment for the business concern. References Jain, T., Trehan, M., & R. Trehan. (2009). Business Environment. FK Publications. Lliev, V., Lindinger, A., & G. Poettler. Apple Computer Inc.: Strategic Audit. [Pdf]. Available At: http://www.andreaslindinger.net/downloads/strategicmgmts-lindingeretal.pdf. [Accessed on May 12, 2011]. Datamonitor. (2006). Apple Computer Inc. [Pdf]. Available At: http://www.alacra.com/acm/2009_sample.pdf. [Accessed on May 12, 2011]. Brown, L., Johnson, C. & W. Warlick. (1995). Global Competitiveness of the U.S. Computer Software and Service Industries. [Pdf]. Available At: http://www.usitc.gov/publications/docs/pubs/research_working_papers/SOFTWARE.pdf. [Accessed on May 12, 2011]. Read More