The Rapid Development of Apple Inc - Research Paper Example

How Apple Company Developed BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Over the recent past decades, various companies have marked their unique existence in the global business world through their effective operations. In this context, the performance and the development of Apple Inc, from a small company to a multinational electronic company, is something quite imperative to discuss. Under the influential leadership of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, the company has experienced many ups and downs in its operations, since its inception in the year 1976 until today. In due course of time, Apple has gained the honor to be called as the second largest Information Technology (IT) multinational company in the world. The product range offered by the company includes mobile phones, computer operating systems and other consumer electronics. Delivering effective products as well as user friendly technology services to the customers in the worldwide market, the company has given tough competition to its rivals operating in identical business conditions. Owing to this aspect the performance of the company has seen a continuous hike which further rewarded a leadership position to the company in the global business world. However, like every company, there were certain negative aspects associated with the company which ultimately hampered its brand image to a considerable margin on the basis of sustainability (Mrak-Blumberg, Renery and Bundgaard, “Strategic Report for Apple Computer Inc”). From an overall perspective, it can be stated that the development of the company, from its inception stage to the modern day, has been a vital topic of debate. THESIS STATEMENT The rapid development of Apple Inc has been quite a significant topic of study in the recent times owing to its aggressively competitive approach to sustenance. The rapid growth of Apple, over the years, can also be affirmed as a result of its commitment towards delivering quality products and services, keeping pace with the continually changing preferences of its customers. This thesis would therefore aim at addressing the development of Apple, since its inception to the present day. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY As can be observed from the above conducted theoretical analysis of Apple’s performance, although the company has been able to secure its leadership position going through various ups and downs, the future probable rise in competition is likely to raise certain barriers to the trend in case of Apple. This further indicates the requirement to conduct a rigorous research to understand the rudimental driving forces which have contributed to the performance of the company. To accomplish this objective, the research will mainly focus on implementing a quantitative approach for analysing the different aspects associated with the growth of the company i.e. Apple. Accordingly, the assistance of secondary sources will be considered to obtain the adequate amount of data with the aim to substantiate the research questions. For the purpose of data analysis, tables, charts and graphs will be used, which would help in comprehensively summarising as well as analysing the data gathered for the research. To be precise, a descriptive data analysis framework will be considered in this study to elaborate on the continuous development enjoyed by Apple. RESEARCH QUESTIONS With reference to the defined objective of the thesis, the research study will aim at justifying or providing rational explanation to the below mentioned questions, What has been the historical development of Apple Inc What are the characteristics of the present day operations performed by the company with respect to its performance and market share What was the development trend of the company right from the early days to the present day What are its prospects for the future in accordance to its growth trend THEORETICAL ANALYSIS Historical analysis of Apple Inc Apple Inc, also known as Apple computer, Inc, is an American multinational company that has its headquarters in California. Primarily the company is engaged with the designing of high quality consumer electronic products at reasonable costs. The range of products of the company will comprise of consumer electronic products, software for computers and personal computers among the primary. The company is also quite popular for its wide ranging products which include music players, smart phones and tablets among others. The company was incepted in the year 1976, when the trio, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, came up with the idea of selling computer kit with the brand name Apple. In further development, Ronald Wayne, one of the members among the trio, sold his share to the other two i.e. Jobs and Wozniak. In the succeeding year of its operation, the company came up with its innovative product named Apple II, which was revolutionary in its own type claiming to be quite different from that of the then rival products. The system included a floppy disk as part of the storage system which was very unusual and upgraded during that period of time in the history of electronics. Furthermore, Apple II was also embedded with feature called VisiCalc which was the first spread sheet program launched in the sector. Thus, it was since its inception that the company has been marking its innovative strengths in the global automotive industry which evidently contributed towards its rise of in the leadership position of the global business world. Within a short period, the company then invented Apple III to beat its new competitors. With all these positive aspects associated with its operations, the company became public in the year 1980 by registering a record performance for that year in terms of total earnings. However, in the mid 80’s, the company again launched new products named Macintosh and Apple Lisa which however did not have a successful run in the market owing to its limited features and high pricing. Subsequently, situation turned more severe when the co-founder of the organization, Steve Jobs left the company owing to his conflict with the management of the company regarding his approach and ideas. After more than 20 years of impressive operations, the company moved into a declining phase where it had to invent a diverse range of products to rebuild its brand image in the highly competitive industry of automotives. This declining phase of the company continued till the mid 90’s when the management was forced to bring back Steve Jobs to the company as a chief advisor. Later, Steve Jobs was re-appointed as the CEO of the company and began to restructure the strategies of the company regarding the product line and other aspects. However, with the inception of the 21st century, the company began to turnaround with a profitable operation owing to its new set of product line comprising of iPhones and iPods, which became quite popular among the common people within a short span. Since then, the operational performance of the company continued to rise at a rapid pace and rewarded the company with widespread success (Mrak-Blumberg, Renery and Bundgaard, “Strategic Report for Apple Computer Inc”). Present Day Scenario of Apple Inc One of the most important aspects that have provided Apple with maximum success over the years is owing to its ability of inventing products which can effectively comply with the changing needs of the customers encompassing unique technology features. It has been noted that the operational performance of the company has seen an immense leap since the year 2005. It has often been argued in this regard that the decision of the company, to produce Intel-based computer systems, has made a significant contribution towards this aspect. The products that were made in alignment with the Intel operating systems were largely accepted by the common people as a successor of the previous products. Owing to this aspect, the stock price of the company experienced a considerable growth, deciphering signs of considerable success. Furthermore, with reference to the needs of the younger generation, the company came up with various ranges of products comprising of iPhones and iPads along with the invention of touch screen mobile devices. Apple is considered to be the first company that was able to gain immense success with the invention of touch screen devices which further ensured widespread success for the company. With every step of the rising operational performance of the company, its stock price was also on the rise. In the year 2008, the company was accredited as the third largest seller of mobile devices in the world market owing to the popularity of the iPhones among the customers of almost every age, every profession and almost of every culture. The succession of the company continued in the first quarter of 2009 where it collected record revenue from the global market in spite of the absence of Steve Jobs due to medical issues. This aspect depicts the strengths of the brand name of the company among the buyers. Later, in 2010, the think tank of the company come up with product called tablet device which was sold at a large volume within a short term period since its launch. However, with the unfortunate demise of the then CEO, Steve Jobs, in the year 2011, the company faced a setback in respect of leadership. Yet, the performance of the company remained constant with launch of various new products, acquiring various valuable partners and adopting effective strategies for the operation of the company among others (Mrak-Blumberg, Renery and Bundgaard, “Strategic Report for Apple Computer Inc”; Apple Inc, “Apple Info”). Development of Apple in Every Stage of Its Operation Assessing the present as well as the past performances of Apple, it can be observed that the company managed continuous development in almost every stage of its operations from its inception to that of the present day. However, the company performed with a severe leap since the initial years of 2000s which continues till date. For instance, the net sales of the company for that period, i.e. 2000, were accounted as 30% greater than that of the preceding year. Owing to this aspect, the net income of the company has also seen a marginal increase which was recorded to be around 31% more than that of the previous year, i.e. 1999 (Apple Inc, “Annual Report”). Fig: Apple Inc Annual Report for the year 2000 (Apple Inc, “Annual Report”) Subsequently, the net sales of the company have been on a continuous high from the year 2003, 2004 and 2005 where the net income of the company had also experienced a significant leap. The net sales of the product of the were further recorded to be $6,207 million for the year 2003, $8,279 million for the year 2004 and $ 13,931 million for the year 2005, in parallel to the net income of the company were registered to be around $ 69 million as on 2003, $ 276 million in 2004 and $ 1,335 million for the year 2005. Hence, it can be apparently observed that the sales as well as net income of the company experienced continuous and leap with every passing year. This depicts the dominance of the company worldwide (Apple Inc, “Annual Report”). Figure: Financial Analysis of Apple Inc Evaluation of its past and present performances also reveal that the growth of the company continued till the next succeeding years, where the income and sales levels of the company continued to depict an increasing trend from the preceding year. The net sales for the company was recorded to be $ 19,315 million in the year 2006 and was subsequently recorded as $ 24,006 million and $ 32,479 million for the years 2007 and 2008 respectively which in comparison with the preceding three year shows an apparently increasing graph. This ensured widespread growth for the company in the global business arena. Parallel to the rise in sales of the product, Apple has also experienced net income growth similar to that of the three preceding years ranging from 2003 to 2005. The recorded net income of the company, for the period of 2006-2008, was $ 3,491 million, $ 6,392 million and $ 9,352 million respectively. It can be observed that in-spite of the financial crisis during the same fiscal years, the operational performance of the company has continued to grow worldwide which can further ne interpreted to depict the dominance of the brand in the worldwide market (Apple Inc, “Annual Report”). Figure: Financial Analysis of Apple Inc In the latter years of 2009-2011, the performance of the company witnessed both ups and downs. The net income of the company for the financial year of 2009 declined from that of the preceding year 2008, for the first time in several years. The recorded net income for the company in 2009 was $ 8,235 million which was less than that of 2008 i.e. $ 9,352 million. However, the performance of the company was stabilized in the coming years of 2010 and 2011 where both the net sales as well as the income of the company increased considerably in accordance to the previous growth standards it had deciphered. From the overall performance graph of the company, it is evident that its performance has been reflecting its control over the worldwide market. From the year 2000, the operational performance of the company has depicted a continuously increasing trend, until the trend was obstructed in the post financial crisis period of 2009. Nevertheless, with its control on the global consumer electronics market, the company regained its growth trend in the current years. From a critical perspective, collaborative efforts of providing effective services with updated products along with maximum quality can be concluded as among the major driving factors to support the success of the company (Apple Inc, “Annual Report”). Figure: Financial Analysis of Apple Inc Future Prospect for the Company From the overall discussion it can be analyzed that Apple Inc has been among the companies that has seen a big leap in its performance over the years. The company has registered successful performance year after year. The graph below depicts the performance of the company in the worldwide arena since 2003 to 2011. Figure: Financial Analysis of Apple Inc With regard to this performance trend of the company, the future probablity for Apple’s performance can be assumed to continue with a similar increasing trend. With the ability of the company to cope up with the changing demands of the customers and deliver innovative products accordinglythe company’s performance can be observed to become better in future. However, due to its rapid innovation and also with the increasing competition in the global market, the product life cycle of the company tends to be lower. Apart from these, the challenges of legislative barriers as well as backward and forward integration of industry rivals, is also like to affect the leadership position of Apple, subjected to the effectiveness of the strategies undertaken. Works Cited Apple Inc. Apple Info. Home, 2013. Web 09 Jul. 2013. Apple Inc. Annual Report. Edgar, 2011. Apple Inc. Annual report. Edgar, 2011. Web 09 Jul. 2013. Apple Inc. Annual report. Edgar, 2011. Web 09 Jul. 2013. Apple Inc. Annual Report. Edgar, 2011. Web 09 Jul. 2013. Mrak-Blumberg, Elia, Anna Renery, and Tycen Bundgaard. Strategic Report for Apple Computer Inc. Pandora Group, 2006. 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