Design a management control system to measure the iphone's success as an established brand - Essay Example

Current Apple Product Offering One area of business that Apple seems to concentrate a great deal of resources is Research and Development (R&D). As the source of many loyal consumers’ frustration about the company, Apple is always upgrading their products (Chamberlin, 2011), presenting iPad 2, for example, less than one year after April 3, 2010 release date of the original iPad (InfoSync World, 2010). The two newest product categories Apple has introduced are the iPad and iPhone (Apple Inc., 2011). Other product categories the company offers include the iPod, a music device that comes in various sizes, styles, and storage capacities, such as iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, and iPod Classic.

Apple also manufactures laptop and desktop computers called the MacBook and iMac, which also have other styles, sizes, and names, such as MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and Mac Pro (Apple Inc., 2011). Shareholder Value or Financial Perspective The financial objectives identified in this section focus on market share, profits, and utilization of current assets. A company with unsold inventory is losing money every day they do not sell the products (The Business Place, 2009). Tracking the sale of these products by store and moving unused inventory to geographic locations that have potential to sell, if the products are available, as opposed to being manufactured, it is an excellent starting point.

Continuing to monitor the location of all inventory and keeping the products mobile will help the company to achieve both of the other objectives in this section, which are increasing market share and profits. Customer Value Perspective In the section focusing on the company’s current and potential customers, the objectives are enriching relationships with current customers, reducing paperwork completed by employees, and generating “buzz” about new products like the iPhone. Customers do not want to feel as though they are simply revenue for the organization.

Taking time out to focus on the customers, gives the company an opportunity to gain insight through feedback they offer (Walinskas, 2011). If the customer is having issues, the company is aware of them before the customer complains. With the vast amount of technology available as forums for product complaints such as Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites, and YouTube, customer satisfaction is a top priority (Bensen, 2010). Reducing the amount of paperwork completed by employees, potentially frees up time for these groups to spend focusing on the customer; proactivity requires attention.

Customers appreciate immediate notification if a foreseen problem exists. Process or Internal Operation Perspective The two focuses of the three objectives in this section are training and communication. Empowering and developing employees, makes them more of an asset to the company. Knowledge is power, and educated employees ultimately make customers happier (Hobbs, 2011). Communicating this knowledge is the second piece of the process. Trained employees are not effective if they do not share their education with peers, customers, management, and all who they interact with during the regular course of business.

Customers want