International entrepreneurship -2 - Essay Example

Until the 21st century, there were a number of international entrepreneurs who have developed great products that are currently used by people across the world. This paper will however focus on the activities and the birth of mobile and electronic giant Apple Inc. the birth and growth of Apple will be critically analyzed with a bias towards its strategies, international market shares, growth trends and the potential. The entrepreneurial spirits of the founders who coined and pursued the idea to the end will also be evaluated in order to develop an idea on the challenges and strengths that the company possesses.

Introduction The purpose of this report is to provide an in-depth analysis of a company that is considered as a perfect example of an international entrepreneurship project. Apple Inc, a company based in California United States will be studied with an aim of getting insights into the company’s profile and practices. In doing this, the report will review the motivations and the reasons for starting the business. The personal profiles of the founders, educational backgrounds, family information and financial abilities will also be evaluated.

The market share and capitalization of the company will also provide great information of the company’s growth progress and abilities as compared to other market players and competitors (Beech and Jiang, 2012). Profile of firm Ref Description Response 1.1 Company age Apple Inc is today 36 years old, having been established in 1977 by three young entrepreneurs. It’s based in Cupertino, California (Beech and Jiang, 2012) 1. 3size (no of employees/sales turnover) Today, Apple Inc has over 72,800 employees in worldwide working in their laboratories, retail stores and operating their online stores (Apple, 2013).

The company’s Market capitalization is $416.46 billion in 2013, a value which has shown significant improvement when compared with the previous financial year (Linzmayer, 2009). It also had a Total sales of $164.46 billion in 2013, a value that improved if compare with the previous years (Beech and Jiang, 2012). 1.4 Industry sector Apple Inc operates under Computer, information technology and mobile telephony industry and is today operating in the entertainment sector through its online music stores (Lashinsky, 2012).

Main offerings The products offered by apple Inc include Computer hardware such as mackintosh computers, apple computers (Martin, 2011). The company also markets Computer software such as iMac iOS operating system, iCloud Mobile devices such as Apple Smartphone, iPhone Audio digital devices such as iPad, digital audio and music stores. 1.4 Main domestic/international market Domestic market include United states of America International market include Europe, Asia especially China, South American countries and Africa. 1.5 If international, no.

of markets percentage of sales as exports The total percentage exports to china during the financial year 2012 were 5%. Europe constitutes the major percentage of apple’s international exports at 14% in 2012 (Martin, 2011). Demographic profile of entrepreneur Ref Description Response 2.1 Age, gender, education, marital status Steve jobs remains the main entrepreneur and brainchild behind the apple we see and know today He Started the business while 22 years old. Steve went to reed college but dropped out before completion.

He was a Zen Buddhist believer and was married to Laurene Powell and