Corporate Governance and Strategy Issues in Apple: A Research Proposal

This research proposal aims to analyze and identify the issues or problems in corporate governance or strategy in Apple. The study will focus on the concept of corporate governance or strategy, determine the issues in corporate governance or strategy in Apple, and analyze why the chosen issues are important.

Research Proposal Form
Student Name: ______________________ Student ID: ____________
Centre Name: _____________________
Tutor: ________________ Date: ___________________
Unit: ____________________
Proposed Title: Workplace Discrimination
Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Title or working title of the research project (in the form of a question, objective or hypothesis)
Research objectives (e.g. what is the question you want to answer? What do you want to learn
how to do? What do you want to find out?):
Research Aim
“ To analyse and identify the issue or problem in corporate governance or strategy” A study on
Apple .
Research Objectives
 To identify the concept of corporate governance or strategy
 To determine the issues in corporate governance or strategy in apple company To determine that why the chosen issues is important.
Research questions
 What is the concept of corporate governance or strategy?
 What are the issues in corporate governance or strategy in Apple Company?
 why the chosen issues is important?

Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project
Reasons for choosing the project (e.g links to other subjects you are studying, personal interest, future
plans, knowledge/skills you want to improve, why the topic is important):
The current research is concentrating on the concept of the corporate governance on the strategy in the
organisation. The main aim of this investigation is to address the problem in context of the corporate
governance or corporate strategy. This initiative is very important and advantage genius for the individual in
order to analyse the issues and the concept of the governance strategies that will going to support the
company to identify the issues and also analyse why these issues are important. Apart from this, this research
will also going to focusing on the enhancement of the different skills like communication in schools, time
management skills, data collecting skills and different more skills. Therefore, this investigation is very
essential for the organisation as well as for the individual in order to analyse the concept of the corporate
governance and develop their capabilities in order to achieve their goals and objectives.
A brief introduction about the issues or problems in corporate governance.
The problems related to corporate governance that Apple organisation are facing is they contract render for
directors election that is ready for serving or who supposed to facilitates and give its best for a year. In
addition to this, there are several forms of ethical issues within corporate governance which are
responsibilities of stakeholder, disputes of transparency and interests, remunerations, diversity and other. But
the key and major problems in respect of corporate governance system is that it is the system wherein firm
would formulate as well as manage its practices and balance the connections between stakeholders which
would assists them to obviate the unnecessary uncertain factors and problems of interests within related team
members. The major and the central issue in context of corporate governance system is that this is the system
in which the organisation would develop and manage their activities and balance the connections among the
stakeholders that will help the company to avoid the unnecessary Uncertainty factors and issues of interest
among the related groups.
Section Three: Literature sources searched
Use of key literature sources to support your research question, objective or hypothesis:
What is the concept of corporate governance or strategy?
According to the (Rodrigues, Samagaio and Felício, 2020), Corporate governance is the concept through
which the organisation are controlled and directed. The board of the directors of the organisation are more
liable for the governance of their organisation. The shareholders role in governance is to assist and appoint
the directors in order to satisfied themselves and maintain the appropriate and effective governance structure
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and their organisation. In another term it is the system or group of the internal rules and policies that helps the
organisation to analyse that how the organisation is directed (Halioui and Abdelaziz, 2016).
It can be stated that corporate governance or strategy is of importance because it ensures that there is effective
management within the company which can lead it to a proper success in the long term. Apart from this, it
can be stated that corporate governance promotes positive behaviour within the organization. This way, the
overall motivation of the employees is also increased and they are able to perform in an effective manner.
The decisions that are made by the top level management, are also improved and the company is able to
recruit or hire talented as well as well-experienced employees. It can be stated that appropriate as well as
effective strategy is required for any organization to be able to perform at the desired level and making sure
that the goals are achieved in an effective manner. Therefore, it can be stated that corporate governance as
well as strategy are important for any organiztaion.
What are the issues in corporate governance or strategy in apple company?
According to the viewpoint of author, (Curi, Gedvilas and Lozano-Vivas, 2016), There are different kind of
issues which affecting corporate governance practises for the Apple organisation and which are removal of
independent directors, risk management, getting the board right, accountability to stakeholders and many
more. Apple is the organisation that has a single unit of board of directors. It contains both executive and
non-executive directors and their organisation. Currently the organisation charters cater for the election of a
director who is ready to serve or who are supposed to provide and give their best for one year each. There is
different kind of ethical issues in corporate governance and that is stakeholder accountability, conflicts of
transparency and interest, remuneration, diversity (Kammoun, Loukil and Loukil, 2020). The major and the
central issue in context of corporate governance system is that this is the system in which the organisation
would develop and manage their activities and balance the connections among the stakeholders that will help
the company to avoid the unnecessary Uncertainty factors and issues of interest among the related groups.
There are different challenges that are faced by Apple such as the managers have to deal with conflicts among
the employees and transparency between the staff. It is important to understand that effective strategies
should be developed so as to understand the different issues and develop appropriate strategies in an
effective manner. The respective organization, Apple is also dealing with issues related with diversity within
the organization. There is a lack of diverse staff members within an organization and due to this, the overall
performance of the company is getting affected. Therefore, there is a need for the respective company to
develop appropriate strategies so that the overall issues as well as challenges can be reduced. The company is
also struggling with the issue of a lack of employees across different offices. Also, it should be ensured that
there is a proper transparency between the employees as well as different team members across various
departments. This will ensure that there is an increase in the overall performance as well as outcomes of the
respective organization.
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Why the chosen issues is important in context of corporate governance?
According to the viewpoint of (Mbu-Ogar and Abang, 2017), In order to overcome the mismanagement from
the organisation and develop good and effective corporate governance it is very important for the Apple
organisation to enable companies and operate more effectively. This will help the organisation to improve
access to capital and also support them to mitigate the risk and safeguard stakeholders. It also support the
organisation to become more accountable and transparent towards the investors so that they can minimise the
expropriation and unfairness for the shareholders (Keay and Zhao, 2017). The chosen organization, i.e.,
Apple is of importance in context of corporate governance because it will help the company in creating
proper as well as structured rules and practices that determine how a company operates and that how well
does it align with the interest of its different stakeholders. Apple is one of the largest as well as widely known
companies that takes into account the different ethical business practices to make sure that there is a proper
financial viability.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Mbu-Ogar, G.B., Effiong, S.A. and Abang, J.O., 2017. Corporate governance and organizational
performance: evidence from the Nigerian manufacturing industry. IOSR J. Bus. Manag, 19(8), pp.46-
51.
Curi, C., Gedvilas, J. and Lozano-Vivas, A., 2016. Corporate governance of SOEs and performance in
transition countries. Evidence from Lithuania. Evidence from Lithuania (September 16, 2016).
Rodrigues, R., Samagaio, A. and Felício, T., 2020. Corporate governance and R&D investment by European
listed companies. Journal of Business Research, 115, pp.289-295.
Halioui, K., Neifar, S. and Abdelaziz, F.B., 2016. Corporate governance, CEO compensation and tax
aggressiveness: Evidence from American firms listed on the NASDAQ 100. Review of Accounting
and Finance.
Keay, A. and Zhao, J., 2017. Transforming corporate governance in Chinese corporations: A journey, not a
destination. Nw. J. Int'l L. & Bus., 38, p.187.
Kammoun, S., Loukil, S. and Loukil, Y.B.R., 2020. The impact of Firm Performance and Corporate
Governance on Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from France. In Conceptual and Theoretical
Approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility, Entrepreneurial Orientation, and Financial
Performance (pp. 266-288). IGI Global.
Recommendations
There are certain recommendations that can be made to the respective company, Apple, it can be stated that
the company should implement effective corporate governance strategies within the workplace to
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make sure that the goals as well as objectives are achieved significantly.
Section Four: Activities and timescales
Activities to be carried out during the research project (e.g research,
development and analysis of ideas, writing, data collection, numerical
analysis, tutor meetings, production of final outcome, evaluation, writing the
report):
Activities Time Duration
Developing aims and objectives 12 Days
Literature review 15 Days
Research methodology 20 Days
Data Collection 25 Days
Data analysis 30 Days
Conclusion and recommendation 8 Days
Submission of the project 3 Days
How long this will
take:
Milestone one: _________________
Target date (set by tutor): ____________________
Milestone two: _______________________
Target date (set by tutor): ______________________
Gantt Chart
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Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
What type of research approach and methodologies are you likely to use and why? What your areas of
research will cover:
Research methodology is the concept which is linked with the collection of the data and information so that
the Investigator can collect the appropriate data for the investigation in order to achieve the targets and bring
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more opportunities. There are various types of steps which are considered for the investigation in order to
achieve their goals and these steps are mentioned below:
Research Philosophy: Research philosophy is the activity of collecting it and mining the information for the
procedure so that that is investigator can achieve their goals and objectives. There are two types of research
philosophy and that are interpretive and positivism. This report is going to consider the positivism
investigation philosophy.
Research Approaches – Research approaches and the concept which are associated to adopt several kind of
techniques so that the investigator can manage their activities in an effective manner. This activity support the
investigator to fulfil the requirement of the research so that they can achieve their goals and objectives. There
are two types of approaches and that is deductive approach and inductive approach. For this current
investigation the Researcher will going to select deductive investigation so that they can initiate with the
hypothesis quantitative information.
Research Choices – Research choices is the activity that will going to support and assist the investigator to
analyse about the utilisation of the information. There are basically three kinds of components and that is
mono method, multi method, mixed method. Apart from this there are two types of choices which are used by
the researcher in that is quantitative and qualitative. For this current investigation the researcher will going to
consider Mono method so that they can develop statistical data for the investigation.
.Research Strategy - strategy is the kind of activity that will support the investigator to collect their data in
an appropriate manner. It engages different kind of features and characteristics of the investigation and that is
literature review and many more. This strategy is very cost-effective for the researcher in order to connect
with the management tools so that the researcher can develop the project function in appropriate manner.
Data Collection – Data collection is the method that will going to support the investigator to collect and
aggregate the data in an appropriate manner. There are two types of sources of the data collection that will
going to help and assist the investigator to collect the appropriate information and these sources is secondary
as well as primary. For this investigation the primary data collection is considered by the researcher so that
they can grab their information in an authentic manner.
Sampling – Sampling is the concept or is the activity that considers small portion from the huge and large
population. This kind of activity will going to assist the researcher to set an appropriate reliability of their
result so that they can gain more positive outcomes. In order to achieve their tasks and activities the
Probabilistic as well as non-probabilistic methods are considered for the sampling. For this particular research
the researcher going to consider the probabilistic sample method so that they can choose the appropriate
sample size in order to achieve their task
Time Horizon – Time horizon is the activity that engage longitudinal areas as well as cross-sectional areas
for the investigations which are connected with the entire time that will going to allot to the researcher so that
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they can complete their activities in an appropriate manner. For this investigation cross-sectional time horizon
is considered by the researcher so that they can achieve their task and brings more opportunities
In respect of this research both primary and secondary source of information would be adopted to ensure
availability of significant set of information to meet the set objective. Use of primary source of data collection
provides first hand and most authentic information that would be collected with the help of questionnaire. On
the other hand, review of secondary information tends to provide a base and better framework for undertaking
an investigation through ensuring analysis of pre- existing information with the help of online article and
journal. So, literature review is performed with assistance of secondary data.
Comments and agreement from tutor
Comments (optional):
I confirm that the project is not work which has been or will be submitted for another qualification and
is appropriate.
Agreed: ________________ (name)_______________ Date ______________
Comments and agreement form project proposal checker( IV sampling)
Comments (Optional):
I confirm that the project is appropriate.
Agreed /Disagree: (Name of the IV) Date
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Research Ethics approval form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants or the use of data collected form
human participants are required to gain ethical approval before commencing their research. Please answer all
relevant questions and note that your form may be returned if incomplete.
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor:
Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed research fully with your unit tutor.
Please complete this form in good time before your research project is due to commence.
Section 1: Basic details:
Project title: To analyse and identify the issue or problem in corporate governance or
strategy” A study on Apple
Student name:
Student ID number:
Programme:
College Name:
Intended research start date:
Intended research end date:
Section 2 Project summary
Please select all research methods that you plan to use as a part of your project:
 Interviews Yes No
 Questionnaires Yes No
 Observations Yes No
 Use of personal records Yes No
 Data Analysis Yes No
 Action Research Yes No
 Focus Groups Yes No
 Others (Please specify) :
Section 3: Participants
Please answer the following questions, giving full details where necessary.
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Will your research involve human participants?
Yes
Who are the participants? Tick all that apply:
Ages 12-16: Young people aged: 17-18 Adults: More than 18
How will participants be recruited (identified an approached)?
The participants will be recruiting by using random sampling method.
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what you are doing:
Through using the email, researcher will inform the participants.
How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written? How will it be made
clear to participants that they may withdraw consent to participate at any time?
The consent will be obtaining from participants through using email.
Studies involving questionnaires: will participants be given the option of omitting questions
that do not wish to answer?
Yes No
If no, please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical issues arising from
this
Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be asked for their
informed consent to be observed.
Yes No
Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e give them a brief
explanation of the study)?
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Yes No
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study? (This could be a
brief summary of your findings in general)
Yes No
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in compliance with the Data
Protection Act (1998)
Yes No
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
The organisation and research will access data and personal information.
During the research:
Where will the data be stored?
The data will be stored in hard disk and personal computer.
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be used
Yes No
If Yes, please provide further details:
After the research:
Where will the data be stored?
The data will be stored in hard disk and personal computer.
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
The data and records will be kept for long time and it will be in word format.
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Will data be kept for use by other researchers? Yes No
Section 5 : Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work, which may raise ethical concerns?
If so, please outline how you will deal with these:
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks that may arise because
of your research. Please consider/address all issues that may apply. Ethical concerns may
include, but are not limited to the following :
 Informed consent.
 Potentially vulnerable participants.
 Sensitive topics
 Risk to participants and /or researchers
 Confidentiality/anonymity
 Disclosures/ limits to confidentiality
 Data storage and security, both during and after the research (including
transfer, sharing, encryption, protection).
 Reporting
 Dissemination and use of your findings.
Section 6: Declaration
I have read, understood and will abide by the institution’s Research and Ethics Policy:
Yes No
I have discussed the ethical issues relating to my research with my Unit Tutor:
Yes No
I confirm that to the best of my knowledge:
The above information is correct, and this is a full description of the ethical issues that
may arise in the course of my research
Name: Date:
Please submit your completed form to your supervisor and also attach to the Research
Proposal when submitting to Turnitin.
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