Apple Inc. Case Study: An Empirical Analysis

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Research Methodology Writing
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Abstract
Communication has been improved worldwide by the introduction of mobile phone technology.
The emergence of mobiles has led to prompt competition among the companies that manufacture
and sell the phones. This research analyses Apple Inc. Company as the case study. The company
has been a market leader in the manufacture and distribution of IPhone products globally. The
great minds behind the foundation Apple products are Steven Paul Jobs and others. The luncheon
of the first iPhone was in 2007 and since then through innovation and invention has been made
to improve on the preceding iPhone models. The iPhones have been in the market for a decade,
and each time a new model is introduced, a new amazing feature is added to make it more
appealing to the consumers whose taste and preferences are never constant. This research has
been carried out to clarify the variations in the trends of the stock price before the introduction of
new iPhone model from 2008 to 2016

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Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background..............................................................................................................................3
Problem Statement...................................................................................................................4
Purpose statement.....................................................................................................................4
Research questions and objectives...........................................................................................5
Theoretical framework.............................................................................................................5
Hypothesis................................................................................................................................6
Significance of the study..........................................................................................................7
Definition of terms...................................................................................................................7
Ethical consideration................................................................................................................8
Delimitation..............................................................................................................................9
Limitation.................................................................................................................................9
Literature review............................................................................................................................10
Overview of trend of Apple Inc. stock price before a new IPhone release from 2008 to 2016.
................................................................................................................................................10
Review of methodologies.......................................................................................................11
Review of theories..................................................................................................................12
Factors affecting the study.....................................................................................................13
Theoretical framework...........................................................................................................13
Research Design and Methodology...............................................................................................14
Introduction............................................................................................................................14

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Research worldview...............................................................................................................14
Research Design.....................................................................................................................15
Research strategy....................................................................................................................16
Method of data collection.......................................................................................................16
Method of data analysis..........................................................................................................17
Population...............................................................................................................................17
Sample....................................................................................................................................18
Trend in stock price.......................................................................................................................19
Recommendations..................................................................................................................20
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................21

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Introduction
Background
The Apple Inc. Company manufactures and markets technological devices like mobile devices,
portable digital music players, personal computers etc. the outstanding designs have attracted
many consumers worldwide. The greatest consumption shares of the products come from
Europe, Asia Japan, America and also some parts of Africa. Founded on 1st April 1976, the
company has grown to the among the market leaders in manufacture and distribution of
communication devices especially mobiles phones. It has its headquarters in Cupertino
(Blumenthal, 2012). IPhone brand has made Apple Inc. to be famous as it exquisite and has
awesome features (Purewell, 2014). Over the past decade, several iPhone products have been
launched and their prices have notably been changing considerably. The first iPhone product was
introduced into the market on January 9, 2007 by Steven Jobs. Due to the in depth research put in
by the team at the company, the iPhone was immediately accepted by the consumers. The
positive response from the consumers assured the company that the product was a success and
fueled their desire to produce even better iPhones in the future. When Tim Cook took over the
leadership of Apple Inc. he declared that there was a new iPhone on the way that would be better
than the previous model. This was rather a big announced especially made by a new CEO, so
people were anxiously waiting for the new product (Cook, 2017). After the luncheon of iPhone
5, there was a considerable boom in the price, and also the average stock price realized has
increased concurrently. This research will focus on how stock price trends prior to introduction
of new iPhone into the consumer market. In 2016, after the release of iPhone 6, the company
announced the release of iPhone 6s, this particular iPhone product was not well received by the
consumers as they felt the phone was much or less the same as the iPhones 6 that had not stayed
for long in the market. This affected the profits of Apple Inc. and it recorded less stock sales
(Kelby & White, 2012). In order to continue staying in the market the Apple Inc. are expected to
upgrade iPhone 8 to the current consumers’ tastes and preferences. This will enable it make a
grand come back in 2017.

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Problem Statement
There have been tremendous advantages and developments experienced with the introduction of
the iPhone mobile communication devices over the past decade. Apple Inc. has mastered the
consumers varied tastes and through innovation and invention they have been able to deliver the
quality brand that is satisfactory. The level at which the iPhone stock moves globally is generally
motivating to the company and the reviews and feedback are always good and positive, with a
few suggestions of what to expect in the next models. The advantages of the iPhone are
considerable and realistic. The company’s stock price of the iPhone products is faced with
challenges that should be looked into to prevent losses in the future invention of other iPhone
models. For instance, the company is not able to produce a new model into market on a yearly
basis as most consumers expect (Meyer, 1983). Another problem is that the company is not able
to provide software update as regularly as the other mobile communication companies do. These
challenges can affect the stock Sales of the iPhones as people would not want to buy products
that do not update or take too long to invent new models
Purpose statement.
As Apple, Inc. company strategize to unveil new inventions of iPhone mobile products the
company needs to look into the stock price trends and address the various concerns therein. A
look into the stock price trend from 2008 to 2016 will help in pointing out the main concerns
before the introduction of the next iPhone model. In this case study, the research design used is
descriptive so as to interpret and find the proper solution to this trend problem. Deductive
research approach will be used to analyze the trend of the stock price of the iPhones and try to
find solution before any other new model is released in the market.