SWOT and PESTLE analysis - Apple

Apple

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Sector in which Apple operates and size, structure, goals, mission and values.................1
2. Identification of customers and their expectation from Apple in terms of goods or services
................................................................................................................................................2
3. SWOT and PESTLE analysis.............................................................................................2
4. Role of the employees within the organisation and the way in which they support the
organisation to achieve its goals.............................................................................................4
5. Training and development and their importance................................................................5
6. A job role in Apple and importance of this role.................................................................5
7. Skills and knowledge required to carry out the role...........................................................6
8. Training and development requirements that are needed to be considered........................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Apple is one of the largest multinational technology company which is mainly based in
Cupertino, California, United States. The organisation is operating business all around the world.
It designs, develops and sells different types of electronic items, computer software and provide
online services (Afuah, 2014). It was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne in
year 1976. Employee strength of the business entity is around 132000. It has various subsidiaries
such as Braeburn Capital, Beats Electronics, Apple Energy, Beddit, Texture, Anobit, Apple
Services, Apple sales International and File Maker Inc. This report is mainly based on Apple and
analysis of different aspects of it.
Various topics are covered in this report such as sector, size, structure, goals, mission and
values of Apple, identification of its customers their expectations, SWOT and PESTLE analysis,
role of employees and the way in which they help to achieve goals etc. Along with this,
importance of training, development and job roles of organisation, skills and knowledge which is
carried out by job roles and training and development requirements are also covered in this
report.
MAIN BODY
1. Sector in which Apple operates and size, structure, goals, mission and values
Sector: Apple is operating business under technology sector in which different types of
products are sold by the company which includes iPhone, iPad, iPod. All of them are designed,
developed and sold by the organisation. Apart from this various digital service are also provided
by it in which various software are sold by the company. These are iOS, macOS, tvOS etc. types
of operating systems (Background of Apple, 2019). It is a private sector enterprise which
executes its business all around the world and selling products in various countries.
Size: Apple is a large sized company as it delivers its services and sale the products all
around the world. In year 2018 the organisation has generated revenues of 265.595 billion
dollars. The recorded net income of the company 59.531 dollars for the year ending 2018.
Structure: Hierarchical organisational structure is followed within Apple by its managers.
Under this structure a proper chain of command is implemented by top authority in which they
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give orders to the middle and lower level managers. All of them are required to follow their
orders and execute operations in appropriate manner.
Goals: Main goals of Apple is to obtain stellar products and services within set
timeframe at such cost which best represents its values to the clients. It also has a goal to
becoming the world’s largest company in technology sector by capturing larger market share.
Mission: Apple has set a mission for itself in which it is willing to be the digital leaders
of market with the help of its digital products that are sold by company to its customers.
Values: Apple’s values include quality, customers, set standards and principles and
according to the company all of them can help it and its staff members to be succeed. All of them
are taken together in order to establish a unique image of the business entity in the market.
2. Identification of customers and their expectation from Apple in terms of goods or services
3. SWOT and PESTLE analysis
SWOT analysis: It is tool which is used by business entities to analyse various elements such as
strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. It beneficial for organisations to crave
sustainable niche in target market (Aithal, 2016). It is also used by managers and marketers of
Apple in order to evaluate competitive position of the company and develop processes for future
in to deal with weaknesses and threats. For Apple all the aspects of this analysis are as follows:
Strengths Weaknesses
 Apple has strong brand image due to
high demand and good quality of its
products and services.
 Profit margins of the company is very
high which helps to generate higher
profits.
 Organisation is focused with innovation
that helps it to remain competitive in
the market and capture large area of
market.
 Brand equity of Apple is very good due
to its great brand value.
 Distribution network of Apple is very
limited because the organisation
carefully selects the authorised sellers
to sale its products.
 Selling price of its products is very high
so all types of clients are not able to
buy its products.
 Organisation is totally dependent upon
its sales in high end market segments.
 Products of Apple are totally
incompatible with other companies so
when clients buy products of Apple
then they have to continue with it and it
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leave impact upon consumer decision
making.
Opportunities Threats
 Apple is planning to launch cars in the
market in order to expand its business
and capture more market.
 Technology enhancement is an
opportunity which can be grabbed by
Apple in order to attract more and more
clients.
 Apple can make development in its
product line which can help it to
provide different products to the
clients.
 Distribution network could be
expanded by Apple in order to enhance
sales of its products.
 Companies like Samsung create
aggressive competition for Apple
which can affect its market share.
 Labour cost in most of the companies is
continuously increasing which can
result in raised manufacturing cost of
products.
 Imitation is a threat which may affect
Apple in future because its simple and
sophisticated design helps it to be
unique but other companies in global
market imitate it and sale fake products
which look identical near to Apple
products.
PESTLE analysis: It is a tool which is used to conduct an external analysis of business. It helps
to determine all the aspects that can leave negative impact upon an organization. It guides
managers to analyze the factors that are available in industry and leave negative impact upon
company (PESTLE analysis, 2017). In Apple it is conducted by managers for the purpose of
determining all the components that can affect organization’s performance and profitability. All
factors of PESTLE for Apple are as follows:
Political: All the rules and regulation that are imposed by government are considered as
political factors. In order to operate business activities in appropriate manner Apple is required to
comply with all of them. It has been seen that higher tax fraud is made by the organization which
is creating political issues for it (Cadle, Paul and Turner, 2014).
Economic: Inflation, deflation, taxation, interest etc. types of rates are considered as the
part of economic factors. When economy fluctuates then purchasing power of clients get
decreased and it can affect Apple because price of its products is very high. In order to reduce
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effect of them it is vital for the organization to gather information of them in advance so that
strategic decision can be formulated.
Social: Income level, buying behavior, age, gender etc. are social factors that affects
customers directly. Price of Apple’s products is very high so all types of clients are not able to
buy its products in order to capture more market share it is very important for the company to
expand the product line so that middle and lower-class customers can also buy its products
(Fleisher and Bensoussan, 2015).
Technological: New and innovative technique is considered as the part of such factors.
Apple is mainly concerned with innovation in which technology is used by it to make unique
products. It helps to attract large number of customers and fulfil their demand regarding latest
technique.
Legal: Governmental rules apart from political factors are part of legal elements that
should be focused by Apple in order to execute business in appropriate manner. Privacy
regulations are continuously increasing in the world which is a threat as well as an opportunity
for Apple because it can affect it from both sides positively and negatively.
Environmental: Environment and nature related factors are part of these elements that
are required to be focused by all the companies which are executing business in a country. In UK
environmental protection rules are very strict and to operate business there it is very important
for it to comply with them.
4. Role of the employees within the organisation and the way in which they support the
organisation to achieve its goals
Role of employees: Main role of employees in Apple is to execute operational activities of the
company. As the organization is involved in designing, manufacturing, developing and selling
different mobile phones, software etc. They help to attain all the predetermined goals that were
formulated by managers. In marketing department all the staff members are responsible to make
attractive promotional strategies and implement them in appropriate manner so that sales and
profit can be maximized (Forsgren and Johanson, 2014). In all the divisions of Apple various
employees are working and their main responsibility is to perform all the tasks that are allotted to
them by top management. As main goal of Apple is to be the world’s largest company in the
technology sector and capture the largest market share. Employees help to achieve this goal by
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performing effectively and trying to accomplish all the tasks successfully. They also contribute
in the attainment of organizational objectives by executing operations in appropriate manner.
5. Training and development and their importance
Training: The process in which new employees of the organisation get to know about the jobs
and responsibilities at workplace. In order to enhance work quality of new employees most of the
organisations conduct training programs so that they can work productively. Most of the business
entities are using this method to provide detailed information of work to the new joiners so that
they wont face issues which working in the organization. Sometimes it is also conducted for
existing employees in order to provide them information regarding new technology which ahs
ben replaced by management from old methods that were used by organisation previously. For
all the business entities it is very important to conduct training programs so that skills of
workforce can be enhanced (Goss, 2015). Organisational activities can also be conducted in an
appropriate manner so that performance of the whole company can be enhanced.
Development: All the programs that are conducted specially for existing employees to motivate
them are known as development. All of the helps to enhance work quality of existing workforce
and increase their engagement level in the organisational activities. It helps the companies to
achieve their goals that were formulated earlier for the betterment of the organisation. For all the
business entities it is very important to conduct development programs so that existing
employees can be retained and motivated for to perform better. It helps to strengthen up the skills
that each and every employee is required to improve. With the help of it weak links can also be
reduced for enhancement in organisational performance (Jenkins and Williamson, 2015).
6. A job role in Apple and importance of this role
There are various roles in Apple and all of them are very important for success of the
organisation. These are human resource manager, marketing manager, financial analyst etc.
From all these job roles human resource manager is a main role which helps whole organisation
to execute all the operations. All the employees which are working in the company are hired by
HR and select best from all the applicants who are willing to join the business entity (Quak,
Balm and Posthumus, 2014). Without HR it is not possible to achieve business objectives and
execute operational activities. It is also very important for Apple because a human resource
manager can take the enterprise to top
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7. Skills and knowledge required to carry out the role
There are various types of skills and knowledge that are required to carry out the role of
human resource manager all of them are as follows:
 Decision making: It is very important for human resource manager to have skill of
decision making so that appropriate decisions for the betterment of the organisation can
be taken. It is very important skill which is required for a HR so that organisation can
attain all the business objectives. If they are not having it then it is not possible for them
to recruit skilled employees and achieve organisational objectives (Torabi, Soufi and
Sahebjamnia, 2014).
 Problem solving: In order to deal with business problems, it is very important for human
resource manage to have problem solving skills so that solution for the business issues
can be figured out. Without this skill the manager will not be able deal with challenge
that are arising within the company.
 Conflict handling: In most of the business entities conflicts take place and human
resource managers are required to resolve them. They work as mediator between top
executives and workers in order to operate business in appropriate manner. If they are not
able to solve such type of problems then it is not possible for them to work effectively.
 Motivational: It is very important for human resource manager to have skill to motivate
employees so that they can work productively and accomplish all the tasks successfully.
If they are not able to motivate the workers then it will become difficult for them to
handle staff members and enhance their work quality (Uhl and Gollenia, 2016).
 Communication: It is very important for human resource managers to be good in
communication so that they can communicate with employees and pass their message to
top executives.
8. Training and development requirements that are needed to be considered
Training and development are very important for all the organisations and there are various
requirements that are needed to be considered. All of them are as follows:
 It is very important for organisations provide training to the employees in order to
enhance their work quality.
 Top executives are required to conduct training and development programs when they
realise that productivity of employees is continuously decreasing.
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 When new employees join a company then it is very important for organisation to
conduct training for them in order to make sure that they are able to work productively in
company (Wang. and Calvano, 2015).
All the above described training and development requirements are needed to be
considered by top management in order to make sure that operations are conducted in
appropriate manner or not.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that it is very important for business
entities to conduct internal as well as external analysis in order to analyse such factors that can
leave positive or negative impact upon organisation. For this purpose, PESTLE and SWOT
analysis can be used by companies and top management. It is very important for all companies to
provided best training to new employees and conduct development programs for existing staff
members to achieve organisational goals. It is also very important to accomplish all the tasks
successfully.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Afuah, A., 2014. Business model innovation: concepts, analysis, and cases. Routledge.
Aithal, P. S., 2016. Study on ABCD analysis technique for business models, business strategies,
operating concepts & business systems. International Journal in Management and
Social Science. 4(1).
Cadle, J., Paul, D. and Turner, P., 2014. Business analysis techniques. Chartered Institute for IT.
Fleisher, C. S. and Bensoussan, B. E., 2015. Business and competitive analysis: effective
application of new and classic methods. FT Press.
Forsgren, M. and Johanson, J., 2014. Managing networks in international business. Routledge.
Goss, D., 2015. Small Business and Society (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Jenkins, W. and Williamson, D., 2015. Strategic management and business analysis. Routledge.
Quak, H., Balm, S. and Posthumus, B., 2014. Evaluation of city logistics solutions with business
model analysis. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 125. pp.111-124.
Torabi, S. A., Soufi, H. R. and Sahebjamnia, N., 2014. A new framework for business impact
analysis in business continuity management (with a case study). Safety Science. 68.
pp.309-323.
Uhl, A. and Gollenia, L. A. eds., 2016. A handbook of business transformation management
methodology. Routledge.
Wang, L. C. and Calvano, L., 2015. Is business ethics education effective? An analysis of
gender, personal ethical perspectives, and moral judgment. Journal of Business Ethics.
126(4). pp.591-602.
Online
PESTLE analysis. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://panmore.com/apple-inc-pestel-pestle-analysis-recommendations>
Background of Apple. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
< https://www.apple.com/uk/>
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