Apple Inc. Managerial Approach: Decision-Making and Planning Processes

This report provides a detailed analysis of Apple Inc.'s managerial approach. It examines the company's functional organizational structure, emphasizing the role of expertise and collaborative decision-making. The report explores the impact of global environmental factors, including political, economic, social, legal, and technological influences. It also outlines the steps in Apple's decision-making process and discusses the challenges encountered during the planning process, such as leadership commitment, resource availability, organizational culture, and employee motivation. The analysis highlights how Apple navigates these complexities to maintain its innovative edge and market position. The report uses information from 2020 to 2021. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of Apple's management strategies and their effectiveness in a dynamic global market.

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Apple Inc. Managerial Approach
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Executive Summary
Apple Inc. is a global information technology corporation that produces and sells various
products, including personal computers, tablets, smartphones, wearables products, television, and
electronic accessories. The purpose of this paper is to examine the company's managerial
approach, the impact of its global environmental factors, the decision-making process, and the
challenges experienced by companies during the planning process. Apple is organized under a
functional structure where experts make products decisions rather than general managers.
Company managers possess three unique characters; deep expertise, immersed in the details of
their functions, and collaboratively debating in decision making. Political, social, legal,
economic, and technological factors affect the company's operations in the global market.
Moreover, company leaders engage in participative decision-making processes. However, the
success of the planning process depends on the availability of resources, employee motivation,
organizational culture, leadership commitment, and adequate funding.

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Table of Contents Page
The managerial approach……………………………………………….. 4
Impact of the global external environment ………………………………5
Steps in the decision-making process ……………………………………6
Challenges affecting the planning process…………………………….....9
Conclusion ………………………………………………………............9
References ………………………………………………………………10

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Apples Managerial Approach
Apple Inc. had experienced tremendous growth from $ 2 billion worthy value in 1997 to
$417 billion value Company in 2011. The company's success is attributed to Steve Jobs's
managerial and leadership approaches. After his return in 1997 as the company CEO, Jobs
revitalized Apple's innovation capacity leading to its successful turnaround. The company is
organized and functional structure rather than a conventional structure with operational business
units. The CEO occupies the single position in the firm system where the marketing, design,
engineering, operations, and retail meet without conventional general managers (Podolny &
Hansen, 2020). Under this structure, Apple believes that it is easy to balance value added in user
experiences and cost when knowledgeable expertise makes the decisions rather than the general
manager who is merited for meeting numeral targets. Apple's functional structure allows the
technical experts to create innovation and have decision rights in the expertise domain rather
than general managers.
Secondly, Apple's overriding criteria for judging leaders and investments are long-term
profits and cost targets to offer the best products that enrich people's daily lives. Besides, Apple
managers across the organizational hierarchy possess three unique characteristics; deep
expertise, concentrating on the details of their functions and embracing collaborative debate
(Podolny & Hansen, 2020). The managers have a deep expertise that allows them to exploit all
the work potentials in their functions. At Apple, experts lead experts such that software experts
manage software, and those for hardware focus devote their knowledge in that domain.
Secondly, they fully concentrate on the details of the functions and collaboratively debate in
decision-making.
The Impact of Global external Environment

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The external environment and its constituent factors significantly influence the
organization's business activities. Apple faces threats and opportunities from political, legal,
economic, and social-cultural factors in the global market external environment. The global
presence of Apple products in 175 countries and territories exposes the company to the political
forces of these countries. For instance, the trade war between China and US forced the company
to lower its revenue outlook in 2019 (Dudovskiy, 2021). Similarly, the company was forced to
remove its HK. Live map App for violating Hong Kong law. Correspondingly, the US
government has accused the company of spying for the Chinese government. An attempt by the
Trump government to ban the 5G network Huawei communication products in the US markets
would jeopardize the market for Apple products in the Chinese territories. Besides, the company
generates substantial profits from high corporate tax in countries where income inequality is a
key political issue, including the US market (Dudovskiy, 2021). Additionally, apple heavily
relies upon lower manufacturing costs in China, where political unrest could adversely affect the
company's production and sales.
On the other hand, apple faces economic forces in the global market environment. For
instance, an increase in labor costs in China would reduce the cost advantage of the company's
products. Besides, the global financial crisis of 2008 to 2009 reduced consumer disposable
income, which negatively affected the sales of its high-end products. Notably, slow growth
income in emerging economies such as the BRIC countries Brazil, India, China, and Africa
shrinks the market share for Apple's high-end products (Dudovskiy, 2021). Apple offers high-
end consumer products that target the higher social class globally. In this regard, the growing
consumer population of technological developments is the young people who are not emotionally

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attached to Apple's expensive products. According to David (2020), Apple's expensive and
stylish products face customer backlash at global and domestic markets in Europe and America.
Apple is arguable one of the technological innovation giants that revolutionized the
global technology industry by creating the online App store. However, its technological
innovation has fueled stiff technological competition with its competitors. For example, Chinese
technology companies such as Huawei, Oppo, and Xiomi can duplicate the excellent features of
Apple products at relatively lower prices. As a result, the organization is locked in a battle
technological competition. In addition, competition from Google and Samsung products reduces
the market share for Apple products. Besides, the growing use of tablets and smartphones lowers
the demand for Apple's personal computers.
Operating in the global market exposes the company to many legal litigations. For
instance, Apple has to comply with China's labor and human rights laws, producing most of its
products. David (2020) points out that the French watchdog fined Apple $ 25 million for
deliberately hoarding its old model iPhones to increase sales for new models. Similarly, the
French anti-trust authorities have compelled Apple to an equivalent amount of 1.1 billion euro
fine for engaging in anti-competitive behavior (David, 2020). Therefore, the company faces
international legal challenges by offering products globally.
Eight Steps in the Decision-making Process
Define the problem: The first step for the company management is to detect the
difference between the current situation and the intended firm objective. The discrepancy in the
firm's financial targets, sales, and policies compel the management to make a new decision to
achieve the enterprise goals (Gavin, 2020). However, the managing director should have the
resources, information, and authority to take action.

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Information gathering: The success of decision-making in an organization depends on
the management's capacity to gather adequate information within and outside the form about the
decision to be made. In this regard, the company collects as much information as possible from
employees, shareholders, and customers to make an informed decision. The information gathered
is critical for the firm to establish whether the decision to make is viable or not. Once sufficient
data is collected, the decision-making process moves to the next step.
Establish decision criteria: The next step in the decision-making process is to weigh the
best criteria for implementing the decision. In this regard, the organization's management must
select the appropriate standards that suit the decision and achieve great success (Gavin, 2020).
While there are many criteria for implementing the decision, the management will consider the
most cost-effective option.
Identify alternatives: The next step involves evaluating all the feasible options that can
be implemented to resolve the need identified in the first step. This step requires the management
capacity to identify alternative potential choices that can be used to address the company
problem. After placing a list of viable options, the managers will move to the next step to
analyze the selected alternatives to determine their strengths and weaknesses.
Analyzing choices: In this step, the management team responsible for decision-making
studies the proposed options in detail. The team will examine the strengths and weaknesses of
each proposed objective and compare them against the selected criteria in step three. Through
value judgment, the management will identify the potential options to achieve the desired
changes
Selecting the best alternative: In this step, the decision-making team determines the
preferred choice that has the great potential to resolve the company problem. After assessing all

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the viable options and comparing them against the proposed criteria, the decision-making team
selects one more possible option per the laid-out procedure.
Decision execution: The first action in decision execution is to communicate the decision
to the affected departments and individuals to commit to the changes. At this stage, the
management should involve all the key stakeholders in the decision-making process (Gavin,
2020). Accordingly, effective planning and management will facilitate the decision execution to
the conclusion.
Results evaluation: the last step is to monitor and assess whether the achieved outcomes
have resolved the company problem. The management team checks for deviations and corrects
them to meet the intended objectives (Gavin, 2020). Where substantial outcome deviations arise,
the team can choose another alternative.
Challenges in the Company planning Process
Management commitment to its plans and strategy determines the failure or success of
the planning process. The level of control from the management influences the responsibility of
organization members towards achieving the intended plan (Jeri, 2016). In addition to the
dedication, the company's leadership should clearly and constantly state the vision for the entire
team to focus on the company goals. Therefore, a lack of leadership commitment and effective
control may lead to plan failure. Besides, the availability of the appropriate systems and
resources affects the plan execution. An organization needs to have the hardware, software,
planning team, and procedures to execute the plan. Installing new programs in old computer
software may overload the systems leading to freezes and crashes.
In addition to systems, the management should provide adequate funds to implement the
plan. Sufficient funds facilitate the acquisition of the right talent, marketing, and distribution

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programs. Besides, the organization's culture influences plan implementation. Organizations
execute new plans according to existing values, beliefs, and structures. In this regard, companies
with employees who have positive attitudes manage the projects with minimal challenges
because they approach obstacles with a positive perspective (Jeri, 2016). In addition, employee
motivation affects the success of the planning process. According to Njeri (2016), Company
leadership should motivate and encourage team members to devote their energy to implementing
the plan. Accordingly, in the absence of motivation, workers relax back in their everyday work,
and the plan stalls. The success of a corporate planning process requires less distraction. In this
regard, project leaders should commit and focus on one goal at a time (Jeri, 2016). Handing
many objectives at once may create confusion among members and thus result in planning
process failure.
Conclusion
Apple has been successful due to its functional organizational structure that encourages
innovation to offer customers high-value products that enrich their daily lives. Unlike
conventional corporation structures with operational units, Apple departs are linked to a single
CEO position. The companies managers possess deep expertise, concentrate on the functions and
engage in collaborative debate in decision making. The company faces political, legal, economic,
social, technological challenges when offering its products in the global market. Besides, the
firm engages in participative decision-making. However, the success of its planning process
depends on the availability of resources, organizational culture, management commitment,
employee motivation, and adequate funding. Above all, the functional structure adopted by the
company is arguable the most critical factor that has led to its success in the industry.

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References
David, J. (2020). PESTEL Analysis of Apple. Howandwhat.net.
https://howandwhat.net/pestel-analysis-apple/.
Dudovskiy, J. (2021). Apple PESTEL Analysis - Research-Methodology. Research-
Methodology. https://research-methodology.net/apple-pestel-analysis-4/.
Gavin, M. (2020). 8 Steps in the Decision-Making Process | HBS Online. Business
Insights - Blog. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/decision-making-process.
NJeri, E. (2016). Challenges Facing Implementation of Strategic Planning In Non-
Governmental Organizations. (Masters Degree in Business Administration).
United States International University, Africa.
Podolny, J., & Hansen, M. (2020). Organizational Culture How Apple Is Organized for
Innovation [Ebook]. HBR.
https://www.apple.com/jobs/pdf/HBR_How_Apple_Is_Organized_For_Innovatio
n-4.pdf.