Business Studies Report: Apple Case Study, HR, Marketing, Finance

This report presents a comprehensive business studies case study on Apple, exploring various aspects of its operations. The introduction provides a general overview of business studies and its importance in organizational success. The case study delves into the HR functions within Apple, including recruitment, diversity initiatives, employee benefits, and career opportunities. It then examines Apple's organizational culture, highlighting features like working under pressure, secrecy, diversity, and innovation. The report further analyzes the roles of HR, marketing, and finance functions, detailing their respective responsibilities in driving productivity and profitability. The marketing section focuses on brand management, campaign initiatives, social media, and market research. The finance section emphasizes fund allocation, profit planning, and financial reporting. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the significance of business studies and its impact on Apple's competitive advantage and overall growth. The report also touches on financial management, risk management, and cash flow management, as well as financial reporting, trend identification, real-time tracking, and compliance.

FY021 INTRODUCTION TO
BUSINESS
STUDIES

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
A Case study....................................................................................................................................3
HR functions roles in Apple........................................................................................................3
Organizational culture in Apple...................................................................................................4
A Report...........................................................................................................................................5
Roles of HR, marketing and finance functions............................................................................5
Role of financial managements and reporting in organization....................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business studies is the study of management which help company to collect information
and complete their particular task. It helps company to improve their productivity and
performance which helps in further growth and gain competitive advantage. Business studies
also help companies to understand and then generate profits. This report will describe or
demonstrate the case study of Apple company. Apple is a multinational company which makes
personal computers and software (Shaari, 2019). This report will contain different functions roles
which affect Apple business studies. It also describes the different roles and responsibilities of,
HR, marketing and finance departments in the organization. It will also assist the role of
financial management and reporting in the organization.
A Case study
HR functions roles in Apple
There are different roles of HRM in Apple company which help the firm to maintain their
brand name as well as it these roles attract skill professionals and increase performance culture
of Apple. Different roles are as follows,
Recruitment and Selection: Apple invested huge amount in recruitment and selection process. It
uses different recruitment strategies. They not promise employee for their progression.
Employees are responsible for their development and progress. Apple recruitment is not easy
they only hire whom which are fit for their organization. They select employees based on their
verbal interviews and according to their skills and knowledge (Noe and et.al., 2017). HR
function help Apple to select right talent for the company by recruitment and selection role.
Diversity and equal employment opportunities: Apple tries to provide equal employment
opportunities to all they never focus on culture difference. They mainly focus on employees
knowledge and skills. It hires different cultures people regardless of their gender, colour, religion
etc. They attract peoples who help them in their success and growth.
Employment benefits and compensation: They provide attractive compensation to skilful and
talented staff. Apple also provide opportunity to employees in which they select their benefits
according to their requirements. To motivate employees they try to give awards periodically. In
Apple company HR also provide opportunity to the employees in which they can change their
department or sector according to their interest. This HRM role motivate employees for higher

performance and to increase work productivity. By this role organization culture enhance and
employees skills also develop.
Employee Appreciation and recognition: In HR function and strategies they also try to appreciate
employees by providing awards and benefits. For example Apple conduct Fellows Program
to recognize extra contribution of employees for the company. They also provide awards to
the employees who work extra for the company. By this function HR main motive is to
attract the best talent towards the company.Career Opportunity: Apple provide career
development opportunity to the employees and all the details of this opportunity will be
make sure by HRM. They help employees by providing best career opportunity according to
their requirement. Apple also provide internship to the talented students. This role of HRM
are play important role towards the company to attract best talent and provide them the best
opportunity so that in the end it will beneficial for the organization and its growth.
Organizational culture in Apple
In Apple company creative and innovation cultures are followed which assists employees
to learn new technologies and develop themselves. Organizational culture help company
employees to motivates Corporate culture also play important role in the company. There are
different important features of Apple organizational cultures which are as follows,
Working under pressures: In Apple employees has ability to work under pressure. In the
company for innovate ideas employees follow strict rules so that they effectively work. IN the
company employees are trained to work under pressure.
A high level of secrecy: It is important feature of Apple company. This is the main feature which
attract customers towards Apple (Mahajan, 2019). It also gives competitive advantages to the
company. For example in Apple software employees don't have idea about hardware and vice
versa.
Focus on diversity and inclusion: It mainly focuses on integrated diversity. It helps company to
improve their productiveness and profitability. It also helps company to complete their objectives
and goals.
Creative and innovative: This is the main feature in which Apple focus. They try to use the
latest technology in their product. They attract customers by using innovation and technologies.

These different features help employees to stay motivated and improve their work performance
and communication skills (White, 2017). Basically effective organization culture helps business
to grow their market in the industry.
A Report
Roles of HR, marketing and finance functions
In the organization different functions have different roles and responsibilities which
raise productiveness and profitability in the Apple. There different roles of these functions which
are as follows.
Roles of HR functions:
Human resource management plays an important role in the Apple (Laine, Stenvall, and
Tuominen, 2017). They have many important roles which are directly or indirectly affect
companies growth and performance. Different HR roles are as follows.
Staffing: In this role HRM needs to hire employees for specific position. For staffing there are 4
main functions which company follows it includes development of staffing plan, development of
policies to encourage employees for different works, recruitment and selection function.
Development of workplace policies: It is an important role of HR to develop policies to maintain
work environment of the company. It also develops different policies in which HR include
discipline process policy, vacation time policy, dress code and ethics policy and internet usages
policy etc.
Training and development: It is also an important role of HR because after recruitment and
selection process it is most important to give training so that employee can learn and adjust in
organization work environment. This role also help individuals in their development.
Communication: This role affect all major roles in the company because if HRM staff
communicate with employees effectively then it represents their good management as well as
good communication skills.
Worker protection: In the company health safety issues of employees are also taken care by HR.
They try to protect their employees by different issues such as chemical hazards and protection
of their private information.
Awareness and external factor: HR have different responsibilities which they manage and try to
get information related to external factors which affect the firm. External factor includes

globalization and offshoring, changes in employment law, health care costs and more. They also
try to overcome these external factors and help company to raise their profit and sales.
Compensation and benefits administration: HR take decisions for employees compensations and
benefits according to their work and skills. In compensation, they include pay benefits, health
benefits, vacation time and more.
These roles are play important in the organization and help company to grow in the industry and
HR roles and responsibilities also helps company to develop higher performance culture in the
work place which assists company to raise their profit.
Roles of Marketing functions:
Marketing department helps in promotion and adverting activities in which they try to
attract maximum customers to increases company sales and profits. Various roles of marketing
functions are as follows.
Defining and managing the brand name: In this role marketing functions try to define
organization experiences and their work culture to attract more customer and to raise their sales
in the market.
Conduct campaign management for marketing initiatives: They also try to conduct events and
campaign to attract consumers towards their particular product or services which they want to
sale.
Monitoring and managing social media: As technology are adapted by company so now
marketing functions also try to monitor and manage social media (Fuentes-Blasco, and et.al.,
2017). They try to maintain their social media pages to gain attention of more consumers.
Producing internal communication: Marketing functions are also responsible for internal
communication in the company for that they try to maintain internal communication via different
mediums such as email, newsletter etc. so that they can smoothly continue their marketing
activities without any barrier.
Conducting customer and market research: It is an important role in marketing function to get
proper information about market and competitors. This role help firm to know about customer
requirements. Market and customer research assist company to attract their target customers and
also helps to raise overall profits.
These different roles of marketing help company to raise their sales and profitability which help
firm in their overall growth.

Roles of Finance functions:
It is most important and complex activity which help company to maintain their financial
position as well as it track companies all investment and funds related activities (Larder, Sippel,
and Argent, 2018). Finance functions different roles are as follows.
Raising funds: In the organization it is an important role because raising funds help company to
raise profit and it also raises overall growth of the company.
Allocation of funds: In this role finance function try to allocate funds effectively for that they
consider different points which include size of the firm growth capability, status of assets and
more.
Profit planning: It is an important role of finance function because in this role all functions are
related. For profit planning they consider different points which assist them in accurate profit
planing.
All above discuses finance function helps company to maintain and raise their financial position.
Role of financial managements and reporting in organization
There are various roles of financial management and reporting which support overall
organization and help company to grow in the industry. Various roles of financial management
and reporting are discussed below.
Financial planning: Financial managers are mainly responsible for financial planning, activities
and resources etc. They try to control economic situation and make financial plans using
forecasting and analysis.
Risk management: This role helps management to manage risks in the company (Al Breiki, and
Nobanee, 2019). In this they also ensure that company will never face financial uncertainty.
Cash flow management: It is very important role for financial management and it tracks
company accounts, investments and expenses and management try to maintain sufficient cash
flow in the company.
Same as financial management there are different importance are present of financial reporting
which are as follows,
Trend identification: Financial reporting help Apple to identify new trends which help company
to grow their business and it also assists company to gear any potential weakness and make
improvements on them.

Real-time tracking: By this role financial reporting able to track real time insights and accurate
information which help company in competitive advantages.
Progress of compliance: This role provides an opportunity to improve financial efficiency in the
company over a time (Durcevic, 2019). It provides efficiency because financial reporting
software provide accurate information.
All above discuses roles of financial management and reporting help company to balance
their growth and position in the market. It also helps company by providing accurate information
about revenues, profits and expenses. These information helps company in their overall business
studies.
CONCLUSION
After analysing this report it concludes that business studies provide information to the
company with help of different organization functions such as HR, finance and marketing. As
discussed above the roles of the functions which helps to conclude that these functions are
beneficial for the Apple and it provides benefits to the company directly or indirectly and these
benefits are helps company to grow in the market and industry. Although from this report it also
concludes that business studies help Apple and give competitive advantages in the industry with
the help of different financial management and reporting roles.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Al Breiki, M. and Nobanee, H., 2019. The role of financial management in promoting
sustainable business practices and development. Available at SSRN 3472404.
Fuentes-Blasco, M., and et.al., 2017. Role of marketing and technological innovation on store
equity, satisfaction and word-of-mouth in retailing. Journal of Product & Brand
Management.
Laine, P., Stenvall, J. and Tuominen, H., 2017. A Strategic role for HR: is it a competence
issue. Nordic Journal of Business. 66(1). pp.29-48.
Larder, N., Sippel, S.R. and Argent, N., 2018. The redefined role of finance in Australian
agriculture. Australian Geographer. 49(3). pp.397-418.Bauer, T and et.al., 2018. Human
resource management: People, data, and analytics. SAGE Publications.
Mahajan, A., 2019. Relationship of Talent Management with Organizational Culture: A
Discussion Paper. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations. 54(3).
Noe, R.A and et.al., 2017. Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Shaari, N., 2019. Organization Culture as the source of competitive advantage. Asian Journal of
Research in Education and Social Sciences. 1(1). pp.26-38.
White, D.G., 2017. Rethinking culture: Embodied cognition and the origin of culture in
organizations (Vol. 17). Taylor & Francis.Online
Durcevic, S., The Importance Of Financial Reporting And Analysis: Your Essential Guide, 2019
[Online]. Available through: <https://www.datapine.com/blog/financial-reporting-and-
analysis/>.