Management at Apple Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management at Apple - Research Paper Example Apple Company is located at Cupertino, California was established in 1976 and deals in personal computers, computer software other consumer electronics such as iPods, iPads, iPhones and tablets among others. In addition, the company has about 60, 400 permanent workers with 2,800 part time spread in more than ten countries and operating in about 357 retail stores with a present $65.23 billion â€Å"It plans to open a total of 25 stores in China by the end of 2011† (Head, 2007). Furthermore, Apple Company being a technology organization has used the location-based services strategy. This involves using an advertising platform that sends various offers to its clients from the nearby shops and restaurants. Similarly, Apple Company has been able to increase its sales and profits through venturing into the international markets such as China and Japan. In addition, departing from the domestic market to enter the international market by Apple has lead to reduced costs of production a nd the ability to trade in various markets hence lessening the dependency on one market. Supply chain management Supply chain management involves the organization and control of assets such as equipment, human, components and relationships such as customers, staff and suppliers among others in the production and delivery of customer’s commodity from unprocessed product to completed product as competently as possible. Apple Company is known to conduct its sale with a minimal physical supply sales chain. Instead, Apple uses digital supply chain involves distribution of digital media such as video or music though electronic medium from the provider to the client. For instance, through its virtual stores, Apple has been able to generate about $ 1 billion from iTunes sales only. â€Å"This can be considered as the first step by Apple towards implementing agility in its supply chain† (Sanders & Reid, 2007). In addition, the company has the ability to make sales worth more th an I billion of MP3 files without factors of physical supply management such as material sourcing, production, warehousing and transportation among others. These sales extend to iPhone mobile that do not use the normal supply chains. There are numerous advantages that are enjoyed by Apple in its usage of digital supply chains. For instance, increase in margin of hardware sales, increased maneuvers in the market because of higher flow of cash and the ability to provide what is on demand at right time. Therefore, because of this innovative idea of modern supply management, competition has increased among IT companies such as HP, Dell and IBM adopting and improving their methods. On that note, Apple has come up with its new design of supply chain called product lifecycle management (PLM). It is a programmed software that allows manufacturers from around the world to process the products they want using a collaborative design. â€Å"Thus the equation of achieving agility in supply chai n versus risk in meeting demand had to take shape for Apple† (Lebreton, 2007). Similarly, it permits the manufacturer to share and manage complicated design and commodity detail that aims at ensuring the proper development process of commodity. Inventory management Inventory management involves indicating the shape and percentage of completed products an organization has to sell. Numerous factors affect inventory of management of Apple Inc. Company. For example, there are the physical place of the