Company Profile[your Name Appears Here][professor’s Name Appears Here][date Appears Here] Essays Examples

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This report outlines an ideal role for a graduate in an organization along with the in depth analysis of the selected company. It also highlights the skills, interests, qualifications and experience the candidate should possess to achieve that ideal position. The candidate has selected MBA as the desired degree and “Finance-IT Analyst” as the ideal role.
The company selected is “Apple Inc.” with its operations reaching over 16 countries in form of retail stores and online stores working in more than 39 countries. It is one of the world’s largest companies, when it comes to consumer electronics.

FINANCE-IT ANALYST:

QUALIFICATION:
MBA (Finance), ACCA, CA, CFA
Diploma in IT
At least 1 year experience in IT sector finance department
Those having knowledge of hardware of computer or consumer electronics will be given priority
JOB DESCRIPTION:
This job main role is to analyze new ideas of computer and consumer electronics that whether they are cost efficient or not, which are put forward by the technical team. It requires candidate to study the overall market trend of the region and analyze the consumer buying power and then compare both the price and consumer buying power with each other and close the gap if any present.
This job requires knowledge of both computer hardware and software as only with this knowledge the finance-IT analyst can suggest amendments in the design or in the material used to bridge the gap and make it effective for the company.
The job requires strong systematic, strategic thinking, communications and interpersonal skills, leaning to operate in an active environment. The candidate must possess the ability to make quick decisions. He should be interested in high technology and certain operation that will meet the company’s corporate objectives.

APPLE INC.:

COMPANY DESCRIPTION:
Apple is a Californian born company which has revolutionized the world of electronics. It designs & manufactures consumer electronics, personal computer and software. It also sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and applications. Its famous products are Macintosh computers e.g. iphone, iPod, iPad, MAC, Apple television. Its professional operating systems and software applications include iOS, OS X and iCloud. The company delivers its applications and digital contents through the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store. The company has experienced a marvelous growth from 2001 when it introduced its iPod (mp3 player). Apple has changed the world of technology in many ways like:
Apple have made the use of computers very convenient with its innovations such as mouse, GUI, click wheel and track pad gave the world easiest ways to access the digital content.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Apple Inc. was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976 in a residential garage and now it’s headquarter is in Cupertino, California. Apple has become the world’s most valuable high tech company with the ticker symbol AAPL and currently its CEO is Timothy D. Cook. Geographically Apple is serving its products in entire world. Its main competitors are Samsung, Amazon.com, IBM Corporation, Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Sony and many others multinational companies. Apple launched the personal computer revolution in 1976 with the Apple I and now Apple designs Macs, considered to be the best personal computers in the world. Apple has 406 retail stores in sixteen countries. It is the largest publicly traded corporation in the world and currently having 57 acquisitions.

CORPORATE STRUCTURE:

In 1976 Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded the Apple Inc. Once it gained success Wayne gave up his share and after him the next joining hand was of Mike Markkula providing his shares as well. Apple became publicly accepted in 1980’s; John Scully was appointed as the chief executive officer while Steve jobs look after the mega projects. Jobs then started to invest money on untested products, he resigned leaving his managerial duties and formed Next Inc. after Steve jobs gone apple faced a series of failed products , meanwhile CEO were changed twice from John Scully to Michael Spindler to Gill Amelio.
Amelio then decided to choose Steve Jobs once again to act as an interim CEO, so he bought Next Inc. Gil was removed and Jobs began to take his responsibilities as an interim CEO. Apple once again started to build its innovative products with higher profitability with the introduction of iMAC, iPhone and ipods. As Steve jobs passed away on 5 October 2011 Tim Cook took over the place of CEO and still working on the same rank.

VISION STATEMENT:

“An Apple computer on every desk”
Steve Jobs
MISSION STATEMENT:
The organizations mission statement defines the dimensions along which an organization’s performance is measured and arbitrated. It helps corporations to focus on their policies by defining some boundaries within which to function. Steve Jobs mission statement for Apple Inc. in 1980 was:

“To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.’’(The economist 2009)

The official mission statement of the Apple Inc. is not really a mission statement at all, but somewhat a list of products and past actions. Apple’s mission is now stated as:
"Apple manufactures Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has rediscovered the mobile phone with its innovative iPhone and App Store, and has lately introduced iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices."
“Apple Inc. ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple Inc. II and
reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple Inc. continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple Inc. is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.” 
(Investor Relations FAQ, Para. 33)

CORPORATE OBJECTIVES:

Corporate objectives refers to a business overall goal which they want to achieve. Apple’s main corporate objective is to sell top quality products and gain profit for shareholders. Some are briefly described as:
”Apple Inc. plans to keep creating and releasing computers and consumer electronics that are more user-friendly.” (Training and Development Program for Apple Inc., page 7)
“Apple Inc. will focus more opening more stores even on international locations to help increase in sales.”(Training and Development Program for Apple Inc., page 7)
Another objective of Apple is innovation. Steve jobs in one of his famous quotes said: “Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.” (Jobs, Brainy Quotes, sec.2)

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE:

It determines how a company tasks are performed. It clearly outlines the hierarchy of an organization and defines the role of each individual within the organization.
After its incorporation, the company adopted a system which was naïve & unique to the whole industry and adopted a system modified for its need. The company settled for more of an informal structure with favoring flat structure. According to Mintzberg (1983), company constantly dealing with dynamic technology and competition because it has to deal with innovation usually follows administrative adhocracy.

FLAT STRUCTURE:

Flat structure usually has less hierarchical layers making the chain of command small with larger span of control. (fayol, 1949)
Span of control refers to the number of employees reporting to a single manager. The wider the span of control the harder it gets for a manager to manage it and vice versa. In order to keep the balance, flat structures need to maintain a balanced span of control.

Advantages:

The main advantage of this is that it has lesser lines of communication so it is easy to communicate through this structure and more frequently than tall structure.

The policies and strategies are easy to implement and coordination improves effectively.

It also has lesser bureaucracy as compared to tall structures.
DISADVANTAGES:
If the span of control is wider than it will hinder the progress of the company as it will become hard for the manager to manage a wide span.

Usually in this type of structures are more suitable for small organization or partnerships.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF APPLE’S ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:
Apple’s organization chart has been a myth to the industry and people working there. The advantages and disadvantages, which we happen to know of Apple’s organizational structure is summarized in the following points:

1-Departmentalization:

Advantage- The employees are more specialized in certain fields, communication is excellent due to the knowledge which employees has about the function of the job, they work as a team to get better results.
Disadvantage- Apple’s staff does not always know the case of the client in detail, other corporations may not always talk to the same person, and very precise job knowledge is mandatory, hard to find a fill in for positions.

2-Matrix Structure:

Advantages- there are more flexibility than departmentalization, more than one person in charge that one can go to for assistance, broader choice for employees in this structure that fit the requirement.
Disadvantages- the employees are harder to manage because of independence, this could increase expenditures, more employees will be needed, lack of loyalty to position is there, and constant team work is frequently needed.

3-The Project Team:

Advantages- Apple’s Inc. have less managers having better communication, less stress on one person.
Disadvantages- The person who is in charge may create conflict sometimes so eventually there exist lack of consideration for others, lack of responsibility, and lack of job focus.

THE FINANCIAL DATA:

The Californian Company’s fiscal year 2015 starts from September 28, 2014 till September 26, 2015. According to the recent updates of fiscal year 2015 of apple Inc., the Company recorded quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion and recorded quarterly net profit of $18 billion. These results as compared to revenue of $57.6 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion of the previous year are far better. International sales recorded for about 65% of the one-fourth of the revenue. (Apple.com, 2015)
The results were enhanced by the record breaking sale of iPhone and Mac. The app store also played its role in the generation of revenue. iPhone unit sales of about 74.5 million also set a new record.

JOB ROLE RELATED TO COMPANY’S OBJECTIVES:

Apple is an equal employment opportunity provider and is committed towards inclusion and diversity. The company and its owners were very clear from the very first day to penetrate the world as the market leader in consumer electronics. Finance-analyst will definitely work in coherence with the company’s overall objectives. The company’s corporate objective theme line is to make better & efficient consumer electronics and earn the highest profit. The Finance-It analyst job role is to make sure that the above mentioned objective of the company is being met. The Finance-IT analyst will not even compromise on the quality of the product but having said that will keep a close eye on the cost/price factor and will eliminate any extra cost attached to make it easy for the product to reach more people around the globe and thus will yield higher profits for the company.
The functional area of the job will guarantee that all the corporate objectives are met. Including the ability to quickly create and communicate the results to senior leaders and will rapidly detect the potential issues that can affect the company’s product strategy. The functional area will give the optimum performance though cost and benefit analysis. It will improve the in-depth understanding of the value added manufacturing methods and international market intelligence and apply this knowledge to apple’s future productions. It was also going to evaluate and lessen the risks and dangers to the company.

REFERENCES:

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