MGT501 Business Environment - Internal and External Stakeholder Analysis - Assignment Help

Introduction and Background

Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company that has it’s presence in different parts of the world. The company has its headquarters located in California. This corporation designs and develops electronics, computers, and mobile phones to sell to the consumers. This company takes one of the leading positions in the technological sector and also has a significant market share. Furthermore, Apple is also ranked amongst the four major technology companies, along with Google, Facebook, and Amazon(Apple, 2019). 

Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak founded the company in 1976, with the prime purpose to develop computers. Apple Computer Inc. started its operations in 1977 to develop an innovative and a user-friendly computer and Macintosh was introduced as the user software on those computers (Apple, 2019). Hence, it can be affirmed that this technological firm began it’s operations with basic technological productions. With time, the company started investing in advanced technological productions such as the production of smart phones. It’s continued commitment towards this advanced mechanisation led to the production of iPhone, which largely revolutionized the mobile phone industry around the world (Underwood et al., 2019). 

The hardware products of the company include iPhone, iPod, IPad, Mac Personal, and Apple watch. The company also offers software products like iOS and Macintosh, which are highly valued in the market. Furthermore, the company is diversifying into more markets to facilitate integrated communication and transactions between the people from different parts of the world. For instance, Apple Pay is an established network which incorporates the communication and transactions between the financial institutions around the world. The consumers can easily get connected for that financial transaction (Dolata, 2017). Hence, it can be affirmed that Apple Inc. has innovated products that have led to giant breakthroughs in technology. Furthermore, the company has the core competency of facilitating innovative production and distribution services in order to lead the global technology market.

Functional Areas

There are different functional areas of Apple, and some of them have been discussed below.

Apple’s Technology Office

The technology office at Apple is a major functional unit which reports to Ellen Hammock. The officer is responsible for the Assessment and driving of the technology across the hardware and software units of Apple Inc. Furthermore, the department is also responsible for ensuring the reliability and quality of services to its customers (Kim et al., 2017). So, this area of function has a significant contribution to the retention and acquisition of new consumers to the company.

Hardware Engineering

The Hardware Engineering department is responsible for the development of hardware and identification of issues with the products that are manufactured. Therefore, the responsibilities of this unit includes industrial design, Macintosh Products, Server Development, Engineering interface, design, and all other hardware related issues (Kocienda, 2018). The company ensures that the quality of the products is according to the requirement of the consumers, which may include the durability, display, and proper usage of functions in these devices.

Software Engineering

Software engineering is the core competency that brought Apple into the market leadership position. The evolution of Mac OS and iOS is the major innovation from this department. This unit is working further to develop better products and services in the future (Akbulut et al., 2018). In addition to that, the department has subunits like Mac OS, Internet, and Enterprise, OS technology, etc. The combination of the hardware and software department is utilized by the operations department to bring devices and products into use.