Apple Inc.: An analysis

Apple Inc., a major force in the consumer electronics and global retailing, goes from strength to strength because of its brand equity and unparalleled customer loyalty with a strong portfolio of the products and a superlative store experience. The company continues to rise in openings of new stores along with new product development including its impressive growth around the world.  Apple’s innovative product line has been one of its key strengths over its years, which has helped the company to remain ahead of its competitors. Apple which initially came with the invention of Macbook, has now covered everything an individual desires including the iPhones, iPad, iWatches, etc. which are necessary consumer electronics coated with luxury and prestige. 

Importance of Social Media

In order to reach the potential customers directly through computers, tablets or mobile phones, social media proves to be a very useful platform, since it is an inexpensive and effective way to reach the company’s target market. Social media is considered to be the best tool for getting connected with consumers and industry leaders, for e.g. Social networking tools like Instagram and Facebook (Bamman, et al., 146). Moreover, it can also be used as a tool for connecting with complementary, non-competing business including the journalists who cover the industry. Moreover, the businesses venture into social media for a big return on investment.

Apple’s marketing has embraced the powers of scarcity and social proof, when it first spoke to the entire generation to throw of their shackles, break the status quo and think totally different. The Apple’s commercials motivated people to come out of their comfort zone for the creation of an alternative, thereby questioning their technology-buying decisions. This was all about buying into a mind-set. The real surge towards Apple’s prominence of its electronics market took place in the late 90s, with the emergence of iMac, which came in several bright, eye-catchy colors. In order to encourage people for buying an iPod Apple had to completely reinvent the way it looks at music files. The original iPod was designed in such a way which could hold around 1000 songs (5GB) far more than any other mp3 player. However, iMac’s biggest selling point lies in its degree of convenience to get onto the internet (Dempsey, 80). Apple can amass a huge audience with relatively little effort when it embraces platforms like Twitter on the periphery. Apple’s music involves 7.5 million followers whereas the Apple store approaches to 4 million users and has recently launched ‘Beats 1’ account which already involves more than 3,14,000 followers on Twitter. 

Sustainability   

In the context of sustainability, there has been a growing demand of the companies to ‘go green’. With sustainability emerging as an urgent issue in the logistics industry, the effects of CSR on the work behavior of the employees is receiving increasing attention. Sustainability requires the firms to adhere to the principles of sustainable development (Benijts, 210).  For a sustainable industrial development, it must address the vital issues at the macro level, which includes economic efficiency (innovation, prosperity and productivity), social equity (poverty, community, health and wellness) and the environmental accountability (land use, biodiversity and climate change). Some of the best practices that fosters sustainability in businesses includes ‘stakeholder engagement’, which involves not only delivering messages, but also understanding the opposition, finding a common base and involving stakeholders in joint decision making. Few other effective practices include the environmental management system and analysis of the life cycles for organizations wanting to take a big leap forward by systematically analyzing the environment for opportunities and social impact of the products they produce and utilize. 

Apple has adopted product design which uses less material, ships with smaller packages free of toxic substances used by others and to be energy efficient and recyclable as possible. Between 2008 and 2010, the company has been estimated to grow at 74% with growth in CO2 has been 57%. The 15-inch iMac which is designed with 50% less material is said to generate 50% less greenhouse emissions. Apple has developed a thin, light and protective product packaging for reducing greenhouse emissions. The charging of Macbook Pro can be done up to 1000 times compared to 200-300 times compared to other notebooks. On the way towards attaining sustainability, Apple has achieved ‘C-label’. The brand also receives good points in its efforts regarding labor conditions. In order to avoid conflicts and unfair labor conditions in the production chain, it has partnered with multiple initiatives. Moreover, Apple exceeded their objective of 70% global recycling of their products in 2011. It does not ship e-waste to other countries for their disposal, which is a great step towards its sustainability. The brand has also offered commuter programs such as biodiesel commuter coaches, which aims to eliminate the CO2 equivalent to 1906 single occupancy road vehicles each and every day.  

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International Relation and Social Responsibility 

Apple’s first radical change occurred in 1998, when it computers were already known and admired around the world. The desktop iMac G3 consisted of a hardware, a CRT monitor including high-sound quality speakers integrated into one semi-translucent round edge body, which came in 13 colors. Moreover, there existed a strong European influence on the brand. The iMac G3 was the result of a new customer-oriented strategy which was developed with the British-born industrial designer namely Jonathan Ive (Chan, et al., 110). Apple Inc.’s suppliers employ more than 1.6 million people in 20 countries globally, where each of them are treated with respect and dignity. The suppliers’ ‘code of conduct’ is one of the strictest industry norms. The company also makes sure that each and every person working in the suppliers’ facility is fairly treated. Hence it partners closely with the suppliers for ending the bonded and underage labor including excessive working hours. In order to make sure that the materials are responsibly sourced, it goes deep within the supply chain process. Moreover, Apple Inc. collaborates with its suppliers for enforcing strict environmental policies including protection to its workers by making use of the right equipments and safety measures.    

Apple’s performances can be related to its various categories of CSR activities. For supporting the local communities, Apple Inc.’s performance involves the launching of ‘Global Volunteer Program’ for encouraging employees to volunteer in local communities. For educating and empowering the workers, Apple’s performances involve its education and development program which is offered free of cost by 18 factories with more than 2,80,000 workers who took various courses (Tsutsui and Lim, 235). For promoting employee health and safety, the company has launched the Apple Supplier EHS academy which is a 1.5 year program aiming to improve employees’ health and safety in the industry globally. This has also resulted in improved standards in the management of workstation design changes. The company also aims in offering recycle programs in 99% of the countries in which it operates and has diverted more than 508 million pounds of electronic wastes from landfills since 2008. Moreover, almost 34.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions is caused by Apple and the overall increase in the number of products produced and sold has resulted in the decrease in the level of Apple’s carbon efficiency.

The importance of social media lies in its highly customizable nature of social media ads, for e.g. Facebook, which allows us to target users by things like level of education, location, purchase history and the pages they have liked. There also includes an option to install a Facebook pixel on one’s own sight, which can be further used to retarget the users who visit us. These people are likely to convert the solid leads into profitable sales. Moreover, it is the sustainable firms which tend to attract and retain employees very easily and experience comparatively less financial and reputation risk. They are also more innovative and environment friendly. Apple Inc. is among the electronics brand which involves the greatest use of renewable energy sources.