Apple’s Supply Chain Management Essay

Abstract The paper explores Apple and its past, background, brand loyalty, problems, decline of product, and suggested solutions. Apple was started on April 1, 1976. It was established by three men; Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. On January 10, 2006, Apple released the MacBook Pro and iMac which was the first Apple computer to use Intel’s Core Duo CPU. Apple’s customers fly in from all over the world to see the opening of products and stores. They even propose outside the stores. Their fan base is because they have a good product. Not so much the price because you can basically get the same product at a lower price form one of Apple’s competitors. The problems that Apple is having is getting their product to the customer on time. Which many say is the result of bad supply chain management. The paper goes over how they got to the problems that they are having and some solutions to those problems. Keywords: Monopsony, Brand Loyalty Apple’s Supply Chain Management Background Apple is a very big company, and is a company that everyone knows. Apple was started on April 1, 1976. It was established by three men; Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. On January 3, 1977, Apple was incorporated without Wayne; he sold his shares back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. A multimillionaire delivered the essential business knowledge and funding for the incorporation of Apple. By the end of the 1970’s Apple have a good sized staff of bother computer designers and a production line. The Macintosh was made well-known by the 1.5 million dollar commercial â€Å"1984† released on the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. The Macintosh at first sold well, but it soon withered off because of the high prices and limited choice of software titles. The Macintosh Portable was presented in 1989 and was designed like a desktop and weighed 17 pounds. In 1998, Apple’s iMac was introduced by a design team that was led by Jonathan Ive and he was also the man who designed the iPod and the iPhone. Apple’s sales improved from that moment. On January 10, 2006, Apple released the MacBook Pro and iMac which was the first Apple computer to use Intel’s Core Duo CPU (Lashinsky, 2011.) On January 17, 2011 Jobs announced in a memo that he would take a medical leave for an indefinite period. It has been said that because of Apple’s effective supply chain the company operates as a monopsony, which where one buyer has many sellers. Brand Loyalty Apple’s brand loyalty from customers runs deep in its consumers. It is very unusual for any product to have the kind of brand loyalty that Apple does. Apple Store opening can draw crowds of thousands with people waiting in line as much as a day before the event. People also fly in from all over the world to see the opening of products and stores. Some people say that it is the marketing and advertising is the reason that draws the kind of loyalty that Apple has. The loyalty of the customers goes as far as when people are waiting in line some of the fans use the opportunity to propose marriage. Problems After Jobs announced his medical leave, he appointed Tim Cook to his job. Tim Cook was the chief operating officer. He was the person who over saw the supply chain. When he assumed Jobs position he took on more work than he was used to. Therefore his work started to decline, he stopped focusing on the supply chain and started working on the advances of technology (Spence, 2012.) Decline of Product After the death of Steve Jobs, the company stock declined because of the products. There was problems with the shipping of the iPhone 5 because there was not enough made. When the iPad Minies reached the customers, they sold out in time for the press released. But when more orders came in for the iPad Minis the customers experienced longer wait time. This might have been due to the supply chain not working properly. Also the iPad Minis release date has been pushed pack. When Apple made the promises of an October event and missed the date. The other things that has been un-Apple-like was Siri, it was not the way that Steve Jobs would have liked it to be. He wanted it to be consistently amazing and it is not it had to be concern with an update. The Maps app in iOS6 lead to the discharge of two Apple employees and a public apology from Cook (Maisto, 2012.) Conclusion The conclusion to most of the Apple consumers would be to work more on their supply chain. Working closer with their suppliers will help with the overall product. It might be a faster shipping or faster assembly. But one thing is certain about working closer with their suppliers, it can never be a bad thing. The better relationships that you have with the people supplying you the product the better the product will be (Maisto, 2012.) Suggested Solutions Apple needs to fix a few things to get back on the money making wagon, so to say. They have a good product but it needs to be texted more. If Apple feels the need to release an iPhone every three months the customers will think why I should buy this one when it will be obsolete in about another three months. Another thing that Apple needs to work on is their supply chain. Since Tim Cook moved up in the in the corporation he has not been looking over the supply chain as well as he should be. I believe that he should be hiring more people to manage the supply chain and less people to engineer Apple’s products. They might come to realize that they will save money in the long run if they have better relationship with their suppliers and treat their workers better (Spence, 2012.) Future The future of Apple is not clear. Cook wants to bring more jobs to the United States. He says that more parts of the Mac will be brought over to the United States so that it will bring more jobs to the United States, an estimate of 600,000 jobs. Cook also wants to get in to the television market. He says that, â€Å"it is an area of intense interest to us (Maisto, 2012.)† References Spence, E. (2012, November 18). Apple’s supply chain issues reflected in stock pricing. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2012/11/18/apples-supply-chain-issues-reflected-in-stock-pricing/ Maisto, M. (2012, December 7). Ceo tim cook on apple’s future: Don’t bet against us. Retrieved from http://www.eweek.com/mobile/ceo-tim-cook-on-apples-future-dont-bet-against-us/ Lashinsky, A. (2011, August 25). How apple works: Inside the world’s biggest startup. Retrieved from http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/25/how-apple-works-inside-the-worlds-biggest-startup/