Corporate Irresponsibility

Iowa's Hillandale farms recalled 170 million eggs in the month of august. Because they found that the eggs were tainted with salmonella. 1,000 people have been reported sick because of the eggs, and that number is expected to grow. The eggs were distributed in states such as Arkansas, California,
 Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. It is said that the hens got the salmonella from rat droppings in their pen. And Hillandale Farms has been written up for health code violations in the past. This is a perfect example of corporate irresponsibility because the company was made aware that their Farm was not following the health code. Instead of being pro-active they ignored the warnings and now there are 1,000+ people sick with the salmonella virus and 170 million eggs are recalled.

Week 4 The Marketing Enviorment

Apple does a lot but one of the few things they don't do is market research. When asked about it Jobs stated:

“It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. So you can’t go out and ask people, you know, what’s the next big [thing.] There’s a great quote by Henry Ford, right? He said, ‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse.’’’

This is basically saying that the products that they make are not based on target audiences or demographics. Instead they focus on creating innovative products that they like and the general public would like to purchase. And you can see that Apple does not really target any specific audiences by their commercials for example 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CWD11qqDjs as you can see as the commercial plays the people who are featured are all different. The color of the ipod and the music changes meaning that the ipod is for everyone who likes the ipod for what it is. And thats the end of the :30 sec commercial no one to trick you, no confusion just the product and what it does.

Country of manufactoring

 T-Shirt& undershirt: Made in the USA                Jeans:Made in  Mexico






Underwear& Socks: No Tag

Week 2 Strategic Planning

FACIAL RECOGNITION  

                  Apple has recently acquired Polar Rose a Swedish company that makes facial recognition software that recognizes faces and places by tagging them using complex algorithms. By apple purchasing this company it has a sustainable competitive advantage over the competition by introducing new technology that is under the apple license. Although what apple has planned for the company's software has yet to be released but the possibilities are endless.       

Week 3 ethics and social responsability

                                                                    GREEN APPLE 
      Apple was ranked the fifth most Eco-Friendly company by Greenpeace ranking 11 places higher than Microsoft. Apple focuses on every aspect of their business and makes them Eco-friendly. From production of their products and what materials they use, the way they export their products all over the world, the products that they produce are all energy efficient and high quality giving them an advantage over the competition. They offer a free recycling program where they dispose and re-use all of the materials of the products they produced. Being Eco-friendly is a good thing in all aspects it cuts down costs of production( which means more profit), it targets a growing market of environmentally conscious customers and their need to have everything that they posses to be harmless towards the environment. And when the world ends because of global warming no one will point the finger at apple because they where Eco- friendly. All joking aside Eco- friendly is a trend that all companies are going to be heading to sooner or later. By Apple being one of the leaders so soon it will keep the company relevant and innovative as time goes on. For a detailed description of Apple's Green movement go to http://www.apple.com/environment/

Week 2 Strategic planning

Iphone 4 case program. 
After receiving many complaints about the iPhone4 and loss of signal Apple provided a program to satisfy customers and their complaints. By giving its customers free cases that take care of the loss of signal. Sadly the program ends September 30 2010. Because Apple realized that only a small percentage of users really needed the case. If someone purchases the iPhone4 after the the case program is up they can still get it they would have to complain to AppleCare and they'll receive their case for free. This is a strategic move on Apple's part because it detected a flaw in their product and they provided a free solution. Giving those who where unsure about purchasing the iPhone4 security that the product will be fully functional when purchased. And the fact that the free case program will be up by September 30 it will give an incentive for those who appreciate free stuff to get it before the program ends.

Apple inc mission statement

                                                                      Mission Statement
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple 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 this year with its revolutionary iPhone.

Apple Inc, Introduction & Overview.

Apple Computer Inc. was established on April 1 1976 in Cupertino,California by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. To sell the Apple I a hand-built motherboard  with CPU, RAM and textual video chips.The Apple I went on sale July 1976 and was priced at $666.66. Apple got incorporated  January,3 1977, and Wayne sold his share of the company to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. 
The Apple II was released on April 16, 1977 it was innovative at the time for having color graphics and open architecture. Which gave it the advantage against the competition, while early models used cassette tapes as storage devices, they where made obsolete by the introduction of the 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drive.
The Apple II was chosen to be the desktop platform for the first "killer app" of the business world it was the VisiCalc spreadsheet program it created a business market for apple it helped the slow sales of the Apple II when it was released. By the end of the 1970s, Apple had a staff of computer designers and a production line. The company produced the Apple III in May 1980 to compete with IBM and Microsoft in the business and corporate market but it could not hold its own against the competition. In December 1980, Apple launched the initial public offering of its stock to the investing public. And when Apple went public, it generated more capital than any initial public offering since Ford Motor Company in 1956 and instantly created more millionaires than any other company in history. In 1984 Apple introduced Macintosh and made pop culture history with it's infamous 1984 Superbowl commercial  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8 .It was an initial success, but because of the high price and failure to produce a wide range of software titles. But products like LaserWriter, PageMaker and its advanced graphics capabilities kept the Macintosh alive. In the eve of  the 1990's  Macintosh entered its first golden age with the introduction of  the Macintosh portable (17 lbs 12hrs of battery life) it was built to be as powerful as the desktop but because of its bulk it sold about 100,000 units. In 1991 the Powerbook (7lbs 3hrs of battery life) succeeded the Macintosh portable by selling one billion dollars worth in its first year. But as the phoenix rises from ashes it got burned back down  with the release of the Centris line which was sold in many confusing configurations and bundles to avoid competition with large consumer outlets such as (Wal-mart, Sears and Price Club). Apple tried to make up for the Centris line by branching out into different products such as Digital Cameras, CD players and TV appliances, all of which did not succeed as one would hope so. As failure came the company was looking for innovation in 1997 at the Macworld expo Jobs announced that Apple would work with Microsoft in creating Microsoft Office for Macintosh and that Microsoft also invested 150 million dollars in non-voting shares. That very same year Apple opened the Apple store a build to order manufacturing strategy with excellent customer service. On August 15 1998 Apple introduced the iMac an all in one computer that proved to be successful by selling close to 800,000 units in its first 5 months. The iMac introduced a lot of software that is still being used such as iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Shake, GarageBand and iPhoto. In 2001 Apple introduced the iPod the portable music player that we all know and love(or hate) today. A phenomenon selling 100 million units in its first six years and from the introduction of the iPod, iTunes was created a leader in digital music by selling songs for .99 cents which changed the music industry in a huge way. It was reported that iTunes reached over 5 billion downloads by 2008. In 2006 Jobs announced that Apple will begin producing Intel based computers the MacBookpro and iMac where the first apple computers to use intel core duo. From there apple put intel chips in all apple computers. And the Power Mac iBooks, and PowerBook all where succeeded by the Mac Pro, MacBook and MacBook Pro. Apple shares where improving as well going from $6 shares in the early 2000's to over $80 in 2006. In 2007 Jobs introduced the iPhone and apple TV and apple shares went over $100 dollars, six months after the release of the iPhone it was announced that apple became the third largest supplier of mobile handsets in the world. In 2009 Apple recorded its best non-holiday quarter during the recession with a revenue of $8.16 billion and a profit of $1.21 billion. In June 2010 apple released its fourth generation iPhone which introduced video calling, multitasking and uninsulated stainless steel. and in July 2010 the iPhone 4 sold over 3million units.