Apple Inc: Pioneering Global Innovation and User Experience - Essay Sample

Introduction

Apple Inc. is an American multinational global company. The company is one of the major global companies that have received full global recognition for its tremendous operation and revenue across the world. Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak established it on April 1, 1976. As part of its mission statement, Apple aims to bring the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services. The company, therefore, believes it is on the face of the earth to make great products in a process and move that is unlikely to change.

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Strategies

Over the years, Apple has emerged as one of the global electronic companies with a substantial competitive advantage over its rivals. Ideally, it is involved in the designs, manufacturing, and marketing of various products such as personal computers, portable media players, computer software, hardware, as well as the peripherals. Currently, its products are sold worldwide through its online stores, its direct force, and the third party wholesalers. It is critical to note that the company’s most popular and sold product include the Macintosh personal computers, the iPhone, and the iPod mobile media players.

Throughout its operation, Apple Inc. has involved itself in the global competition for the international markets other than the US. Still, it has managed to subdue most of its competitors, such as Huawei Mobiles, Sony, Samsung, and Dell, among others. The use of the globalized culture strategy has been critical for this achievement. Apple is dedicated much to the high-end technology product as well as the development of consumer technology (Gu et al. 334). Ideally, the company does not participate in the actual design of various categories of products within the same market area but uses other external groups for that purpose. The company thus expects its products to become the leader in each field they operate. In terms of business strategy. Based on the high technology used, the majority of Apple’s rivals, especially the phone manufacturers are unable to make products that are similar to the Apple business strategy. Through this strategy, thus, Apple has succeeded in offering remarkable user experience for its customers through enhancing the improvement and innovation of the original products in terms of hardware and software.

Justification for Environmental Sustainability

Environmental sustainability constitutes one of the most fundamental objectives of Apple Inc (Hitt et al. 61). Although the company is determined to maximize its operation and revenue generation across the world, Apple is dedicated to protecting the environment from possible mismanagement and destruction. Broadly, Apple is focused on promoting sustainable development, which refers to the ability to meet the needs of the current generation without compromising the strength of the future generation to meet their needs. Apple prides itself on being environmentally focused, and it is continuously working to minimize its environmental footprints (Knauss et al. 78). Notably, its 2018 Environment Responsibility Report showed that the company is dedicated to climate change, resources as well as safer materials. The company has been voted as the best in running its operations on 100 percent renewable energy. Thus, the combination of renewable resources that include solar energy and wind to reduce its footprint. About 66 percent of the renewable energy it generates emanates from the projects it created and managed itself.

Analysis of Apple’s Environmental Responsibility

The two concepts discussed in these sections is environmental sustainability. The sustainability, in this case, focuses on sustainable development, which implies the ability of the current generation to meet its needs without preventing the future from meeting its needs. Over the past years, Apple Inc. has demonstrated itself as a global leader that is focused on promoting environmental protection and management (Crane et al. 45). As per its 2019 Environment Report, Apple desires to conduct its future manufacturing activities without mining any new materials from the earth. This goal requires a constant invention of more efficient ways to recycle materials back into its devices. The company replaces fossil fuels with renewable energy. In recent times, the company has gone further to reduce its impact through proper utilization of the substances that are safe for the consumers and the environment at large. While this is a big challenge, the company is capable of making the best products in the world while leaving the planet better than it was found.

This kind of awareness is extended to the products that Apple sells to its customers. For instance, the company’s latest MacBook Pros uses 61 percent less energy compared to the previous version or generations (Purkayastha 74). The HomePod uses extremely little energy when playing music compared to the average LED lightbulb (Chen 55). Interestingly, Apple has been trying to reduce its ecological footprint when it comes to the packages used to store their devices. In the report, Apple mentioned that it includes all the energy used for shipping and recycling within its carbon footprint (Crane et al. 45). As such, Apple has always strived towards making its packaging considerably smaller and lighter to ensure that less fuel is consumed while transporting the products by the sea and air (Purkayastha 74). Moreover, the company is adjusting its recycling practices. For example, it tends to maximize the environmental benefits when collecting its end-life products, and this occurs through conducting a cost-benefit analysis between the recovery technology availability and effects of shipping materials (Crane et al. 45).

In the report, Apple has always made it clear that the iPad 2 ecologically safe because it passed the European Directive on Restriction of the utilization of the hazardous materials. In 2015, for instance, the company won the Newsweek Green Ranking. Further, the company has also demonstrated their honesty to the public (Gu et al. 334). Ideally, it was able to make clear information about the origin of the green gas emission. As part of their explanations, Apple mentioned that 98 percent originated from its products, while 2 percent came from the data facilities and center. As part of its plans, it is evident that Apple still wants to achieve sustainability by establishing its new headquarters, which will be the greenest building ever. The new Apple Campus 2 in Cupertino will be supplied with 100 percent renewable energy from the solar farm and utilizes 30 percent less energy compared to any typical Research and Development building. The campus further aims at forming a strong partnership with the environment, which will utilize the climate to provide natural ventilation for 75 percent of the year (Gu et al. 334).

Recommendation

As observed in the analysis, it is evident that Apple Inc. is still determined to meet its sustainable development goals, which are all tailored towards promoting a sustainable operation, while at the same time maximizing the resource use. The current environmental initiatives have helped the company to reduce its energy consumption and its ecological footprint. Other practices have included making environmentally friendly packaging materials. This has been integral in reducing the carbon footprint during its operations. Although these initiatives have been vital, Apple still needs to implement more strategies that will continue to enhance the sustainability of the environment (Purkayastha 43).. First, Apple should align its strategy and sustainability. Ideally, the management must ensure that Apple’s strategy is aligned. Secondly, Apple should focus on compliance first, then competitive advantage.

Regarding the first recommendation, Apple’s strategy has been portrayed as extremely fragile, lacking real commitment, and prioritization. Unilever Company’s “Sustainable Living” program has been aligned with the organization’s strategy. Through this, Unilever has the vision to decouple growth and output, in addition to reducing its resource efficiency, sustainability innovates, and environmental sourcing. Thus, having a strong organizational strategy that is aligned to sustainability initiatives will be crucial in ensuring that the outcome is long-lasting.

About the second strategy, Apple needs to address compliance, as this is associated with the regulation in wastes management, pollution, energy efficiency, and labor responsibility. It is critical to note that compliance is a vital concern for investors. Studies have shown that investors increasingly shy away from compliance-related risks. This shyness implies that the majority of them do not invest in companies with poor sustainability performance. Ford is an example of a company that has been involved in the implementation of this strategy. Over the years, Ford has changed the narrative through a ten-part environmental policy that they have adopted for many years. The company has environmentally friendly fabrics in its vehicle. Thus has been critical in reducing its carbon footprint.

Works Cited

Chen, Lujie. Sustainability and company performance: Evidence from the manufacturing industry. Vol. 1698. Linköping University Electronic Press, 2015.

Crane, Andrew, et al. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press, USA, 2019.

Flygansvær, Bente, Robert Dahlstrom, and Arne Nygaard. "Exploring the pursuit of sustainability in reverse supply chains for electronics." Journal of Cleaner Production 189 (2018): 472-484.

Gu, Yifan, et al. "Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling for a sustainable resource supply in the electronics industry in China." Journal of Cleaner Production 127 (2016): 331-338.

Hitt, Michael A., Dan Li, and Kai Xu. "International strategy: From local to global and beyond." Journal of World Business 51.1 (2016): 58-73.

Purkayastha, Debapratim, and Syed Abdul Samad. "Apple and Conflict Minerals: Ethical Sourcing for Sustainability." The IUP Journal of Operations Management 14.2 (2015): 59-77.

Knauss, Stefanie. "The Journey of a Symbol through Western Imaginaries. The Curious Case of the Apple." Religion in Cultural Imaginary. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, 2015.

O’Connor, Megan P., et al. "A strategy for material supply chain sustainability: enabling a circular economy in the electronics industry through green engineering." (2016): 5879-5888.