Apple profit making business

Task 1- The EDU has given you a list of suitable businesses and you will need to carry out initial research on these businesses before selecting two contrasting businesses for your report. The two contrasting businesses I will be choosing to compare are Apple and Oxfam.

Apple is part of the secondary sector and also part of the tertiary sector because it is a retail store that provides a product to consumers and also they sell products to consumers. Apple is a Global business therefore they are located in more than one location around the world. The product Apple provides consumers with is electronic items such as mobile phones, laptops, computers and accessories.

Apple is a profit making business which is very successful and they have made a huge amount of profit from selling their goods to consumers that are interested in the products they are selling in their store. Apple is a PLC business and they try to make as much profit as possible, they don’t go over the limit otherwise they wouldn’t get much people buying products as they will think it is too expensive for the product. Apple tries to maximise their profits.

“Apple sold 48m iPhones worth $33.2bn in its latest quarter – an increase of 36% on the same period last year and more than the total sales achieved by both Microsoft and Face book over the same period”. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/27/apple-2015-revenue-iphone-sales. Apple try their best to make sure that they keep costs of products low so that they can generate as much profit as possible. Apple is not a non-profit making business as they do not help the public by giving them free clothes/food etc. Therefore they are only a profit making business as they only sell products to people who have money to buy the products they are selling. Apple is not a business like a charity that use funds off the government to provide for the poor people in society. They do not aim to raise a public awareness for good causes such as helping the needy.

Apple’s purpose as a company is to supply a product. The products Apple supply include iPhones, iPads and other electronic gadgets which Apple manufacture. Apple’s current mission statement as of 2017 is Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.” http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042315/what-apples-current-mission-statement-and-how-does-it-differ-steve-jobs-original-ideals.asp

Apple is a profit making business because Apple is apart of the private sector therefore its aim is to maximise profit where as if it was part of the public sector the aim would be to provide a service as funded by the government. “Apple sold a record 74.5m mobiles in the quarter, 46% more than in the same period a year earlier. “Demand for iPhone has been staggering, shattering our high expectations”. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/31/apple-worlds-most-profitable-company-iphone-china-124460173672500

Apple is part of the secondary sector and also part of the tertiary sector because Apple is a company which provides customers with products and if the customers are interested in the products then colleagues that work within Apple will sell the products to the consumers. Apple is part of the tertiary sector as it is a store that provides a service to its consumers. Some of the services it provides includes the sales of phones, computers and accessories etc. Apple isn’t part of the primary sector because the primary sector contains organisations that are based on extracting raw materials and natural resources.

Above is a print screen showing the services Apple provide consumers with and the cost of the services provided. You can see that Apple provides a variety of services
Apple headquarters is located in California America, therefore the business Apple is a global organisation because Apple is situated all over the world. Apple phones are made in United States however many people over the world have got Apple products such as the United Kingdom. 083947000

Products such as IPhones show that Apple is situated in more than one country. The map below shows the places where products are being bought from and in which country the products are available in. Apple is not a local organisation as the business isn’t located in only one area. Apple has several branches, therefore it doesn’t have a local store. Apple is not an international business because it is not located in certain areas around the world.

“Micro-businesses are business with 0-9 employees. There were 5.0 million micro-businesses in the UK in 2014, accounting for 96% of all businesses. Although the vast majority of businesses in the UK employ fewer than 10 people, this sort of business only accounts for 33% of employment and 19% of turnover. Large businesses, with more than 250 employees, accounted for less than 0.1% of businesses but 40% of employment and 53% of turnover”.

Apple is a large business as it has more than 250 employees working for Apple, the business has over 100,000 colleagues working in the Apple stores all over the world. The website below gives you information about how many jobs are created for employees over Europe within Apple stores etc.

From the research I have collected I would say the relationship overall between Apple and its customers is okay because there is means of communication via their website, that allows feedback to be given to Apple, therefore they can check on how to improve the business. This can have an advantage for the business because consumers are the ones who exchange money for products. I also believe Apple have a good communication with customers because apple have a website where customers can get support from. https://support.apple.com/en-gb. Also the website allows customers to ask any questions and receive help in specific areas such as: prices, payments, returns policy, shopping online, products etc. It also allows customers to make any complaints. This is an effective way for customers to communicate with Apple, and allows Apple as a business to improve on their communication with their consumers so that they are satisfied with the services provided by Apple.

The communication between staff and Apple is good as they make sure that their staff are prioritised, because if the staff are happy then they will make customers feel satisfied and happy with their decision. Having good communication between the staff and business can have a positive impact on the business because the staff will be motivated and their will work their very best and generate more sales and earn more sales revenue.

OXFAM
Oxfam is a charity therefore it is in the voluntary sector. Oxfam is also in the tertiary sector however; instead of just selling products, it also provides a service to other charities. It does this by selling clothes at a very cheap price. http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/business-studies/aims-and-objectives-of-sainsburys-and-oxfam.html