Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
Environmental Analysis of Apple, Inc.
Temple Wray
University of Phoenix
Abstract
In this paper Apple, Inc’s environment and the macroeconomic variables that affect them are described and analyzed. The key macroeconomic variablesare unemployment, competition, and inflation. The analysis is stretched back five years and will include both the macroeconomic variables and the industry variables of Apple, Inc. The end of this paper describes the challenges and opportunities that exist for Apple, Inc.
Environmental Analysis of Apple, Inc.
Apple, Inc operates as a multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products. “The external environment is the institutions and people outside a business organization that affect it; these include national and local government, trade unions, competitors, customers, suppliers, etc. The external environment is one of the contingency factors that has to be taken into account in designing an organization.” Apollo Group. A Dictionary of Business and Management. Ed. Jonathan Law. The external environment has three components: the remote macroeconomic environment, the industry environment, and the operating environment within the organization itself. There are key macroeconomic variables that affect Apple: inflation, unemployment, and competition.
The first key macroeconomic variable that affects Apple is inflation. Inflation in an economy can be the result of an increase in aggregate demand that is unaccompanied by an increase in aggregate supply. A rise in any component of aggregate demand can bring about inflation. One reason for a sudden, unanticipated rise in aggregate demand can be an unanticipated rise in the supply of money. Inflation can also result from a decrease in aggregate supply that occurs when businesses find that production inputs have risen in price. Such occurs when labor costs and the price of raw materials...