Apple is undoubtedly one of the best companies in the world today and part of its many achievements come in part due to the organizational structure implemented. The organizational structure of a company is important since it outlines how various activities such as supervision, work coordination and allocation are handled by an organization to achieve the set aims and goals. A good organizational structure creates opportunities for business growth.
Apple’s organizational structure has been the major factor how good products such as the iPhone, iPod and iPad, have been released by the company and how the company has been able to maintain its relevance in the ever-changing technological landscape. Throughout its inception, Apple has often had an adaptable organization structure depending on those in charge. The organizational structure when Steve Jobs (Brashares, 2001) was in charge was mainly spoke and wheel hierarchical structure where everything went through jobs while the structure that is currently implemented under Tim Cook adopts the function based grouping structure where everyone has a role to play in development and running of the organization.
The success of an organization is always affected by internal and external factors. These factors act as a barrier to organizational success and eventually influences the performance and operation of a company. The main external factors that have an impact towards organizational success include competitions, political and economic factors and technological factors. Apple produces products in the mobile and mobile computing industry that currently has many technological players such as Samsung and Hewlett-Parkard and this increases the competition in the market. Due to the direct and indirect form of competitions, many companies are forced to implement certain strategical policies that favor the consumer market and this ultimately impact the success of the company. Such strategies implemented to counter competition include changes in prices of goods and the nature and range of services based on the levels of competition. Increasing cost of labor is another external factor that affects success in an organization. Apple has in the past depended on cheap form of labor offered in chine hence setting up their industrial shops there. However, the increased cost of labor in chine has meant that Apple has to pay more hence impacting their profits.
Primary stakeholders in an organization basically refer to investors, customers, employees and supplier. Primary stakeholder has a huge influence in the organizations financial support with each group having a major role towards the growth of the business Primary stakeholders can influence the financial performance of an organization in many ways. Basically, the customers influence price and demand, the management influence the firm by implementing strategical plans towards its short and long term goals while the employees are the engine of the company and all their decisions will have an impact on the business.
First and foremost, the influence that customers/consumers have as a primary stakeholder in an organization cannot be understated since the existence and successful growth of a business entirely depends on customer satisfaction and approval. Due to this, many companies have employed strategies that ensure production of efficient and effective products while also maintaining reasonable prices that attract consumers. The social responsibility that companies have towards consumers at times cause financial stress, hence affecting flow of revenue in a company. Apple has in the past regulated the price of their devices to make it more affordable to the common consumer.
Employees are required to work hard and efficiently to ensure business growth through the formulation of short and long term goals and also encouraging them to experiment leading to great innovations and ultimately business growth. Due to this fact, many companies have implemented policies that create good working environments that ensure job satisfaction and an equal and diverse working environment. Such policies at Apple include proper career development and compensation. The impact of employees towards all aspects of has made them an integral part and ensuring their satisfaction ensures better financial performance in the organization.
Investors are usually the major stakeholders of a business and are in charge of all corporate decisions that impact the business. Apple is the world’s most valuable company and their increased and stable profits coupled with their strong financial position each year has made it attractive to investors whose major purpose is to ensure profits from their investments. Lastly, suppliers are an organizations business partner and are usually used to meet needs that an organization cannot do on its own. As in the case of Apple, they use their supply chain to ensure the efficient manufacture and distribution of products to worldwide markets. This indirect relationship has a huge impact on the financial outflows and inflows of cash from the organization.
Social responsibility is an ethical framework that ensures that organizations act for the benefit of society (Fontaine, 2013). Apple is the world leading technology and innovative brand with a huge consumer following yet the it has a controversial corporate social responsibility that threatens this. China has the world largest workforce and this had made Apple to open up manufacturing plants in the country due to the availability of cheap and skilled labor. This move has however been criticized by many people with some accusing Apple of infringement of child labor laws and human rights. The company has, however, argued against such utterances claiming the legality of the practices at its industries oversees especially in china.
References
Brashares, A. (2001). Steve Jobs (1st ed.). Brookfield. Conn.: Twenty-First Century Books.
Hadi1, M. I. (2016). How Important Is Customer Satisfaction? Quantitative Evidence from Mobile Telecommunication Market. International Journal of Business and Management, 13.
Fontaine, Michael P. (2013). Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability: The New Bottom Line? International Journal of Business and Social Science, 10.
Tian, Q. T. (2013). Organizational Structure: Influencing Factors and Impact on a Firm. American Journal of Industrial and Business Managemen, 229-236.
