Introduction Since the start of apple in 1976 apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronic industry. Apple started out as a computer company and expanded into other electronics within the last decade. Apple has about 35,00 employees world wide and had world wide annual sales of 32.48 billion in its first fiscal year ending September 29,th 2008. (Para Amitt, Singh 2004) This paper will explore how Apple used the Four levels of management, planning, leading, organizing and controlling, and the impact the four levels had on internal and external factors.
Planning
According to the web site apple.com Apple incorporated just celebrated over one billion applications downloads in less than five months (2009). How can a company such as Apple Incorporated create a product that would attract one billion transactions in less than five months? The answer is in the application of the fundamental management principles. The first stage in managing is planning. The purpose of planning is to identify the goal that is desired and deciding what course of action will be taken to achieve the goals. Planning is vital to insure the future success of the project being considered. Apple Inc. had to take many factors into consideration when planning the variety of products they would make available to consumers. Apple Inc. chose a line of products marketed under the “I” brand. IMac, IPod, Iphone, and Itunes are some of the hardware and software Apple Inc. planned to build and market to consumers. Planning of the I brand had to take into consideration globalization. In planning, internal and external impacts of globalization had to be considered. How could a product be made that would appeal to a global market, and yet not be effected negatively by global competition? Apple Inc used technology and innovation to plan a product that appealed to the mass market and was superior to all other competitors.
References: Amitt, Singh (2004). A History of Apples Operating Systems Retrieved on April 28th 2009 from http://www.kernelthread.com/publications/appleoshistory/ Bateman, Thomas S. & Snell, Scott A. (2009). Management: Learning & Collaborating in a Competitive World, Eighth Edition April 29, 2009 . funding universe/company-histories. (2001). Retrieved May 2, 2009, from Funding Universe: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Apple-Computer-Inc-Company-History.html Job Opportunities: Apple Inc NA (April 24, 2009) Apple’s Revolutionary App Store Downloads Top One Billion in Just Nine Months Retrieved 4/28/09 from: