Comprehensive Analysis of Apple Incorporated

The vision of creating user friendly computers is what drove them into building one of the multibillion companies in the world. Therefore, in this report, focus is directed on the analysis of the Apple Incorporated information. The analysis will be focused on the information obtained from the SEC Form-10K and SEC Form-DEF-14A. The information from the SEC database is recent and has specific information that will help in comprehensive analysis of Apple Incorporated. The report is basically rooted to analyzing the information and assessing Apple’s corporate strategies as well as determining how or rather the ability of the company being able boost its competitive advantage. This has let the company to be able to push limits beyond the impossible through productions of cutting edge software and hardware.

Therefore, Apple Incorporated has been able to prove that it is not only a leader in the technological sector, it is also an advanced innovator. The power of Apple’s philosophy can be seen all round the world as the company has impacted the technological sector through the dramatic influence to the production of electronics that are used today, (Company Profile: Apple Inc, 2017). Back in 1990s, the company underwent some setbacks that faltered it. By then, Steve Jobs, who was among the founders, had been fired from his own company. All the products that Apple Incorporated released are now the most profiting to the company. This is because in every creations and production, Apple Incorporated has been able to integrate technology and time to each of its product.

This has made it easier for the company to lead the market and the industry level, ("Apple surpasses Microsoft as world's most valuable tech company," 2010). The company didn’t focus on only producing the computers and other iDevices, it also majored into teaching the community the abilities of each iDevice and the company invested a lot to inform and educate the community what the devices and software could do,. The previous years’ innovations have placed Apple Incorporated as one of the most iconic company not only in the United States, but also the world. Apart from the digital devices that the Apple Incorporated produces, it has also extended its hands in various areas such as software development, accessories, network solutions, customer services and third party digital content such a music which are being sold and distributed through the iTunes and books in iBook, (Datta, 2005).

The services and the products offered by the Apple Incorporated are wide and include cloud computing as well as professional portfolio products and in the recent past, Apple was able to release the latest operating system for but MacBooks and iPhones. The company has also released a smart watch, Apple Watch which has had great impact to most of the consumers that have bought it. The launch of Apple Pay, or rather iPay has made it easier for most of the iDevice users to be able to pay using their mobile phones. This release of iPay has streamline the payment process and it is now more secure and reliant to shop online and pay through iPay, ("Apple surpasses Microsoft as world's most valuable tech company," 2010).

It is through that a new competition was brought in and now Apple has a fierce competition from Oppo. From the last year information from the Form 10-K, it is clear that the common stock is valued at $747. 5 billion. The net sale increased to $229. 234 billion from $215,639 billion. The huge success in the technological market has made the company to produce a high record of net profits compared to its competitors in overall, (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018). b) SEC Form DEF-14A Proxy Statement Through the analysis of the Form DEF-14A, it is clear that the Apple Incorporated is a stand-alone company due to its size and revenue that it generated annually. Apple has compensation system that helps it in making decisions related to compensation rates and salaries for its directors and other stakeholders of the company, (Heracleous & Papachroni, 2016).

The system, Pay Governance, has been successful, all through the process and it has been used by various peer groups such as Amazon, Nike, Microsoft, CBS, and Intel among other companies that have focused on media and technology productions. Coca Cola is also included in the list of the peer groups. Tim Cook is the Chief Executive Officer of the company is and has been a director since 2011 while Art Levinson is the Chairman of the Board of Audit Committee and has been a director since 2000. Other directors include James Bell, Al Gore, Bob Iger, Andrea Jung, Ron Sugar, and Sue Wagner. Apple now has over 47,000 employees, (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018). Analysis of Levels a) Company Level At the company level, Apple Incorporated not only focuses on the profitability of the company, it highly considers the driving force which are the core values of the company as well as all the stakeholders involved.

In this case, Apple Incorporated focusses on producing the most powerful products that can be used in business arenas of for personal use. At the industry level, Apple Incorporated has been able to invest in a cutting edge technology that helps in boosting production and sales. The ratings has also played a major impact in making sure that Apple is high recognized. The reviews collected from various customers that now use Apple products showed that they were satisfied with the performance and services they got from the company. The mobile device users have had unique experience to some of the best cutting edge technology ranging from camera, music experience and display. The performance of each iDevice is high enough to accommodate any imagination of the user.

This shows that the company is making more money than its direct competitors, (Fischer, Staffieri, & O’Rourke, 2008). The table below show Apple Incorporated’s opportunities, strength and weakness as well as threats that they face while maintaining its competitive advantage. Strength Apple has been the leader in the innovation field for the past years. This has been influenced by the integration of quality and high end technology in every device made. The strong brand image has been influenced by the customer satisfaction and ratings. This will boost the sales as people will choose the quality over quantity. By launching new product lines such Apple clothes or Apple travel, the company will be filling the market gap by providing satisfactory package to its customers.

Lastly, by reducing the price of its products, It will attract more buyers thus boost its customer base and increase sales. Threats Being the fast growing tech-company in the world has created more pressure to the innovative team of Apple Incorporated. The threats being faced are many as the company has to fight to remain the best and not to fall. Over the years, Apple has been using its strength to overcome the weakness. Competitive advantage is evident in the innovative sector. Being one of the best companies in the technology production, Apple Incorporation has been able to stay ahead of the game beating other companies by providing its consumers with cutting edge products that run on a current and future technological inspirations.

The corporate strategy used if reflected in the leadership structure. The Board of Directors highly concentrates of the interests of all the stakeholders involved. On the other hand, the management of the company is working hand in hand to make sure that the employees are not only compensated satisfactorily, they are also motivated into providing high quality services to the company, (Leśniak-Moczuk, 2016). Conclusion In conclusion, Apple Incorporated has its objectives and threats that might affects its profitability. The pushing spirit the company has had since 1976, the company has been able to advance it technology and innovation fields. At the moment the company is ranked fourth in the Fortune 500 Companies’ list. This means the company is now generating more money than its competitors in the technology industry.