Media company case study

Media Company Case StudyTask 1 Understand the structure and ownership

of the media sector

Georgia Braidwood

Apple• Apple originally belonged to the IT Industry. It is now an American multinational corporation that

designs and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers all around the world.

• As soon as Apple created the iPhone, then went into the telecommunications industry. • Apple Inc. own a range of different and advanced products, these include:

• Mac and accessories (Magic Mouse, Wireless Keyboard)• iPad• iPod• iPhone• Apple TV• Software (iTunes)

Ownership• Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald

Wayne in 1976. • Steve jobs owned Apple Inc until August 2011, as he then

resigned as CEO of the company and later passed away.• As a corporation today, the company is now owned by its

shareholders, or people who invested money in it. For example, Bill Gates owns 51% of the company.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc until August 2011

• Apple Inc is Vertically integrated. This is when one organisation designs and manufactures everything for the company, therefore all of the profits go straight to Apple. As a result, they increase their income.

• There are also disadvantages to vertical integration. One example of this is can be if the company fails to maintain their finances, they are the only people affected and will consequently lose more money.

Apple Inc owns software and hardware for the company. iTunes is used to connect the products and purchase various songs and apps via the iTunes store. Safari is owned by apple which is just as popular as Microsoft Windows Explorer. The products are also owned by the company. Apple is a great example of vertical integration because it is one of the most popular forms.

Competitors• Apple Inc’s biggest competitor is Microsoft. This is because they own similar

products within the media. Some examples of these are Internet Explorer and the iPad as Microsoft has recently released a similar product to this.

• Another group of competitors are mobile phone companies. This is because Apple have various iPhones available therefore they are in competition with companies such as Blackberry, Samsung and Nokia.

• There are also competitors for Apple’s computer products. Computer manufacturers such as Toshiba, Samsung, Acer, Asus, and HP are competitors in computer hardware

• These competitors impact on the production and distribution because the company will make sure the products are at the highest standards therefore the customers will be satisfied and no need to complain or build a bad reputation of the company.

Customers• Apple’s customers vary from demographics of any gender aged 12+ of the

upper/middle class. This is because the products are quite expensive and more advanced than other products within the media therefore the customers have to be willing to pay more then the average price for a product of similar character.

• Other characteristics of the target market for the company can be music enthusiasts, and also professionals in media and design.

• In terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Apple’s customers might result in social needs. This is because someone might want to belong to certain social group and in order for this to happen, they might feel the need to own a product within the company.

Quotes:“Apple has stated very recently that they have 200 million credit cards registered on iTunes” “59.6 million iPhones sold through June (from SEC filings) and 3.2 million iPads were sold”“About 8 million iPhones and 4 million iPads were sold during August and July, the total number of iPod touch sold is 45.2 million.”

http://www.quora.com/How-many-customers-does-Apple-have

Organisational Structure & ImplicationsThere has been changes to the organisational structure of Apple

Inc. Steve Jobs was the CEO of the company up until August 2011 when he resigned. Later that year he passed away, and Timothy Cook then took over as CEO of Apple Inc.

This is what the Hierarchical Organisation Structure looks like today

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc today.

Controversies Within Apple Inc• There has been very few controversies within the successful company.• One example of this is in 2006. The Mail on Sunday alleged that sweatshop

conditions existed in factories in China, where the contract manufacturers operate the factories that produce the iPod. The article stated that one iPod factory had over 200,000 workers that lived and worked in the factory, with workers regularly doing more than 60 hours of labor per week.

• Immediately after the allegation, Apple launched an investigation and worked with their manufacturers to ensure that conditions were acceptable to Apple. Yearly progress reports have been published since 2008.

• Although this issue was finally resolved, there are still some concerns such as; in 2011 Apple admitted that they were finding more and more child laborers in their factories.

BibliographyDuell, Mark, Daily Mail, http://tinyurl.com/7dnn4we, UPDATED: 08:10 27 January 2012, The Mail on Sunday.

Siegler, MG, TechCrunch, http://tinyurl.com/9vz8vpj, Wednesday March 2nd 2011, TechCrunch .com.

Dumke, Mitch, lucidchart, http://tinyurl.com/97tn3hl, 24th February 2012, lucidchart .com.

Dediu, Horace, Asymco, http://tinyurl.com/2vtlyyy, SEP 3, ’10 9:39 AM, asymco . com.