Apples Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Apples Strategic Management - Essay Example This study outlines that the company has exhibited growth, focusing on high-quality products. This paper will discuss the industry conditions in which the Apple Company operates and highlight its position in the market as well as the outstanding strategies. The electronics, phone, and computer industry is highly competitive. Numerous dominant economic characteristics determine the level of profitability in the industry. Some of these characteristics include the market size, which has been increasing in the recent years leading to more customers. Initially, the industry did not have many companies. However, there have been a remarkable number of companies in the industry recently. There is a high level of competitive rivalry because many of the products have similar features and each company is struggling to produce differentiated products. Technology and innovation cannot receive any form of underestimation in this industry because they determine the rate of launching new products in to the market. The market is full of technologically perceptive customers, a factor that compels the companies in the industry to invest in innovation. Moreover, the industry requires a high level of capital and immense investment in research and development. Other economic factors critical in this industry include scale economics, learning and experience defects. A combination of these economic factors determines the profitability in the industry. There is competition in the phone industry between existing firms such as Apple, Samsung, Nokia, and other emerging companies. On the other hand, the computer industry has competing firms such as Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard (HP), and IBM. There is minimal chance that new entrants will emerge considering the numerous barriers that exist in the industry. For example, a high level of capital is mandatory for any entrants into the industry.

Corporate Ethical Responsibility Essay Example for Free

Corporate Ethical Responsibility Essay CARSI Inc. has long since served the business world since 1922 where it first introduced products and services that are economically acceptable to large-scale markets as well as small business ventures all over the world. These high-tech products include industrial machineries and large-scale shipping vessels that provide business transactions and trading. But the dawn of the Prohibition during the 1930’s forced CARSI Inc. into revising its corporate strategy. While surviving and maintaining industrial and trading quality from the 1930’s up to the present, CARSI Inc. has also opened new avenues of business ventures and management opportunities that gave rise to the CARSI Management and Training Division (CARSI-MTD). Founded in the 1990’s, CARSI-MTD is an outsourcing company that not only provides world-class training programs and strategies but also provides multitude of careers opportunities to the young, aspiring individuals as well as professionals alike. Its main goal is to provide a wide range of training and development programs that will enable more perspectives in business management, Human Resource practices, career development, and corporate business responsibility. As such, CARSI-MTD has produced top-caliber CEOs, executives, top-management officers, and leading theorists in the business practice through an extensive learning program that centers on intellectual development and practical application. CARSI Inc. and CARSI-MTD as of 1999, became a member of the prestigious Fortune-500 group of companies with a total net worth of over $5-billion. Also, CARSI Inc. has provided financial assistance as well as business development in third-world countries by providing a pioneering effort of encouraging small-scale businesses as a means of livelihood and societal development. To date, CARSI-MTD maintains high-standards, quality, and value over employees which are the essential of corporate success. Vision To be a corporate-responsible company that provide business career opportunities, investments, career growth, and quality management practices for aspiring professionals around the world. Mission To introduce to the business world a new perspective of business practices through social awareness, ethical business practices, theoretical business development, and personnel growth and satisfaction. To bring about change in labor-oriented companies through proper compensation, security, and benefits. Products and Services CARSI-MTD offers a wide range of products and services, specifically designed by CARSI Inc. to meet the standards of a globally-competitive market. These products include: CARSI-MTD Learning Institute – a company investment which further applies management, human resource careers into further study and forming theoretical frameworks that can be applied in real-world cases or situations, specifically on labor, personnel management, and human resources. Training Materials/Programs – in line with its Vision-Mission statement, the company also provides scholarly articles made by certified professionals that serve the benefit of schools, colleges, and universities that specialize on management courses. Practical Application Procedure (PRACP) – a unique development of CARSI-MTD which aims to apply methods of learning to practical methods in developing countries that stabilize economic problems, help cultivate Foreign Direct Investments and, maximizing country growth output. Cultural Responsibility The company’s moral responsibility lies firstly on the company’s purpose. The company aims to produce good business practices by maintaining high-standards of quality that ensures a sound and ethically acceptable ethical behaviour in companies. By enforcing quality, principle, idealism, and perfection into the standards set by the company, it presents an alternate and relative effect on businesses and corporations around the world. Second, the company aims to maximize profit of its stakeholders, without compromising personal, social, or cultural issues. Guiding Principles â€Å"Organizations must recognize the rights and interest of various stakeholders – not only stockholders and employees but also outsiders affected by the company’s actions† (Sims 2003, p.40). This is the main ethical principle for the company as it aims to not only protect shareholder and stockholder interests but also to take into consideration the company’s actions. The company assures job satisfaction among its employees, an ample amount of investment for stockholders, ensuring proper adherence to legislations and laws through different international governments, proper benefits for union members, fair competition, and being a responsible citizen in a communal aspect as well as affecting a change on the quality of life. The following are the main points of social responsibility of CARSI-MTD: Shareholders: An active participation on the distribution of profit, right to elect board of directors, transfer of stock, inspection of company books,etc. Employees: Economic and psychological satisfaction with employment. Protection from political or physical imputations of company officers. Fringe benefits. Right to the formation of a union and forming Collective Bargaining Agreements. Conducive working environment and conditions. Customers: Quality services through high standards (e.g. product knowledge, assurance). Reliable warranties. Extensive Research and Development Program. Unions: Recognizing as a legitimate bargaining agent of between employees and the employer. Competition: Recognizing the normative functions of a healthy, competitive business environment as dictated by the industry and organization. Governments: Proper adherence to taxes, public policies (fair and free trade) and the labor code. Society: Act as company that contributes to social formation a well as healthy environment in small communities, provision of unbiased employment, cultural and financial initiatives, charities etc. (Sims 2003, p.41). In the internal aspect, the company is guided by the following professional ethics: Accounting The company considers a strict compliance to company rule and policy to avoid creative accounting and misleading financial predictions and analyses, manipulation of company resources, black market trading, excess executive compensation, bribery, etc. Human Resources As a company aimed to provide opportunities to all, the Human Resource practice of the company strictly follows an anti-discrimination policy as well as adhering to local and international business laws with regard to age, gender, race, religion, among others. Also, the company maintains a healthy working environment by providing suitable working conditions. In addition, the company provides heavy penalties for office politicking, blackmailing and invasions of privacy. As such, company policies also state an assurance on occupational safety and health, transparency, and individual freedom. Sales and Marketing Marketing policy of the company is determined to reduce price fixing, discrimination and skimming through a more social and moral introduction to different alternatives and methods. Also, the company blatantly refuses advertisements and marketing strategies that manipulate the nature of sex, provide subliminal messages or exposing children, sexual orientation in its corporate strategies. Principles for Consideration Corporate Social Responsibility is the main guiding ideology in the formation of a Code of Ethics. â€Å"CSR requires the continuing commitment by business to behaving ethically and contributing to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce, their families, as well as community and society at large† (Sims 2003, p. 43). What CSR provides is a corporate ideology of the company as it aims to form the an ideology that is aimed at social and economical development rather than a pure capitalist view. Through a social initiative, the company has a purpose to exist morally and ethically as it aims to support social causes and awareness through fundraising and volunteerism, among others. However, the problem lies when CSR is taken for granted when it is the company’s duty to be socially aware and responsible.

Joan of Arc :: essays research papers

Joan of Arc   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Joan of Arc by Nancy Wilson Ross in nineteen-hundred and fifty-three and published by Random House. Nancy Wilson Ross was born in Olympia Washington; she wrote many books on the early fifteenth century including Joan of Arc.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nancy Wilson Ross wrote of that Joan of Arc was a simple girl taken advantage of by a wimp of a prince/king who left her to be used and abandoned at the first sign of trouble; by those that she had helped the most. That Joan was divinely guided by her voices and manipulated by many to fit their will.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mrs. Ross starts off by showing the extreme challenge of getting to see the Prince Dauphin. In the beginning she was laughed at and told to go back to her family farm, as a mere girl they had no need of her. But Joan did not give up and she waited till the war had gone on for awhile and was not going well and then she tried again. Joan was finally allowed to go to see her Prince and tell him of her voices, but first she had to endure a verification of the origin of her voices and of her that took quite a while longer. Joan in the mean time grew anxious for the Prince and for France as her voices were urging her to hurry and help Prince Dauphin get crowned King of France and save her country from the English.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After Joan is proven fit, she is finally allowed to meet her Prince and finds that he is a weak-willed individual that is not inclined to make any decisions, least of all to put forth the effort to go to Reims and be crowned the King of France. Joan does convince him into letting her go out into the battle fields and help lead the soldiers to a victory. Joan was fulfilling a prophecy that said that â€Å"having been through a woman (the wicked plots of Dauphin’s Mother), would be restored by a girl from Lorraine.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In battle Joan was smart and brave and gave the men hope that they could turn the war around. Joan dictated letters to the English generals that she did not want to hurt them and that they should go home, but they ignored her and she fought them till they turned and ran. Joan helped turn the tide to Frances advantage and then returned to Prince Dauphin to try to convince him to go to Reims and be crowned.

Describe the characteristics valued

Even today security Is a big Issue to us and still likely to continue this way, but progresses are happening all the time. Employers will assume that you would know about these important areas. But they wont always expect you to know everything, but it is important that you have some knowledge about the main issues. If you are interested in a certain area, you will need to do as much research as you can! Also you will need to develop your skills and knowledge in that certain area. Working procedures It's very good to have some knowledge of typical practices In the IT Industry.This Is cause of the legislation that Is Included In IT at the moment. Things Like data protection and copyright laws are a part of this. Employers have to make sure they are not breaking any laws, this means they will need their employees to always be aware of what they are doing and the responsibilities they have in these areas. Health and safety knowledge Employers will expect you to have some knowledge In th e health and safety area. This Is essential as the employers will expect you to be aware of the risks and the responsibilities you have. For example you might get eye strain from looking at the imputer screen for a long time.How to stop this from happening is to adjust the monitor at eye level and put it somewhere so there is no reflections coming of the monitor. General Skills Interpersonal Skills In your job, it is most likely that you will be communicating and working with other people. So this will mean that you will need to have good communication skills. This is what most employers look for. Both IT professionals and IT users may be limited to their knowledge of technical areas in IT. Numeric Skills What kind of job role you have will depend on the level of numeric skills you need. These days, nearly every Job role requires basic innumeracy skills.You will need to be able to carry out day to day mathematical calculations like working out percentages and basic sums. Other areas of IT like programming will require a higher form of mathematical ability. Creativity The type of job you do will depend on how creative you are. For example the employees that work in web design and desktop publishing will be known to be creative in that area as they can come up with lots of unique Ideas to make the web For example you can Just be creative by coming up with ideas for new products or even improving old products or services.Organization skills It is very helpful if you are an organized person. This is because you will need to be able to do work tasks efficiently. For example the Job that you have been set to do will mean that you need to have the right equipment and information for the Job. This could be going from having something to write with and remembering client's names or businesses that you might have to visit. Also to look professional it's very good to be organized. Most employers don't like it if you come in and say ‘l forgot it' or ‘l left it t home' as its very UN-organized and makes you look unprofessional.Attitudes preferred Determined Your Job can sometimes become very hard and might stress you out a lot but there is always a way to overcome this problem and that is to be determined. A lot of employees who tend to give up easily on work will never impress their employers because it shows them being very UN-professional. But the other employees who have determination to get things done and who want to succeed will look much more professional and will impress their employers. IndependentThe first Job you have in IT probably will be with other people instead of you being by yourself. But this doesn't mean you can't be independent. Your employer will be expected for you to develop your own ability to work by yourself and to use your own initiative than waiting for other people to give you instructions on what to do. Integrity Your employer will want someone who they can trust. So being honest to everyone and not going m aking up things is important. Your employer will also expect you to work as you normally would if not better for when your supervisor isn't there.Also there could be expensive equipment which means you have to make sure you look after it. Leadership Throughout your Job role and the time you have worked in the business, your employer will always look out for any leadership skills you have in you. For example if you have good leadership skills then you can work well with others and help to inspire and encourage them to get on with work and push through it, or even help them! Good leaders are good when it comes down to organizing and planning things and are not afraid to take control of it all.

Rehab vs Retribution Essay

I negate the resolution which states: Resolved: Rehabilitation ought to be valued above retribution in the United States criminal justice system. The value for this round will be: justice, where everyone gets what they are due. In order to provide a criterion for which to judge the value, as well as a way to achieve my value, the value- criteria shall be: retribution, where the punishment of an individual is more often than not weighted by the gravity of the crime that they committed. This is not to say that the justice system is justified in putting our criminals through excruciating torture and interrogations in order to ensure that they never commit a crime out of fear. However, this means that retribution makes more sense than rehabilitation and thus should not be valued less than rehab. Note: By negating, I can say that retribution is just as valuable as rehab, just not less valuable? Contention One: The retribution system only serves criminals what they are due in return for th eir actions. A: Retribution is not the same as revenge. Background and context The criminal justice system comprises many distinct stages, including arrest, prosecution, trial, sentencing, and punishment (quite often in the form of imprisonment). As will become clear, it is in the last two of these many stages that the debate over rehabilitation and retribution is of special significance. It is a very serious mistake to think that the retributive ideal in the criminal justice system is about vengeance, retaliation or payback. Rather, it is an extremely sophisticated idea that often forms the basis of, and arguably is even the leading indication of, a developed sentencing system. The term ‘retribution’ is therefore unfortunate because its everyday meaning connotes ‘revenge’; it is better described as ‘desert’, ‘just deserts’ or ‘proportionality’ theory. The debate between rehabilitation and ‘retribution’ involves two broad questions: ideologically, which is the more satisfactory justif ication for punishment; and practically, which can serve as a more useful guide for sentences and other agents in the criminal justice system? B: RETRIBUTIVE IS NOT THE SAME AS REVENGE Pojman, 04: Louis P. Pojman, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at West Point Military Academy, in an essay titled â€Å"Why the Death Penalty is Morally Permissible,† from Adam Bedaus’ 2004 book titled Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case, wrote: â€Å"People often confuse retribution with revenge†¦ Vengeance signifies inflicting harm on the offender out of anger because of what he has done. Retribution is the rationally supported theory that the criminal deserves a punishment fitting the gravity of his crime†¦ Retribution is not based on hatred for the criminal (though a feeling of vengeance may accompany the punishment). Retribution is the theory that the criminal deserves to be punished and deserves to be punished in proportion to the gravity of his or her crime, whether or not the victim or anyone else desires it. We may all deeply regret having to carry out the punishment, but consider it warranted. When a society fails to punish criminals in a way thought to be proportionate to the gravity of the crime, the danger arises that the public would take the law into its own hands, resulting in vigilante justice, lynch mobs, and private acts of retribution. The outcome is likely to be an anarchistic, insecure state of injustice.† http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001004 When you are a little kid, your mother most likely put you in time-out when you did something wrong. We have been taught all our lives, then, that there is a consequence for every action, whether that action is moral or immoral, conformed to the guidelines of society or looked down upon by society. Teenage life and adult life is no different- people must be made aware of effects that what they do have on other people. Retribution is the answer. B: Retribution restores justice. RETRIBUTION REQUIRES ONLY THE RESTORATION OF JUSTICE Budziszewski, 04: J. Budziszewski, PhD, Professor of Government and Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, in an Aug./Sep. 2004 OrthodoxyToday.org article titled â€Å"Capital Punishment: The Case for Justice,† wrote: â€Å"Society is justly ordered when each person receives what is due to him. Crime disturbs this just order, for the criminal takes from people their lives, peace, liberties, and worldly goods in order to give himself undeserved benefits. Deserved punishment protects society morally by restoring this just order, making the wrongdoer pay a price equivalent to the harm he has done. This is retribution, not to be confused with revenge, which is guided by a different motive. In retribution the spur is the virtue of indignation, which answers injury with injury for public good†¦ Retribution is the primary purpose of just punishment as such. The reasons for saying so are threefold. First, just punishment is not something which might or might not requite evil; requital is simply what it is. Second, without just punishment evil cannot be requited. Third, just punishment requires no warrant beyond requiting evil, for the restoration of justice is good in itself†¦ For these reasons, rehabilitation, protection, and deterrence have a lesser status in punishment than retribution: they are secondary†¦Ã¢â‚¬  http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001004 Contention Two: Retribution helps deter crime. Barton, 99: Empowerment and Retribution in Criminal and Restorative Justice, Professional Ethics, A Multidisciplinary Journal. Volume 7, Issue 3/4, Fall/Winter 1999, 28   Selected Papers from the 1999 Conference of the Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics, Charles Barton, Pages 111-135 Restorative justice critiques of the status quo in criminal justice often miss their mark because of the mistaken belief that current practice in criminal justice is essentially, or predominantly, retributive. What is being overlooked is that restorative justice responses often contain retributive and punitive elements themselves – and sometimes, such as in serious cases, necessarily so. (Barton 1999, Ch. 10) Therefore, blaming retribution, or even punitiveness, for the ills of the criminal justice system is largely beside the point. Punishment and retribution cannot be ruled out by any system of justice. By implication, a more plausible critique of the status quo is needed†¦ More generally, even if the threat of punishment is no longer a deterrent to a relatively small number of repeat offenders, that does not mean that the prospect of punishment, such as imprisonment, for instance, is not a deterrent to the majority of people who otherwise might be more tempted to break the law and violate the rights of others in pursuit of their own goals and interests. At best, the evidence on this point is inconclusive, but the phenomenon of sharp increases in mindless vandalism, looting, and violence by otherwise law abiding citizens when they feel that they can get away with it, should cause us to re-think the wisdom of rejecting punishment altogether. Contention Three: Victims must be taken into consideration; present and future If victims feel that justice has not been served, then self help will be sought out, putting more people in danger and increasing the overall crime rate. SELF HELP IS SOUGHT OUT WHEN â€Å"DESERVED† PUNISHMENT IS NOT ENACTED In Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), the US Supreme Court in a 7 – 2 decision written by Justice Potter Stewart, JD, stated: Gregg v. Georgia, 1976: â€Å"The death penalty is said to serve two principal social purposes: retribution and deterrence of capital crimes by prospective offenders. In part, capital punishment is an expression of society’s moral outrage at particularly 66boffensive conduct. This function may be unappealing to many, but it is essential in an ordered society that asks its citizens to rely on legal processes, rather than self-help, to vindicate their wrongs†¦ The instinct for retribution is part of the nature of man, and channeling that instinct in the administration of criminal justice serves an important purpose in promoting the stability of a society governed by law. When people begin to believe that organized society is unwilling or unable to impose upon criminal offenders the punishment they ‘deserve,’ then there are sown the seeds of anarchy — of self-help, vigilante justice, and lynch law.† http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001004 Although the general public is not in a position to determine the fate of every single incarcerated person there is in the U.S., their interests must still be taken into account when attackers and abusers are put in to prison.