Apple case study

Question 1

How many employees and retail stores does apple have?

Answer 1

-98,000 full time employees
-450 retail stores in 16 countries

Question 2

What is apples market?

Answer 2

-Predominantly richer, developed countries
-In 2011 44% of product sales were in the USA

Question 3

Why has the brand become so successful?

Answer 3

-Products are stylish and well produced
-Innovative products
-Slick branding and marketing

Question 4

Why are the main stream products built in china?

Answer 4

Large source of highly skilled, hard working, low paid workers.

Question 5

What is Shenzen?

Answer 5

Location of chinas first and most specialized economic zone offering incentives to attract foreign companies

Question 6

Where is apples production facility based?

Answer 6

Based in foxconn which is dubbed as chinas silicon valley

Question 7

What is foxconn?

Answer 7

A production facility which employs over 400,000 workers with an average salary of 150-200 USD per month
-Also contains factories of companies like Sony and Dell

Question 8

What is the spatial organisation of apple like?

Answer 8

-European headquarters in Cork, Ireland where 4,000 are employed on its production line and has a customer support centre
-Assembly of apples main products is outsourced to Foxconn, a Taiwanese company with factories in china
-HQ and R+D centre are on the apple campus in California
-3 further data research centres in the US including 2 California

Question 9

How does apple positively impact Ireland where it operates?

Answer 9

-Corks largest private employer
-Apples presence generated a further 2.5k jobs
-Apples presence has attracted further high tech firms to the area
-Attracted a high skilled workforce
-Contributed to infrastructure improvements

Question 10

How does apple negatively impact Ireland where it operates?

Answer 10

-Many of the high skilled workers are foreign meaning that apple isn’t creating many jobs for locals
-Apple has been accused of corporate tax avoidance causing tension with EU and USA

Question 11

How does apple negatively impact Ireland where it operates?

Answer 11

-In 2006 it was reported that 200,000 people lived on 100 a month doing 60 hours a week at Shenzhen
-In 2010 50 people were poisoned by a toxic chemical and decided to sue apple
-Foxconn employs many students and children to reduce wages
-by 2010 14 suicides had occurred due to severe working conditions