The Marketing Environment

(The marketing environment is constantly changing and thus unpredictable. There are many different types of Target Markets: A defined group design to buy the firms product. Marketers have to be able to adapt to the changing targeted markets, although they cannot control the environmental changes, they can adjust their marketing mix to meet the social, economic, technological, demographic, political and legal, and competitive factors that may jeopardize the implementation of the marketing plan.)

   

The iPod

It may seem that there is no other digital media player on the market but the truht is that there are many. None can compare to how the Apple company has made the iPod so fit for the ever changing marketing environment. Originally released on October 23rd, 2001 the iPod has come very far from that very 1st design. One of the reasons of success for the iPod is the very fashionable look that it offers. The new generation of the iPod Nano is available is 6 colors and now features a touch screen, the Shuffle is available is 5 colors, the Touch now  has 2 cameras and most of the features that were only available to the iPhone, and the iPod classic now available in the 160GB version.

   The iPod's success is also do to its high availability for all different types of people, its price ranges from $50 for the shuffle to $250 for the 160GB classic. In 2001 the first 5GB iPod was retailed at $400 and was only compatible with Mac users. There has been 22 versions of the iPod which include several generations of each model. Now most of the cars are compatible with the iPod and even cloths are making special pockets for the media player. The white headphones have been made to a icon of our generation. The other day while I was on the train on my way to school I noticed that about 1 of every 4 people in the train had an iPod and the white headphones on, it was impressive to see that one music player can reach so many different types of markets. I guess that Apple targets music enthusiast from all cultures and ages, their advertisements are vivid, colorful and like the picture above shows multicultural. Apple  offers a durable product that is fashionable, price comprehensive, extremely innovative and practical. It has changed from a regular no color screen to a high resolution color touch screen media player, the iPod touch has the ability to shoot video and pictures. Every generation of the iPod has enhance the experience of the user, so whether you like to click and scroll through your music or touch your way through it there is an iPod for you in many different colors and storage capacities that go from 2GB to 160GB. The very heart of the iPod's success is at the differences between the different types of models Apple offers that fit the many types of people in the world 

    

Corporate Irresponsibility

     H&M is one of my favorite places to shop, not only because of their decent prices but because of their variety of styles and quality of products. In an article that the New York Times published on January 6th, 2010 Jim Dwyer wrote about how socially irresponsible the H&M store located at the heart of Herald Square in New York City is about discarding their unsold cloths. The ethical thing to do with cloths that can't be sold anymore is to give them away to charity or any form of recycling is better  than throwing them out on the street so garbage collectors can take them to landfills without serving their only purpose, to be worn. Not only throwing them out but also cutting them so that they are completely unwearable illustrates a lack of ethics from the management of that certain store because he should be in control of the way their employees discard these cloths that have never been worn before. Throwing away NEW cloths is very bad because not only do these cloths could've been used by someone who needed them, they'll also end up in a landfill somewhere. (you can see the article at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06about.html?_r=1
      H&M has an executive in charge of corporate responsibility, Ingrid Schullstrum. It should be her job to appoint someone in each store to dispose of unworn material in a proper way. I shop at this store on the regular bases and as customer I was disappointed by the behavior of the store, it makes the whole chain look bad. In a fallow up article the retail sore promised to donate their unwanted cloths to charity but is a real shame that they only did that after they were under the public eye,( Fallow up article:http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/hm-says-it-will-stop-destroying-unworn-clothing/)

Ethics And Social Responsibilities

Green Apple

Ethics: The moral principles and values that generally govern the conduct of an individual.

Corporate social responsibilities: A business's concern for society's welfare. 

     A green Apple, perhaps that will be the official slogan for Apple inc in the near future. Or maybe not but surely Apple inc is defiantly trying to be more socially responsible regarding the environment. Sustainability is also the key to success in this new era when everyone wants to go green, Apple is doing a very good job at it. They have engineers that no only build better products but also smaller, thinner, and lighter which in the long run translates to less carbon dioxide emission. Products like the new iMac with a 21.5 inch screen (almost 7 inches bigger than the 1st generation of the product) uses 50 percent less material and 35% less carbon emission. The packaging and traveling also affects the environment so Apple has a team a engineers who develop the smallest most protective packaging possible in order to minimize the space products occupy in the transportation process thus  producing less carbon dioxide.

    Apple also sees that their products are as energy efficient as possible, all of their products are ENERGY STAR certified which is not only good for your pocket but also good for the environment because it reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of power plants.  All of Apple's products have received the Gold status in the Electronic Product Assessment Tool (EPEAT) which sets the  most widely accepted standards of environmental impact.   
      The recycling begins even before the product is used because Apple products are built to last, according to Apple's latest research you can charge the Macbook's battery about 1000 times before you need a new one. Apple has recycling programs that recycle in 95% percent of the cities they retail to, these programs prevent about 130 million pounds of waste from ending up landfills and only produce one percent of the companies total CO2 emission. Without a doubt Apple has made it their task to reduce waste and carbon emission their products emit to the planet. You ca check out many more different ways that Apple inc is committed to lessen their environmental impact at:http://www.apple.com/environment/.

                                  

Apple's Code Of Ethics

    

   Apple wants to assure the highest standards of ethical conduct for them, their suppliers, and all workers affiliated to the company. They want to make sure that all their workers are treated with dignity and respect free of any discrimination. Apple makes sure that the Code of conduct is enforced by all their suppliers in an effort to make sure they fallow the requirements of fair business,advertising, and competition stated by their local law. Their suppliers should not engage in corruption, extortion, bribery, or any form of illegal manner to  obtain improper advantage. Wages, hours of work, and age limits are also established under the Apple Suppliers Code Of Conduct (ASCOC), it sets a minimum wage, a 60 hour a week limit, and 15 the age minimum to work. In addition Apple also assures the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility anywhere their products are sold or manufactured. To Apple the integrity of their business is something their are not willing to risk so they ensure all the rules in the ASCOC are fallowed to the fullest extend. The code of conduct establishes by Apple sets all the rules that their suppliers should fallow and is a condition to any contract signed with Apple inc. You can check out the full Apple Suppliers Code Of Conduct at http://images.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/pdf/Supplier_Code_of_Conduct_V3_3.pdf

Apple's code of ethics ensures the safety and well being of all their workers and suppliers, and emphasizes  their social responsibility towards the environment.

Country of origin

     Most of the time you don't pay any attenrion to where your cloths come from so today I spend 5 minutes figuring it out:
• My cap was made in china.
• My sneakers were made in Vietnam.
• My jeans were made in Mexico.
• My shirt and cardigan were made in Bangladesh.
• My underwear was made in El Salvador

     Sadly nothing was made in America because it has become too expensive to produce things here, business ownes want to make the highest profit they can, and truly I don't blame them because I'll probably do the same.

Strategic Planning For Competitive Advantage

    (Strategic planning can be defined as the "process of creating and maintaining a fit between the organization's objectives and resources and the evolving market opportunities," and a company's competitive advantage are the factors that cause customers to buy their products and not the competition's.)
    
     CEO and founder Steve Jobs hosted an Apple's special event which was released to the public on Sept 1,2010 in which he talked about the products that Apple would be releasing for the holiday season. In this event he announced that Apple would be releasing a new line of iPods, iTunes 10, iOS 4.1 during this month, iOS 4.2 in November for the iPhone and iPad,

New line of iPods 

Apple TV, and he also announced the 3 new Apple retail stores including one in Shanghai which has an amazing 40ft high glass cylinder.

Shanghai Apple retail store

    Having the CEO of a company announcing new products to the public is a great strategic plan because just from watching the presentation I felt like I was a part of  the Apple company. And what better competitive advantage can a company have than making the best products in the market? Ever since the 1st iPod was released in 2001 apple has released several types and several generations of the product in oder to satisfy the needs of the customer and keep up with the evolving market. And who can name a better mp3 design than that of the iPod? Apple's iPod has been able to sustain their advantage over other mp3 players because of its beauty and great performance.
       In the event I mentioned above Steve Jobs also said that the daily visits to the Apple retail stores around the world can add up to 1,000,000, and that's not hard to believe because their stores are just as beautiful and innovative as their products.(Imagine came from the moon and you were walking in 5th avenue and E58th street in Manhattan and you see this beautiful apple inside of a glass square and you never heard of the company before, tell me you wouldn't be eager to go inside the store? Well that's another of Apple's competitive advantages their style  and modern design not only for their products but for their retail stores as well. Apple is a company that not only profits on their retail stores but also on their online media store iTunes. In the event Steve Jobs also announced that they'll be launching a new version of the iTunes application that will include  Ping, a social network just like Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace but dedicated to music lovers.
      The new Apple TV is smaller, cheaper, and more efficient than the old one because that's what the customers wanted said Steve Jobs in the event. This proves that Apple's strategic planning involves the people as well as the company's objectives and resources to create products that are not only beautiful but also efficient. Apple will keep on having a differentiation competitive advantage as long as they keep on coming out with new ideas to satisfy the customers by adapting their products according to the ever changing market. 

History And Mission Statement

      

       Apple Computers was established in Cupertino, CA, on April 1ST,1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak, it was  incorparated in 1977 with the founding of Mike Markula. Starting with the Apple 1 (1976), Apple 2(1977),Apple Lisa (1983) and the publicly acclaimed Macintosh, Apple set the stage for personal computers as we know them today.In 1985 their president and founder Steve jobs resined and formed NeXT Inc which will later be brought back by Apple in 1996. More recent products like the PowerBook (1991) set the model for modern laptop designs, also the Newton which was one of the earliest personal digital assistants(pda) is known to be the platform for the iPhone and the most recent Apple product the I pad.

   Apple released the 1st iPod (classic)in October 2001, fallowed by the iPod (nano) in 2005, the iPod (shuffle) in 2005, and iPod touch in 2007.

  On January 9, 2007 Apple at the Mac World expo CEO Steve jobs announced that Apple Computer inc will just simply become Apple inc because computers were no longer the only product that they intended to market. During the same expo Steve Jobs also announced that the iPhone will be available later during that year.

   The iPhone went on sale on June 29 2007, Fallowed by the iPhone 3g (July 15, 2010), the iPhone 3gs (June 29 2009) , and finally the best phone ever to be made to this date the iPhone 4 released on June 24, 2010. The iPhone 4 is the latest generation and it features 2 5 mega-pixel cameras, a stainless steel rim, (which serves as an antenna) of course 3g and Wi-Fi capability. The App store(July 10,2008) which allows you to have 1000'S of applications at the tip of your fingers, the I tunes store (April 28, 2003) which allows you to download music, videos, and other media files to your iPhone are design make your daily life a little easier and fun. Finally the 3.5 inches and 960 by 640 pixel resolution screen and the aluminusilicate glass front and back give the iPhone a beautiful look and makes this one of the best if not the best smart phone on the market.

"The mission statement"

  Apple's mission is to deliver the best interactive computers, software, digital media downloads, and smartphone in the market. With products from the Apple TV,iWork, iLife and final Cut Apple has become more than just a computer making company but a company that sales a life style.