Apple Case Study Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a global leader in the development, design, manufacturing and marketing of smartphones, tablets, media devices, personal computers, operating systems, services, peripherals and network solutions. As of December 2014 the company is operating in 16 nations, with 444 open Apple retail outlets (Apple Investor Relations, 2014). The company has 92,600 employees and generated $182B in revenue during their latest financial or fiscal year that ended September 31, 2014 (Apple Investor Relations, 2014). This was a 7% increase over the previous year. The company is very profitable, generating $52.5B in profits in their latest financial reporting year, also increasing 7.2% over 2013. Countries the company operates include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom with the majority of stores in the United States (Apple Investor Relations, 2014).

Analysis of Market Systems

The nations that Apple operates in a varied in their market and legal systems, with the greatest difference being in France, Hong Kong and Turkey. The French market and legal systems seek to protect the French consumers first and foremost, which makes it very expensive for Apple to have stores and offices there. This can be seen from their latest annual report and the many costs associated with operating in France (Apple Investor Relations, 2014). Based on an analysis of the company's financial reports and reading over their...

Apple also has a very extensive supply network that operates in more countries than its retail stores (Brustein, 2014). The supply chain network is mentioned often in company annual reports as it is considered a core competency and an area that company prides itself on for ethics best practices (Apple Investor Relations, 2014). The Supplier Responsibility Program is designed to promote and bringing greater levels of ethics to each member of their supplier network. This is in response to the criticisms the company has received in the past for unethical working conditions in their iPhone and iPad supplier and manufacturing partners' locations. The Supplier Responsibility Program is required for suppliers if they want to do business with Apple, as it provides greater analytics and oversight of their ethics in managing manufacturing and supplier activity (Apple Investor Relations, 2014).
The greatest political risks that Apple is facing today include tariffs in France on their phones, the potential for unrest in Turkey and continued counterfeiting challenges in China of their core products (Apple Investor Relations, 2014). Political unrest in China regarding working conditions and the recent protests about pensions will continue to be an issue for Apple in 2015. As a political consultant for the company, my recommendation is to partner as closely as possible with the Chinese government and be…