Decision Making and Problem Solving †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Decision Making and Problem Solving. Answer: Introduction: Analysis of the business operations of Apple shows that the business encounters supply chain issues. In itself, working conditions in different manufacturing locations of Apple Inc is necessarily an issue in the supply chain of the company (Zsambok 2014). The assembling partner of Apple Inc that is Foxconn has also pronounced about having poor conditions. In essence, in factory of Foxconn, their basis of workers also needs to be a topic for further discussion as well as consideration. As per a report published in the year 2010, over and above 900000 employees in the warehouses and loads of them were necessarily students that were between the age ranges of 16 years to 18 years who were compelled to work on the line for 2 years (Apple 2017). In addition to this, the Chinese warehouses also have several workers who are compelled to operate overtime on a regular manner. However, based on the same article it can be said that the results of a survey reflecting that 73.3% of employees opera te 10 hours or more in a day, the average overtime is around 83.2 hours in a month. This can be referred to as an understandable violation of the official labour regulations, which essentially restrict monthly overtime to roughly 36 hours every month. Accordingly, out of 20 workers who attempted suicide, around 14 of them succeeded in their attempts, in current history. However, again at Foxlink that is another component supplier of Apple, a Chinese worker committed suicide during 2012. Essentially, there are considerable alerts regarding the working conditions in particularly Foxconn warehouses and other warehouses of suppliers of Apple Inc. In addition to this, the second matter of concern of Apple Inc can be associated to the association between the corporation and the suppliers (Proctor 2014). As per a report pronounced in The Wall Street Journal, Apple Inc cannot archive the entire anticipation number of sales by the closing of the year 2012 owing to an inadequate supply chain (Apple 2017). Furthermore, suppliers of Apple do not have the capability to generate adequate parts for the demand of the product. Even though Apple Inc has several suppliers all around the globe, when the entire chain of supply is evaluated piece by piece, it can be observed that some constituents are chips as well as LCD panels. One of the largest suppliers of LCD screen has the plan to discontinue providing different products to Apple as disclosed in The Korea Times, as the Korean corporation no longer finds it advantageous to go on cooperating with Apple. Owing to this, Apple might be left with only two suppliers of LCD screens who have ina dequate experience. Nevertheless, the two suppliers LGD and AUO are the ones Apple needs to support. Basically, this can direct the way towards insufficient number of products to meet the demand of the market can cause a big loss in terms of sales for the company Apple Inc (Apple 2017). Deficient control by Apple Inc as regards assembly manufacturers also create an impediment in delivery owing to issues with the workers uprising (Taylor 2013). Essentially, things are going downhill as regards supply chain of Apple Inc, thus, the high tech corporation have the need to undertake action if it intends to keep on to maintaining previous levels of success. Company has tilted innovative programs that essentially fine tune and enhance the internal processes of the business. However, the company faces certain problems in the global economy that includes accumulation of capital for diverse non-productive usage. Bain declares that by the closing of the period 2020, the total financial assets in the entire world will amount to $900 trillion and the consequence of the same can threaten a surge in non-financial asset prices namely commodities (Apple 2017). Thus, Apple can be considered to be a symptom of that issue hoarding cash it gets too scared else wise dull to spend. Again, it can be witnessed that there is growth in the global middle class that will be intensely resource hungry and this can either create enormous issues or else opportunities due to the pace of development (Pettigrew 2014). Thus, it can be hereby said that the future of America mainly relies on the world system ability in process of innovation. Apple has necessarily created a novel market and altered the entire structure of the market of both music as well as mobile industries. However, as regards supply chain process, there is considerable difference from other firms. Nevertheless, successful corporations present a variance by making impractical ideas possible. Firstly, management of Apple tried to resolve the issues of supply chain by following the approach Customer Comes First, Cost Cutting comes second (Apple 2017). Essentially, Steve Jobs considered that Apple Inc has the need to make superior products. As far as new and innovative products have a strong value proposition as well as differentiation, properly delivering products to specific customers cannot prove to be a problem. Additionally, members of the staff of the firm Apple Inc spend huge time with different suppliers to manufacture accurately designed products as Apple wanted (Pettigrew 2014). As Apple Inc has several retail stores, the management of the corporation can make demand forecast easily. Therefore, Apple Inc is able to enhance the inventory turnover by declining the average inventory. In case if Apple maintains more number of stocks, it is more probable to get damaged or else obsolete. The product life cycle of Apple Inc is longer than seasonal items so that the firm Apple Inc is not easily affected by diverse seasonal facets. Nonetheless, management of Apple Inc takes aggressive steps during the period oh holidays. As demand of diverse products can get enhanced during the period management of Apple can place orders by air in place of sea. In essence, this is mainly because Shipping Corporation by particularly ship takes a lot in comparison to air freight. Furthermore, Apple has a factory in California so that the corporation orders different products from the factory, resulting in simplified process of supply chain (Apple 2017). Retail stores of Apple necessari ly act as a stocking point between both upstream as well as downstream. Finally, simplifying procedures of product can be considered to be an appropriate strategy that can be used for elimination of unnecessary lines of product. As such, this can be associated to lean manufacturing. The management of the company divided their products into different categories so that management could handle and reduce the intricacy of supply chain. In addition to this, supply chain management practices of Apple Inc also include extraordinary control on inventory and complicated software systems that can be considered secret weapons that keep Apple on top of the worldwide leader board. The supply chain strategies of Apple for overcoming detected issues include maintaining sustained leadership in the exercise of supply chain (Velasquez and Hester 2013). Over and above this, firms strategy also includes identification of the concept of a solution of supply chain and configuration of new trails with the demand creation abilities. Apples Supply Chain Model: The critical approaches that are utilized by the firm Apple in addressing the identified issue include adoption of the Apples Supply Chain that focuses on research and development, testing of concept, pre-launching, launching and quarterly reviewing. Essentially, supply chain planning particularly at Apple Inc. can be analysed by content analysis mechanism that can help in understanding supply chain of modern day. New Product Development Process of Supply Chain Planning: The management of supply chain process at Apple Inc includes new product development procedure (NPD). Essentially, it is an assimilation of research and development, marketing and diverse functions under specifically supply chain management that can help in acquirement of licenses and third party businesses. In this case, management of Apple Inc makes prepayments to different suppliers in order to secure strategic raw materials and solve intricacies of supply chain (Apple 2017). Inventory Control Approach: Inventory turnover control can be regarded as a traditional financial dimension to determine the manner the company can efficiently utilize the financial resource in order to generate sales (Velasquez and Hester 2013). Maintaining total number of important suppliers: The supply chain management in Apple Inc also deals with maintaining relationships between different partners of trading. Operating closely with strategic associates can bring about competitive benefit to the entire firm (Velasquez and Hester 2013). Apple has around 156 vendors across the world. Essentially, this amount of suppliers can be considered to be manageable. Management of Different Facilities of Warehouses: The transportation cost can be regarded as one of the most significant part of the cost of logistics (Brodbeck and Guillaume 2015). Thereafter, good management of associated function is necessary. Apple Inc has a centrally situated warehouse in California for management of supply chain. Stock Keeping Unit: Stock keeping unit also simply referred to as SKA is an important indication of supply chain intricacy (Pettigrew 2014). Again, another important model of particularly phone but diverse software is regarded a separate item. Product Life Cycle Approach: The product life cycle approach adopted by management of Apple helps in understanding the extent to which products can be sold. Life of important products of Apple Inc is over and above 12 months (Apple 2017). Demand forecasting using life cycle can be regarded to be intricate for easing supply chain issues (Taylor 2013). The management of Apple Inc can respond better by properly utilizing the enumeration metric of inventory turnover. In itself, inventory turnover can be considered to be a traditional financial dimension that can help in determining the extent of efficiency of corporation in utilizing financial resources to generate sales, the higher the better. Engagement of expert supply chain professionals by Apple Inc can help in utilizing this metric in the process of inventory management function. The association between diverse trading partners can be enhanced by maintaining close co-ordination with diverse strategic partners that subsequently lead to competitive advantage (Proctor 2014). Apple Inc has more than 156 vendors across the world. The coordination between key vendors and the suppliers have the need to be maintained for handling supply chain. In addition to this, the management of Apple Inc currently has 26000 items that can be used for stock keeping unit (SKU) (Apple 2017). Additiona lly, another indication of supply chain intricacy that is the software and the items have the need tom estimated on regular basis and altered as per requirement. The demand forecast system also has the need to be enhanced by the management. In addition to this, the product also has the need to be designed in a way that leads to greater economic life as shorter life cycle of products can be considered to be difficult for approximations (Zsambok 2014). As such, it can be hereby mentioned that supply chain of Apple Inc can be enhanced by streamlining the complex system. This includes generating savings of cost and enhancing firms service by concentrating on manufacturing great products utilizing ground breaking innovation, supplying products that are not seasonal and have a life cycle of over 12 months (Apple 2017). The service can also be enhanced by lessening the total number of warehouses to a centralized location. It can also be done by synchronizing and integrating data between central warehouses and its stores and customers, thereby making operations more effectual and cost efficient (Bergvall-Kreborn and Howcroft 2013). In addition to this, management of Apple Inc can be enhanced by outsourcing process of manufacturing. The management of the firm Apple Inc can detect the issues associated to the business operations. These expert professionals of the corporation might take time to recognize the difficulty that necessarily repeats itself and describe illustratively the clear picture of the disruptions to the profitable flow of business functionalities. After identification of the problem, the management of the corporation can describe the problem and elucidate the causes of the detected business issue. Again, the management of the firm can brainstorm the solutions at the time of problem solving after taking into consideration all the rational possibilities (Collis and Hussey 2013). Subsequently, the management of the corporation can execute a specific solution that appears to be most likely to solve the detected issue and appears to be least probable to generate further issues. Thus, using this metric or else dimension for the purpose of the enumeration of all the probable solution and finally selecti ng a specific one for the resolving the issue is an effective way of decision making. The management of Apple Inc can consider the entire business model of Apple Inc and analyse the problems supply chain issues faced the business. In this specific case, the management of the corporation can put forward compelling questions for projection of diverse scenarios regarding the future of supply chain factors (Weiss 2014). Thereafter, for the purpose of describing the issue, the management of the corporation Apple Inc can find out the centre as this method of centring can aid in the process of avoiding confusions and keep on thinking clearly. Annual Financials for Apple Inc Fiscal year is October-September. All values USD millions. 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Sales/Revenue 170.87B 183.24B 231.28B 214.23B 229.23B Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) incl. DA 107.24B 112.55B 142.26B 131.51B 141.05B COGS excluding DA 100.48B 104.61B 131B 121B 130.89B Depreciation Amortization Expense 6.76B 7.95B 11.26B 10.51B 10.16B Depreciation 5.8B 6.86B 10.01B 9.03B 8.96B Amortization of Intangibles 960M 1.08B 1.25B 1.47B 1.2B Gross Income 63.63B 70.69B 89.03B 82.72B 88.19B 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 SGA Expense 15.31B 18.03B 22.4B 24.24B 26.84B Research Development 4.48B 6.04B 8.07B 10.05B 11.58B Other SGA 10.83B 11.99B 14.33B 14.19B 15.26B Other Operating Expense - - - - - Unusual Expense 300M - - (548M) - EBIT after Unusual Expense 48.02B - - 59.03B - Non Operating Income/Expense 652M (585M) 3.7B (200M) 2.75B Non-Operating Interest Income 1.62B 1.8B 2.92B 4B 5.2B Equity in Affiliates (Pretax) - - - - - Interest Expense 136M 384M 733M 1.46B 2.32B Gross Interest Expense 136M 384M 733M 1.46B 2.32B Interest Capitalized - - - - - Pretax Income 50.16B 53.48B 72.52B 61.37B 64.09B Income Tax 13.12B 13.97B 19.12B 15.69B 15.74B Income Tax - Current Domestic 10.42B 9.48B 13B 8.64B 8.1B Income Tax - Current Foreign 1.56B 2.15B 4.74B 2.11B 1.67B Income Tax - Deferred Domestic 1.57B 3.01B 3.19B 4.91B 5.98B Income Tax - Deferred Foreign (426M) (658M) (1.81B) 33M (16M) Income Tax Credits - - - - - Equity in Affiliates - - - - - Other After Tax Income (Expense) - - - - - Consolidated Net Income 37.04B 39.51B 53.39B 45.69B 48.35B Minority Interest Expense - - - - - Net Income 37.04B 39.51B 53.39B 45.69B 48.35B Extraordinaries Discontinued Operations - - - - - Extra Items Gain/Loss Sale Of Assets - - - - - Cumulative Effect - Accounting Chg - - - - - Discontinued Operations - - - - - Net Income After Extraordinaries 37.04B 39.51B 53.39B 45.69B 48.35B Preferred Dividends - - - - - Net Income Available to Common 37.04B 39.51B 53.39B 45.69B 48.35B EPS (Basic) 5.72 6.49 9.28 8.35 9.27 Basic Shares Outstanding 6.48B 6.09B 5.75B 5.47B 5.22B EPS (Diluted) 5.68 6.45 9.22 8.31 9.21 Diluted Shares Outstanding 6.52B 6.12B 5.79B 5.5B 5.25B EBITDA 55.08B 60.6B 77.89B 68.99B 71.5B Analysis of the financial reports of the firm Apple Inc reveals the fact that the net income of the firm fluctuated considerably during the last five years. The net income item of the financial statement increased considerably during the period 2013, 2014 and 2015. However, the same declined considerably during 2016 but again showed an upper moving trajectory. The expenditure on research and development grew considerably during the specified period and interest expends also increased extensively, indicating rise in costs (Moore 2014). As per the annual reports of the firm it can be hereby mentioned that failure of the important logistics of the firm Apple Inc, supply of components or else manufacturing partners is anticipated to have adverse influence on financial conditions as well as operating outcomes of the firm (Apple 2017). Apple Inc has considerable supply chain issues. Majority of the suppliers of Apple operating in Asia showed large decline in revenues over the last months, both in terms of month-over-month as well as year-over-year. In particular, Largan Precision, that is camera module supplier of the business concern Apple's for specifically iPhones, had observed revenues decline by 20% during January as compared to the year-ago period. Catcher Technology Co. that is a supplier for the firm Apple that operates as a metal casing manufacturer, witnessed its sales to decline by 9.9% as compared to a month before, that increased from 4.5% as registered from a year ago (Apple 2017). The market identified the issue that Apple had certain real problems associated to the supply chain and the market specialists are of the view that in case if the company intends to stay at the peak of relevancy, management of the firm have the need to start addressing the same. The market analysts feel that majority of the time is spent analysing manufactured controversies of diverse fake news (Newman et al. 2017). Essentially, logistics as well as supply chain expert suppose that operating procedure of the business concern Apple Inc.s might possibly undergo considerable alterations in a bid to recuperate from its current public-relations calamity. In itself, as pronounced by the New York Times, exercises carried out between the supplier and the labour can be considered to be less transparent (Apple 2017). It is evident from the story of Apple Inc, employees operate for excessive hours in diverse unsafe working conditions in different plants making products for the company Apple Inc . Therefore, as per experts the best way for the company Apple to reinstate sustainability credentials can be used to reconfigure the entire network of seconds and different third tier suppliers of specific peripherals such as screens, microprocessors as well as flash memory (Chai et al. 2013). As such, these warehouses are mainly based on labour friendly countries such as South Korea as well as Japan. Certainly, supply chain analysts have warned the US based manufactured regarding their sourcing procedures from mainly China. In essence, the manufacturers anticipate quality fade to happen in the upcoming weeks preceding particularly the Lunar New Year. In particular, this happens mainly because low paid members of the staff leave the industrial centres for celebrating at their home towns as well as villages in various hinterlands (Anderson et al. 2015). According to the market analysts the Taiwanese contract manufacturing firm Foxconn International Holdings Inc. appeared to be well-shielded against a decline in overall quality of production since it hires massive workforce on a 24 hour enormous assembly cycle (Kaner 2014). However, in this current case, the fade was essentially made in process of branding. In itself, this can be hereby noted that approximately 20 members of the staff of the corporation committed suicide at the plants of Foxconn for the last two years. Essentially, the market analysts are of the opinion that the tarnished image of Apple might perhaps influence the financiers supposedly (Proctor 2014). Besides this, market analysts also put forward the view that the political as well as environmental calamities also adversely affected the operations of the firm leading to too much dependence on China and commoditized labour. Apple cannot bring back the jobs in the Western hemisphere in the upcoming period. In essence, Asian outsourcing that reached its peak during the global recession is expected to remain. The management of the firm is not expected to deviate from the trade off corporations (Goldsmith 2015). This is again supposed to affect the supply chain and help in timely delivery of products. Thus, it can be said that both these issues are associated to financial terms in the long term and value of the shareholders. According to the market specialists, one of the principal supply chain challenges centre around volatility generated by enhanced market dynamics related to demand. In essence, these calls for the advanced planning abilities that can present early insights as well as guidance on effectual responses that can optimize the profitability of portfolio of a corporation. As such, corporations comparatively less flourishing might want to acquire a return to a certain growth trajectory by challenging the entire process of implementation of supply chains. In essence, this might mean that management of the firm Apple Inc might assume a hybrid model for the purpose of sourcing from diverse countries focused on one geographical area (Taylor 2013). Again, established as well as emerging nations in particularly Southeast Asia as well as the Indian subcontinent are necessarily suspended for novel investment since they carry on upgrading their seaports as well as surface transportation arteries. 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