Why did you start your business?
The reason for starting the Apple Inc. business emanated from the desire by the co-founders, including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, in up-to-date technology, which served as an impetus for their growth. Nonetheless, it is also essential to note that another force led them to establish the business. (Russell & Cohn, 2012) The Apple Computer company emanated because of the West Coast counterculture together with the growing need for producing letter labels, printouts, as well as databases. The prototype models by Jobs and Wozniak reflected an interest in technology. Based on the drive by the two Steves, they were able to develop the computer, which led them to evolve into businesspersons. As it is the case with Jobs and Wozniak, many other networking and computing pioneers would emerge after the discovery of the LCD and in roaming campuses of Stanford, UC Berkeley, and MIT between 1960s and early 1970s, the caste characterized by social “misfits” emerged that played a key role in shaping the contemporary world (Lusted, 2012) .
Why did you choose the type of business?
In choosing this form of business, both Jobs and Wozniak were driven by the urge of making sure that all people would be able to get a computer, while they managed to succeed past their dreams, since the computer has touched almost each household in the present world. The drive for making sure that each person gained access to a computer led to the emergence of the PC revolution while Apple emerged as American business’ icon (Zylla-Woellner, 2013) . Nonetheless, this did not come without certain limitations, especially since Jobs’ ego clouded him in such a way that he was sent away from a corporation that he assisted in founding. While some might argue that Jobs impeded the growth of Apple, however, after losing him, the company lost its way as well as pioneering spirit. After realizing over 10 year of declining sales, Apple resulted to Jobs, the visionary co-founder for assistance. While he was a bit wiser and older, Jobs managed to engineer most of the astonishing turnarounds witnessed during the 20 th century, hence drove the vision of the company forward (Katie, 2013) .
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How did you choose location?
When Jobs and Wozniak were starting the business, they did not have a physical establishment where they could situate the business. Upon the return of Jobs to the U.S., he was able to renew the friendship he had with Wozniak, who was focusing on creating a small computer. In the case of Wozniak, developing a computer seemed as a hobby, although Jobs, with his visionary imagination had understood the marketing capacity of such a gadget. As such, he ended up convincing Wozniak to enter into a business with him. During 1975, Jobs and Wozniak established a shop at the garage of Job’s parents, which they named, venture Apple, where they started working on Apple 1’s prototype (Lusted, 2012) . Thus, the initial location was the garage at Jobs’ parents’ home.
How did you finance your business?
With regard to financing of the business, Jobs and Wozniak felt they needed to generate capital worth around $1,350 to allow them start the company. In doing this, Jobs embarked on selling his Volkswagen microbus while Wozniak decided to sell his Hewlett-Packard calculator. Upon completing financing the business and developing the Apple I, they realized that it was purchased mostly by hobbyists (Lusted, 2012) . However, it generated sufficient cash that provided Jobs and Wozniak with the opportunity for improving as well as refining their design. During 1977, they were able to introduce Apple II, the initial personal computer having a keyboard and color graphics. Developed for beginners, the Apple II was friendly and emerged a significant success, thereby paving way for the personal computer era. The initial year sales reached approximately $3 million. After two years, sales rose to around $200 million as the business continued expanding (Zylla-Woellner, 2013) .
Did you have a business plan?
On commencing the business, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak did not have a business plan. However, after the company realized tremendous sales surpassing over $200 million, it established its initial business plan as well as IPO. During 1977, the company offered a 38-page IPO, which was done using a typewriter-y font, while it has odd punctuations, which probable investors perceived as a fourth risk factor. The management team of Apple Inc. was considered as young while lacking sufficient experience in the high-volume market of consumer electronics. Such issues led certain investors to be hesitant to investing in the company (Zylla-Woellner, 2013) . Mike Markkula, who served as the original investor to Apple donated the IPO to Mountain View Museum since he realized that the business had potential. During 1977, Steve Jobs decided to meet Markkula to persuade him that personal computers presented amazing opportunities. As a result, Markkula decided to invest approximately $250,000 in the company to acquire a one-third stake within the company, while he also served as the president of the company starting 1981 to 1983 (Russell & Cohn, 2012) .
For the initial 30-page business plan, Dan Kottke, the first employee of Apple donated it. He developed as well as tested Apple I computer, which Jobs and Wozniak had conceived in the garage of Jobs in 1976. The early strategy that Apple adopted revolved around encouraging the business raise up in the market with the goal of reaching expensive Apple III computers, which cost from $3,000 to $5,000, whereas popular users would focus on achieving the cheap Mac (Katie, 2013) . Regarding the initial business plan by Apple, it played critical role in shedding light on the various struggles that Apple Computers had encountered commencing from prototypes without knowing whether it would excel in the market (Lusted, 2012) .
What type of business?
In the event of the type on business, Apple Inc. started out as a partnership by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, aged 25 and 25 respectively. Wayne joined the two afterwards with the goal of offering the firm “adult supervision” while at the same time supervising documentation and mechanical engineering, which translated to a 10 percent exchange in the company’s stake. During April 1, 1976, Wayne compared an agreement that detailed the responsibilities for each person thus leading his role with the firm as official and a partner in the firm (Katie, 2013) .
What is the organizational culture?
Ranging from the founding of the company up to the present environment, the organizational culture of the company integrates three key vital features. Firstly, the company lays emphasis in creativity and innovativeness. It pursues a differentiation strategy while laying emphasis on functionality and design of the products and services. An effective way of implementing the strategy in practical terms demands high level of innovativeness and creativity from the company’s employees at distinct levels (Lusted, 2012) . Accordingly, in encouraging the employees to exercise innovativeness and creativity, the firm focuses of creating a relevant environment for working. The second feature of the company’s culture revolves around working under pressure. In this case, the capacity of working under pressure serves as a must-have skill while working for the company (Zylla-Woellner, 2013) . Most of the projects carried out in the company have challenging and strict deadlines while long working hours serves as the norm. Thirdly, the company is driven by the urge of sustaining high secrecy level. High secrecy levels serves as a vital feature in the organizational culture of Apple. In the case of Apple engineers, for instance, even in the case of the senior ones, they lack understanding of how the final product will appear until the launching process. The individuals working in the software environment do not know how hardware appears and vice versa (Lusted, 2012) .
What type of management style was successful in motivating people (Bureaucracy, Autocratic, Consultative, Democratic, Etc...)?
At Apple, the management style considered as successful when it comes to motivating people is autocratic. In the case of the hierarchy of the company, for instance, one might compare it with a small business (Russell & Cohn, 2012) . For Steve Jobs, for instance, he preferred keeping a simple management style. He did not prefer layers characterized by high-level individuals while the company seems to be retaining a similar management style even today. Jobs contended that having management layers pose challenges when it came to directing focus to issues at hand. He believed that a task entailed designing as well as building best products worldwide. He required people to undertake tasks they were good at as opposed to promoting individuals due to their tenure (Zylla-Woellner, 2013) .
Describe the type of Human Resource department, size of staff, effect on profit, effect on morale, effect on productivity, Etc...
In the case of the Human Resource Department at Apple, it serves the role of overseeing the different aspects attributed to project information for numerous projects, including resource allocation, timelines, definition, and scope. It is also responsible for driving the functional, business, reporting, financial, writing them off regularly (Lusted, 2012) . Additionally, it collaborates with Treasury, IS&T, Tax, finance, legal, operations, as well as other organization and outside the company to facilitate in developing the solutions aimed at promoting partnerships as well as new businesses (Katie, 2013) .
What is the corporate hierarchy?
The corporate hierarchy at Apple Inc. starts with the CEO at the top rank in the company. The senior vice presidents, chief design officer, chief operating officer, and vice presidents rank below the CEO. Under the senior vice presidents, the others that follow comprise of retail, Internet software and services, software engineering, chief financial officer, hardware engineering, worldwide marketing, general counsel, and hardware technologies. Under the vice-presidents comprise of user interface design, communications, industrial design, environment (policy and social initiatives), marketing communications, dean (Apple University), and worldwide human resources (Katie, 2013) . Figure 1 below depicts the corporate hierarchy.
References
Katie, J. (2013). Critical marketing audit: The case of Apple Inc. Munich: GRIN Verlag.
Lusted, M. A. (2012). Apple: The company and its visionary founder, Steve Jobs. Minneapolis: ABDO.
Russell, J., & Cohn, R. (2012). Apple Inc. Tbilisi: Tbilisi State University.
Zylla-Woellner, J. (2013). Business analysis of Apple Inc. Munich: GRIN Verlag.
