Instruction This assignment consists of only one (1) case study which was carefully designed to assess your comprehension of the information presented on the recently covered chapters in the course. The question brings 10% into your total grade. Please answer all questions provided. Read each question carefully. Your answer should be between 1500 to 2000 words in total. APPLE CASE STUDY Apple Inc. is one of the worlds largest technology companies with annual revenue more significant than the GDP of countries, including Kenya and Tanzania combined. In 2019, the company attained an income of over 200 billion dollars, and it is one of the companies with a well-defined strategy. Apples success did not stat overnight as it is a journey that began with Steve Jobs, a college dropout who changed the way people view computer technology. Steve Jobs was a leader and a visionary; he developed an idea into a multibillion business. Jobs was a man that could change the world many times over. However, his successor, Tim Cook, is well defined and oriented than he was. Steve Jobs brought Tim Cook into the company in 1998 after his return to Apple, and since then, he enabled a business that was crushing to grow even more significant. The leadership of Cook is seen by the companys leadership and competitive strategy in the sector. He introduced the Apple Watch, Airpods, and Siri products that have continued to increase its income even further. Apple has many products; however, this does not mean that these products are sold in the same way or in the same market. Apples PC market is different from the iPhone market, and more importantly, the products marketing strategies differ significantly. The Mac Pro was promoted based on value and designed for experienced people who needed to build high bandwidth capabilities. Apples Mp3 player was created for the music lovers who loved music but could not manage the stress of carrying CD cassette. The Mp3 player completely redesigned how people listened to music. Likewise, Apples first mobile phone targeted both the phone market and the iPod market. These were the people who needed their music players but could not deal with the pressure of carrying both the music player and their phones. Another factor that made the iPhone popular is that it introduced an easy to use mobile phone software. Apple has many other products, including the iPad and Apple Watch; however, two elements remain consistent in all these products: simplicity and differentiation. Apple has an extensive network of third party suppliers in its supply chain. According to recent research, Apple has 785 suppliers in 31 countries worldwide, 349 of which are based in China. According to Apples 2015 Supplier List, 97% of its supply chain (including procurement, manufacture and assembly) is accounted for by its top 200 suppliers. This would imply that 585 of Apples suppliers account for the remaining 3% of its supply chain, providing it with a significant degree of latent capacity. Apple has a number of exclusive longterm agreements with its key suppliers and uses prepayments to negotiate favourable pricing terms, secure strategic raw materials and guarantee high volumes of production. Apple designs all its products in Cupertino, California but totally outsource its manufacturing. Apple overcome its uneven supply problem by allowing Foxconn to assemble its products in China. Foxconn is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Foxconn has also opened plants in India to stabilise production with Foxconn China. In 2021, the company's annual revenue reached 5.99 trillion New Taiwan dollars (US$175 billion) and was ranked 20th in the 2022 Fortune Global 500. It is the world's largest technology manufacturer and service provider. While headquartered in Taiwan, the company is the largest private employer in the People's Republic of China and one of the largest employers worldwide. Foxconn manufactures electronic products for major American, Canadian, Chinese, Finnish, and Japanese companies. Foxconn has assembly plants in China, Europe, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Brazil and USA. As of 2011, Foxconn had at least seven factories in the Johor state, at Kulai, where it is developing an industrial park that includes four factories that comprise fully automated assembly lines as well as fully automated packaging lines. Apple in June 2022 unveiled the M2, its next-generation Apple silicon chip that followed the M1 chip. The M2 is Apple's next-generation System on a Chip (SoC) developed for use in Macs and iPads. It marks Apple's continued work to transition away from the Intel chips that were used in Macs up until 2020. As a "System on a Chip," the M2 integrates several different components, including the CPU, GPU, unified memory architecture (RAM), Neural Engine, Secure Enclave, SSD controller, image signal processor, encode/decode engines, Thunderbolt controller with USB 4 support, and more, all of which power the different features in the Mac. Before Apple silicon, Macs used multiple chips for CPU, I/O, and security, but Apple's effort to integrate these chips is the reason why the M2 is much faster and more efficient than Intel chips. The unified memory architecture that Apple has included is also a major factor because all of the technologies in the M2 are able to access the same data without having to swap between multiple pools of memory. The company targets a consumer base that appreciates simple and unique products with great value. This generic go to market strategy allows it to gain a competitive advantage over other companies, including Samsung. Apple distributes its product via online store, Apple Reseller and physical Apple Store in major cities.

Questions

1. What are the challenges that Apple faces in the future and what are the implications for its supply chain? For examples, the effect of COVID19 to the supply chain, trade war between China and USA, continuous lockdown in some Chinese cities, congestion in major ports during the pandemic, insufficient supply of microchips from TSMC etc.

2. What could be the reason why Foxconn has its plant in Kulai, Johor and no other parts of Malaysia. Consider locations, logistics etc.