AIMST UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Assignment 1
SUBMITTED TO

LECTURER NAME: MS N.SELVAMALAR

SUBMITTED BY
TISHALINI RETNASINGAM

1100612

HIROSHINI DEVI MANIMARAN

1200440

SAMIHA WASIM

1100747

YOGESVARAN SUBARAMANIAM

1200868

MUHAMMAD FADLI BIN RAHIMAN

1100620

1. Include a description of the organizations features, such as important business

processes, culture, structure, and environment, as well as its business strategy.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

APPLE INC.

Description of the company: Apple, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets

mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, portable digital
music players, and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals,
networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. Its
products and services include iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a
portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X
operating systems, iCloud, and accessories, service and support offerings. The
company also sells and delivers digital content and applications through the
iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store. It sells its products
worldwide through its retail stores, online stores, and direct sales force and thirdparty cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers to
the consumer and also sells third-party iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod compatible
products, including application software, and accessories, through its online and
retail stores. The company was founded by Steven Paul Jobs, Steve Wozniak and
Ronald Gerald Wayne on April 1, 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, CA.
Important business process: Apple is moving toward more manufacturing
partners for the iPhone 6 and Apple watch as its looking to reduce the risks of
shortages and other vendor issues that could slow or stop production. Last year
the provider for Sapphire displays, GT Advanced Technologies, could not deliver,
and stalled plans for Apples Sapphire display on its new technology.
By increasing the number of companies it works with, Apple reduces the risk of
relying on one company and opening itself up to production stalls and business
fails.
Apple is reportedly keeping its options open when it comes to selecting
manufacturing partners for the iPhone 6 and the Apple watch by broadening the
number of companies it contracts with. Lower costs could potentially be an
advantage for Apple, as multiple companies compete for further business with
Apple.
Culture, structure, and environment: The culture of Apple was based on an
ideal that self-motivated individuals will work harder if they do not have a boss
micromanaging every action. The unique structure of Apple had allowed it to
grow and react more quickly to changes than its competitors. The reason for the
quick responsiveness is simple; it is much easier to get a project started if there
are only a few people to obtain approval from. Apple initially grew fast, because
decisions were made at the lowest possible level
The organizational structure of Apple was almost non-existent and focused
on placing decision making in the hands of the people in the field. Apple was
doing incredibly well and had gotten the attention of many people because the
company worked well and was very responsive to change.
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MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

APPLE INC.

While Apple has long been keen on environmental friendliness, things really
kicked into high gear once Tim Cook assumed the role of CEO. Helping matters,
of course, was Apples 2013 hire of Lisa Jackson, who previously headed up the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Some of the reports additional highlights include:

Every one of Apples data centers is powered by clean sources

Since 2008, Apple has reduced the average total of greenhouse gas emissions
during the use phase of its products by 61%
Apple continues to lead the industry when it comes to removing harmful toxins
such as PVC from its products
Apple now offers recycling programs in 99% of the countries where its products
are sold
Every Apple retail store on the planet now accepts used Apple products for
recycling, all done at no cost to the end user
100% of Apples U.S. operations and 87% of Apples foreign operations are
powered by renewable energy.
Business strategy:
Apple has made their costs to the lowest they could offer, but still high in the
market. But their strategy is that when every newer generation is released, the
older generation gets 100 dollars off from the original price. This means that the
version that is two generations before the newer version is free with a plan
provided by either AT&T or Verison. This attracts many costumers for returning
to Apple generation after generation.
Apple has 394 retail stores over fourteen countries. This is quite unbeatable
by other companies. It is a technology based company, but they made it seem like
a well-known luxury clothing brand that opens retail stores all over the world.
This business strategy surely gained them success in money making, because not
only people in the United States demands for Apple, but people all over the world
are demanding for their products, maybe even more.

2. Suggest strategic information systems appropriate for that particular business,

including those based on Internet technology, if appropriate.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

APPLE INC.

The company is at the cutting edge of technology and hence it would have to harness the
intellectual property of the employees and provide a proper fit for the employees to undertake
the different activities which would enable them to co-operate in the development of the
knowledge in the company.
The knowledge based information systems are going to gain prominence in future and the
company can harness the same by setting up virtual communities for the suppliers and employees
to interact and develop potent new technologies which can be assessed by the management for
future viability. This would fit well with the organisation goal of being an innovative leader in
the market place, as a collection of ideas can be gathered which can be harnessed by the
management for future developments in this regard.

INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT

The security of the networks is one of the other concerns that would require to be
addressed by the company. As the increase in the market cap of Apple and its software has
brought the company into the mainstream which was hitherto dominated by Windows networks,
this would invariably create a venue for hackers to hack into the internal networks of the
company for information or other ulterior motives. Hence, the company should focus its efforts
towards building robust and firewall proof systems which would ensure that the company is able
to withstand and secure the information channels that it runs.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The issue of corporate social responsibility is gaining prominence, a sub domain of that
being the ethical concerns, in information systems management a lot of data pertaining to
customers, employees and suppliers is available to the management. Hence, the issue of data
protection and limitations towards usage of data for various purposes need to be defined to
ensure that the company is not embroiled into any controversy pertaining to the issue of data
protection.

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT FROM THE PRISM OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The company should be careful to differentiate between the organisational knowledge
and the individuals attribute which has been clearly identified by Teece (2000) as follows the
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APPLE INC.

knowledge about organisational procedures, products, customers, suppliers and competitors is

trapped inside the minds of key-employees. For this reason organisations depend on employees
behaviour to create and transfer knowledge (Bock, et al., 2005). Hence the company would have
to handle the issue of Intellectual property in information system management carefully to avoid
any pitfalls or losing out to competition in this regard.
As and when the company undertakes the strategic move towards reorganising their
information management systems the company should focus to avoid the endemic concept of
falling for the standardisation approach as in the case of SaaS which is being considered the
company should adapt the system to suit its business needs.
Standardisation of systems across the different platforms of support systems is one of the
considerations that the company can look into like the standard platforms of SAP which is
already in place in the company need to be looked into for customisation to the different regions
that the company operates in.

OUTSOURCING VERSUS INTERNALISATION

The past aspect of outsourcing is being reversed and more and more companies are
reverting back to internalisation or pulling out of outsourcing. This is because of the achievement
of the required skills within the organisation or the understanding gained through the deployment
of the knowledge by outsourcers in the company. Hence the company need to factor these issues
before going ahead with any acquisitions or mergers with this kind of companies.
The company has to continuously scan the different geographic environments for any
potential threats from the environment it may in terms of political instability, environmental
impact, etc., Hence the company should deploy a special set of tools to capture this kind of
information and the same can be configured to work with the public relations or the corporate
communications team under the corporate network to ensure that the information is available
speedily and to the right employee or department who can undertake the decision making process
with efficiency and alacrity.