INTRODUCTION:

Apple is one of the most recognizable and visible consumer electronic brand
in the world. Apple Inc. was co-founded by Mr. Steve Wozniak and Mr.Steve
Jobbs in the year 1977. The company is into designing, manufacturing and
selling smartphones, tablets, music players and television sets. Apple is also
into the production of various softwares, services and IT solution.
APPLE items are made available to the worldwide market through various
mediums like online stores, direct deals, retailers, wholesalers & included
affiliate. Its main area of operation are Europe, Japan and the Americas . It’s
headquarter is in Cupertino, California and has around 15,000 employees.

Apple has an interesting business plan where it creates exclusive

programming and offers its own operating system for most of its products.

Apple Inc.’s business model has been very effective despite its uniqueness.
Apple recorded revenues of $53.8 billion in the 2019 third quarter ended June
30, 2019, which reflects an increment of 1 % from the quarter a year ago.

With rise in the globalization and internationalization of companies, which

now means that companies must try to place themselves closely in any fres
h industry they plan to enter to guarantee that sales are viable.
Corporations now understand that they can’t just rely on their home market
to be sustainable, and try to increase presence in various markets to
increase sustainability because loss in one specific market can be recovered
with a subsequent gain in another.
On that basis, this document is prepared to conduct an analysis of APPLE’s
business environment by looking into the influence of its macro (external)
and micro (internal) environment on continuing dominance. As such, this
document will present models like PESTLE and SWOT analysis

Macro Environment – PESTLE

All the external uncontrollable forces which affect a company’s strategy and
decisions is part of macro environment. It consists of all the external
uncontrollable forces i.e. political, economical, socio-cultural, technological,
legal and Ecologoical factors.

Political factors
“Apple” is one such company that has obtained a huge sum of cash (nearly
$250 billion as of January, 2017). This creates calls for greater U.S.
corporate tax, where inequality in income has become a major political topic
. The PESTLE analysis of “Apple” helps in identifying all the important
external factors that Apple must tactfully tackle in its industries.
• Apple relies heavily on reduced product manufacturing cost in China.
Political and social disturbance in China can have adverse affect on the
manufacturing or even increase the manufacturing costs in China. There
have been reports of restricting Chinese imports in order to boost American
manufacturing.
• For Apple, the price of searching solutions to production in China could be
high. This could lead to higher apple products prices.
• The reliance of Apple on China for manufacturing and marketing makes it
victim to the country's political disturbances.
• United States – China trade dispute. The political factor - trade conflicts,
particularly between the U.S. and China, poses a danger to the
organisation’s future development and to its products ,worldwide sales
profits, and could lead to higher prices on products such as consumer
electronics.
• The dominant position of Apple in areas like music can lead to worries about
fair and political pressure in breaking up of business and restrict its market
share.

Economic factors
Most of Apple's external or macro-environment's financial internal variables
generates opportunities. This element of the assessment model PESTLE
shows the areas of the market and sector that affect companies. The
following are the most important economic factors in this Apple Inc. external
analysis case:
I) Balanced resources of advanced nations.
 II) Fast growth of growing nations.
III) Rising pay among select buyers.
Developed countries’ financial solidity generates possibilities for Apple to
expand. However, in this case of PESTLE assessment, the fast development
of growing nations is an important external financial force in terms of
supporting the development of technology company. For instance, Asian
countries ' elevated economic growth levels provide Apple with the
opportunity to boost its revenue through selling products in the overseas
market. Higher pay in addition generate extra possibilities to dispose the
comparatively highly-priced technological gadgets of the company. In order
to take advantage of these financial possibilities, it is important to keep in
mind the competitive forces on the global platform. These strategic external
factors show potential for growth for the corporation and its rivals, particularly
big MNCs such as Samsung. So, on this aspect of the evaluation structure
for PESTLE, pace and efficiency are critical in the growth and development
attempts of Apple Inc. because competitors are also trying to target these
same financial possibilities.

Social / Sociocultural Factors

The impacts of social or socio-cultural developments are subject to Apple.
This assessment model of PESTLE points to the external social variables
influencing customer behaviour and expectation. The following socio-cultural
factors are significant in sociocultural factors:
I) Increasing use of mobile phones.
II) Increasing reliance on digital technologies.
III) Against-apple attitude.
The ever so increasing use of mobile phones is an opportunity for Apple to
grow its revenue. This social factors to the increasing appeal for iPhones and
iPads. Also reliance on digital technologies help apple to sell its products
based on demand.The firm is facing the social danger of resistance to its
business activities despite these possibilities. Against-Apple feelings are
raising questions against company procedures like lawsuits by the company
against repair service suppliers that fix apple products. These kind of attitude
can reduce the brand Image and customer’s belief. The inner cultural
strategy of the company must be aligned with the worldwide market's socio-
cultural developments. In this part of Apple’s PESTLE analysis, opportunities
for development as well as threats to the company are recognised. These
tactical factors involve the firm to continue to improve its policies and various
technological innovation methods.

Technological factors
The technological factors in Apple’s macro-environment provide
opportunities for the enterprise. In this aspect of the PESTLE analysis,
present technologies and technological trends are described based on their
effect on business conditions. In this case, the following technological trends
are most important:
I) Growing demand for cloud computing.
II) Increasing technological inclusion in companies.
III) Increasing mobile markets.
IV) Increasing technological capacities of other companies.
This Apple Inc. PESTLE assessment defines the increasing demand for
cloud computing as an opportunity for company growth. Although to a
restricted extent, the business now provides cloud services. In this PESTLE
assessment involves mobile market growth as a chance for Apple Inc. to
achieve higher revenue, including revenues from the App Store and
associated platforms for digital content distribution. However, other firms '
technological progress threatens the firm as more fresh players could enter
the market. Thus, to ensure the success of Apple Inc.'s corporate mission
and vision assertion, reinforcing company capacity to utilize possibilities and
protect the company against the newly entered players threats shown in this
part of the PESTLE analysis.

Legal Factors
The legal forces creating threats to the company in the distant or macro
environment of Apple. This analytical structure for PESTLE reflects the effect
of legislation or regulations on companies. Listed beloware some of the
major legal forces:
I) Increasing data protection laws.
II) Legal challenges to the policies and procedures of Apple.
In the digital era, the pressure from governments on privacy has led to
increased privacy laws on companies. This legal trend is a threat that could
inflict on the technology business expensive regulatory compliance
requirements and more constraints. However, this evaluation of PESTLE
identifies this external factor as a trend that gives Apple the chance to
increase its company through improved data protection measures. The firm
also faces legal obligations linked to its after-sales service procedures and
policies and other business fields. Based on this aspect of the PESTLE
analysis model, Apple needs to give special importance to protection of
privacy and regulatory compliance in all its products, and consider balancing
its policies and procedures to tackle present company legal pressures.

Environment/Ecological factors
The’ external or macro-environment of Apple Inc.'s ecological variables
provide possibilities for company enhancement. This aspect of the
assessment model highlights environmental forces and their company
effects. The following internal ecological factors are the most significant :
I) ‘Business ‘sustainability.
II) ‘Energy ‘efficiency.
The trend in company’s sustainability is an environmental factor related to
growing company favour, on the basis of doubts about the negative
ecological effect of company activities. Such an ecological trend provides the
chance to reinforce the corporate image of the company in this Apple Inc.
PESTEL / PESTLE assessment. Furthermore, the trend towards energy
efficiency is an internal ecological factor promoting the implementation of
new and more effective techniques between companies and clients. In this
respect, Apple has the chance to enhance its operating cost efficiency. Apple
discusses these ecological / environmental variables in its distant or macro-
environment based on this portion of the PESTLE analysis model. To react
to these ecological trends, the firm has strategic steps to adjust its activities
and technological goods.

PESTLE ANALYSIS
This assessment of PESTLE demonstrates that there are possibilities for
most external variables in the distant or macro environment of Apple. The
business can take advantage of these possibilities to expand its reach in the
worldwide market for IT products and services. However, Apple needs to
create appropriate policies to tackle the recognised threats efficiently,
particularly those in its distant or macro environment's legal dimension.
Based on this assessment of PESTLE, Apple is anticipated to stay in its
powerful place in this sector. However, market dynamics and the existence
of aggressive rivals could alter the business strategic position.