Final Capstone Proposal

Capstone Project Proposal

Name

Institution

Capstone Project Proposal

Introduction

The project will analyze Apple Inc., an American multinational telecommunication company. The firm designs, manufactures, and sells mobile communication systems, computers, and related software (Lashinsky, 2012). Devices produced by the company include iPhone, Mac, iPod and Apple TV alongside iOS, and OS X operating systems. The firm operates in a global market, competing with other established organizations such as Google, Nokia, and Samsung. Apple Company, therefore, requires careful organization of activities for successful competition and fair market share.

Despite high prices for products, Apple remains a key player in the telecommunications industry. Success arises from informed policies initiated by Apple’s management to counter strategies from competitors. Other players in the industry provide low-cost products expected to drive Apple from the market (Sted, 2012). However, strategic organizations by the latter ensure continued operation. The project, therefore, seeks to analyze strategies adopted by Apple to maintain profitability.

Apple Corporation maintains a well updated website that contain information concerning on all costs and revenues involved in operations. The site creates a reliable source of data as required by the project. The company's database provides figures relating to profits, revenues, costs, and employees (Lashinsky, 2012). Similarly, unlisted information will be requested directly from the company through physical visits or mail. There is unlimited access to required figures, which will render the project practical.

Project Outcome

The case study will look into all sections of the Apple Corporation, with keen analysis of operational procedures applied. In this regard, the firm will be broken into sections such as administration, finance, marketing, and operations. Analysis of organization in different sections with regards to costs, employees, and strategies guiding operations provide an insight into arrangements within departments and the organization in general (Sted, 2012).

Production, marketing and finance departments will form primary evaluation points for the research. Success on any business organization largely depends on the quality of products, suitable pricing and informed marketing procedures. The study aims at determining steps taken by Apple Corporation to maintain its presence in the market. Under the production section, different measures used to improve product quality will be evaluated. Pricing strategies provide information on steps involved in ensuring products sell despite the high prices compared to competitors (Lashinsky, 2012). Furthermore, the project shall analyze methods embraced by Apple Company to warrant public awareness regarding its products. The analysis will depend on basic knowledge of business processes.

Data collected from departments will be analyzed and compared to indicate sections considered important. The amount of resources used in marketing against revenue collected for different periods helps in determine the importance of this section (Sted, 2012). Furthermore, strategies used to support the global presence of the firm shall be considered.

On an additional note, the project will analyze Apples’ code of conduct, linking decisions to the ethical standards observed by the company. Similarly, weighing relationships within sections against ethical considerations provides an insight into the success story of Apple Corporation.

Data Sources

Company website forms the most reliable source of data for the projects (Sted, 2012). Additional information not listed in the online database will be requested directly from the company through the mail or physical visits.

Timeline

The project is expected to spread across a lifespan of five weeks as scheduled below.

Event	Days
Preliminary Activities: Assembling necessary equipment and permission.	2
Data Collection	5
Data Synthesis and Analysis	8
Report Writing	10
Presentation Preparation	4
Editing and Proofreading	3
Project Presentation	1

References

Lashinsky, A. (2012). Inside Apple how America's most admired-and secretive-company really works. New York: Business Plus.

Sted, M. (2012). Apple the company and its visionary founder, Steve Jobs. Minneapolis, MN: ABDO Pub.