Apple Inc. Is The Most Valuable Brand On The Planet

Introduction: Apple Inc. is an American technology company founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976 in Mountain View, California (Apple Computer Company Partnership Agreement, 1976). Initially created for the purpose of developing and selling personal computers, Apple has grown into the world’s second-largest IT company by net sales revenue with its $182.7 billion made in 2014 (Apple Inc. 2014, p. 27) and the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor (Framingham, 2014). It runs 437 stores in 16 countries (Apple Inc. 2014, p. 32) and produces a wide range of goods, including personal computers, smartphones, digital music players and media tablets, all of which are working on Apple’s own operational†¦show more content†¦2014, p. 7). Therefore, Apple’s profits and the ability to produce and transport its products depend on political factors, such as new international tax, trade and labour laws, international relations bet ween the USA and other countries and political stability in countries that produce or buy Apple products. Apple also manages to exploit international laws for its advantage; for example, to use tax loopholes by setting subsidiaries in Ireland for international sales, not claiming tax residence and avoiding U.S. income tax by taking advantage of the difference between Irish and American tax residency rules (Kanter, J., and Tomas Jr, L., 2014). Economical Factors: Global Financial Crisis has led to high inflation rate, increased unemployment and reduced consumers’ buying power. Apple Annual Report (2014) states that the company’s performance depends significantly on global and regional economic conditions and a number of other factors, such as energy and real estate costs and state of the labour market (Apple Inc., p. 9). The company’s main areas of interest are the United States, as it is where its headquarters are located, and China, that produces the majority of Apple’s products. Apple ‘considers a relatively strong U.S. dollar to be a threat to its business overseas’ (Reynolds, 2014), as it may reduce the demand for their products overseas due to higher prices, and ‘uses derivative instruments, such as foreign currency forward and option