Monthly Archives: September 2013

09/25/13

Forecasting Helps Apple Make Billions

 Three days after the launching of Apple’s new products (iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s), nine million iPhones were sold worldwide. This was,in fact, the first time Apple launched its products in China on the same day along with the other ten countries.

“That sentiment is almost more important than the number“(Par.5). Apple had been forecasting the demand for its products after selling nine millions of them. However, it had proven to be a difficult task as this time Apple simultaneously launched two products and also signed a new contract with Japan’s largest phone carrier company, NTT DoCoMo.

Forecasting the demand becomes an extremely important duty since the supply is limited and the demand for its two products are different.For instance, the demand for the gold-coloured iPhone 5s had exceeded the supply and sold out shortly after the released date, which means the demand for a specific colour is higher than the other coloured versions.

From the article, I observed that forecasting is really helpful in terms of dealing with the uncertainty. If Apple had been able to forecast the demand earlier, then they would have been more prepared to supply more demanded products (gold coloured 5s) and resulted in bringing them more revenues.

 

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09/11/13

Business Ethics: A Win-Win Situation

A good company should comply with business ethics and focus more than just satisfying shareholders and pursuing maximum profit. That being said, companies need to set a standard norm meeting social expectations, but also achieve economic goals. However, how does a company establish the norm of business ethics in order to accomplish a win-win situation between business and society?

Kimray inc. insists not to raise prices while the production costs have continued rising over the past two decades. By improving production efficiency to maintain adequate profits, the product market share occupies over half of the global market.

From the given example, I believe that performing ethical practices is actually a shortcut to a company’s success. Kimray Inc. does business in a mutual-benefit way for both its company and the society by not raising the prices and seeking alternative way to make profits, in this case, to improve production efficiency. The Stakeholder Theory is also demonstrated in this case since not only Kimray Inc. considers its self-benefits, but also other stakeholder’s interests. By acting ethically, the outcomes a company receiving are far beyond its expectation.

 

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