Apple Inc. International Supply Chain Management

[pic 1]                          INTERNATIONAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT[pic 2]                        

CASE 1

BOEING - BFE - APPLE

By :

• Esther Abieyuwa Agbonavbare
• Thu Ha Bui
• José Bétremieux
• Emmanuelle Adam Sendra

Leandro De Sa                06/10/2016                        M2 International Management                                                                

INTRODUCTION[pic 3]

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the key point for the operational efficiency. SCM streamlines every step in the product development in agreement with the company’s strategy. From improving the bottom line to boosting the customer service, SCM aims at reducing the the operating cost and improving the company’s financial position, projecting this activity as main actor in the company’s competitive position.

The following analysis is composed by the individual analysis of three different cases:  Apple Inc managing a global supply chain, Buyer Furnished Equipment an aerospace challenge and Boeing 787 the Dreamliner. Each analysis sets the importance of the SCM inside the company and the different issues/ consequences/results rose by each company’s choice in term of SCM strategy.

APPLE INC: MANAGING A GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN[pic 4]

1.      Review Apple’s supply chain for its iPhone product. What differences set it apart from its competitors?

Apple is widely considered as the world leader in consumer electronics, highly regarded for its innovative products, which combine advanced functionality, exceptional user experience and attention to detail in design, branding, marketing and software ecosystems.

Apple’s supply chain for its iPhone product is very global; it gets suppliers that can offer the most efficient and best value parts for the company’s strict value benchmark. It was believed that Apple’s supply chain management, its inventory control and sophisticated software systems are the reason that keeps them on top. According to Exhibit 9 in the case study, Gartner Group ranked Apple’s Supply Chain processes as the best supply chain in the world in 2013.

Apple’s iPhone product is designed and developed in the United States. The company continues to develop new technologies to enhance existing products and to expand the range of its product offerings through research and development, licensing of intellectual property and acquisition of third-party businesses and technology. The Company believes continual investment in research and development and marketing is critical to the development and sale of innovative products and technologies.

Apple’s iPhone product development has a short life span of less than a year and has produced 8 different models from 2007 when iPhone was first launched to 2013 as at the time of this report. Apple controls the entire production and management processes of its supply chain to enable them have close marking with the suppliers and manufacturers to ensure maximum production capacity instead of outsourcing to third parties to reduce risk and also to keep updating the manufacturing processes and technology.