CASE STUDY: APPLE INC.

Abstract

Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company that specializes in consumer

electronics, computer software, and online services. Apple is the world's largest technology

company by revenue (totaling $274.5 billion in 2020) and, since January 2021, the world's most

valuable company. As of 2021, Apple is the world's fourth-largest PC vendor by unit sales, and

fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer. It is one of the Big Five American information

technology companies, along with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. Apple Inc.'s

corporate vision is “to make the best products on earth, and to leave the world better than we

found it.”

Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976 to develop and

sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. It was incorporated by Jobs and Wozniak as Apple

Computer, Inc. in 1977, and sales of its computers, including the Apple II, grew quickly. Over

the next few years, Apple shipped new computers featuring innovative graphical user interfaces,

such as the original Macintosh, announced with the critically acclaimed advert "1984". However,

the high price of its products and limited application library caused problems, as did power

struggles between executives. As the market for personal computers expanded and evolved

through the 1990s, Apple lost considerable market share to the lower-priced duopoly of

Microsoft Windows on Intel PC clones. Steve Jobs, replaced Amelio as CEO and Apple returned

to profitability under the revitalizing "Think different" campaign, launching the iMac and iPod,

opening a retail chain of Apple Stores in 2001, and acquiring numerous companies to broaden

their software portfolio. Apple mission is “to bringing the best user experience to its customers

through its innovative hardware, software, and services.” In 2007, the company launched the
iPhone to critical acclaim and financial success. In 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO due to health

complications, and died two months later. He was succeeded by Tim Cook.

Apple Inc. is on a journey to launching iPhone 14 in the fourth quarter of the year. The iPhone

14 will be a 256GB phone with the highest RAM of 8GB and the best product ever produced.

With this plan, there is the need for a Senior Software Engineer. The candidate must be ready

and willing to work hard and meet all the required qualifications. This job will first be open to all

employees internally and then also advertised externally. Since Apple Inc. Company utilizes both

internal and external recruitment and selection methods in an effort to enhance its workforce.

This position will be advertised using an in-house staffing method. Senior software

engineers will be required to take leads in projects related to software development. To be in

charge of determining the needs of the organization, checking whether there are feasible

solutions to challenges, software updates and creating plans for the development of

software solution, and bring new innovative skills and ideas to Apple Inc.

Background

Because of Apple’s ever-growing infrastructure that has to support services and products while

enabling seamless update processes and new feature releases, hence the need for a Senior

Software Engineer saddled with the responsibility of ensuring uninterrupted operations of a

disparate and inhomogeneous infrastructure supporting mission-critical systems.

Recruitment and selection process – Senior Software Engineer 

Recruitment and selection process forms a core part of the central activities of the operation and

management of an organization. The human resource management of the organization is

responsible for the acquisition, development as well as for the rewards of the employees.

Nevertheless, human resource forms an important part in shaping the overall framework of an

organization. The HR manager must possess the important repository and up-to-date knowledge
and skills. As pointed out by (Zhang et al., 2014), recruitment process is a planned rational

activity that comprises of certain sequentially linked phases that might be included in the HR

management strategy. Creating a positive employment relationship in the workplace, results in

improvement of the productivity of the organization. The role of human resource managers holds

the greatest importance in respect to such criteria.

In order to maximize employee strength, to meet the employer's strategic goals, visions and

objectives, shortlisting and selecting the right candidates for the filling the role of a Senior

Software Engineer becomes inevitable. This position fits into the organization because, this role

will come with the responsibility of:

 Minimizing or preventing downtimes of the company’s products and services. It’s 2020;

customers are used to their apps being online 100% of the time with updated versions

readily available. Prolonged downtime of our offerings will mean huge financial and

reputational losses.

 Assessing risks and mitigating them. A cybersecurity breach can be devastating for any

business, so in planning for contingency and prepare countermeasures in advance, a need

for a Senior Software Engineer to oversee all works is mandatory.

 Shortening development cycles. By automating software delivery and establishing best

practices, Engineers can reduce the development overhead and help deliver your products

in a faster and more predictable way.

 Stimulating monetary gains. No wasted and idling resources while meeting all our

customer demands during peak time - a dollar saved is a dollar earned. Add a

significantly reduced risk of downtime, and this is why a Senior Software Engineer

should be hired.

The corporate culture at Apple Inc. is that, employees are specialists in their field and are not

exposed to functions outside their area of expertise. Steve jobs found it as the way of having best
in class employees in every role. The company is also known for enforcing accountability.

According to which each and every project is kept under one person, who in turns becomes

directly responsible for its good and bad. Other than this, unlike other major U.S. companies

Apple provides a relatively simple compensation policy for executives that do not include perks

enjoyed by other CEOs. The company typically grants stock options to executives every other

year. With so many ways to contribute, chances are good that one find a way to do what one

love. They need the best of the best to create hardware and software, and expect nothing less

from the people who market, support and manage their products, their process, and their people.

(Misgeld, 1996).

Internal and external factors impacting Apple Inc. as relating to staffing and recruitment are:

1. Selection and Recruitment:

Apple focuses on its primary objective of hiring the talented and right candidate. The selection

process is based on verbal communication by identifying the person who hold out of the box

thinking and ready to commit himself or herself to the company. 

2. Forcing Unique Thinking:

Apple provides a considerable amount of opportunities to its employee to develop prospective

careers. The intern who showed high performance will automatically get hired. In fact to force

free-thinking, designing team are allowed to attend the meeting twice in a week. “This led

anyone to brainstorm and about the ideas changes which can be made" (Schaarschmidt, 2019). 

3. Employee Rewarding and Appreciation:

Apple runs APPLE FELLOW PROGRAM to recognized employee major contribution to the

company. Those employees are rewarded and later on designated as leaders. This is how the

company appreciates employee contribution who became a star player (Sharma, 2019).

4. Benefits and Compensation:

To attract talented staff, apple provides competitive packages, flex benefits, periodical stock
grants for their contribution to the company. They are also entitled to the products discounts.

Apple Inc. Company utilizes both internal and external recruitment and selection methods in an

effort to enhance its workforce. When job vacancies occur or new jobs are created, the company

more often substantially blends a mixture of internal and external process by advertising

internally and externally. This is an avenue for launching long-term careers and growth within

the company.

References

Misgeld, Dieter. (1996). Review of Michael W. Apple Cultural Politics and Education.

Department of Theory and Policy Studies The Ontario Institute for Studies in

Education of the University of Toronto. Department of Political Science: 416-978-

2846 416-978-5566

Schaarschmidt, M., Homscheid, D., & Kilian, T. (2019). Application developer engagement in

open software platforms: An empirical study of Apple iOS and Google Android

developers. International Journal of Innovation Management, 23(04), 1950033.

Sharma, Vaishali., & Sharma, Jyotsana. (2018). Organisational Innovation through HR Practices:

A Review Based Analysis.

Wikipedia: Apple Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.

Zhang, Y., Song, J., Tsui, S., and Fu, P. (2014. Employee responses to employment and

recruitment practices: The role of psychological empowerment and traditionality.

Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 35 no. 6, pp.809-830.