Apple, like many other electronics companies, is no stranger to offshoring jobs such as the manufacturing process of their electronic devices. So, what is offshoring? According to our book, offshoring, unlike outsourcing, occurs when "a company takes one of its factories that it operates and moves the entire factory overseas", which, for this reason, Apple has moved its manufacturing plant from America to China. But remember that unlike offshoring, outsourcing is when you take what "one company was doing in-house – like research, call centers or accounts receivable – and ask another company to perform exactly the same function. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Offshoring is not an uncommon phenomenon among big companies as they generate immense financial savings along with many other things. Apple is one of the largest and most successful companies in the world and I will continue to explain why Apple started offshoring jobs and how it has helped them grow as a company. I'm sure we all know the history of Apple and its general overview. of the company, but let's remind you of those that we may not know. Apple Inc is an American technology headquartered in Cupertino, California, which is also the same place where it was founded on April 1, 1976. Apple manufactures phones, personal computers, computer software, online services, etc. . Some of their very popular devices include iPhone, Mac Book, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, etc. As for the products they have designed, some are iOS operating system with MacOS. The Mac App Store, iCloud, Apple Music and iTunes Store are some of the online services offered by Apple. The company was founded by the late Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. In 1976, the Apple 1 was released, generating a lot of revenue and in 1980, Apple decided to go public. In 1985, Wozniak left Apple and Jobs left to start NeXT. In 1993, Michael Spindler became the new CEO of Apple, but the only big success was the migration of the then Mac OS with PowerPC. But the company was unable to keep up and struggled to sell its inventory, leading to a decline in its finances and was unable to stand up to its competitors. But in 1997, Apple purchased NeXT to bring Jobs back to the company where he quickly became the company's new CEO. After his return, Jobs began to rebuild Apple and bring it back to glory. Jobs worked with Microsoft to license the Mac OS and very soon after, the iMac. During his years at Apple, Steve Jobs managed to build Apple into one of the greatest companies ever. In 2001, Apple opened their first store and in 2007 they focused more on consumer electronics. In 2017, Apple said its global annual revenue was $229 billion, with 123,000 employees and approximately 504 stores. When it comes to their supply chain, Apple almost dominates thanks to its advancement. What has helped over the years is that they place a high priority on maintaining good relationships with their suppliers. According to NC State University, supply chain management is the “management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.” Apple has done a great job of dominating, one way they have done it atthrough their supply chain management process is by taking ownership of certain third party companies. They can also move their supplies around and save money by purchasing their raw materials for their products from multiple locations and then sending them all to China for assembly. Apple reportedly has more than 200 suppliers for its business. Another thing that Apple made sure to incorporate into their channel management process is that they use different tactics and technologies to track their inventory, which not only saved money in the long run, but also assured them that they were paying their suppliers correctly and that their suppliers' quotes were accurate. Apple also encouraged competition among suppliers by forcing them to compete for their business, which also helped lower the cost of supplies. Apple has ensured that even though its raw materials come from everywhere, they are shipped to assembly plants in China. This helped them because since most of the materials come from China, it's easier for them to understand, unlike if they send it somewhere in Mexico, where the materials are foreign and could possibly be complicated to understand. Apple does well when it comes to inventory turnover management. Well, inventory turnover is calculated by dividing the cost of goods sold by the average inventory, this metric is useful when it comes to seeing how efficiently a business is working when it comes to its sales. In 2013 their “days in inventory” for their products was 4.37 days, in 2018 their inventory turnover was 4.83. Their CEO, Tim Cook, has made it a priority to release their products as quickly as possible. He said he believed “stockpiles are evil.” Tim Cook said this because the value of technology decreases as the product ages. For example, since Apple has many competitors such as Samsung, it is important to move products because if you have a lot of technology when releasing a new product, you lose money because the people start to focus on the new things. Apple's Tim Cook also reduced the number of warehouses they held their products in. Sam Holder of Apple Insiders said Cook "closed 10 percent of Apple's 19 warehouses to limit overstocks, and by September 1998, (on-hand) inventory had gone from one month to six days." These days, Apple's supply chain has drawn some criticism, but some risks of being associated with their supply chain are still present: Their inventory may be more than what is requested. The business is affected based on the global economy. Their resellers may also offer or sell products from other manufacturers. Government issues. When it comes to different countries, Apple started shifting to foreign manufacturing in 2004, but why did they do it? Making an iPhone in China costs about $8, which is considerably less than what it would cost in the United States, which is about $65, allowing Apple to make a larger gross profit. Tim Cook recently said: “The main reason we love being in China is the people. China has extraordinary skills. And the most unknown part is that there are almost 2 million app developers in China writing apps for the iOS App Store. These are some of the most innovative mobile apps in the world, and the entrepreneurs who run them are some of the most inspiring and entrepreneurial in the world. They are not only.