Question

a. Provide an overview consisting of a brief description of the chosen company, your chosen product or service, and annual sales. (Apple MacBook)

b. Describe three macroeconomic variables in the United States that impact the supply and demand of the Apple MacBook

Answer 1

(A) Apple is a global technological giant and produces high end electronic consumer goods such as IPads, I phones and Mac books which is the laptop offering of the company and sells around the world.

The company is known for delivering higher quality in its products and has seen rapid growth and was declared as a trillion dollar company because of its high cash and revenue generation in the year 2018.

The company was spearheaded by Steve Jobs widely known for his excellent presentations on new products which became an instant hit post launch. Since then, the company has seen numerous ups & downs and has been able to transform itself from being a local manufacturer to a truly international firm with it selling as far as countries such as India and China also.

The Mac Book is a high end laptop with Apples proprietary Operating system and is widely used by business professionals across the year though Apple has maintained sales it operates under severe competition from many other counterparts respectively.

(B) It is important for companies to review Macroeconomic policies which largely impact the success of the organization and serve as a tool for assessing future demand for products and services, thus being able to take corrective measures required to change the course for the company respectively.

The following are some of the key Macro economic variables which Apple must consider and largely reflects on its demand and supply of MacBook laptops respectively.

• Interest Rates

Generally speaking, most people prefer to purchase items such as laptops on Easy Monthly Installments (EMI'S) this helps them break the cost of buying the expensive device into monthly payments that look inexpensive to pay respectively.

The bank charges interest rates against such transactions and this must be a close consideration to monitor demand and supply for the product respectively.

A hike in interest rates, makes it difficult for some people to think about purchasing the product. This happens because the product is already expensive as compared to other counterparts and an interest hike reduces the demand for the product.

Further it also impacts the company’s ability to take credit for producing goods and impacts supply from both sides, costs of raw materials go up hitting supply and the aggregate demand fall is also reflective of the same respectively.

• Inflation

Inflation is another key variable which affects both the demand and supply for Mac Books respectively. This happens because as the average inflation rates rise, people pay more money on other items such as general retail and others respectively.

This has a big impact on their net disposable income and a reduction in the same changes their demand pattern of expensive goods. An inflation pressure makes people buy lesser of goods such as mac books and this hits the overall demand for the product respectively.

Further, the overall inflation puts pressure on the company to increase prices of the products which further impacts demand and ultimately hits the supply side also.

Unemployment Trends:-

If Unemployment increases in the United States, people would have lesser availability of funds since they would no longer have a stable source of income. This would impact the overall demand pattern for a relatively higher priced good also. Thus reducing the overall demand & supply of the product respectively.

Please feel free to ask your doubts in the comments section.