Production of Low-Cost Laptops - Essay Example

?Running head: ENGLISH REPORT PLAN by Transmittal letter Dear CEO of Apple, Inc. and the executive team, Subject: Production of low cost laptops and healthcare focus Enclosed herein is the report you commissioned on 25 November 2013 on the recommendations of the production of low cost laptops and healthcare focus. The main findings of the report are; That a high percentage of students need laptops for purposes of their education. That the corporate world in the third world countries needs the application of laptops to connect to the corporate outside world. That the use of laptops is heavily utilized through ages 18-40 for different purposes raging from education to work. That the educated third world people are the target consumers for use of laptops. Finally, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to write this report. It gave me the chance to familiarize myself with the third world countries application of laptops, their buying powers and the benefits of Apple Inc. for production of low cost laptops for use in third world countries. Regards Name Table of content Executive summary Report Plan 1. Recipient of the Report 2. Identify the Topic of the Report 3. Identify the Purpose of the Report 4. Identify Potential Resources that will be needed for Support 5. Identify Methods to be used to Gather Information 6. Identify Criteria to be used to evaluate the Information Collected 7. Findings 8. Conclusion 9. Recommendations 10. References 11. Appendices Executive summary This report was commission by the COE of Apple Inc. together with his executive team to seek recommendations for the production of low cost laptops to be used in the world countries and the collected funds to be used in the awareness of American masses on obesity health implications. This report provides an analysis and an evaluation of the prospective production of the low cost laptops by Apple Inc. and the health focus. The methods used for the collection of information include the use of questionnaires and surveys to identify the feasibility of this project. The research draws attention to the fact that there is an extensive use of laptops in the third world counties from education to working class. Low cost laptops will be a viable project in the third world countries as they have a low buying power considering the high current costs of laptops which are mostly priced at over $1000. Further investigation reveal that the money collected from the sale of the low cost laptops will be highly effective in the creation of obesity awareness in America. The report concludes that laptops are highly needed in the third world countries especially in the education sector and the corporate world. Communication and the use of internet will have a high impact on the application of low cost laptops in the third world countries. It is recommended: That Apple should adopt the project of producing low cost laptops in the third world countries. That Apple should conduct a survey to identify the programs which are effectively suitable for the application of laptops. That educators in third world countries should partner with Apple to offer suitable learning experiences for the intended users. Report Plan 1. Recipient of the Report The recipient of the report will be the top management including the CEO of Apple, Inc. the plan will be presented to all those officials who have some role to play in decision making matters. 2. Identify the Topic of the Report The topic of the report will be ‘Recommendation for Production of Low Cost Laptops and Healthcare Focus’. The report will be based on two recommendations for the company. First recommendation will be to manufacture low cost laptops in order to increase the market share of the company in third-world countries. Second recommendation will be to put some efforts for reducing obesity in America, which is one of the most critical health problems and can only be dealt by creating awareness among people regarding causes and consequences of this disease. 3. Identify the Purpose of the Report The purpose of the report will be twofold. First, it will help the company increase its market share in third-world countries where the demand for laptops is increasing with every passing day but people have no other choice than to buy economical brands, such as, Samsung, Acer, and Fujitsu. The aim of the report is to help Apple, Inc. increase its market share in such countries by providing people with low cost laptops. People like to buy Apple products more than the products of any other brand. However, a high percentage of consumers cannot buy Apple products because their buying power does not let them do so. Therefore, if Apple Inc. manufactures low cost laptops particularly for third-world countries, I believe that both Apple Inc. and the consumers will benefited as the company will increase its chances of gaining competitive edge even in third world countries and the consumers will have an access to the top quality brand of the world. The second purpose of the report will be to make Apple Inc. play its role in reducing the problem of obesity in America. I think it is the responsibility of every major brand of the world to show corporate social responsibility by putting some efforts for solving social issues. I think putting efforts for reducing obesity is also a social cause for which Apple Inc. should play some role as popular brand. People like the products of Apple Inc. and when the company will take steps to create awareness among people about the severity of the disease, people will definitely listen to the advice with interest. Obesity is a disease for which level of awareness really matters in order for it to be reduced. Apple Inc. can create awareness about it through television ads, magazine ads, and social events. 4. Identify Potential Resources that will be needed for Support The potential resources that will be needed for support include commitment of top management towards change, financial resources to develop low cost products, and employee support. All of these factors will work together to make the above-mentioned recommendations feasible for the company. 5. Identify Methods to be used to Gather Information To gather information about feasibility of the recommendations, surveys and questionnaires can be used. Distribution of online survey to the users of internet, particularly from third-world countries, can be a suitable choice to gather relevant data. Users of the internet will fill the survey form through which the company will know whether the idea to develop low cost laptops for the population of third world countries is feasible or not. Information about the need to work on the second recommendation about obesity can be collected through the statistics given on published journals. 6. Identify Criteria to be used to evaluate the Information Collected The collected information will be evaluated considering the age, qualification, and profession of people. For example, age of 18 to 40 years, qualification level of at least high school graduate, and job experience of at least 6 months will be considered. If a person fulfils any of the three criterions mentioned above, his/her filled survey will be considered for evaluation. The factors that I will consider to make the recommendations include the buying power of people belonging to the third-world countries, current prices of Apple laptops, and need of Apple products among students, businesspersons, and employees. 7. Findings The findings presented in the following section will be based according to the following characteristics; the age group of the respondents, education qualification level and the profession of the respondents. The age of the respondents During the interviews and the filling of the questionnaires, the respondents were asked to indicate their age groups. All of the age ranges were represented in the results as follows. The categories represented consisted of 22.2% between ages 18 and 22, 32.7% between ages 23-28, 30.5% between ages 29-35 and lastly 14.6%. Education qualification The respondents were given a list of areas where they needed the application of the laptops and whether the laptops increased, decreased or had any change on their work based on the education level of the respondents. The respondents who were considered for these findings are those that had an education level post-secondary school and indicated that laptops positively influenced the lives of people in the third world countries. The areas where the laptops were to be used in third world countries were; communication, job related, education teaching and learning. These areas received a response of more than 50% ratings in all the age groups. Between ages 18 and 22 recorded the need of laptops 60.5% for education, 30.9% for communication and 8.6% for job related purposes. Respondents aged 23-28 recorded 25.3% for education, 53.2% for job related purposes and 21.5% for communication. Those aged 29-35 recorded a rate of 15.5% for education, 66.1% for job related purposes and 18.4% for communication. All the respondents of post-secondary school who participated in this survey recorded increase need for laptops throughout schooling and also in the effective performance of their job duties. Profession of the respondents The respondents were required to indicate their professions when filling in the questionnaires and the interviews. They were recorded as follows; Profession Rate Accountants 28.7% Politicians 19.3% Economists 21.7% Educators 15.2% Doctors and nurses 11.5% Others 3.6% Appendix A. It is noted that the use of laptops in many professions is popularized in the third world countries. 8. Conclusion On the basis of the findings, the following conclusions can be drawn on the recommendations for production of low cost laptops and healthcare focus. The finding of this study indicated that production of low cost laptops will be very effective in increasing the market levels in the third world countries. Since the world is opening into a global village, many third world countries can be an essential market if the laptops are made cheaper since they are used across all ages. From this study, it can be concluded that education of post-secondary school students is significantly dependent on the online resources which can be generated from the laptops. A high percentage of users of the laptops use it in their job related operations. The corporate world especially is technologically connected with many offices in third world countries being connected with the laptops. This is a communication era whereby many third world countries rely on the internet for online communication as it has no distance barrier. The need for communication against the limited recourse for attainment of the laptops will be a solved challenge The money generated by Apple Inc. from the sale of the low cost laptops will be implemented in the awareness of the health implications of obesity and the measures to curb it in America. 9. Recommendations Based of the finding and the conclusions presented in this study, the recommendations are as follows. 1. Apple should adopt the project of producing low cost laptops in the third world countries as their current prices of up to $1000 and the buying power in the third world countries is very low. 2. Apple should conduct a survey to identify the programs which are effectively suitable for the application in different areas by the third world countries such as education, work and in communication. 3. Educators in third world countries should partner with Apple to offer suitable learning experiences for the intended users. 4. The money generated from the sale of the laptops in third world countries should be used in the implementation of the social corporate responsibility of the Apple Inc. which is to reduce the rate of obesity in America by creation of awareness through civic education to the masses. References Salehizadeh, Mehdi & Taylor, Robert, (1999). A test of purchasing power parity for emerging economies, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 183-193, April. Mark P. Taylor, (2003). Purchasing Power Parity, Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 436-452, 08. Appendices Appendix A: Table Read More