Introduction and company overview

Apple is one of the well-known brands in Malaysia. Apple is known for its excellent quality
and high productivity. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company (New
World Encyclopedia, 2020). Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald
Wayne on April 1, 1976, and named Apple Computer Company (Angelique Richardson,
2021). In January 2007, Jobs change the company’s name to Apple Inc. As of October 2021,
Apple has opened 515 retail stores in 25 countries and regions. Besides, there are Apple
Authorised Resellers all over the world. Apple is one of the most powerful companies in the
world, ranked sixth in the world’s top 500 companies (FORTUNE, 2021).

The mission statement of Apple Inc is “to bring the best user experience to its customers
through its innovative hardware, software, and services” (Gennard Cuofano, 2020).
Moreover, Apple’s vision is “We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great
products and that’s not changing” (Gennard Cuofano, 2020) (Appendices 1).

Apple provides a diverse selection of products such as iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook,
iPod, AirPods, etc (Apple, 2020). There are online services such as Apple Music, Apple TV+,
iMessage, and iCloud, etc. Besides, Apple has a series of other services including Apple
Store, Genius Bar, AppleCare, Apple Pay, Apple Pay Cash, and Apple Card, etc (Juli Clover,
2021).
Macroenvironment analysis

Political and Social

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia, the government of Malaysia implement some
policy to against the epidemic such as Control Order (MCO), Recovery Movement Control
Order (RMCO), and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) (Aim Umaira Md Shah,
2021). Base on the policy, many businesses were affected and forced to shorten business
hours or cease operation, including the smartphone store (New Straits Times, 2021). The
majority of Apple Authorised Reseller in Malaysia was suspended operate. Due to that,
Apple is lost a lot of Malaysian customers who prefer to in-store. Even if the government
reduce the restrictions due to the improvement of the epidemic, it still requires stores to
comply with standard operating procedures (SOP), such as limiting the number of customers
entering the store and stipulating that every customer must have safe social distance (Eunis
Ong, 2021). Due to limited space in the store, this will cause some customers to wait,
consume their patience, and cause a reduction of the customer. Therefore, it will have a
negative effect on business growth.

Demographic
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is one of the most advanced cities in the world, where there are
many college students, office workers, and wealthy people. Apple’s product is affordable to
wealthy people. In addition, the Product of Apple is very suitable and preferred by collages
students and office workers because Apple’s product has high and quality and productivity,
is very durable, and can also improve work efficiency and learning efficiency. Moreover, the
age group with the highest percentage of Apple’s customers is 18-34, and the age group
with the highest percentage in Kuala Lumpur is 15-25 (ZhujiWorld, 2021). This also proves
that most people in Kuala Lumpur prefer Apple products. Due to sales in Kuala Lumpur
being good, the first Apple Store will be opening next year in Kuala Lumpur (Amelia Thai,
2021), Apple has always had only authorised reseller in Malaysia, the opening of the Apple
Store will be further developing the Apple’s market in Malaysia. Therefore, the growth of
Apple market in Malaysia is increasing due to the identity, work, and age of Malaysians.
Technology
With the progress of the times, the online world of has become more and more extensive,
and many things can be completed through the internet, including shopping. Due to the
Malaysia’s network development, Apple has also begun to expand the market in Malaysia
through online shopping. This move attracted many customers who like online shopping.
Not only on the official website, Apple has products and services on many online shopping
sites in Malaysia, such as Shopee (Appendices 1) and Lazada (Appendices 2). In 2021, e-
wallet volume raised 89% to 468 million transactions, merchant participation for QR
payments jumped 57% to one million registrations and online banking volume improved
36% to 12.1 billion transaction (Izzul Ikram, 2021). This proves the rapid development of
online transactions in Malaysia. Due to the rapid development of electronic money in
Malaysia, many payment methods have been introduced for online shopping, which is faster
and more convenient. This also directly led to Apple being able to easily receive orders via
the internet, which greatly expanded Apple’s market in Malaysia.

Natural
Pollution in Malaysia is getting worse. Various companies in Malaysia have begun to
respond to environmental protection. Apple has eliminated plastic packaging. Although
Apple start using paper packaging, but Apple also implement environmental protection
policies, such as Apple have successfully closed the loop on its paper supply chain (Apple,
2021). Since 2017, 100% of the wood fibres in its paper and packaging come from recycled
or responsible sources (Apple,2021). In this way, Apple can reduce unnecessary damage to
the primeval forest. Power adapters use the largest amounts of certain materials, such as
copper, plastic, tin and zinc. Since removing them from iPhone and Apple Watch packaging,
Apple was avoided mining a significant amount of materials, and Apple has eliminated the
emissions that come from processing and transporting them (Apple, 2021). Using smaller,
lighter packaging lets Apple ship more boxes at once, which helps reduce Apple's carbon
footprint (Apple, 2021). Apple makes full use of recycled paper and reduces the use of
material, this move has a good impact on the environment.
Economics
Due to covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia is facing economic recession. In 2020, Malaysia’s
economy contracted by 5.6 per cent as compared to 4.4 per cent in the previous. Overall, all
sectors recorded negative growth (Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal, 2021).
Because of Malaysia’s poor economy, many shopping malls are facing closure. While,
majority of Apple Authorised Reseller is opening the store in a mall (Appendices 4), once the
mall is closed, the store also will be closed. This will lead to decrease in Apple’s physical
stores in Malaysia. Due to closure of the store, Apple’s sales through physical stores will
decrease. The people are also affected, Malaysia unemployment rate edges to 4.8% (Trading
Economics, 2021). Due to lose job, people’s spending power has declined, Apple product’s
expensive price is no affordable by them, they will be more inclined to cheaper products.
This also caused Apple to lose a certain number of customers. Economics recession of
Malaysia has left a bad effect on Apple.

Cultural
Mobile games are very popular in Malaysia. MOBILE games are a big business in Malaysia.
About 39.5% of those aged between 25-34 spend most of their time on games (The
Malaysia Reserve, 2021), it was followed by 23.8% of younger players aged between 18 and
24 (The Malaysia Reserve, 2019). The popularity of mobile games has prompted young
Malaysians to find a device suitable for playing games. In order to have a good gaming
experience, they will find some higher configuration mobile phones, such as iPhone and iPad
are one of the most popular devices. Apple’s product have extremely high quality and
configuration, can provide a good gaming experience, very suitable for playing games, loved
by the public.