First of all, it is essential to generally overview the source of the information for this assignment. All the information is taken from the Fortune magazine website, where various financial and economic data is published. One of the most notable aspects of the Fortune’s activity is their annual rankings, in which they sort out the world’s managers and organization according to a set of different criteria, as it is mentioned on the website (Rankings 2017).
Arguably, the most famous ranking list of the magazine under discussion is Fortune 500, where the best-performing companies are ranked. For the purposes of this assignment, Apple is chosen. This paper aims to investigate the information from the website in order to develop meaningful conclusions about how various ranking criteria could be applied to the same company, and also to explain how different rankings relate to processes within or outside an organization.
Beforehand, it is essential to notice that all the financial information retrieved from the website derives from figures for the end of 2017 fiscal year. As of 2017, Apple has taken a small step back since it moved from the third to the fourth place in the ranking, despite a 6% gain in annual sales (Apple 2017). It is also important to notice that the company has made an immensely successful rise in Fortune 500 ranking, from 325th place in the early 2000s, rapidly growing since the late 2000s to its current position (Apple 2017). The net profit of the company is estimated to be more than $48 billion (Apple 2017). The company’s downshift of the ranking could be explained by the recent 1,5% drop in the company’s stock quote (Apple 2017). It is appropriate to propose that such rapid and stable growth is highly connected with the internal processes within the organization as well as with the company’s worldwide popularity among various groups of people, especially teenagers and young adults.
Rankings and Their Relation to Processes in the Company
Since the previous section provided basic information about Apple’s financial indicators along with its place in Fortune 500 ranking, it is appropriate to discuss the question of the correlation between such rankings and internal/external processes related to organizations. It is evident from the business process management course that performance management and governance of processes are among the most important aspects of the of the business making.
It could be observed that one of the ultimate goals of any manager is to effectively employ and develop every process that contributes to the achievement of the company’s strategic objectives. In other words, it is possible to state that business processes are linked and contributing to the organization’s strategy. The role of management in business process improvement could be hardly underestimated as they are directly responsible for the identification, development, and implementation of the most suitable approaches.
All the factors that were mentioned above primarily reflect the internal processes of any company. It is appropriate to observe that these are the most important processes; however, external factors could also be very influencing. According to the outcomes of the company’s performance, a ranking could be made when indexes of several companies are compared. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that rankings should reflect the efficiency of different companies in terms of their internal performance as well as the impact of external factors (competition with other companies, large shifts in the economy, etc.).
Reference List
Apple2017, Web.
Rankings2017, Web.