Demographic Factors Ikea, Apple, McDonalds

Running head: Demographic Factors Research

Demographic Factors Research

Sheila Bourne,

University of Phoenix

Managing in a Cross-Functional Environment

September 19, 2011

Herbert Perer, PhD

Introduction

This paper will describe and talk to how three different companies: Apple Inc, IKEA and McDonalds demonstrate a unique demographic factor that they use in management planning and best practices that development and implementation to support organizational conflict management and how these companies have maintained the appropriate level of motivation and reward for these demographic factors. In addition, these demographic factors and best practices will be analyzed and compared for each company researched and how these factors are linked to key course concepts.

Individual Companies Synopsis

Sheila Bourne:

Apple Inc

Apple Inc. is the world's most successful and most recognizable companies, established by Steve Jobs and Steve Wasniak. Over its 30 year existence, the company has seen a lot of changes in the computer industry. During its life it faced many challenges and shifting its major strategies to improve the company's launched products like IMac, Ipod and the Iphone.

"Apple reports environmental impact compressively, we do this by focusing on our products: what happens when we design them, what happens when we make them, and what happens when you take them home and use them,"(www.apple.com)

Demographic factors affect the computer industry on various levels. As consumers of all ages and different genders choose to purchase and use the Ipod, Iphone and or the IPad we live in an era where supply and demand to get products on the market and organizations utilize individuals from other countries to assemble the products for distribution all over the world. A demographic factor that Apple experienced is "human rights challenges for multinational corporations working and investing in conflict zones." Human Rights & International Legal Discourse focuses on the interplay between human rights law and other specific domains of international law, (community.eldis.org).

For example, according to (en.wikipedia.org/Apple Labor Practices), "in 2006, the Mail on Sunday alleged that sweatshop conditions existed in factories in China where the contract manufactures, Foxconn and Inventec that operates the factories that produce the iPod. The article stated that one iPod factory, for instance, had over 200,000 workers that lived and worked in the factory, with workers regularly doing more than 60 hours of labor per week. It also reported that workers made around $100 per month and were required to live on the premises and pay for rent and food from