Part 1 : Introduction

The type of business that our group has decided on writing about is a retailer for Apple products and

accessories, or better known as an Apple Authorised Reseller. Our business will be called EpiMac.

EpiMac will be selling consumer goods which are Apple products such as their Macintosh

computers, iPods, iPads and iPhones, together with their accessories, both by Apple and third-party

organisations. Besides that, EpiMac will also be providing services to their customers such as

training sessions on how to use the Apple products they have purchased, and repairs and servicing

of Apple products

Vision

Our company’s vision is to become the leading Apple Authorised Reseller in Malaysia to provide

the best customer experience in Apple Products and Services.

Mission

Our company’s mission is to provide the opportunity for fellow Malaysians to own and enjoy the

advancement of Apple products together with the services provided by EpiMac’s trained and

specialized staff and technicians.

Decision-Making Hierarchy

EpiMac will be a centralized organisation where most of the decision-making will be carried out by

the upper levels of the management. Following the regulations set by Apple to become an

authorised Apple reseller, most of the decisions have to be approved by the Apple Asia headquarters

in Singapore first before it could be implemented by the organisation. Hence, EpiMac’s

organisational structure will reflect mainly to a tall structure.

Basic Form of Organisational Structure

EpiMac’s form of organisation structure will be a functional organisation. The organisation will be

divided into different functions, or departments. The functions that are available in the organisation

is the finance and accounting function, marketing function, human resources function, engineering

function, operational function and purchasing function.

Part 2 : Information Technology

Information Systems

In EpiMac, we will implement a computerised system in every functional department of the

organisation such as the Human Resources, Finance and Accounting, Sales and Marketing,

Engineering and Purchasing departments. Hence, most of the business processes in these

departments will be automated. For example, Human Resources department uses the payroll system

to deal with the company staff and employees’ compensation such as wages and salary. The pay slip

reports which are produced by the payroll system is then electronically and automatically sent to the

Finance and Accounting in charge with the compensation payments. Besides that, from the point of

sales (POS) systems, once the products sold have been scanned through the bar code scanner or

Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), the system will instantly calculate and create a cash bill for

the customers. Furthermore, the inventory of the related products will be decreased in the

company’s inventory systems. These systems which automates the business processes will help

increase the company’s productivity as it helps to cut costs and save the time required to run the

business processes.

In addition, EpiMac will also install an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which helps

integrate various systems from all departments. The ERP system will implement the best practices

for each business process across the company. For example, when engineering department needs to

buy some Apple hardware parts, they just need to send the required electronic documents containing

the detailed information of the hardware parts to the purchasing department. The purchasing

department will then sent this information to the finance and accounting department to check

whether it is under the company’s budget. Once the finance and accounting department approves

the request, the purchasing department will start to produce the purchase order for the required

hardware parts to Apple authorised distributor in Singapore.

Communication through the Internet, Intranet & Extranet

Besides that, the company will also register for a website which will include an E-Commerce

system, intranet and extranet functions.

The Intranet is a private internet network that can only be accessed by the company’s staff and

employees using their IDs and verification password to get pass the firewall. From the intranet, the

administrator is able to create document folders for sharing documents with other employees. Each

folder is only accessible by those authorised by the administrator. The staff, especially those or

higher rankings, are also able to upload their own documents to the intranet once it is approved by

the administrator. The intranet will also include a calendar function, where the administrator is able

to set meeting or event dates in the calendars which are only visible to the entire staff or to assigned

groups. The calendar function will remind and notify those who are required to attend the event or

meeting from time to time. In addition, the administrator could also create a task and then assign

them to related employees through the intranet task list function. Moreover, the intranet will also be

an avenue for top management to share company important message to the lower managements and

employees through the intranet bulletin board.

On the other hand, the extranet is the Internet that allows outsiders such as customers to access to

our company internal information system but only with limited access. From the extranet,

customers are able to view and search the latest price of the apple products that the company sells.

With the E-Commerce system, customers are allowed to buy or make a reservation for the products

through the company’s websites. They can also check for the delivery status of the products which

they have bought online.

Social Networking Websites

Besides that, the company will also open an account in both Facebook and Twitter which are two of

the biggest social networking websites in the world. Since many people nowadays like to socialize

in Facebook and Twitter, EpiMac would be able to take full advantage of these sites to share the

latest and detailed information of the company’s products through them. The company would also

be able to post out information of events or roadshows on those sites to inform the public or

followers about it. Moreover, through Facebook, discussion forums can also be opened for the

public. Inside the forum, the public are allowed to ask question and inquire further information

about the company’s products and services. They could also inquire on technical problems which

could be faced from their products, and the staff will be able to try to help them to diagnose the

problem. For more difficult or complex problems, the customers could head to the online training

system provided by EpiMac. These features could improve the customer service of the company

and hence, allowing the company to gain competitive advantage with the increased customer

satisfaction of the services.

Online Training and Troubleshooting

In order to provide service for customers who live far away from the outlet, EpiMac will create an

online training system which allows customers to access it using their receipt number for the

products purchased from EpiMac. This system will contain tutorial videos created by EpiMac’s

technical staff on how to perform basic and advance operations on their Macintosh computers, iPod

music players, iPhone or iPad tablet PC. Besides that, the system would also allow customers to

make appointments for video conferencing with the technical staff if they are facing problems with

their Apple devices. Through this video conferencing, the technical staff will be able to

communicate ‘face-to-face’ with the customer to determine any problems and guide them through

the process of solving their problems. In addition, by using the Macintosh online Screen Sharing

function, the technical staff will be able to connect to the customer’s laptop (with permission from

the customer) and carry out diagnosis or troubleshoot the problem for the customer. On the contrary,

customers can also use this system to make video conferencing appointments for specific training

classes that are not available from the given tutorial videos. These specific training classes could

consist of classes for professional software such as Apple’s Final Cut Pro, Apple Aperture, Apple

Keynote and many others, and will be charged due to the requirements of professional skills of that

particular training. Through this system, customers are able to solve any problems faced with their

products without needing to drop by the outlet every time. Hence, small problems can be solved

quickly and more efficiently from the comfort of their home. These will result in a increase of

satisfied and happy customers.

Part 3: Human Resources Management

The Human Resources Management is the department responsible for the organizational activities

directed at attracting, developing and maintaining an effective workforce.

Recruitment

EpiMac will use its company website, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and the

newspaper to advertise available job position to the public. Whoever that has interest on the job

would have to sent in his or her resume to the company via email before going to the interview.

After the resume is accepted by the company, that person will be called to make an appointment for

an interview. The company will use a structured interview approach where a set of questions related

mainly to Apple products will be asked to test the knowledge of the person on the products.

Training

EpiMac will provide special training for every staff, no matter they are part-timers or permanent

employees. Both on-the-job and off-the-job training will be provided to the staff. On-the-job

training will include training on the usage of the information systems such as the point of sales

(POS) system and communication skills to customers. While off-the-job training will be conducted

in a meeting room at the company’s headquarters by a certified Apple consultant and trainer.

Performance Evaluation

EpiMac’s performance evaluation is online based. Firstly is through Apple Sales Training Online

(ASTO). ASTO is accessible online to the company staff using their employee ID and password. It

provides information, resources, quizzes and tests based on Apple products to the staff. Besides

that, ASTO also provides training on effective selling skills, communication skills, listening skills

and many more. From the quizzes and tests provided by ASTO, the staff can also collect points

depending on their answers. If the staff exceeds a certain level of points, they will be rewarded with

different rankings (such as Apple Sales Professional or Apple Product Professional) certificates,

special badges and even a MobileMe account (which is a paid service that provides online storage).

These rewards motivates and encourages the staff to go through the ASTO courses and learn more

out of it. Another additional function of ASTO is that the points of the staff will be sent to the

human resources department from time to time, which allows them to evaluate the staff’s learning

progress.

In addition, EpiMac also has Test Drive, a system that allows customers to fill in an online survey

form to evaluate the job performance and customer service provided by the staff. These survey form

will include rankings on the staff’s service, topic discussed by the staff, presentation skills and its

effectiveness. Once the survey form is completed, it will then be submitted to the human resources

department who will then analyze the customer’s satisfaction towards the staff. This system can

help improve the company’s customer service level and effectiveness of presentation by the staff.

Compensation & Benefits

The staff at EpiMac are divided into part-timers and full-timers. The full-timers are then further

broken down to different positions. These positions have a specific salary range depending on the

responsibility and attributes of the job. The part-timers are normally paid according to hourly

wages. In EpiMac, the part-timers are paid RM3.50 an hour. While the full- timers are paid with

salaries on a monthly basis.

For compensation and benefit, EpiMac provides commissions for every product sold, which

encourages the staff to promote and sell more. Through ASTO, the staff will be rewarded which

special badges, certificates and even a MobileMe account once they have achieve a certain level

from the test.

Bonuses is also added into the staff’s pay slip if that staff’s sales performance exceeds a certain

target. As an example, in Switch, the employee is paid an additional RM150 if the employee sales

exceeds RM100 000. Besides that, at the end of the year, if the profit earned by the organisation

exceeds a certain level, the extra profit is then distributed between the staff.

Part 4 : Marketing

Product

EpiMac will be selling consumer goods which are Apple products such as the Macintosh desktops,

laptops, iPod music player, iPad tablet PC, iPhone together with accessories for them. In addition,

EpiMac will also provide services such as free Mac familiarization classes to help buyers

familiarize with their Apple devices and hardware repairs or servicing for Apple products.

EpiMac’s Apple products are a good example of product differentiation. In Malaysia, there are not

many shops or companies that are selling Apple products. Most of these shops sell Windows based

computers and other branded music players or tablet PCs. Therefore, EpiMac has a great

opportunity to grow and expand its business by selling products that are not commonly available in

the local market. In addition to that, the amazing features, unique design and reliability of Apple

products makes it more attractive and competitive in the market.

Pricing

The pricing for Apple products are standardize worldwide and set by the Apple headquarters. As an

authorised reseller under Apple, EpiMac has to comply with the pricing set by Apple. Hence, the

pricing of for Apple product can never be changed without any notification from the Apple

headquarters.

The pricing policy that is chosen for the products is price skimming. This is firstly due to the high

cost price for the production of Apple products. Apple has carried out a lot of research and

development for their products to achieve breakthrough features such as the long battery life and

aluminum unibody for the Macintosh laptops. Besides that, Apple has invested lots of money into

their machinery and materials to manufacture their products. These factors has caused Apple to

choose price skimming, thus the prices for the products are set higher which results in larger profits

per item sold.

Place

EpiMac purchases and receives stocks from the Apple Asia Distributor in Singapore. The stocks are

sent to the outlets via trucks using highways. The stocks are then kept in the outlets’ stores. EpiMac

will then directly sell the stocks to the final customers.

Promotion

Since Apple products are not yet very common or familiar to the local consumers in Malaysia,

EpiMac has to carry out lots of promotion in order to create awareness to the public on the

existence and features of Apple products. Therefore, EpiMac will have to implement different

approaches in order to communicate this information to the public.

Firstly is through personal selling which involves face-to-face sales. In this approach, the

salespeople will carry out their duties to communicate the information of the products, such as its

features, functions and capabilities, directly to the consumer. The salespeople can also carry out

demonstration of the features of the products and let the consumers ‘test drive’ the products to give

them a hands-on feel on the product.

Next is through advertising, which is a paid form of non-personal communication to inform the

public about EpiMac’s products. One of the first approaches of advertising is through the internet.

EpiMac will rent online advertising space on local websites which are mainly related to technology.

Furthermore, EpiMac will also make advertisings in every language types of newspaper and

magazines. From this way, EpiMac will not only be attracting consumers from a single race, but

consumers from different races.

Another way of promotion is through sales promotion. Sales promotion will involve one-time direct

inducement to consumers. Since Apple products cannot be reduced in price, EpiMac could instead

give away free gifts or vouchers with every Apple product purchased by the consumer during the

promotion. Besides that, EpiMac can also carry out roadshows or events at various shopping malls

and locations to attract a wider range of customers.

Lastly is through publicity. Since EpiMac has a Facebook and Twitter account, customers who are

satisfied with the service and products provided might post positive comments and reviews on those

sites, which can be read by the public, thus giving a good image and reputation to the organisation.

Appendices

Screenshot of the Information System that will be used by EpiMac

Macintosh’s Online Screen Sharing function which can be used by the Online Training System

The machinery used to create the body for the Macintosh laptops

The aluminum unibody design for Macintosh laptops