Economic Environment
Apple’s domestic environment is the United States of America. While Rostow’s five stages of development can be somewhat helpful, some argue that Rostow’s model was developed with western cultures in mind and is not applicable to least developed countries (Ford, 2004). Because Apple was developed in a westernized culture, the model is slightly more helpful. However, several economists believe the model, as a predictive one is not very helpful, that instead its main use it to highlight the need for investment. Rostow’s five stages of development is essentially a growth model (Ford, 2004). Because of the model being created in the 1960s, some of the stages do not exactly match up to today’s businesses. For example, stage one is labeled as the traditional society. In this stage, the producers consume their own goods. It goes on to explain that when goods were traded, they were traded for other goods, rather than someone paying money for them. At this time, agriculture was the most important industry. Today, Apple definitely does not trade goods directly for other goods. Apple sells directly to consumers in exchange for money. This goes for both domestic and global environments. Stage two becomes slightly more similar to today’s economy. Specialization increases and transportation is accessible and used to support trade. Apple has corned the market with their technological devices and offers store around the country. Also, because of mass transportation, Apple has been able to expand to multiple countries around the world. In the global environments, they are also able to offer shipping for new devices or even repairs and replacements. Stage three discusses how growth in investments leads to increasing incomes, which is shown in Apple’s profits. In stage four, Rostow describes how the technological innovation is providing new opportunities and in stage five the economy is heading towards mass consumption. Apple is currently on top in the technological industry and has shaped their business to handle mass consumption. After building up its company, Apple is beginning to diversify its products. For example, in recent news, Apple has acquired Beats headphones. In both domestic and global environments, Apple has substantial investors that have led to their huge development. According to John Kenneth Galbraith’s theory of the dependence effect, “modern capitalism is dominated by large enterprises and characterized by an abundance of contrived wants that are the product of corporate planning and massive advertising (Thoma, 2006)”. Apple can be seen using this theory in their domestic and global environments. The field of technology grows every day and is constantly changing. Cell phones, more importantly smartphones, are very important factors in everyday life. Competitors are constantly trying to outdo one another for the “best cellphone”. Apple has broken into this industry and excelled. After doing well with their phones, they began to excel with other devices. With a lot of planning and massive advertising, Apple will begin to leak into other industry and excel there as well.

References

Ford, K. V. (2004, 04 22). Rostow's Stages of Development. Retrieved 08 23, 2014, from NVCC: http://www.nvcc.edu/home/nvfordc/econdev/introduction/stages.html
Thoma, M. (2006, 04 30). John Kenneth Galbraith's Contributions to Economics. Retrieved 23 2014, 08, from Economis'ts View: http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/04/john_kenneth_ga.html