Apple's financial success: The precariousness of power exercised in global value chains

Colin Haslam, Nick Tsitsianis, Tord Andersson and Ya Ping Yin

Accounting Forum, 2013, vol. 37, issue 4, 268-279

Abstract: The topic of this paper is the Apple Inc business model and how, in a financialized world, the success of this business model is represented by what we term financial ‘point values’. Our argument is that there is a tendency to promote specific point valuation multiples as measures of success, but these values, by their nature, do not reveal the contingent and variable nature of the power relations exercised in and along global supply chains. Firms such as Apple exploit their resources and capabilities to ‘create value’ but also exercise power to recalibrate relationships with suppliers in the value chain to secure ‘value capture’ for financial transformation. Value capture is an active ingredient that can help inform our understanding of the fragility of the Apple business model value proposition and frame a critical argument regarding the precarious nature and sustainability of Apple's substantial profit margins.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2013.05.001

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