Apple’s financial success. The precariousness of power exercised in global value chains

This working paper is about the Apple Inc Business Model and how, in a financialized world, the success of this business model is represented in the form of 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 power relations exercised in and along global supply chains. Firms like Apple, exploit resources and capabilities to 'create value but also exercise power to recalibrate relations 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 and frame a critical argument about the precarious nature and sustainability of AppleÕs huge profit margins.