Apple strategic management

INTRODUCTION

In the 20th century, there was marketing resolution in the computer technologies; Apple Company was the top of the list who took all responsibility for establishing in 1970.

Apple computer, inc. is larger company in producing the personal computer industry as well and the company toward fame during the 1980s.

Apple Company has many products like manufactures, and marketing personal computers, software, and peripherals, concentrating on lower-cost, uniquely designed the iMAC and power Macintosh models.

History of founder and the company:-

Apple was founded in 1976 by Steve Wozniak, and their partnership began several years before when Wozniak, they were talented, self taught motivated electronics engineer, building boxes which allowed him to make long distance phone calls for free. And some of such type of boxes sold out.

Principal competitors:-

Apple was introduced its technologies at the same time periods the dell computer, Compaq company and Microsoft corporation launched their products so apple felt them as a competitors in advanced technology. So company has decided to change in strategy for the few years and took this hard time for several years.

Principal subsidiaries:-

Apple computer got fame geographically in the globe as in Ireland, UK, Japan, and Netherlands. This was the greatest achievement for the Apple group.

Technology Analysis:-

Apple is recognized for designing the marketing and manufacture personal computers and with the portable digital music players, software and related accessories. Third party videos and audios products are also marketed by the company and dealing with in terms of its services. The strong branded image is the key factor for Apple and its product has a command to sale the premium price. (Datamonitor, 2008)

The recently, Apple’s products iPod and iTunes have great success growth in its sector. Users are allowed to legally buy and download all videos and music online.

Information Gathering:-

Sources are easily collected, as Apple Company published the large amount of data, available on the company websites. Some helpful data was accumulated by published annual reports. Rest for data was found without any trouble from including journals, Coventry university websites, and private website EBSCOHOST.

Strategic capabilities

Organization with strategic capabilities becomes a leading icon in strategic development when they start exploiting and expending their capabilities in such an innovative way it becomes difficult for other competitors to compete or to produce new market opportunities. e.g. Apple has always been using its leading IT knowledge in introducing every new product with revolutionary IT techniques to capture new market.

“Strategic capabilities can be defined as the adequacy and suitability of the resources and competences of an organization for it to survive and prosper.” Johnson, Scholes Whittington (2006) p. 117.

Competitive Advantage

Organization which sustains its profit upon its rivals, then company is said to be possessing competitive advantage. The main purpose of business strategy is to maintain that advantage on opponents.

Competitive Advantage Model

Resources

A company’s specific valuable asset which can be used to get unique advantage and the rivals has easy access to same type of sources as well. The following are two main types of resources

• Intangible Resources: All none physical asset like skills, brand, reputation, knowledge, information etc. Intellectual resources are one of the important intangible resources like customers information, patent, company’s brand and when companies are to be sold these plays important part as a company’s asset. In case of Apple Inc. its brand name, its innovative creativity and its distinctiveness, behind its each and every product it has produced or producing, will be the most valuable assets for other interested companies.
• Tangible Resources : like Capital, building, Machines, human resources, shareholders, cash, creditors, bankers etc.

All the above sources are most valuable but only their existence doesn’t make a company successful. The companies are only successful if they know how to manage these resources effectively by making connections between the staff, their highly skills adaptability, innovatory ability and the relationship between the company and customers.

“Apple Computer’s massive iPod shipment volume is allowing it to produce digital music players at a cost far below its competitors, and thus will remain atop the digital music player market for years”, Analyst Katie Marsal, 2005.(Web source).

Capabilities

“The ability of a bundle of resources to perform an activity. It’s a way of combining assets, people and process to transforms input into outputs.” Rao and Krishna (2008. P 213)

Apple has ability to utilized its resources in such a effective way to get market share faster than its competitors and make it difficult for them to compete. When Apple combines its resources and capabilities to produce quality product with customer satisfaction and innovation, either on differentiation advantage or cost advantage, it excels in market. e.g. latest product of Apple are Ipod, Iphone and recently launched Ipad has no match in market because of its ultra unique design, features, technology and price.

Unique Resources and Core competences

“Those resources that critically underpin competitive advantage and that others cannot imitate or obtain. The activities and process through with resourcesare deployed in such a way as to make it difficult to rivals cannot obtain” Johnson, Scholes Whittington (2006) p. 121.

“Core competences are the activities that the firm performs especially well compared to competitors and through which the firms adds value to its goods and services over a long period of time” Rao and Krishna (2008. P 213)

Apple products are the best examples which none of the competitor can compete with price, to some extent, but not the quality.

New concept for competitive Advantage by Martin Reeves and Michael S. Deimler, Boston consulting Group

In the current scenario of the business environment, from last decade, sweeping forces are changing the concept of old traditional strategy and have acknowledge new approach to these competition. These changes are

• Increasing instability in market trends
• Ubiquity of information which makes a business an information business
• Fade company and industry limits
• Evolving concern about ecological and social environments
• Changing values, culture and business structures

The old and traditional strategy planning are not coping up with quickly changing trends hence Reeve and Deimler come up with six new competitive advantages which are listed below:

• Adaptive Advantage
• Single Advantage
• System Advantage
• Simulation Advantage
• People Advantage
• Social Advantage

“It is becoming more and more difficult to apply the concepts of position, scale and static capabilities where competitors and industries are neither static nor clearly defined. These six dimensions of advantages that companies will increasingly need to use in order to compete in the future”| (Martin Reeves and Michael S. Deimler)

Critical Success Factors (CFS)

“Those product features that are particularly valued by group of customers and, therefore, where the organization must excel to outperform competition.” Johnson, Scholes Whittington (2006) p. 96.

According to Jonah Ramball there are 10 possible factors which make Apple product successful and they are as follows:

• Innovative strategy brings creativeness within the company.
• Promoting Creativity gives a company upper hand over its competitors.
• Research and Development plays vital role and Apple using it effectively.
• Investment in Product Usability is another important tool which Apple uses on their products before launching them.
• Looking after your Employee enhances their moral and in result they stretch the talent up to extremes which definitely develop business.
• Using the best Marketing Talent with history of compliments in their marketing career.
• Apple always makes sure that each and every employees Knows their product well otherwise they wouldn’t have been that successful.
• Apple has perfect plan to Know its Target audience And then target them well by paying extra premium, to use the existing customers to show off its product to the other group of customers and inspired them to change their needs into desire.
• Pricing product correctly is another tool that Apple uses to target a specific group of customers, not all of them, which might cut of some of customers but actual customers will buy accessories on the Apple Store, which is another way of successful business.
• Apple Involves its Customers & Communities and use their ideas in further improvements, developments, and extending their product because Apple believes that customers help to grow business.