CASE STUDY-APPLE

Case Study-Apple

Executive Summary

The paper discusses the strategic environment of Apple Inc. in a holistic context. The paper provides the macro environment and PEST analysis of the company. Then it mentions the competitors' analysis of the company. After that, the paper discusses the internal environment, strengths and weaknesses of the organisation. The paper also describes the competitive position of Apple by comparing it with its biggest competitor in the Smart phone and tablet industry, Samsung. In the end, it gives the issues faced by the company in the global environment and also provides the recommendations for future opportunities. In short, the paper proves the strong position of Apple Inc. by providing all the data and analyse it thoroughly.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary2

Introduction4

Macro-frameworks5

PEST5

Porter's five forces5

Industry (ILC) theory7

Competitor Analysis9

Internal Analysis10

Leadership Effect12

Issues Faced By the Company13

Conclusion and Recommendations14

Bibliography17

Case Study-Apple

Introduction

One cannot conceive the organization as an entity isolated from the environment in which it operates. The company must continuously monitor its environment because, firstly, it fits into this environment and, secondly, it acts on that environment. The company can be influenced by its environment in a positive way (environmental opportunities) or a negative (environmental).

The company should monitor the constantly changing markets, changing competition and technology. It is also about identifying the risks of "breaks" technology (occurrence of major innovations) or structural (new lobbies, new regulations, growing influence of consumer organizations, etc). This monitoring (or before) is done using SIM (Marketing Information Systems) supplied data from sales force, distributors, or professional bodies. This is first identify all the variables change and then develop the framework of actions needed to take advantage of environmental opportunities or to reduce possible constraints imposed from outside.

The company we have chosen for our report is “Apple”. Apple is in the business of designing, manufacturing, and marketing mobile communication devices, personal computers (PCs), and video players and portable digital music. Apple also offers a huge range of associated services, software, networking solutions and peripherals. Apple is also providing the service of online distribution music; for the third party, music videos, audio books, television shows, short films, etc.

Apple Inc. is a multinational company based in America and it develops designs and markets personal computers, computer software, and consumer electronics. Some of the very popular hardware products of Apple Incorporation include the iPod, Macintosh line of computers, the iPad and the iPhone. The software of Apple includes the operating system of Mac OS X; Aperture, a professional photography package; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iTunes media browser; the iWork suite of productivity software; Logic Studio, a suite of music production tools; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; the Safari web browser; and iOS, a mobile operating system. According to the estimates and reports of August 2010, Apple Inc. functions with more than 301 retail stores in ten countries. It also operates an online store in which the software and hardware products are offered to the customers for sale (Barney 2005, ...