BUSINESS STRATEGY OF APPLE INC.

Business Strategy of Apple Inc



1Task 1 - The Process of Strategic Planning1

1.1Mission Statement1

1.2Vision2

1.3Objectives2

1.4Goals2

1.5Core competences3

1.6Issues Involved in Strategic Planning3

1.7Planning Techniques at Apple Inc4

1.7.1The Boston Consulting Group Matrix/ Product Portfolio Management4

1.7.2Stakeholder Mapping6

2Task 2- Formulation of a New Strategy6

2.1SWOT Analysis of Apple6

2.2PESTEL Analysis7

2.3Significance of Stakeholder Analysis7

3Task 3- Approaches to Strategy Evaluation and Selection8

3.1Alternative Strategies8

Market Entry8

Substantive Growth9

Limited Growth9

Disinvestment9

3.2Growth by Acquisition9

4Task 4: Implementation of Strategy10

4.1Conversion of Strategic Plans10

4.2Resource Requirements10

4.3TimeLine for the Implementation of Acquisition Strategy10

5Task 5- Merit Task11

5.1Impact of Environmental Factors and Competitor Behaviour on Apple Inc11

5.2Effectiveness of Strategy13

6Task 5- Distinction Task13

6.1Evaluation of Effectiveness of the Strategic Planning Process in Apple over the Last Three Years13

6.2Recommendations15

References18

Business Strategy

Task 1 - The Process of Strategic Planning

The leading handset manufacturer in United Kingdom is Apple Inc., with iPhone sales making up 28 percent of the market (Stevenson, 2012). Apple has earned, over the years, a strong repute for innovation, simplicity, beauty, and quality. With emergent strategic planning, Apple supports the product decisions of company, by taking advantage of emerging and new trends thus further sustaining its competitive advantage. The focus of this paper is to strategically analyse Apple Inc. This paper seeks to find out that in a rapidly changing world, what would the future hold for the tech- giant; how resources should be allocated by the company between its newer products (iPods, iPhones, Apple TV, etc.) and its more traditional offerings (computers) so as to sustain and enhance its market position.

The UK arm of Apple offers notebook (MacBook) and desktop (Mac Pro and iMac), servers, personal computers, and peripheral displays. Other products include tablet devices (iPad), multimedia and operating system software, portable multimedia players (iPod), wireless networking equipment, wireless handsets (iPhone), and third-party hardware and software. A video and music downloading service known as iTunes is also operated by Apple, and it offers online services for instance e-mail and Web hosting as its Mac package part. The company markets to corporate customers, consumer, education, and government. In addition to via electronics retailers, resellers and distributors, Apple sells directly online and from its chain of retail stores (Hoover's Company Profiles, 2013).

Mission Statement

A mission is long-term purpose of an organization. In the form of a mission statement, a mission is often written down. A mission statement, ideally, contains explicit direction about the strategy and goals, including what will be done (i.e. product, service), by whom, how, for whom, and why the end result is valuable. A mission of a company explains what the company does (Pitt & Koufopoulos, 2012, p.102- 103).

The mission statement of Apple Inc. is "Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices" (www.retailindustry.about.com.com/).

Vision

Vision provides the compelling vision or image of what an individual or ...