Strategic Business Units for Apple Inc.

STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNITS FOR APPLE INC.
May 25, 2018
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Introduction: Corporation Identification
A Business Strategic Unit is a complete unit of a business corporation or a company that is fully
functional on its own, although it is still part of the main company. There are companies that deal
with a wide range of products or services, with different units operating on their own. This paper
focuses on the Apple Inc.
This American company is an example of a corporation dealing with design, manufacture, and
the supply of music players, computer software, personal computers, media devices, and mobile
accessories. Some of these products include the iPhone smartphone, the Mac personal computer,
the iOS operating system, the iPad tablet computer among other products. It operates
internationally, covering a wide geographical area. These products operate independently and
each represents a business unit within the Apple Corporation.
Figure 1: Revenue by product (Ryan, Lyle & Urs, 2012)
Figure 1 shows the relationship among different Apple Inc. products in terms of
percentage revenue out of sales. iPhone is the biggest selling product compared to other
products. iPod and other music-related products are the lowest selling. iPad is also a good seller
after the iPad. Although Apple Inc. has a good brand name, the iPhone is the most popular
compared to other products. The iPod and Macintosh desktops also have high-quality attractive
features, but they cannot be compared to the iPhone’s popularity in the market (Muhammad,
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Shamsudin & Ul Hadi, 2016). Still, iPhone occupies the largest space on the chart, followed by
the Macintosh brand. Peripherals are the lowest selling in this particular year.
Sources of Sustainable Competitive Advantage
According to Binod & Devi (2013), a sustainable competitive advantage refers to the special
distinctive but high-quality features, characteristics or abilities of a product that cannot be
duplicated by other companies, giving it a long-term competitive advantage in the market. The
Apple Company has multiple business units, each striving on the market competition on its own.
For example, the iPhone smartphone competes with phones from other companies while the Mac
personal computer competes with personal computers from other companies.
For the business units under Apple Company, each has their own source of competitive
advantage. As a corporation, Apple has its own general competitive advantages, which include a
protected ecosystem and a brand which is very appealing. Regarding the protected ecosystem,
the Apple devices run on the iOS operating system, unlike other manufacturers whose devices
run on Google Android. Over the years, the corporation has really built a brand name for itself
(Fleming & Stanway, 2014).
The iPhone has advantages that give it a competitive advantage over Android phones.
First, it is easy to use and is created for any kind of user. Second, its physical appearance is a lot
more welcoming and attractive. It has sleek edges and clean lines, making it more appealing to
the eye. Furthermore, it has a reasonable screen size; not too small and not too big. Its size is
comfortable and easier to carry around. One does not need to struggle holding it to make a call.
The iPhone also has numerous peripherals of high quality (Deepika, Chandan & Rajiv, 2011).
Moreover, the consistent experience received by customers from using the Apple iPhone
gives it an advantage over Android phones. Most of the users love the experience and would
always wait for the latest brand to be launched in the market for them to upgrade to it. Another
thing is the customer care and technical support offered by Apple Inc. Company. The Apple
team offers good help whenever a consumer approaches them for support. Also, iPhone offers a
variety of nice apps which can only be supported by the iOS software. Apple iPhones also
integrates easily with other Apple devices like computers among others.
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