Dissertation on Apple's Key Success Factors

DISSERTATION
(Apple’s key success factors that could be learned from and applied by
other companies in the same industry)
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................7
Rationale...................................................................................................................9
Framework and analyses........................................................................................11
Chapter structure.....................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................15
Factors affecting success of organisation...............................................................15
Significance of various factors in development of business...................................20
Ways to improve organisational performance in global market..............................25
CHAPTER 3- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................28
Introduction..............................................................................................................28
Research philosophy...............................................................................................28
Research design.....................................................................................................29
Research approach.................................................................................................26
Data collection.........................................................................................................29
Sampling..................................................................................................................31
Data Analyses.........................................................................................................34
Ethical consideration...............................................................................................35
Validity and reliability...............................................................................................35
Research limitations................................................................................................36
Scope for future research........................................................................................37
Summary.................................................................................................................38
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DATA ANALYSES..........................................................39
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Introduction..............................................................................................................39
Data Analyses.........................................................................................................40
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................65
Products..................................................................................................................65
Price........................................................................................................................66
Place........................................................................................................................67
Process....................................................................................................................67
People.....................................................................................................................69
Promotion................................................................................................................69
Physical évidence....................................................................................................70
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .............................................77
Conclusion...............................................................................................................77
Recommandations..................................................................................................80
REFERENCES................................................................................................................82
APPENDIX 1...................................................................................................................90
Questionnaire..........................................................................................................90
APPENDIX 2....................................................................................................................95
Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Apple's income statement..........................................................................95
Illustration 2: Samsung income statement.......................................................................96
Illustration 3: Sony income statement..............................................................................97
APPENDIX 3 98
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Model summary, ANOVA and Coefficients TABALES
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Acknowledgement
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor who has supported
me and has given me guidance for completing this dissertation. I would like to thank my
family members who have supported me and have given me inspiration.
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Declaration
I declare that it is my original work and it is not submitted for any other work. I
have faithfully cited all sources and I have used books, journals and internet articles for
completing this dissertation. I declare that there is no plagiarism.
Date 30/03/2018
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ABSTRACT
Apple is a multinational brand, which offers unique products and services to its
consumers. The current study discusses the key success factors that could be applied
by other companies in the same industry and market in order to grow their own market
share. This dissertation covers various components and their possible significance for
the development of other firms. Furthermore, the performance of Apple is examined in
order to analyse various factors, which have supported the company in gaining success
in the UK market.
INTRODUCTION
In today's world, every organisation seeks success and competitive advantage, and to
achieve these objectives, there are key factors playing key roles. It has been
established that there are several factors, which have great impact over the success of
any organization. These include customer orientation (Burke, 2013), innovation (Burke,
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2013), process, placing strategies , leadership (Booth, 2014), digital marketing (Barron
2013), and production (Cloud, 2010). Such as when the firm caters for the needs and
wants of the customers; this bring the organisation success; innovation helps to bring
new ideas, which can also help, in the success of the firm.
Organisations believe a large customer base and excellent brand image are essential.
These are the key factors, which help them to achieve success in the marketplace. In
today's world, customer orientation is the key concept at which every organisation work.
Customer orientation is the way by which an organisation can find the demands and
desires of customers and then try to produce those goods, which, first, serve the highest
level of satisfaction and, second, cannot be supplied by other
organisations/competitors .
In addition, innovation is another factor that helps the organisation to gain a
competitive advantage and success. It has been identified that there are several factors
that help the venture to gain success. In today's era strengths are called core
competencies of the venture (Yeoh and Popovič, 2016). When it comes to the plans of
the venture, strategic and tactical plans help the organisation to gain success. In brief,
businesses need to write and execute the different plans made by them, if they want to
move towards success.
Moreover, leadership is another key factor that helps the venture to gain
competitive advantage. Every organisation has expert people to focus on the big picture
in order to convert the plan into real life implementation. These leaders “must neither be
lost in the trenches; nor consumed with putting out fires; nor grinding their own axes.
They must be there for the business, and able to guide in powerful and sensitive ways”.
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