Analyzing Apple's Strategy: A Case Study with SWOT and Action Plans

This case study provides an in-depth analysis of Apple Inc., a prominent hardware and software company known for its innovative products and strategies. It includes a SWOT analysis, identifying Apple's strengths (brand value, innovative products), weaknesses (expensive products, limited market share), opportunities (loyal customer base, widespread distribution network), and threats (competition, imitation). The study proposes three action plans: cost reduction, introducing a new product line, and employing artificial intelligence, evaluating the pros and cons of each. It concludes that introducing a new product line is the preferred action plan to increase market share and profitability, helping Apple adapt to changing market dynamics and customer preferences. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study tools and solved assignments for students.

Case study of Apple
company

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Swot analysis of Apple...........................................................................................................1
Desired outcome.....................................................................................................................2
Three action Plans..................................................................................................................2
Evaluation of each action Plan...............................................................................................3
Preferred action Plan..............................................................................................................3
Discussion...............................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Apple is a renowned hardware and software company which is known for series of its
products such as iPhones, iPad or computers and the innovative strategies for its operations. It
was founded by Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak Jobs in 1976 as apple computer company of
which the headquartered is located in California. Apple holds 27.37% share in mobile devices in
the market which is second highest as compared to other companies(Strielkowski and
Chigisheva, 2018). It operates product designs or development, sales, marketing and the supply
chain of the company along with its other business area.
Swot analysis of Apple
A swot analysis is a framework of strategic decision making where it identifies its strength,
weaknesses, opportunities and threat which are discussed as under:
Strength Weaknesses
Brand Value: Apple is a well known brand all
over the world because of its its advanced
features and unique designs. It provides its
customers high Quality products which
increase their experience.
Innovative Products: Apple adopts innovative
strategies which bring different products line
with enhanced applications and features.
Design and Technology: The product designs
of Apple are always specific and elegant
because of its technology that provides good
performance to the customers.
Financial Strength: The company is
financially strong which enable it to make
investment and research to develop its products
or services.
Expensive products: The products of a
company are highly expensive or luxury that
target middle or upper class customers only .
Limited Market Share: The company has
limited market share because the products are
not reachable to the lower income
customers(Cheng, et. al.,2021). The luxury
products are not affordable by the customers
which reduces the market share of an entity.
Incompatibility: When the customers buy its
products so they have to remain stay with the
particular software. Apple does not allow third
party software which is most important
concern for the company.
Opportunities Threats
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Loyal customer: An organisation provides new
devices with great feature and quality which
enables it get the loyalty of the customers. This
may also help it to build relationship with new
customers.
Widespread Distribution Network: The
company can spread its network by
establishing third party distribution channel
which assist an organisation to its market and
increase sales in foreign countries.
Competition: Apple has many competitors
such as Samsung, Sony who offers similar
products at lower prices which is a big threat
for a company.
Imitation: An organization has a threat of
stealing of technology by other companies for
sale of duplicate products.
Desired outcome
In order to increase its market share, the company should reduce the cost of its operation or
productions so that the products of a company are easily reachable to all class of customers. An
organisation should also compatible with the other companies software which enable it to make
more loyal customers and increase its sales(Lohrke, Mazzei and Frownfelter-Lohrke, 2020). An
entity should also bring innovative strategies to gain the advantage of competition and bring
advanced feature products to achieve the goal of the business.
Three action Plans
Their are three action plan which company can adopt to achieve the goal of an organisation that
are depicted as under:
Action Plan 1: Reduction in cost
The company may reduce the price of their products by cutting cost of its operations. A
business concern can negotiate for the raw material to make low price products with good quality
and hire new staff on low salaries or wages.
Action Plan 2: New product line
An organisation may introduce new product line to its portfolio which may attract the
customer for new technology or advanced features(Ting and Gray, 2019). The new product
should be of average cost that can be bought buy middle and lower class people as well which
increase the market share of a company.
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Action Plan 3: Employ Artificial intelligence
The company may bring Artificial intelligence which is a new interface for the customer
attraction. This will allow the customer to solve problem with new technique. With the help of
this technology the company may gain the presence in the future.
Evaluation of each action Plan
An evaluation has been made on the above mentioned plans that are described below:
Evaluation of action Plan 1
When the company reduce the cost of the product so it will attract the customer more
towards its products because it is a recognised brand that people want to purchase.
However, when an entity hire new staff in order to reduce cost so it ha to provide training
to them over which the cost will be incurred.
Evaluation of action Plan 2
When a new product line is introduced by a company so it may get various opportunities
to compete against the technology adopted by its competitors and get specific position in the
market by knowing the taste of the customers.
But then, a new product line may incur extra cost and involved risk because customer
hesitate to buy a new product with which they are unfamiliar. If this this strategy is not
successful then company have to bear loss for this investment.
Evaluation of action Plan 3
when an organisation employ artificial intelligence so it assist in increasing its profit
margin and hold strong position in the market(Rognstad, 2021). This will arrange for the latest
apps and advance feature through a series of command.
On the other hand, the implement cost of artificial intelligence is very high and the
development of is very slow and expensive and this will perform inly the task which are
designed or program.
Preferred action Plan
The best action Plan is introducing a new product line in the new market that will assist a
concern to keep pace in the changing environment with various opportunities. This will provide
assistance to the company in knowing the preference or taste of the customers where company
can approach day to day challenges.
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Discussion
Apple can increase the market share by adopting the above mentioned plan and enhance its
profitability level(Duan, et. al., 2022). When the company have good strategy for the product
development then the reports and bloggers always eager to spread message about the new
offerings of a company that people want to learn. This will help a business concern to gain the
competitive advantage.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that Apple have good recognition in the
market because it sales innovative products with latest technology. However its products are not
reachable to every customers due to its high prices therefore it has limited market share. So,
Apple should adopt action plan 2 in order to increase its market share and profitability. This will
provide assistance to an organisation to know likes of the users and provide features accordingly
and can overcome its competitors as well.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Strielkowski, W. and Chigisheva, O., 2018. Social, economic, and academic leadership for
sustainable development of business and education in the future: an introduction.
In Leadership for the Future Sustainable Development of Business and Education (pp. 3-
8). Springer, Cham.
Cheng, et. al.,2021. User-Defined SWOT analysis–A change mining perspective on user-
generated content. Information Processing & Management, 58(5).p.102613.
Lohrke, F.T., Mazzei, M.J. and Frownfelter-Lohrke, C., 2021. Should It Stay or Should It Go?
Developing an Enhanced SWOT Framework for Teaching Strategy Formulation. Journal
of Management Education.p.10525629211021143.
Ting, A. and Gray, S.J., 2019. The rise of the digital economy: Rethinking the taxation of
multinational enterprises. Journal of International Business Studies, 50(9).pp.1656-1667.
Rognstad, O.A., 2021. Revisiting the concept of trade mark piracy in light of sustainable
development goals: a discussion of the Norwegian Apple Case. In Intellectual Property
and Sustainable Markets. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Duan, et. al., 2022. Insight to bacteria community response of organic management in apple
orchard-bagasse fertilizer combined with biochar. Chemosphere, 286. p.131693.
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