Strategic Planning and Business Analysis Report: Apple Inc. Case Study

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Apple Inc.'s business strategy, delving into its mission, vision, objectives, and core competencies to inform strategic planning. It examines the factors considered when formulating strategic plans, including setting goals, assessing the environment, and implementing effective strategies. The report highlights techniques like SWOT analysis, Ansoff's matrix, and stakeholder analysis. It also carries out organizational and environmental audits, utilizing SWOT and PESTEL analyses to assess Apple's strategic position. The significance of stakeholder analysis in formulating new strategies is assessed, emphasizing its role in understanding key stakeholder interests. This report offers valuable insights into Apple's approach to business strategy and its application of various analytical tools.

BUSINESS STRATEGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Business strategy reflects a long term strategic plan for the entire organisation. It is
described as a systematic process of planning and organising the internal as well as external
factors which helps the company to closely accomplish its goals within the pre determined time
frame. In the present era of hyper competition and globalisation, it has become a mandatory
phenomenon to design effective business and corporate strategies in order to survive long in this
vital environment. With reference to such context, the present study will focus on the impressive
business strategies adopted by Apple Inc. which helped it to gain outstanding exposure in the
global market. The report will highlight the essential process of strategic planning within the said
corporation and will help to gain in-depth learning about various approaches of strategy
evaluation.
TASK 1
1.1 Assessing the role of business missions, visions, objectives, goals and core competencies to
inform strategic planning
Apple Inc. is one of the leading and fast growing multinational technology company that
develops, designs and sells computer software, consumer electronics and varied online
services in an impressive way. Its product services ranges from iPhone smartphone to
iPad tablet, Mac personal computer, media player along with Apple smart watch. This
helps the company to render premium and quality services to the overall market economy
laying its major target on the professional individuals (
Wheelen and Hunger, 2011).
With a view to undertake an effective strategic planning process, the said organisation
clearly analyses its core mission, vision and objectives in order to attain the leading heights of
success in an effective manner. The following table reflects the comparative analysis of the
mission, vision, objectives and core competencies of Apple Inc. systematically.
Statements Definition Significance in Apple Inc.
Missions It is a written statement of the business
organisation which defines the core purpose of
the company in the competitive environment.
To maintain strong competitive
edge in the international
economy.
Visions It reflects the future scenario of the
organisation which is required to be
To design innovative products
in order to gain worldwide
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accomplished. exposure in an effective way.
Objectives It relates to the planning and designing of
appropriate actions with a view to achieve the
results within standard time frame.
The crucial objective of Apple
Inc. is to meet the highest level
of customer satisfaction.
Goals Target which are essentially required to be met
in the near future.
To expand its business
operations across the globe and
enhance its products with a
view to beat its competitors.
Core
competencies
Providing with potential capacity to expand the
business operations across the globe.
Making strategic alliance with
developed technological
companies with a view to bring
innovations in its products and
services in an impressive way.
From the above comparative analysis it becomes easy for Apple Inc to effectively
analyse its mission, vision, objectives and core competencies in the line of framing impressive
strategic planning in order to achieve the heights of success within standard time frame.
1.2 Factors to be considered when formulating strategic plans for Apple Inc.
Strategic plan formulation reflects a systematic phenomenon of selecting the best and
correct plan of action which assist the organisation towards the direction of closely
accomplishing the set targets within short span of time. In order to formulate an
appropriate strategic plan, Apple Inc lays its significant concern over the following steps-
 Setting organisation’s goals and objectives- It is the most essential step which
requires the said corporation to effectively set its objectives and purpose of its
business in this tough competitive environment. Doing this helps the company to
evaluate its goals and thereby design appropriate strategic plans to achieve the
organisation’s success.
 Examining the company’s environment- The next step is to clearly evaluate the
overall industrial and social environment where Apple Inc operates its business
activities. This benefits the company to gain deep understanding about the major
needs and demands of its core customers and develops such strategic plans which
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helps it to closely accomplish the highest level of customer satisfaction in an
effective way.
 Implementing appropriate strategy- Finally the company focuses on implementing
the best strategy after evaluating various alternatives in the line of gaining global
exposure in a systematic way.
While implementing the best course of action, Apple Inc is mandatory required to
consider the following factors in an effective way-
 Core competitors- The major competencies of the mention corporation are
Samsung, Motorolla, Micromax etc. Apple Inc in turn is considerably required
to lay its major focus on such competitors and accordingly design its strategic
plan with a view to beat its competitors and gain worldwide exposure in an
effective way.
 Employees skills- The company is also required to lay its attention on the
overall skills and knowledge of its workforce. By gaining an insight
understanding about the crucial skills of employees and their capability to
accept a major change in the organisational structure, the company is then
required to implement appropriate strategic plan effectively.
 Legal and Government policies- This factor plays an important role while
designing an appropriate strategic plan. Apple Inc is crucially required to
consider the essential government policies of US in a significant way and is
essentially required to comply with the legal and regulatory framework to avoid
government intervention and to create customer trust and loyalty towards its
brand image.
1.3 The effectiveness of techniques used when developing strategic business plans
There exist tremendous techniques which Apple Inc implements in order to develop
strategic business plan in an effective way. Some major techniques undertaken by the said
corporation are discussed below-
 SWOT analysis- It is the most flexible and popular technique adopted by Apple Inc
to develop effective strategic business plan. With the help of this analysis the
company is clearly able to analyse its overall internal strength and weaknesses
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along with essential opportunities and threats in the hyper competitive environment
in which it operates.
 Ansoff’s matrix- This technique helps the company to make appropriate strategic
alliance on the basis of various strategies towards the direction of achieving
organisation’s success. With the help of this technique Apple Inc lays its significant
concern over various strategies based on different situations such as establishing
new product in the existing market, establishing new product in the new market,
developing new market with the existing product and diversifying its business
activities across the globe in an effective manner.
 Stakeholder analysis- With the help of this technique, Apple Inc is significantly
and effectively able to analyse the core needs and requirements of its stakeholders.
Doing this would help the company to gain deep learning about the demands of its
key stakeholders and will plan strategies which will lead the company towards the
direction of achieving organisation’s success in an effective way.
TASK 2
2.1 Carrying out organisational audit for Apple and analysing its strategic position
With a strong view to analyse the strategic position of Apple in the hyper competitive
environment, the management of the concerned company focuses on conducting SWOT
analysis and using Ansoff’s matrix. Implementing such techniques will help the company
to effectively carry out the organisational audit in the line of achieving the set targets
within standard time frame.
Strategic position simply reflects the competitive edge of Apple in the tough
trading business environment. It explains the overall position of the said company in the
corporate environment and its strategic alliance with its core competitors. With regard to
such context the company adopts the following tools in an effective manner-
SWOT analysis of Apple- The major strength and weaknesses of the company along
with its threats and opportunities are listed below-
 STRENGTH- Diversified corporate business environment, strong
competitive brand image and powerful strategic alliance with major
competitors like Samsung, Micromax and Motorolla.
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 WEAKNEESES- Major weaknesses of this company is that it produces
high cost manufacturing products. Apart from this the company possess
improper compliance with legal regulations.
 OPPORTUNITIES- Tablet and smart phone market economy is rapidly
expanding. Apple lays its significant concern over capitalizing such
opportunities with a view to expand its business market in an effective
manner.
 THREATS- The company possess extensive threats from its core
competitors like Samsung, Micromax and Motorolla. Apart from this, it
uses expensive products which in turn results in extreme cost to the
company.
Ansoff’s matrix- This technique enables the said entity to make
appropriate strategies in line with achieving organisation’s success in an
effective manner. It helps the company to identify its market growth and
product in the competitive environment. It uses four main strategies to
design appropriate strategies in order to achieve organisation’s success.
These strategies are discussed below-
 Market penetration- It focuses on expanding the existing market
segment with its existing products.
 Market development- This strategy emphasizes on establishing
new and innovative products in the existing market economy.
 Product development- It deals with developing new products in
the new market segment.
With the help of such tools, Apple Inc is significantly able to conduct its overall
organisational audit in an appropriate way which helps it to examine and evaluate its
strategic position in the hyper competitive global environment.
2.2 Carrying out environmental audit for Apple
In order to evaluate the various external and internal factors which seeks to create direct
impact on the overall organisational objective, Apple Inc lays significant concern over
conducting environmental audit in an effective way. To do this, the company focuses on
implementing PESTEL analysis in the following way-
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 Political factors- The major political factors which tends to create negative impact
on the overall business operations of Apple Inc includes high cost of corporate tax
and low rate of value added tax. Both these factors adversely affects the growth
opportunities of the concerned company.
 Economical factors- Economical factors broadly encompasses the crucial EU
policies of UK economy in which the mention business operates. Factors such as
fast growing competition along with total downfall in the product prices negatively
affects the overall business activities of the company in the corporate business
environment.
 Social factors- Here the company focuses on implementing effective CSR
(Corporate Social Responsibility) activities with a view to accomplish the highest
level of customer satisfaction in an effective way.
 Technological factors- With the help of such factors the company is able to
maintain competitive edge in the international economy. By implementing effective
and impressive technologies the said company is able to meet the customers
demands in an appropriate manner and is also able to beat its line of competitors
effectively.
 Environmental factors- By critically examining the various environmental factors
in which the business operates the company is able to effectively beat its rivalry
firms and gain global exposure within the standard time frame.
 Legal factors- Apple Inc lays its significant attention over getting in total
compliance with the legal and regulatory framework. Doing this helps the company
to avoid government intervention and gain customers loyalty and trust in an
impressive way.
With the help of all such factors, the said company is easily able to conduct its
environmental audit in an appropriate way.
2.3 Assessing the significance of stakeholder analysis when formulating new strategy for Apple
Stakeholder analysis plays a vital role while formulating a new strategy for company. It
clearly reflects the core interest of key stakeholders in the decision making process of the
company which clearly helps the organisation to move in the direction of achieving
organisation’s success in an effective way. Critically examining and analysing the essential
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demands and requirements of its major stakeholders, Apple Inc is successfully able to
make effective strategic alliance in line of accomplishing the set targets within limited time
frame.
Analysing the stakeholders tends to create a direct and positive impact on the
overall business activities of the mention company. It assist the corporation in effective
decision making and problem solving techniques thereby helping it to increase its business
productivity and performance across the globe. It aids the said entity in gaining in-depth
learning about its stakeholders which helps it build strong relationships within them that in
turn benefits the company to multiply its business profit by generating higher revenue and
increasing sales.
2.4 Designing a new strategy for Apple
In order to maintain competitive edge and gain customer satisfaction at the highest level,
the present company focuses on creating a new strategy towards achieving its goal. With
this context, Apple Inc lays its significant concern over implementing effective product
development strategies which helps the company to develop new market segment with new
and innovative products. The foremost reason for implementing such strategy is that the
said entity possess a large customers chain across the globe which helps it to achieve the
highest level of customer satisfaction, loyalty and trust in an effective way. Apart from
this, using this strategy helps Apple Inc to develop brand new and innovative products with
exclusive features that seeks to attract the huge crowd of audience thereby increasing its
sales turnover and business efficiency in an impressive way.
TASK 3
3.1 Analysing the appropriateness of using alternative strategies for Apple Inc.
Apart from using Product development as its core strategy, the cited firm should also lay
its considerable attention over the following strategies in an effective way-
 Market entry- The company should try to enter the market with innovative and new
products which catches the eyes of its customers impressively. Doing this would
help the company to gain global exposure within short span of time. To do this, the
said corporation is highly required to capture the new market segment with the use
of advanced and updated technology in a significant way.
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 Limited growth strategy- With the help of such strategy, the company emphasises
on growing on a limited basis but with effective and quality results. This helps the
corporation to enhance and improve its business operations across the globe and
allows it to gain customers trust and loyalty effectively.
3.2 Selecting and justifying appropriate strategy for Apple
Apple Inc should try to focus on using market entry as the essential strategy for gaining
enhancement and improvement in its overall business operations in a significant way.
Following are the points which clearly justify the appropriateness of such strategy for
Apple Inc.-
 Appropriateness- The chosen business strategy benefits the company to increase its
sales revenue by generating higher profits and increasing its overall productivity.
 Feasibility- The strategy is feasible in a way that it renders its staff and the
management with a strong sense of motivation and commitment towards
accomplishing the objective. (Wang and Verma, 2012).
 Acceptability- With a view to thrive long in the vital and competitive environment,
it becomes mandatory that the corporation undertake such strategy where it avails
tremendous opportunities to improve its product and service quality and acquiring
customer trust and loyalty.
TASK 4
4.1 Assessing the roles and responsibilities required for implementing such strategies within the
workplace
Employees, management along with leaders acts a backbone in implementing major
change and strategies within the workplace. It is essential for the company to make clear
understanding about the roles and responsibilities of every individual within the
organisation which in turn helps it to gain the success in an effective way (Wang and
Verma, 2012). The crucial role of employees is to accept the change within the
organisation structure with a positive mindset towards the direction of achieving
organisation’s success. Furthermore, the role of management is to implement appropriate
and useful strategy within the pre determined time frame that benefits the company to beat
its line of competitors in an effective way. Finally leaders are essentially responsible for
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implementing effective training and development sessions which helps the workforce to
accept the change and work with strong dedication and commitment towards achieving the
success of the company.
4.2 Analyzing the requirements of resources for implementing a new strategy in Apple Inc
The said company is essentially required to develop core resources necessary for
effectively implementing a new strategy within the workplace. With this regard, the
present company focuses on undertaking impressive human resources with effective and
appropriate skills that benefits the company to gain success (Teece, 2010). Also the cited
corporation is required to focus on its financial resources and implement such strategy
which avoids the wastage of funds in a significant way. Furthermore, Apple Inc is also
required to lay its considerable attention on its overall organisational structure and its
existing resources to implement a new strategic plan.
4.3 Contribution of SMART targets to the achievement of strategy implementation in Apple
The stated company examines the core contribution of SMART targets in the following way-
S (Specific goal)- It essential for the corporation to set general and specific goals. Doing this
would benefit the organisation to achieve a clear understanding about its main purpose in the
business environment.
M (measurable)- The goals and objectives of the organization should be in a manner which are
measurable in both the quantitative and qualitative aspects. The concerned company should
develop the goals that are measurable in terms of the progress and growth of the company in
effective way.
A (Attainability)- The said entity here, examines and evaluates various ways to closely
accomplish the set goals and objectives in the prescribed time frame. It establishes the skills,
attitudes and abilities to reach the organisation’s goal (Chaffey and White, 2010).
R (Realistic concept)- With regard to the present case scenario, it is essential for Apple Inc to
develop a realistic goals and objectives which reflects a substantial and effective
development of the entire organizational structure.
T (Timely completion)- The company should undertake such strategy which provides the
corporation in accomplishing its objective in a secured and timely manner.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that Apple Inc is effectively able to implement
appropriate business strategies for its overall growth. The report helps to gain in depth
understanding about various strategies undertaken by business organisation in the light of
achieving organisation’s success in an effective way. Also the report helps to gain deep
learning about various resources along with major roles and responsibilities of individual
within the work area to impressively accept major change within the organisation.
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