Company Report: Situational Analysis of Apple Inc. Performance

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of Apple Inc., evaluating its current performance, productivity, and competitive standing. It begins with an introduction highlighting the impact of competition and technology on business practices, setting the stage for an examination of Apple Inc.'s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). The report delves into Apple's financial performance, including revenue, profit margins, and market share, while also assessing its productivity and competitive position relative to industry rivals like Samsung. Furthermore, the report proposes a future business solution, advocating for the implementation of Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Map methodologies to enhance strategic planning, improve financial performance, and boost customer satisfaction. The proposed solutions are designed to help Apple Inc. achieve incremental value addition by focusing on financial, customer, internal process, and organizational capacity and growth perspectives. The report provides a detailed action plan that includes specific objectives, measurements, targets, initiatives, and associated budgets for each area, aiming to guide Apple Inc. towards sustained growth and market leadership.

COMPANY REPORT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
COMPANY REPORT ....................................................................................................................1
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
THE EVIDENCE REVIEW............................................................................................................8
PART 3..........................................................................................................................................12
REFLECTION FOR EMPLOYABILITY ENHANCEMENT AND LEADERSHIP .................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Every sector and industry faces stiff competition in various markets. This has benefited
customers as they get variety of products. On the other hand, increase in competition allows
companies to reduce product quality in order to attract people. It has now transformed the way of
doing business (Mishra, Mathew and Lau, 2017). Technology plays a crucial role in providing
new methods and processes to produce goods. Innovation in technology has forced companies to
invest huge amount in Research and Development. Thus, by providing new services and
promoting it, people demands are fulfilled. In addition, rise in new companies has created a great
impact on big firms. A new firm has to focus on providing cheap goods to people. Moreover,
they are promoting goods with effective marketing strategies. However, in today's world,
companies are taking help of Database Administrator to develop strategies through balance
scorecard and strategic mapping (Paik and Zhu, 2016). It has enabled them to develop specific
objectives according to organisation performance and capabilities. This has given positive results
in terms of company growth and successful implementation of strategy. This report will show
how Apple Inc. was able to grow using these two methods. For undertaking this assignment
organisation selected is Apple Inc.
PART 1
COMPANY REPORT
1) Complete critically evaluated situational analysis of current performance, productivity and
competitive position of Apple Inc.
Business needs to develop different strategies to grow and develop in the market. It helps
them to sustain for longer term and gain more market share. Strategies are the main pillars for
company to grow. It provides them a way through which operation should be performed. Besides
this, it is a blueprint that describes methods which help in achieving company’s goals and
objectives (Suor, Sturge Apple and Cicchetti, 2017). These strategies are developed according to
market conditions and current performance of the organisation.
Apple Inc. is a MNC that produces high quality goods to fulfil needs of people. They
continuously make changes in their products to attract new people. Apple Inc. uses advance

technology for producing goods (Karlin, Ford and Donnelly, 2015). Due to this, they are able to
grow very rapidly.
The SWOT analysis of Apple is as follows :
 Strengths- Innovative products is one of the strength of Apple. Through this they are
have developed a strong customer base. Apart from this, design and technology of
products gives Apple a major competitive advantage in the market. Another strength of
company is brand equity (Mishra, Mathew and Lau, 2017). It is the first one to become a
trillion dollar market value company in the world.
 Weakness- Apple products are very costly that can not be afford by middle class people.
Due to this they are not able to attract large number of people. Another weakness is that
Apple products are incompatible with third party. This creates a great impact on
consumer decision making.
 Opportunities- With technological advancement Apple can develop more innovative
products. This will enable them to attract large number of people. With this company can
grow in developing countries like India. It is said that Apple is entering in auto mobile
market. So there is great opportunity to expand business in different countries.
 Threats – Apple can face threat from local companies in many countries. This is due to
market penetration in smartphone market (Rogers, Walker and Devitt, 2017). The OS
Android will captured major market share in coming years.
Current Performance- Presently, Apple Inc. is a leading technology company in the world. It
has been involved in variety of products and services. It is now focusing on entering in new
market segment where it can attract more people. Company’s current performance is very good.
It is able to earn huge profits in different countries. Moreover, company’s profits are increasing
every year. The focus and effective marketing of products in countries like India and China has
enabled Apple Inc. to increase customer base as well as market share (Manning, Sciacca and
Alford, 2016). Form its annual report, company’s quarterly revenue was $88.3 billion, an
increase of 13% from previous year.

On the other hand, companies share was diluted with increase of 16 % that is $3.89
which is all time period. The CEO Tim Cook, of Apple Inc. said that company has reached a
milestone of selling its devices reaching 1.3 billion in January,2018. This shows increase of 30%
in two years. Along with this, Apple Inc. operating cash flow is very strong; it is around $28.3
billion. From this, $14.5 billion was returned to investors. This show how strong Apple Inc.
current performance is. Furthermore, by launching new and high tech devices each year Apple
Inc. has provided unique and high quality goods to people. Apple Inc. spends a huge amount on
their Research and Development. This is done to invent technology so that it can be used in
producing new devices ( Neton and Tomes, 2016). Apart from this, Apple Inc. current
performance can be measured from data obtained from Fiscal Report of 2018-Second Quarter. It
shows that revenue were between $60 billion and $62 billion. The gross margin was 38% to
38.5%. Operating expanses of Apple Inc. was between $7.6 billion to $7.7 billion. Other income
was of $300 million. At last, tax rate was approximately 15 %. The Board of Directors declared
that shareholders were given dividend of $0.63 per share. It was payable on 15 February 2018.
Productivity – In terms of productivity, Apple Inc , it has provided best products to its
customers. It produces high quality and advanced technological devices. Apple Inc. does not
compromise in productivity. By using advance machinery and making continuous modifications
in their devices every year, a new and latest device is being introduced in the market. Company’s
current productivity depends on change in technology (Schaufeli and Taris, 2014). It
manufactures devices at low cost and sells it on high price. Due to this, company is able to
generate high profits. It is observed that in countries like India, Apple Inc. products are being
imported. This results in selling devices at high price. Furthermore, due to high quality goods,
Apple Inc. has been able to gain high market share in consumer electronics. This is done to
generate value of products. In addition, it led to an increase in market value of Apple Inc. iOS is
an operating system used in all its devices. This operating system contains advance features that
automatically attract large number of people.
Competitive Position – Though Apple Inc. enjoys a large market share in some major countries;
it has been affected by entering of new companies (Maiga and Larsson, 2015). The biggest

competitor of Apple Inc. is Japanese Company, Samsung. It is giving a stiff competition to
Apple Inc. in many countries like India and China.
Along with this, Apple Inc. has been highly affected in the Indian market. This is because
of entrance of new companies like Oppo, Vivo, etc. These companies have captured the Indian
market by providing products at cheaper costs and have attracted a large number of people by an
effective marketing. By creating attractive advertisements and offering various services, these
small companies have gained a huge portion of pie.
In global world, Apple Inc. the toughest competitor in mobile technology is Samsung.
Apple Inc. lost its position of market leader (Eccles and Krzus, 2017). Besides this, in PC’s,
there are many competitors of Apple Inc. such as HP, Dell, etc. who has created a high impact on
the market. Due to this, in US market, Apple Inc. has lost almost 10% market share. This has
resulted in decline of their sales and profits. Company has acquired some other firms. In
consumer electronics sector, Apple Inc. is growing at a rapid rate but it seems that there will also
be an intense competition in coming years.
Therefore, from above analysis, it is observed that Apple Inc. will have to develop some
unique products and marketing strategies to survive in the market. It must lower their prices so
that middle class people can afford it. This will enable Apple Inc to compete with other
companies. They can earn high profits by retaining customers. Moreover, company has to again
lead the innovation industry by transforming the smartphone market.
2) Proposal for a future business solution through intervention of Balanced Score Card and
Strategy Map Methodologies to achieve incremental value addition
Apple Inc. can use the Balanced Score Card Method for developing goals and objectives
(Järvinen and Balling, 2016) It is a tool for strategic planning and management of system that
includes communication, daily operations, products, services and prices and lastly to measure
and monitor progress towards strategic goals. This method clarifies on its mission, vision and
core values. Along with this, it helps in identifying key performance indicators through which
company can achieve its goals and objectives.

From above figure it can be seen that Apple cash flow is being decreasing since 2015. so
it is essential for them to increase cash flow. Apart from this, it can be seen that gross margin is
also declining since 2105. Hence, they should develop goals to increase GM so that net income
can rise.
Illustration 1: Cash flow

From figure it can be stated that Apple is having highest cash balance in the market as
compared to their competitors. But there is little difference in revenues as other companies
earning are rising every year. So Apple needs to focus on earning more profits.
There are several terms in Balance scorecard that connects overall organisational values
and strategies. These terms are as follows:-
Financial- Cost control and revenue growth
Customer and stakeholder - CRM and CEM
Internal process- Service quality
Organisation capacity and growth – Technology innovations

Strategy
map
BSC Action plan
Objectives Measurement Target Initiatives Budget
Financial  Cost
control
 Revenu
e
growth
Cost reduction
Sales growth
 5% in
three
years
 10% in
two
years
Budgetary
control
$5 million
Customer
and
stakeholder
 CRM CRM survey To retain 3%
customers in a
year
Monthly
survey
$1.5 million
Internal
process
Service quality Service time Reducing
waiting time
To interact
directly with
customer's
$3 million
Organisatio
n capacity
and growth
Technology
innovations
Installing
advance IT
systems
2-3 New
product every
year
Developing
products
$10 million
 Financial – It describes the financial performance of an organisation. It shows that how a
company is able to maintain its position in the market. Apple Inc has a strong financial
position in the market (Davis, Paige and Davis, 2017). It needs to maintain it by
providing new products and services.
 Customer and stakeholder- It views the organisational performance from views point of
customers and stakeholder. Apple Inc. performance is decreasing. It led to a decrease in
market share. The market value of this company has declined in recent time. Thus, it

needs to maintain quality to improve it. Apple Inc. must ensure their customer's and
stakeholder that company will perform accordingly for what it has been established.
 Internal process – In this, quality and efficiency related to company’s products and
services performance are viewed. Apple Inc. produces high quality products (Valukas,
2014). They have highly experienced employees that enables in developing new
products. In addition, it resulted in providing new services to people. There is no doubt
that Apple Inc. devices are of high quality and this makes it as the most valuable brand of
world.
 Organisation capacity and growth - It views organisational performance and capacity
in terms of capital, infrastructure, technology, human resource, etc. Apple Inc. growth is
now at a stable rate. It is growing at slower rate in recent times (Lawrence, 2016).
However, the performance in terms of capital, HR, technology is very effective.
Therefore, Apple Inc. has to focus on how to lower the cost of product in order to expand
in countries like India.
Strategic objectives- It consists of actions or measures that are taken for continuous
improvements in strategies. It will break down the mission and vision in simpler manner.
Through this, it will be easy to move forward step by step. Therefore, by achieving strategic
objectives a company’s goals can be easily achieved. For example – it can include increase
revenue, reduce cost of product, improve efficiency of employees, etc. (Al-Kibsi, Woetzel and
Noura, 2015) Apple Inc can focus on how to increase revenue by expanding operations in
different countries. Moreover, another strategic objective is that Apple Inc. can improve
customer's experience. It will help in retaining them by increasing their satisfaction.
Strategy map methodologies- It is a framework that is a subset of balance scorecard. It helps in
communicating strategies in overall organisation. In addition, it monitors and strategy
performance and execution. Generally, it is used with balance scorecard to analyse performance
of strategic goals and objectives. Apple Inc. can use this for effective monitoring of strategies
(Mishra, Mathew and Lau, 2017). The advantage of using strategic mapping is to ensure that

company’s performance is increasing. It adds value to growth and productivity. It helps Apple
Inc to focus on their strategy.
Strategy mapping- It is the most powerful element in balance score card. It helps in visualising
and communicating how value is created. It shows a strategic map that contains causes and
effects of relationship between strategic objectives. The overall process starts from business
capacity in improving internal process and thus achieving stakeholder and financial objective.
Along with this, it includes key performance indicators. They measure the indicators progress
towards a desirable outcome. Apple Inc. can use this as a tool to improve their market value.
By implementing this, Apple Inc. current operations will be impacted. It will affect their
product quality and employee efficiency (Karlin, Ford and Donnelly, 2015). The reduction in
price of product will create a poor brand image in the market. It will result in decrease in brand
value and goodwill of Apple Inc. Moreover, the major challenge Apple Inc. will face will be
decline in capital. This will restrict company to invest in Research and Technology. With this,
Apple Inc. will not be able to produce high quality goods. This will result in decreased customer
satisfaction. In addition, there will be a decline in the sales and profits.
3) Against enduring value propositions for business to adopt Strategy Map Methodologies
review the wider implications
From above strategic objectives and current market condition of Apple Inc., it is clear
that the company needs to make changes in their goals and objectives. This will help in
generating more revenue and improved product quality (Manning, Sciacca and Alford, 2016). If
these strategies are not implemented, it will lead to a rise in some major consequence. It will
have a direct impact on Apple Inc. growth and development. The wider implications on company
will be on brand image and market value. Along with this, goodwill of company will be affected.
Apple Inc is known for their high quality and advanced technological products. It has been a
market leader for 18 years. However, with emergence of new companies the market shares of
Apple Inc has been highly affected. The major affect is on vast opportunities market like India
where Apple Inc. has just started to expand their business. Company has successfully captured
attraction of youth towards their products. Organisation is providing extra services to people.

Nevertheless, emergence of various companies in this market Apple Inc. has to compete against
them. Companies are providing low cost products to people (Neton and Tomes, 2016). They
focused on middle class people. This as affected Apple Inc. overall growth in India.
By analysing this situation and developed some strategic goals that Apple Inc. must
follow and implement. It will help in redeveloping their goals and objectives by analysing their
organisational performance. Apart from this, it will enable Apple Inc. to go on the right track. By
this, they will be able to find out areas for growth and development. It will be beneficial for
them as their performance will be enhanced; enabling them to beat their competitors and leading
the market again (Morrison, Lee and Leskey, 2016). Furthermore, Apple Inc. can utilise their
resources in more effective way. They can invest more in Research and Development. Thus, with
the help of new technology, Apple Inc. can develop more advanced featured products. It can also
diversify product categories. So providing people with variety of the latest products will help in
increase sales. However, Apple Inc. will get make changes in goals according to market
situations. By increasing customer satisfaction, Apple Inc. will be able to retain them. This can
be done by providing more services to them. It will help in making loyal customers. In this way,
Apple Inc. can maintain its customer base.
If Apple Inc does not adopt balance scorecard in strategy development then it will be
difficult to measure the current performance. Strategy developed will not be proper and it will
further add to expenses (Cliff and Bejaei, 2018). A strategy map methodology will show right
directions to Apple Inc to focus on weak areas so that it can be improved. However, I think that
analysing company’s performance will enable in reducing wastage of resources. However, if not
it will result in failure of strategy. This will restrict expansion and decrease in profits will decline
market value of Apple Inc along with this, company will lose their competitive advantage in the
market.
I think that by adopting these objectives Apple Inc can sustain in the market. Otherwise,
it will create serious consequences for the company. They can lose their market and customer
share. Also, it will be difficult for them to survive (Sales, Schwartz, and Baxter, 2017) Strategy
was developed by evaluating current market conditions of Apple Inc so if it can maintain its