Apple Inc.'s Business Strategies: A Comprehensive Analysis

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BUSINESS STRATEGY
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Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
TASK1 ANALYZE THE IMPACT AND INFLUENCE THE MACRO ENVIRONMENT IN AN APPLE INC.
AND ITS STRATEGIES......................................................................................................................4
Business strategy....................................................................................................................... 4
Impact the macro environment which influences the behaviour of Apple Inc..........................4
A stakeholder analysis of Apple Inc........................................................................................... 5
TASK2 ORGANIZATION’S INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND INTERNAL CAPABILITIES......................7
Analyzing the Apple Inc. strategies and capabilities by VRIN/VIRO...........................................7
SWOT analysis of Apple Inc........................................................................................................9
TASK3 COMPETITIVE FORCES WITHIN THE APPLE INC. USING PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL. .11
Task4 SUGGESTION THE STRATEGIES USING THE PORTER’S GENERIC STRATEGY AND
BOWMAN’S STRATEGIC CLOCK....................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 16
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................17
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INTRODUCTION
Apple Inc. is one of the four top companies in tech company.it is an American based company
that deals with design develop and sell the consumer electronic goods, online services and
computer software. Apple Inc. offers hardware products like mobile phone, tablets, music
player, computer, tv, watch etc and software products includes macOS, iPadOS media player,
fingerprint utility etc., which are innovative, unique and user-friendly products.
The report will analyze the impact and influence of the internal and external environment on
Apple Inc. Further, the given report will also identify the organization capabilities and resources
through VRIN framework analysis or the SWOT analysis. Then the report reflects the
competitive forces using Porter’s five forces model. And at last the strategies formation will be
done by using Bowman strategic clock framework model and Porter’s generic strategy for the
growth and competitive advantages of Apple Inc.
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TASK1 ANALYZE THE IMPACT AND INFLUENCE THE MACRO
ENVIRONMENT IN AN APPLE INC. AND ITS STRATEGIES
Business strategy
Business strategy can be defined as a set of the decision and the course of actions which are
taken by the business to achieve the organizational goal and secure the competitive place in the
market (Thompson, 2015). The business strategy provides the long term blueprint of the
directions or the destination to the company. It works as a road map for the company. The
main purpose of the strategies behind the company is to improve the efficiencies, utilization of
resources, meeting challenges and threats, utilizing the opportunities and strength, maintain
the relationship with the workforce, achieved effectiveness and so on. Business strategies are
categorized into three parts i.e. corporate level, business level and functional level (Pisano,
2015).
Impact the macro environment which influences the behaviour of Apple Inc.
Demographic environment- demographic environment involves the factors age, gender, size
location, density, occupation.
Economic factors- economic factors influence the operation of the business. it includes the
economic conditions like inflation or deflation, the stability of exchange rate, unemployment
level, consumer purchasing power, stock exchange market trends etc. (Van Wormer and
Besthorn, 2017). At the time of inflation in the United States of America had impacted the
purchasing power of the consumer this results in the decreased the sale of the product of Apple
Inc.
Socio culture factors- socio-culture environment have a great effect on the sales of the
products of Apple Inc. The social factors such as consumer income level, preference, perception
of consumers etc apple have a great brand image in the market. people considered them as
very innovative and creative but at the same time the products are generally high as compared
to other brands with similar features, this seeks the people to shift in competitor brand (Young
et al., 2017).
Technical factors- this includes the innovation and technique which improves the efficiency of
the business and make the organization different. Today Apple Inc. is positioned in one of the
four top technology companies in the market .in the rapid world technology changes so fast
which influence the production of products and services of the organization. New technology
attracts customers towards the product.
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Legal and political factors- legal and political factors comprise the government interference,
rules regulations and laws. There is several laws and code of conduct mentioned which have to
follow every organization in their working activities.
Natural environment-natural environment condition call to changes in the structure, culture
and the activities in the organization like weather changes, location, port facilities, climate
conditions and so (Van Wormer and Besthorn, 2017).
Stakeholder’s analysis in the Apple Inc.
Stakeholders are the individuals who directly or indirectly involved in the business and their
behaviour affect the activities of the organization. Stakeholders involve the customers,
suppliers, government employees, investors and more. Stakeholder plays a very important role
in the organization.
Stakeholder analysis is the process to take care of their needs and requirement and keep touch
with them. Stakeholder’s participation is very important for Apple Inc. to set objectives and
achieve the desired goals (Andriof and Waddock, 2017). They are the assets for every company
it is very necessary to maintain good relations with them for long substantiality in the market.
Stakeholder analysis helps in managing the expectations and ensures to all the parties that they
are important aspects for the company. Stakeholders of apple Inc. are as following as under-
Government- government plays a center role not in this business but every field. The
government are the regulatory bodies who check the profit margin and the reports of the
company including Apple Inc. to see the tax aspect paid by the company to check the legal
functioning.
Investors- investors are the person in apple Inc. who invested in the project of the organization
or can say that investors are the owners of the company. Although Apple Inc. does not much
invest in advertisements and research so it is very important to maintain the relations with
investors for financially helps. Investors have the right to take the major decisions in the
organization (Jenkins and Williamson, 2015).
Customers-customers are the main element in the business which to the company provide
services and sells their products. The objective of Apple Inc. is to provide the best products and
services to the customers which feature they want in the products and services through
feedbacks and suggestions regularly.
Employees- these are the individuals who work for the achievement of the company‘s goals.
Apple Inc. provides a good salary and working environment to make feel comfortable in the
working culture. Motivation also helps employees to work with better outcomes (Taghian,
2015).
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Suppliers- suppliers are the partners in the business directly or indirectly so the organization
should share all the financial information with the suppliers (Jenkins and Williamson, 2015).
Apple Inc. purchased raw material on credit basis so it is important to maintain relations with
them.
Local commutes- local communities also impact the organization. Local communities' help
Apple Inc. to maintain good quality life, uses environmentally friendly techniques and other
techniques to make sure that company working effectively in the aspect of nature and society.
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TASK2 ORGANIZATION’S INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND INTERNAL
CAPABILITIES
Analyzing the Apple Inc. strategies and capabilities by VRIN/VIRO
Every business has resources such as process attributes information, knowledge, assets; people
etc. in the organization. For examine all the capabilities of Apple Inc., the tool called VRIN
framework analysis used for the competitive advantages in the market (Tamzini and
Boulanouar, 2016).
Value-Apple Inc. uses resources which can bring value in the competitive market. These can
advantage in a competitive market to stand top in the market.
Rareness-a company must use those resources which are not easily available in the market to
all competitors. This advantage can help in capturing huge market share in the industry.
Imitability-this feature of the model explains that all the organization not been able to provide
ideal outcomes.
Non-substitutable-non substitutable explains that those organizations which provide ideal
products have no substitutes in the marketplace.
The below table explained the same in the context of Apple Inc.
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Figure 1 VRIO MODEL
[Source: Kim, 2019]
Organizational Resources and Capabilities of Apple Inc.
Basis Value Rareness Imitability Non-
substitutable
Innovation
capabilities of
human
resources
 
Rapid
innovation set
up
   
Capabilities of
artificial
intelligence
   
Sales and
distribution
networks
   
Automation in
the business
process

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The above table explains the resources and capabilities of Apple Inc. using VRIN framework. The
table shows that three resources or capabilities categorized in the core competence of Apple
Inc. first rapid innovation set up resources enable the organization to maintain high innovation
and it the reason behind the company’s success. Furthermore, Apple Inc. artificial intelligence
capabilities help to develop advanced and efficient products. Sales and distribution network
leads to keep connect with the customers to meet their desires.
Other capabilities and resources such as human capabilities of human resources and
automation in the business process identified as non-core competencies which are common in
the other firms in computer technology, online services and other (Tamzini and Boulanouar,
2016). These capabilities and resources have been valued but not in the top list for Apple Inc.
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SWOT analysis of Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. positioned as a top famous brand in the market today which uses various strength to
grape the opportunities over weakness. Threats are increases day by day in the rapid
environmental changes in technology and competitors (Phadermrod et al., 2019).
Strength:
Innovative-as has seen in the market that Apple Inc. continuous develop innovative products
which been the biggest strength for the company to stand being different in the market. Apple
Inc. came with the mac book then iPod, iPhone, watch etc. and still working to provide best to
customers according to their desires.
Leadership- after the research it came to know that Apple is the largest technology company in
terms of revenues as well as the most valuable company. Apple has the first position in the
iTunes stores which is the world’s largest music retailer.in August 2018 it became the first
public company in the US to be highest valued and many more. These achievements show that
Apple Inc. is being a leader in the industry (Gürel and Tat, 2017).
Design and technology- Apple Inc. has its brand image in the market for its design and the
technology which make unique and being different in the market. Apple always designs a
decent style product.
Consumer focus-apple always develops products in the context of consumers’ preferences in
keeping their mind or even Apple Inc. is one step ahead in thinking and imagination to fulfil the
present as well as future needs of the customers (Bull, 2016).
Weakness:
Incompatibility- Apple Inc. products are operated only on software which was developed by
them and their scopes are very limited, this lead to impact to consumers decision making on
other software like Android, Microsoft which are relatedly low in price with more scopes
(Phadermrod et al., 2019).
High price-being a reputed company Apple Inc. has never been compromised with the quality
of products which leads to an increase in the products price. Apple Inc. products prices are
usually more as compare to other brands so all people can’t afford to buy Apple especially
when the other substitutes are available in the market.
Match Customer expectation- being a leading company in the industry, customer expectation
is always high to day by day. They want more innovation and unique features in the upcoming
products of Apple Inc.
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Opportunities:
Expand services- after provided the excellent services and captures the market in the
electronics sector, apple will want to enter in vehicles market also. It plans to invent the Apple
car by 2020 with unique features.
The growing market- with the high growth and demand of the smartphone of Apple Inc. Asian
countries provide huge offer to expand their business and provide more products with a little
compromise with quality and other features to lead sells their products at fewer prices to
capture the market (Gürel and Tat, 2017).
I watch and Apple TV- I watch and Apple TV captured the 50% market in the US. Now, Apple
Inc. wants to increase the proportion of selling in I watch and Apple TV in upcoming months to
encourages the digital system in other countries also.
Threats:
Laptop competition-although apple products are unique and advance in features but many
other companies such as Dell, Sony which also develops a laptop with top features and design
which create more competition for the Apple Inc. products (Bull, 2016).
Smartphones market-there are many other brands like one plus, Samsung, redmi etc which
also can provide the best feature in less price which transfer customers attraction towards their
products and captures the major market of Asian and African countries. These create a major
threat to Apple Inc.
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TASK3 COMPETITIVE FORCES WITHIN THE APPLE INC. USING PORTER’S
FIVE FORCES MODEL
Porter’s five forces model in Apple Inc.
Five forces model was developed by Michael porter. The main purposes of five forces models
are to analyze the five forces which impact on the completion of the organization. Porter’s
suggested fives forces such as level of competition, the threats of new entries in the market,
the threats for consumers opting substitutes products, the bargaining power of the suppliers
and last the bargaining power of the consumers in the market (Harding, 2017).
A five forces model is the analysis of the competition of Apple Inc. in the market. According to
model, level of competition and the bargaining power of the buyers are the two strongest
forces in the Apple Inc. and the threats of new entries are considered as moderate force and
the bargaining power of the suppliers and consumers opting substitutes are the weakest force.
The analysis of five forces in details as under-
Level of competition:
Apple Inc. facing lots of competition with many other companies like Samsung, Google, and
Hewlett Packard etc nowadays. All of these companies are significantly invested high on the
advertisements, research and development just like apple Inc. to make their products famous in
the market. The other reason for apple Inc. facing completion with other companies is they
design products generally with similar features at low prices. Porter’s analysis is considered the
level of competition in the industry is a strong force as consumers’ easy shift to Apple to any
other brands according to their designs, price, technology and other features (Lüttgens and
Diener, 2016).
Bargaining power of the buyers-
The main reason is low switching price of the companies can big impact on the bargaining
power to the business of Apple Inc. individual bargaining power is a weak force for Apple Inc. as
the individual ratio is too small to impact on business revenues but the whole competitive
bargaining power of the marketplace is a strong force for the apple to influence the business.
Threats of new entries-
An entry of the new organization in the marketplace is a moderate force for Apple Inc.
Establishing a new firm in competition with Apple Inc. Organization requires huge capital,
innovation, cost of brand development, high technique etc. Therefore there are companies
which are large in financially in the industry like Google and Samsung, these companies show
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