Report: External and Internal Assessment of Apple Inc.'s Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive external and internal assessment of Apple Inc., focusing on its strategic position within the market. The analysis employs Porter's Five Forces model to evaluate external factors such as competitor threats, customer bargaining power, new entrants, supplier bargaining power, and substitute products, providing insights into the competitive landscape, particularly in developing economies. An internal assessment is conducted using the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) framework, highlighting Apple's brand value, high pricing strategy, market demand, and data breach concerns. The report emphasizes the importance of aligning product development and marketing strategies with the needs of target markets, suggesting potential mergers with local organizations to enhance market penetration and gain a deeper understanding of consumer preferences. The assessment aims to guide Apple in expanding its presence in developing countries and strengthening its overall market position.

Running head: EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
External and Internal Assessment
Name of the Student
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1EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
Apple inc. is one of the most reputed companies when it comes to innovation and
mobile phones in the market (Heracleous 2013). The brand is huge in its appeal and it has
opportunities to enter into various markets that are yet untouched by it. The company serves
the market of the developed nations but the possibility of its success in the developing
economies is bright and they need to project their products towards them in a better. If such
markets are penetrated then the roots of the company will spread out faster and gain huge
momentum. The strategic plan will provide an external and internal assessment of the
organization.
The porter’s five-force model will provide an understanding of the various external
forces that will influence the growth of the company in either way. The five forces are as
follows-
 Competitor threat- The Company has stiff competition in the developing countries
from other leading brands such as Samsung, HTC and Xiaomi as they provide
products in cheaper price (Cusumano 2013).
 Customer bargaining- People opting for cheaper product and leaving the brand is a
huge threat for apple as it will incur significant loss.
 New entrant- Such a threat is low because no new brand can establish itself aside
Apple because it has a huge brand value.
 Supplier bargaining- The threat is low in this section as there are various choice for
the company to select and get the components and parts. The supplier chain is huge
and hence they can easily shift from one to the other without any problem (Stadtler
2015).
 Substitute product- Such a threat is negligible for the company as the features that a
product from Apple will posses cannot be compared to any other product in the
market.

2EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
The internal assessment can be done with the use of SWOT tool and the various aspects
that come up are listed below-
 Strength- The company has a huge brand value and it will allow them in the
marketing of their products as people are already aware of the brand and the
features that come along.
 Weakness- Apple has a high pricing strategy and such pricing may deter its
growth in the developing economies, as people may not be able to afford such
high price for the products. This will hit the finances and lower the growth in such
markets.
 Opportunity- There is an ample demand for products of Apple in developing
countries and Apple needs to set up production units in such countries so that they
can make and sell in those countries and gain huge profits. The brand value makes
people want to use their products. The research and development team must work
in align with the requirements of the people in the targeted countries so that
people are pulled towards the products with features that are extremely relevant to
their needs (Boso, Story and Cadogan 2013).
 Threat- The breach of information of the users have affected the image of the
company and people shy away from using apple for the same reason. The
competition from other manufacturers in low price also threatens the grip Apple
can command over the markets of the developing economies.
The company has to take steps that are aligned to the needs that are prevalent in the
target market. Their approach for the development of the products and their promotion and
marketing has to be in the form of mergers with the leading organizations of the country that
will be targeted. The assessment provides pointer on which the company needs to work in

3EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
order to gain momentum in the market of the developing countries and spread out the roots
deeper in those markets.

4EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
Reference
Boso, N., Story, V.M. and Cadogan, J.W., 2013. Entrepreneurial orientation, market
orientation, network ties, and performance: Study of entrepreneurial firms in a developing
economy. Journal of Business Venturing, 28(6), pp.708-727.
Cusumano, M.A., 2013. The apple-samsung lawsuits. Communications of the ACM, 56(1),
pp.28-31.
Heracleous, L., 2013. Quantum strategy at apple inc. Organizational Dynamics, 42(2), pp.92-
99.
Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management
and advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.