Apple's Core Marketing Strategy and Business Orientation: Case Study

This case study examines Apple's marketing and management strategies, focusing on its corporate objectives, market orientation, and core marketing strategy. Apple's corporate objectives are centered around creating high-quality, innovative products that drive profit and satisfy shareholders. The firm's business orientation is a blend of product and marketing orientations, allowing it to maintain a niche market segment with premium products and pricing. Apple's core marketing strategy emphasizes product-based planning, highlighting high-quality products with significant innovation, supported by premium pricing and less reliance on traditional advertising, which helps maintain brand reliability. The report concludes that Apple's success is rooted in its product innovation and effective marketing functions, despite limited brand acceptance among middle-class consumers due to its premium pricing strategy. Desklib provides students access to similar solved assignments.

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Marketing and Management
A case study of Apple

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Corporate Objectives.........................................................................................................................3
Market Orientation............................................................................................................................3
Core Marketing Strategy....................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................5
References.............................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Business organizations in pursuit of business excellence and survival in the market look
to set business orientation. This further determines practices to be followed in course of
business operation. This particular report has discussed business orientation in relation to a
case study of Apple. The corporate aim as well as a core marketing strategy of the firm has
also been mentioned in this report.
Corporate Objectives
Business operations need effectiveness for ensuring that the purpose of business could
be met. Thus knowledge of business objectives plays a vital role in driving business operation
towards the attainment of goals which are also known as corporate objectives. Corporate
objectives of Apple represent thought for its stakeholders as the firm always expresses
concerns for shareholders and society along with employees and this propels them to conduct
business with a motive of making a profit for business as well as shareholders. Corporate
objective of Apple swings on its products and this enables the firm to stay more purposeful
on its quality based on the belief that greater quality of products is the only ground of
achieving higher profit to satisfy business needs as well as shareholders of the firm (Hingley,
Custance, Lindgreen & Lindgreen, 2016). Therefore the objective of the company is making
of profit as a typical intention of business but what is standout from the firm’s standpoint is
the achievement of innovative capacity which could be transmitted into the products’
functionality and usefulness.
Market Orientation
Business always undertakes viable commercial views to achieve maximum growth in
the industry. This supports the need for business growth with maximum profit and similar
strategies are looked upon for leveraging business potentials to capture maximum
profitability. This concept arises from a basic push of business and is known as market
orientation which offers market dominated concerns and awareness to strategy arrangement
and implementation for business growth (Pride, 2017).
Production concept involves a focus on production related practices which look to
prepare the standard products as per clients’ specification. However, a much-highlighted
production concept has many to do with products but marketing is not always ignored. This
remains comprehensive according to Apple’s practices that include the production of

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innovative products along with marketing functions to ensure the demands of customers are
met.
Selling concept involves selling functions of a firm to ensure products availability. This
takes the assistance of distribution and functional aspects of products for building higher
possibility of acceptance in markets. This concept seemingly surpasses concept of marketing
but is largely dependent on marketing and its efficacy (Pride, 2017).
Figure - Different marketing management orientations
(Source: www.standingtech.com)
Business orientation of apple is a combination of the product as well as marketing
orientation. Initial responses related to products’ post-launch session from customers affirm
this. High-end innovative products ensure more strength to the firm’s product lines and the
brand showcases its products’ functional aspects with help of efficient production team. In a
competitive industry, the firm has been able to maintain its niche market segment based on
premium products-premium pricing strategy (Laing, 2013). Still, the firm is able to retain its
market share. Example - iPhone smartphones of Apple are costly and innovative which serves
premium segments of the market. Moreover, prices are hardly slashed down and products are
largely accepted by customers even competitors’ products exist in markets. This is owing to
better marketing strategies out of the marketing concept and marketing orientation of the
firm.
Core Marketing Strategy
The important marketing strategy of Apple is tied with its product based planning
which highlights the best quality products with high innovation. The firm always looks to
maintain its products perception in markets for attracting customers of the high-income group

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having a fondness of upscale products (Arshi & Chugh, 2013). This meets with marketing
planning such as premium product and related quality perception supported by premium
pricing. The firm believes that if products are of well quality then customers always feel
inspired to pick their favorite products even those are high priced. Moreover, Apple
maintains its high perception of products with less amount of effort on advertisings. Apple
products are endorsed through media relations and trade shows (Singh, 2004).
Less amount of advertising and marketing efforts help the firm to heighten the brand
reliability among existing and new customers. Premium pricing strategy also supports the
premium quality of products and perception remains high (Giridhar, 2017). The overall brand
acceptance is not adequate among middle-class customers. Low marketing efforts diminish
the possibility of additional sales volume.
Conclusion
Core marketing strategies and business orientation of Apple have been discussed in this
report. The firm has effective product lines which are high priced. The success of the
company is based on products’ innovation and marketing functions and these have been
mentioned in the report.

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References
Arshi, T., & Chugh, G. (2013). Strategizing for Innovation: An Empirical Investigation on
Strategic Orientation and Innovation Types. Business And Management Horizons, 1(1),
138. doi: 10.5296/bmh.v1i1.3573
Giridhar, C. (2017). Automate it! - Recipes to upskill your business. Packt Publishing.
Hingley, M., Custance, P., Lindgreen, A., & Lindgreen, P. (2016). Market Orientation.
Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis.
Laing, G. (2013). Different Strategic Types Operating in the Same Industry: A Multiple Case
Study. Business Management And Strategy, 4(1), 71. doi: 10.5296/bms.v4i1.2826
Pride, W. (2017). Foundations of business. New york: Cengage learning.
Singh, S. (2004). Market orientation, corporate culture and business performance.
Aldershot: Ashgate.