Apple Inc. Environmental Scan Report: Market Entry and SWOT Analysis

This report provides an environmental scan of Apple Inc., assessing its position within the competitive computer and mobile industry. It examines Apple's brand value, pricing strategies, and the impact of consumer behavior. The analysis incorporates Porter's Five Forces and a SWOT analysis to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report emphasizes the importance of market entry strategies, particularly in developing countries, and the need to adapt pricing and production to local market conditions. It highlights the significance of innovation, brand loyalty, and strategic initiatives to maintain a competitive edge, including setting up new production units and addressing security concerns. References include studies on pricing strategy, innovation, and global branding, supporting the recommendations for Apple's future growth and market dominance.

APPLE Inc.
Environmental Scan Report

Environmental Scan Report
•Apple has competitors in the industry and at a
lower price bracket.
•Apple has immense brand value and brand
recall in the market (Steenkamp 2014).
•The production cost can be reduced with new
units at different locations.

About the Industry
•The computer and mobile industry is highly
competitive.
•Consumer loyalty changes frequently.
•The pricing strategy paves the way for a
company to rise or fall in the market
(Danziger, Hadar and Morwitz 2014).
•Consumer oriented and Innovative in nature.

About the Organization
•Apple Inc is one of the leading brands in the
mobile and computer industry.
•The primary objective is of incorporating
innovation and creativity (Dul and Ceylan
2014).
•Creating a class appeal with their products.
•Focus on pricing strategy.

Application of results to the Decision making
•The market entry has to done keeping in mind the
requirement of the target group.
•The pricing has to controlled according to the
economics of the target market.
•New production units have to be set up in other
countries.
•Increasing the security to prevent information
spreading online.

Lessons learnt
•For Apple, to emerge as victorious in
developing markets, pricing has to be kept in
check.
•The brand value will attract new consumers
in the market.
•Apple Inc. needs to merge with existing
companies in the market to gain consumers.

Supports the Concept
and ideas from learning
•The developing countries have a market that
can provide profit to the company.
•The brand value will enable them to conquer
the competitive brands.
•Strong supplier base allows them to have
sufficient stocks in the retails.

Strategic Initiative Plan
Action
Plan
Facilitators Target
date
Outcomes
Opening up
production
units in the
developing
countries.
Research and
Development
team &
Production
management.
One year Local
production
will lead to
reduction on
the overall
product price.
Merger with
telecom
companies in
developing
nations.
Marketing
department
One year Merger will
bring in more
consumer
from the
telecom
company to
Apple Inc.

Alignment with organization culture
•The company promotes innovation and thus
the setting up of new production units will
further add to the existing culture.
•The motive to maintain the brand value by
working competitively makes sure that new
markets can be conquered.

Reference
Danziger, S., Hadar, L. and Morwitz, V.G., 2014. Retailer pricing strategy and consumer
choice under price uncertainty. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(3), pp.761-774.
Dul, J. and Ceylan, C., 2014. The Impact of a creativity supporting work environment on a‐
firm's product innovation performance. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(6),
pp.1254-1267
Steenkamp, J.B., 2014. How global brands create firm value: the 4V model. International
Marketing Review, 31(1), pp.5-29.

Appendix 1
Porter’s five force-
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.
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.
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.

Appendix 2
SWOT-
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.
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.