BUS475: Apple's Global SWOT Analysis and Business Opportunities

This report presents a comprehensive SWOT analysis of Apple, examining its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats from a global perspective. The analysis highlights Apple's strengths in innovation, brand recognition, and customer base, while also addressing weaknesses such as compatibility issues and pricing. The report identifies opportunities for growth in cloud services and technological advancements, and considers potential threats from competitors like Samsung. Measurable objectives are set for increasing revenue through cloud services, improving compatibility, and enhancing security to maintain a competitive edge. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting to external influences and leveraging opportunities for sustainable growth in the technology market. The analysis includes evaluation metrics such as return on capital employed, customer satisfaction, and cost of customer acquisition to assess the effectiveness of the proposed strategies. The report concludes with a discussion of the importance of maintaining a strong brand image and delivering value to customers in the face of increasing competition.

Running head: BUSINESS ANALYSIS
BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Apples’ Opportunity to grow:
Apple is an established brand that has created its identity by creating a strong client
base and premium quality (Apple.com, 2020). The company has marked its position in the
market by creating significant competitive advantages, all the products of the company can be
linked to one another seamlessly through an effective ecosystem, thereby contributing to the
overall consumer experience (Clemons, 2019). However, irrespective of the strategies of
differentiation, the brand should respond to external influences that offer the opportunity to
grow and threatens the position at the same time.
In the previous discussion, Apple was recommended to act upon the opportunity of
differentiating itself by focusing on the unmet areas by most of its competitors, storage in the
cloud with accompanied compatibility. The response to the issue of compatibility can be
answered by a seamless technological network. The opportunity of focussing on cloud
services and growth was chosen for constructing another strong set of competitive advantages
so that the company can stand out amongst its competitors like Samsung which offers
Android products with ease of compatibility. The rationale behind selecting the opportunity
of focusing on cloud services is to grow the business with the most profit-making segment.
Apple is being experienced in stimulating revenues through the sales of its cloud services
(Krasnv, 2013). Cloud services of Apple can respond to their need for competition with the
flagship brands so that a customer paying a premium price for Apple products can witness a
complete quality experience for the paid value (Rashid & Chaturvedi, 2019).
Measurable objectives:
Objective 1-
 Apple will focus on increasing the revenue by 20 percent for responding to the
opportunity of growing business through cloud services.

2BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Timeline-
 Apple will accomplish this objective within a period of 12 months, with positive
results reflecting within six months.
Responsibilities:
The R&D team will collaborate with the marketing team in creating cloud services as
per the demand in the market for a collaborative approach towards increasing revenue
through high market demand.
Evaluation Metrics:
 Return on capital employed- This will help in assessing the investment both human
attention and cost directed for the rate of increased revenue.
 Volume- The number of subscriptions accomplished will also reflect the increase in
overall revenue.
Action Time
-Estimation of overall revenue from
services in comparison with products
3 months
-Tracking back the revenue generated
from cloud services for a range of
period
6-12 months (periodic)

3BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Reason for appropriateness:
In the age of increasing competitors in the mobile and computer hardware business,
Apple needs to concentrate on the value-added services for distinguishing itself and stimulate
revenue
Objective 2:
 By offering better compatibility and price value to loyal and potential customers, the
company can grow or improve its cloud services.
Timeline:
 The goal can be accomplished within a frame of 12 months.
Action Time
Market research for price preference 3 months
Working on costing for incorporating
compatibility
3 months
-Establishing improvements and
communicating for increasing demand in the
market
- Witnessing results
2 months
Between 6th to 12th month
Responsibilities:

4BUSINESS ANALYSIS
In this case, the responsibilities will be categorized amongst the Research and
Development team and the market research team. The market research team will be
responsible for investigating the preferred cost accepted by the target customer base for the
existent cloud services and this information will help the R&D team to improve the
compatibility of the services. Moreover, the marketing team will also act effectively by
establishing communication about improved compatibility and pricing values.
Reason for appropriateness:
Better compatibility and price will help the company to gain a competitive advantage over
more recognized cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox for sharing and storing files.
Evaluation Metrics:
 Customer satisfaction- Identifying the improvement in overall customer satisfaction
will denote the success of improvement.
 Return on investment- The actions of employing preferred pricing and compatibility
should be in sync with the profit margin for sustaining the image and cost of
operations.
Objective 3:
 By increasing security and removing restrictions, Apple can grow with the help of its
cloud services
Timeline:
 The result will be witnessed within 24 months.
Action Result
Understanding the market demand and
competitors’ value
3 months
Incorporating better security and removal of 6-8 months

5BUSINESS ANALYSIS
operating restrictions by control over the data
centers
Implementation and results Between 9th to 24th month from design
Responsibilities:
In this case, the responsibilities will be majorly dependent on the R&D department for
ensuring the factors of security and seamless operations for better customer service. The
marketing research team will gather information on the competitors' offerings for a
distinguished result.
Reason for appropriateness:
Despite investment in cloud services, customers have an experiences data breach and
seamless accessibility, which needs to be addressed for maintaining reputation and market
position.
Evaluation Metrics:
Efficiency- The efficient performance of the new system will only decide the security and
seamless operational features.
Cost of customer acquisition- Alignment between the cost directed towards acquiring or
maintaining a customer base with improved security and seamlessness.
References:

6BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Apple.com (2020). Apple. [Online] Retrieved from https://www.apple.com.
Clemons, E. K. (2019). Resources, Platforms, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: How
to Win and Keep on Winning. In New Patterns of Power and Profit (pp. 93-104).
Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Krasnv, J. (2013, March 29). Apple CEO Tim Cook: Innovation Doesn't Mean A New
Gadgets. Retrieved June 22, 2013, from Inc.: http://www.inc.com/jill-krasny/tim-
cook-apple-rivals.html
Rashid, A., & Chaturvedi, A. (2019). Cloud computing characteristics and services: a brief
review. International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering, 7(2), 421-426.