Strategic Alliances and Partnerships: Apple's Competitive Advantage

This report analyzes the strategic alliances and partnerships of companies, specifically focusing on Apple's collaborations to enhance its competitive parity in both domestic and international markets. The report highlights Apple's partnerships with Salesforce and IBM, examining how these alliances contribute to its strategic advantages. The collaboration with Salesforce, particularly the integration of 'Siri,' and the partnership with IBM for big data and analytics capabilities are discussed as key examples. The report concludes that strategic partnerships are crucial for companies to maintain a distinct market position and achieve shared profits through collaborations. The report references several sources to support its claims, offering a comprehensive understanding of strategic alliances in the business context. This report provides an in-depth look at how corporate strategy and strategic alliances function together, offering insights into real-world applications and outcomes.

Strategic Alliances and
Partnerships
Student’s Details-

Introduction
 Strategic alliances and partnerships are used by the companies for enhancing the
competitive parity into the domestic and international markets(Cartwright & Cooper,
2016).
 It is concerned with the formal agreement made between the two parties or
companies to get the profits mutually.
 This strategy is chosen as the partners have shared risks, control and dependencies
which can be helpful in the long run.
 This can be well understood from taking example of Apple that has made several
strategic partnerships for getting profits.

Strategic Partnerships by Apple
 Apple has made strategic partnerships with another software company
salesforce for bringing several features for the customers.
 The collaboration between Apple and Salesforce has brought the ‘Siri’ that
has provided a competitive advantage to the companies(Welch, 2018).
 Besides, Apple has made partnerships with IBM to make use of the big data
and analytics capabilities to iPhone and iPad(Satell, 2014).

Conclusion
 To conclude, it can be said that corporate strategy can help the company to
maintain a different position in the market place.
 Strategic partnership is a competitive strategy to be used by the company
to make the collaborations with the other companies that can be helpful in
getting shared profits.

References
 Apple . (2014, July 15). Apple and IBM Forge Global Partnership to Transform Enterprise Mobility.
Retrieved Januray 7, 2020, from Apple: https://www.apple.com/in/newsroom/2014/07/15Apple-
and-IBM-Forge-Global-Partnership-to-Transform-Enterprise-Mobility/
 Cartwright, S., & Cooper, C. (2016). Managing mergers acquisitions and strategic alliances.
Routledge.
 Jiang, X., Yang, Y., Pei, Y., & Wang, G. (2016). Entrepreneurial orientation, strategic alliances, and
firm performance: Inside the black box. Long Range Planning, 49(1), 103-116.
 Satell, G. (2014, December 10). What's Behind The New Apple-IBM Partnership? Retrieved
Januray 7, 2020, from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/12/10/whats-behind-
the-new-apple-ibm-partnership/#9469e342ec6e
 Welch, C. (2018, September 24). Apple and Salesforce create a strategic partnership to bring Siri
to enterprise customers. Retrieved January 7, 2020, from The Verge:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/24/17895794/apple-salesforce-partnership-ios-siri-enterprise-
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