SWOT Analysis: Comparative Study of Apple Inc. and Starbucks Coffee

This assignment explores the strategic positioning of Starbucks using a SWOT framework to understand its competitive advantages and areas for improvement. It delves into how Starbucks has maintained its position among the world's most admired companies by leveraging core competencies like brand reputation and customer service, while also addressing challenges such as market saturation and competition from local cafes. The analysis extends to external factors like economic fluctuations and changing consumer preferences that influence business opportunities and threats. Furthermore, the assignment outlines strategic growth strategies for new coffee shops, focusing on budget-friendly marketing approaches, value propositions for student demographics through discounts, and enhancing customer experience with loyalty programs and delivery services. Feedback mechanisms are suggested to refine these strategies continually. This dual analysis aids in understanding both established giants like Starbucks and emerging players in the competitive café industry.

Running Head: Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
Strategic Management

Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
Table of Contents
Question 1..................................................................................................................................2
Procter & Gamble...................................................................................................................2
Apple Company......................................................................................................................3
Starbucks................................................................................................................................4
Question 2..................................................................................................................................5
SWOT Analysis of Café Chit-Chat........................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7
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Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
Question 1
Strategic management is concern about the planning and construction of strategies
that are implemented to ensure the development of the organization. As per the Fortune
“Most Admired Companies” 2010 the top 10 companies were: Apple, Google, Berkshire
Hathaway, Johnson & Johnson, Amazon.com, Procter & Gamble, Toyota Motor, Goldman
Sachs Group, Wal-Mart & Coca-Cola (Fortune, 2010). In the list of most admired companies
of 2017 following companies are included: Apple Computers, Amazon.com internet services
and retailing, Starbucks food services, Berkshire Hathaway, Disney Entertainment, Alphabet
Internet services and retailing, General Electric Industrial Machinery, Southwest Airlines,
Facebook Internet Services and Retailing & Microsoft Computer Software (Fortune, 2017).
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble was the company that was listed in most admirable companies
in 2010 but was not added in the list of 2017, one of the reasons that could be cited is that
there were many products launched by P&G but the thing that could be noted is that those
were not innovated by Procter & Gamble and this might be the reason of the downfall that the
company faced. The core competencies of P&G are that it sets the challenging goals but yet
they are the acceptable one. They believe in grabbing the opportunity and setting up the trend
in the market. The strategies of P&G are unique as well; they adopted the formulation,
implementation, and controlling strategies so that corrective actions are immediately taken.
The HR policy is divergent in P&G they appoint the competent force of human resources and
render appropriate training and development to these competent humans and ensures the
development of the company (Reingold, 2016). The competency that diversifies the company
from the competitors is the on-time decision making by the company. The company favors
the competitive advantages and accordingly take the decisions. They take right decisions at
the crucial times and keep a viewpoint to consider every small thing so that they do not grow
up to shape a big problem. The business model that the business adopted is innovation. The
company CEO quotes that innovation is considered to be the heart of their business model.
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Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
SWOT Analysis of P&G
Strength
 The company has a good focus on
research and development criteria.
 The focus on quality is high.
 Established the first position in
mouthwash products.
Weakness
 The distribution channel of the
company is not adequate enough.
 Lack of packaging skills.
Opportunity
 They step in the market where profit
maximisation takes place.
 The promotional activities take place
with the advancement in HR.
Threats
 There are many competitors in the
marketplace.
 The global economic conditions are
not good impacting the financial
position of the company (Thompson,
2017).
Apple Company
Apple appeared both the times in the list of Most Admired Companies of 2010 and
2017. Even it leads the list and maintained the top position. The reason being that Apple
always uses the unique strategy; it comes up with something new and better in every launch.
Also, the launch of Apple is as unique as its products. The core competencies of Apple is
primarily it is very innovative and in every product, it introduces new features to attract
consumers and make them raise their desires and enhancing the tension to get the product
(Noren, 2012). The competency that is different from the competitors is that they plan and
predict those things that even do not strike the consumer mind and create the needs. Another
distinct point of Apple is that they never compromise on the price and maintain the luxury of
the product by keeping the prime price that depicts the status and standard of buyers. Also,
the skills and capabilities of the company are proving to be the competitive advantage over
the competitors. The business model that Apple had adopted is innovation. The aim to choose
this business model is to create a new synergy, deliver it in a standardized format and capture
the value of the product and the luxury attached to it. Also, the company focuses on the
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Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
environment-friendly innovative ecosystem so that social obligation gets fulfilled as well
(1000 ventures, 2017).
SWOT Analysis of Apple Company
Strength
 The innovativeness is created in the
technology thereby changing the era
of technology.
 The Apple carries an innovative spirit
within and bounces up with the latest
technology.
 It focuses on brand awareness and
creation of positioning using effective
methods.
Weakness
 The high prices at times become the
cause of concern.
 The losing of legal action resulted in
dropping down the reputation of the
company.
Opportunity
 Introduction of new technology
increase the competitiveness and
competitive advantage is enjoyed.
 The market share gets improvised.
Threat
 With the changing technology the
competition is increasing influencing
Apple to launch something better,
thus tough competition has been
raised.
 Customer shift towards the
competitors rendering similar
technology at the price-sensitive
position (Smithson, 2017).
Starbucks
There is a company that was not earlier listed in the most admired company in 2010
but gained the position in the list of top 10 in 2017. This company is Starbucks that attained
the heights in no time because of its rich flavor and the ambiance that it provides to the
customer. The best thing that made Starbucks reach this peak is that it is environment-
friendly and follows the social obligations. It provides the luxury and richness that benefits
the environment as well. They consider it as the responsibility to pay gratitude to the
environment. The cores competencies of Starbucks are that it provides the focused quality
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Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
product, the services rendered to the customer are optimum and they believe in the care
towards their customers (Connors, 2015). The competitive advantage of Starbucks is that it
provides the rich flavors and quality service along with customer satisfaction at the rate lower
than the competitors to attract a maximum crowd. The competency that distinguishes the
company from the competitors is the supply chain management and the ability to adapt the
dynamic environment. The business model that Starbucks carries is to treat their employee’s
equivalent to the customers (Henricks, 2017). They think of employee satisfaction first than
to customer satisfaction which diversifies the company from other and increases employee
engagement.
SWOT Analysis of Starbucks
Strength
 Starbucks carries good track record.
 It is one of the largest coffee houses
that run in the world.
Weakness
 The coffee is not cost-effective.
 Prices of coffee beans fluctuate a lot.
Opportunity
 The demand for coffee has been
rising in the South Asian market.
 The range of supply is high that helps
in business expansion.
Threat
 The prices of coffee beans are rising
at the great pace.
 Infringement of trademark
(Lombardo, 2017).
Question 2
The hypothetical business selected is Café Chit-Chat that provides food and beverage
services specifically it deals in coffee, the specialty it carries is that it has been set up in a
very creative and innovative manner. Everything from the infrastructure to the coffee each
and every tiny object comprises with the touch of creativity. The competitor of this café is
Costa coffee, Costa was invented by Bruno and Sergio that started its business in the UK and
it has become the largest chain in the UK (Costa coffee, 2017).
The mission of Café Chit-Chat is to gather people over a creamy cup of coffee and
discuss their success with the rich sip enjoying the positive ambiance and making the day
worth countable. The objective of café is to collect people and build up relations, it aims at
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Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
satisfying the customer through the luxury they provide within the relations as well as
through the richness in the flavor of coffee adding the pinch of creativity and coffee art to
enhance the customer’s interest (Ccs coffee, 2017).
SWOT Analysis of Café Chit-Chat
Strength
 The café focuses on the niche market and serve the varieties of coffee that are famous
in different corners of the world and combining them in the single café.
 They serve homemade snacks with the coffee complementing and enhancing the taste
along with elongating the meeting with gathering.
 Location of café is such that attract the youth as well as business and service-oriented
people. Friends could plan their hangouts and even the business meets could be
handled over there.
Weaknesses
 Due to the lack of budget, the location selected is small and a lot of people cannot
gather at the similar moment.
 The cost of the product is high as it is competing with Costa coffee and trying to
maintain the balance of luxury and richness in the taste as well as the environment.
Opportunity
 The café could adopt the promotional activities and launch certain attractive offers or
combos to grab the customer’s attention and increase the consumer base.
 The consumer loyalty discount could be added to retain the customers and increase
the referrals as well.
 Café could launch the best coffee-desert combination every week so that people try
the innovative recipes.
Threats
 The competitors are the major threat to the company, as per this café the Costa coffee
is the major competitor.
 To maintain the customer base and establishing the loyalty program for the customer.
 Managing the budget according to the plan and expanding the business accordingly to
gain popularity (Belcher, 2017).
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Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
On analyzing the internal and external environment through the swot analysis the
problems that have been pointed out is that the café needs to be expanded and for that
huge budget and a good amount of investment is necessary. Therefore in order to collect
the revenue for expansion the rates of coffee and snacks were raised that might affect the
consumer base. The mission and objective should remain intact but the focus on quality
has to be paid so that the consumers are ready to pay the high price for the luxury they are
gaining in return. The special discount could be provided to students who are not able to
pay such a high costs. After evaluating the alternate strategies the alternative that has
been selected is that to maintain the budget and create the positioning the rebates could be
provided as per the crowd (Hand ground, 2017). To retain the student group the student
concession could be provided to them also gaming area could be installed so that they
stay in café for long and refer to other people as well. This strategy could be implemented
by drafting the blueprint and adding on the new items in the menu along with the combos
and rendering gifts with certain combos. The budget of the quality product should not be
compromised. These amounts could be adjusted and covered by opening up the home
delivery scheme as well so that maximum people could avail the services. After
implementing the above-mentioned strategies there is a need to collect the feedback from
the consumers so that the position of business could be analyzed and the necessary
corrective actions are taken to improve the working and focus on the vision.
References
1000 ventures. (2017). Apple’s innovative business models. Viewed on 9th November 2017.
<http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/cs_biz_model_apple.html>.
Belcher. L.M.(2017). SWOT Analysis for a coffee cafe. viewed on 9th November 2017.
<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/swot-analysis-coffee-cafe-15644.html>.
Ccs coffee. (2017). Our vision, mission, & values. Viewed on 9th November 2017.
<http://www.ccscoffee.com/vision-mission-values/#vision>.
Connors. P. (2015). Core competency & competitive advantage. Viewed on 9th November
2017. < https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/core-competency-competitive-advantage-
patrick-connors>.
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Analysing World’s Most Admired Companies
Costa coffee. (2017). A drop of history in every cup. Viewed on 9th November 2017.
<https://www.costacoffee.ae/costa-coffee/the-costa-way/history/>.
Fortune. (2010). World’s most admired companies. Viewed on 9th November 2017.
<http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/2010/>.
Fortune. (2017). The world’s most admired companies. Viewed on 9th November 2017. <
http://fortune.com/worlds-most-admired-companies/list/>.
Hand ground. (2017). 6 coffee shop marketing strategies that cost less than $100 a month.
Viewed on 9th November 2017. < https://handground.com/grind/6-coffee-shop-
marketing-strategies-that-cost-less-than-100-a-month>.
Henricks. M. (2017). The Starbucks business model. Viewed on 9th November 2017.
<https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/173256>.
Lombardo. J. (2017). Starbucks coffee SWOT Analysis. <http://panmore.com/starbucks-
coffee-swot-analysis>.
Noren. E. (2012). The Subscription business model. Viewed on 9th November 2017.
<http://www.digitalbusinessmodelguru.com/>.
Reingold. J. (2016). Can P&G find its aim again? Viewed on 9th November 2017.
<http://fortune.com/procter-and-gamble-david-taylor-fortune-500/>.
Smithson. N. (2017). Apple Inc. SWOT Analysis & Recommendations. Viewed on 9th
November 2017. < http://panmore.com/apple-inc-swot-analysis-recommendations>.
Thompson. A. (2017). Procter & Gamble SWOT Analysis & Recommendations. Viewed on
9th November 2017. < http://panmore.com/procter-gamble-swot-analysis-
recommendations>.
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