Case Study: Apple Inc.

“Apple Inc. is [known] for bringing to market such products as the Macintosh desktop and

portable computer, iPod and iTunes, and…the iPhone” (Mallin & Finkle, 2011, p. 49). Apple’s success

hinges on their product design and marketing strategies. “As a computer and consumer electronics giant,

Apple [has] expands itself with four core philosophies, which are “Think Different” (continuous,

innovation spirit), direct sale business model, customer-focused services and Apple brand power” (Jinjin,

2013, p. 94). These core philosophies are what has given Apple their edge in the industry and continues to

allow Apple to be successful. The companies “philosophy has always been to create products that

consumers will find easy to use and marry innovative technology to work productivity and personal

entertainment” (Mallin & Finkle, 2011, p. 49).

The driving force behind Apple’s business model was in the way that Job’s approached product

innovation. “Jobs famously said that ‘customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.’

Indeed, he had a remarkable, but not infallible, ability to develop products that consumers would buy and

savor, as well as the confidence, courage, and drive to bring them to life” (Katzenbach, 2012, ¶ 11).

Because of strong leadership “Apple is not only an illustrious innovator and inventor, but also a

successful imitator and strategist” (Jinjin, 2013, p. 94). Apple’s success in business lies in its ability to

“continuously develop the potential of its platform” (Shaughness, 2013, ¶ 4).

By “2003 [Apple made] a decisive turning point in the business model through the integration of

two new technological platforms, the iPod and the iTunes Music store (iTMS). By controlling the

interface between its hardware and content, Apple was able to gain complete control of the multi-channel

platform. By controlling the multi-platform allows Apple to dictate terms to both suppliers and

customers.” (Montgomerie & Roscoe, 2013, p. 291-292). With Apple now being led by Tim Cook things

within the company have changed. The chart below shows how Steve Jobs and Tim Cook Think

Differently in how the company should be ran.

(Lashinsky, 2015, ¶ 8).

Ask you can see Tim Cook and Steve Jobs run things very differently of one another and while it

has to be seen if this change is going to be good for Apple in the long run. Cook has been working on

taking Apple into new markets.

Porter’s Five Forces Model for Apple

(Dudovskiy, 2015, ¶ 1).

In the consumer electronics industry “the threat of new entrants is medium” (Jinjin, 2013, p. 95).

With the high cost of entry into the market and with Apple’s brand power new competition would be in

form of already established companies such as Google. “Customer loyalty, as well as initial investment

costs is [another] form of barriers to entering this industry” (Valuewalk Staff, 2012, ¶ 9).

In the five forces model “the bargaining power of suppliers is low” (Jinjin, 2013, p. 95). This is

true for Apple since their suppliers are highly reliance on them since their “purchases accounts for 30% to

50% of the various suppliers’ revenues” (Valuewalk Staff, 2012, ¶ 7).

“The bargaining power of buyers is high” (Jinjin, 2013, p. 96) with the number of choices and

low cost of switching in the market. Since Apple has control over suppliers they are able to “choose the

supplier it deems cheaper than the rest, which results in price competition among the suppliers, to Apple’s

benefit” (Valuewalk Staff, 2012, ¶ 8).

“The threat of substitute products is medium” (Jinjin, 2013, p. 96). Substitute products war comes

in the form of when a company changes “the kind of material it uses on its next gen products, which

opens the door for substitute products” (Valuewalk Staff, 2012, ¶ 10).

“The intensity of rivalry among competing firms is very high” (Jinjin, 2013, p. 96). Suppliers face

rivalry among themselves in order to work with industry giants such as Apple. “The suppliers here can

also use aspects such as product differentiation, in order to harness price competition” (Valuewalk Staff,

2012, ¶ 11).

Apple’s Rivals in the Personal Computer Industry

Apple’s systems differences with their Macs made PC users “hesitant to purchase a Mac because

of…pricing and…the learning curve involved with mastering its…operating system” (Marino, 2012, p. C-

192). In an “aggressive bid to win over Windows users” Apple has launched their “Switchers campaign”

(Jinjin, 2013, p. 98). In the personal computer industry Apple faces rivalry major with Hewlett-Packard

and Dell. “Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook doesn’t think much of his competitors at Hewlett-Packard

and Dell, slamming his rivals in the personal computer business in front of shareholders” (Caulfield,

2012, ¶ 1). While Apple may not be worried about Dell and HP they do need to look out for Lenovo who

has “widened its lead over rivals Hewlett-Packard , Dell, Acer, and Apple in the PC market during the

third quarter of 2014, according to research firm IDC. Lenovo, evolved into a personal computer giant

after acquiring IBM's PC business a decade ago, now controls a fifth of the world's PC market” (The

Motley Fool, 2014, ¶ 1).

Hewlett-Packard (HP) was “broadly diversified across segments of the computer industry with

business divisions focused on information technology consulting services, large enterprise systems,

software, personal computers, printers and other imaging devices, and financial services. The company’s

Personal Systems Group (PSG), which manufactured and marketed HP and Compaq desktop computers

and portable computers, was its largest division, accounting for revenues of almost $40 billion in 2011”

(Marino, 2012, p. C-193).

Dell offers “a wide range of desktop computers and portables, ranging from low-end, low-priced

models to state-of-the-art, high-priced models. The company also offers servers; workstations; peripherals

such as printers, monitors, and projectors; and Wi-Fi products. Dell also offered an Android-based Streak

tablet computer line and a Windows Phone 7 smartphone in 2012” (Marino, 2012, p. C-194). Dell has

also worked hard to ensure that their customer service is the best that it can be. “Competitors, including

Dell, HP and Compaq, IBM and Gateway, are all pursing even larger market shares, generating more

profit, dreaming of dominating and cornering the computer market” (Jinjin, 2013, p. 96).

In 2010 Apple “entered the market for tablet computers with its…launch of the iPad. By mid-

2012, Apple held a 68 percent share of the market for tablet computers” (Marino, 2012, p. C-192). With

hopes that “Google’s Nexus 7 tablet computer might challenge the iPad” the Nexus 7 just ended up in

competition with “other Android-based tablets such as the $199 Kindle Fire” (Marino, 2012, p. C-193).

HP made a huge mistake in the way that they handled the news of the arrival of the iPad instead

of remaining calm they “overreacted…with a series of painful blunders” (The Motley Fool, 2014, ¶ 10).

Dell followed after HP with also overreacting to the launch of the iPad. While their competition “Lenovo

reacted calmly to the rise of tablets that started with the debut of Apple's iPad in 2010. Today… Lenovo's

Yoga laptops are easily recognizable with their foldable ‘tent’ form factor, its Yoga tablets continue to

surprise customers with innovations such as built-in projectors and subwoofers, and its phone business

will get a lot bigger when the acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google closes next year” (The

Motley Fool, 2014, ¶ 7). The actions of HP and Dell did not only cost them “the PC market, but they also

missed the opportunity to capture a meaningful share of the mobile space” (The Motley Fool, 2014, ¶ 12).

Apple’s Rivals and Position in Personal Media Player Industry

While Apple was not the first one to come up with a portable digital music player Apple did hold

“a 78 percent market share in digital music players in 2011” (Marino, 2012, p. C-194). Apple’s “rivals in

the media player industry [were unable] to achieve a market share greater than 5 percent in 2012” since

“most consumers did not find…reasons to consider any brand of media player other than Apple” (Marino,

2012, p. C-194). For Apple “The iPod was an instant success, becoming the default for the MP3 player

consumer electronics product category, because of its cool design and rich features, including capacity,

download speed and ease of use” (Reder, 2009, p. 193).

While “Apple may be the undisputed digital music player champ with its iPod family of players,

but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its wannabe competitors nipping at its' heels” and now Android has

come out with their own “portable media player” (Daw, 2011, ¶ 4). Other than facing competition in the

Apple’s once winning combination of their iPod/iTunes set-up Apple’s recent changes to “iTunes is

riddled with user interface design problems” (Vihn, 2015, ¶ 1). Apple addressed these issues by updating

their iTunes system to meet the needs of their customers. With the rise of “Apple’s iTunes, the iPod, and

even the iPhone has allowed anyone to carry thousands upon thousands of songs right in [their] pocket”

(Smith, 2013, ¶ 1). Many challengers haven’t been able to compete with Apple “until Spotify arrived in

the U.S.” (Smith, 2013, ¶ 1). The main difference between the two is with iTunes you own the music

though purchases and with Spotify you join a monthly subscription service and stream the music.

Apple’s Rivals and Position in Smartphone Market

“The smartphone industry was once dominated by Canadian giant Research in Motion”

(Investopedia, 2015, ¶ 4). However they were quickly displaced with the release of the iPhone which

“was named Time magazine’s Invention of the Year in 2007” (Marino, 2012, p. C-195) Apple has been

able to be a top competitor in the smartphone market. “Apple’s App Store [has also] helped the company

build strong competitive positions in the markets for smartphones and tablet computers” (Marino, 2012,

p. C-195).

Since “Apple content can only be played on Apple devices” (Montgomerie & Roscoe, 2013, p.

291) this has become a weakness that Google has capitalized on in making its Android platform available

to all hardware companies and not limiting its operating system. “With the market for smartphones

growing rapidly and supporting high average selling prices, competition was becoming more heated.

Google’s entry into the market with its Android operating system had allowed vendors such as HTC,

Motorola, and Samsung, to offer models that matched many of the features of the iPhone” (Montgomerie

& Roscoe, 2013, p. 291). This lead Apple into a patent war with its competitors and “in August 2012 a

jury awarded Apple more than $1 billion in a copyright infringement case against Samsung” (Marino,

2012, p. C-197).

(Barrett, 2012, ¶ 8).

Even after the lawsuit “Google’s Android operating system has allowed Samsung to leapfrog

over Apple to become the largest seller of smartphones in 2011 and early-2012. Most of Samsung’s

market share gains came at the expense of RIM, Nokia, and HTC, since Apple’s share increased as well,

but it seemed clear that Google and its Android partners seemed resolute in the strategic intent of

attacking Apple in its key market” (Marino, 2012, p. C-197).

SWOT Analysis

(Christina Cecil, 2015).

Strengths:

One of Apple’s strengths lies in its core which are to “understand and serve the customer better

than anyone else, forget about everything else, and make sure every little thing you do serves” a purpose

(Allen, 2011, ¶ 3). These core values are what Apple is made of and are a part of everything Apple does.

Apple also shows its strength in its innovation strategies. “Apple, rose to prominence behind the

visionary leadership of Steve Jobs, has had a knack for staying ahead of the fast-moving technology

curve” (Hellman, 2014, ¶ 3). This has been evident in the launch of the iPad, iPhone, and iPod which

have all given Apple great success in the market. “And while questions linger about whether CEO Tim

Cook possesses the magic touch of his legendary predecessor,” it is believed “that innovative new

products will remain a hallmark of Apple” (Hellman, 2014, ¶ 3).

Apple’s distribution system is one of its strengths in that “Apple Inc. has established different

production plants to cater to the needs of its consumers in different parts of the world” (Goyal, 2012, ¶ 2).

This gives them a huge advantage in their distribution system.

Apple prides itself on having a strong customer services strategy. “Apple thrives because it

recognized that the more human technology behaves the more intimate we allow it to become--less a

computer than a consort” (Guzzetta, 2015, ¶ 3). Apple not only works hard to make sure that their

customers are happy but as Steve “Jobs said. ‘It's technology married with the liberal arts, married with

the humanities, that yield the results that make our hearts sing.’ [Since] Apple’s achievement isn’t just in

identifying an intersection between technology and the humanities” (Guzzetta, 2015, ¶ 2). This shows

how “Apple’s approaches to anthropomorphism and attraction are ingenious: it doesn’t create products

that look like us, but rather products that seem like us--and seem to like us” (Guzzetta, 2015, ¶ 18).

Apple continues to have strong brand power since their customer loyalty is to the core.

“Whenever Apple has problems with its products, its customers are incredibly forgiving and patient. They

understand that issues can sometimes arise and they’ll continue to buy Apple products despite any

mistakes they might make” (Goodson, 2011, ¶ 5).

Weaknesses:

Since “Apple content can only be played on Apple devices” (Montgomerie & Roscoe, 2013, p.

291) their product capability issues still remain a problem for Apple. Only recently has Apple been

working to make their products more compatible with windows. With Apple’s iWork program you can

now transfer documents from Office to iWork but the caught is that “the simpler the document, the

greater the compatibility between iWork and Office. Complex documents don’t do well moving back and

forth between been Office and iWork, because you’ll lose something with every translation” (Rizzo,

2008, ¶ 44).

Apple’s premium pricing is a major weakness for them. “Apple's iPhone carrier subsidies have

previously been cited as a risk for the company, based on the reasoning that, were mobile providers to

drop the program, users would be pushed toward cheaper phones and be more hesitant to pay the

premium price of iPhone-class hardware” (Dilger, 2013, ¶ 3). With their pricing their “luxury positioning

has made it difficult for Apple to make big inroads overseas, in countries where the pressures on ordinary

consumers are considerable. It also renders the company vulnerable to price competition” (Hellman,

2014, ¶ 5).

Apple continues to suffer from low financial performance. “Apple Inc. has lost more than $100

billion in market value, as the technology giant’s stock has suffered the worst selloff in over two years”

(Kilgore, 2015, ¶ 1).

Apple continues to be under fire over their factory conditions with the “poor treatment of workers

in Chinese factories which make Apple products” (Bilton, 2014, ¶ 1). While Apple continues to state that

they are addressing these issues these issues such as “the poor conditions in Chinese factories [that] were

highlighted in 2010 when 14 workers killed themselves at Apple's biggest supplier, Foxconn” (Bilton,

2014, ¶ 12) continue to a problem for Apple.

Apple suffers from major issues in their supply chain “one of primary bottleneck in Apple’s

supply chain is its problematic reliance on Foxconn for the assembly of both of the new iPhone models”

(Noël, 2014, ¶ 3). Along with other issues in the time it takes for production overseas.

Apple also faces a weakness in their product recalls. “Last-minute speculation indicates that

Apple might in fact be able to solve problems with software even if the problems are hardware-related”

(Buskirk, 2010, ¶ 3). Their ability to quickly announce recalls and their customer’s loyalty has helped

them. In recent news Apple has declared a recall for their Beats Pill XL after having “received eight

reports of the Pill XL overheating, and one user is said to have suffered burns as a direct result” (Welch,

2015, ¶ 2).

Opportunities:

Apple has a great opportunity to address factory condition issues that they face and they have

started to work on addressing these issues. “Apple published a set of standards spelling out how factory

workers should be treated” (Bilton, 2014, ¶ 13).

Apple also has an opportunity to address supply chain issues one way to do this would be for

“Apple [to] persuade suppliers of content – such as music, books, movies, and Apps — that they would

be better off making that content available to users of its devices” (Cohan, 2012, ¶ 12).

With Apple’s new Beats Electronics deal this gives the company several opportunities with “the

up-and-coming music properties [that] will likely prove to be a nice complement to Apple’s free iTunes

radio service” (Hellman, 2014, ¶ 8).

Apple also has a huge opportunity to penetrate growing markets. “According to a new report

from Strategy Analytics, India will unseat the United States as the second largest smartphone market

within the next two years, with China remaining the clear leader of the pack” (Chang, 2015, ¶ 1).

Threats:

Apple’s threat from competition is a big issue for them. When “considering the relentless product

cycles, the typically rapid move toward commoditization in the sector, and the fickle nature of today’s

consumers. They are especially susceptible to price discounting by low-cost rivals” (Hellman, 2014, ¶ 9).

Apple still suffers from their products lack of adaptability with other computer programs. Since

Apple products “can only be played on Apple devices” (Montgomerie & Roscoe, 2013, p. 291)

Apple’s gross margin pressures that they face “could stem from stepped-up competition, product

shortages, or rising component prices. An unfavorable mix shift away from the dominant iPhone line

could also squeeze profits” (Hellman, 2014, ¶ 10).

Apple also suffers from their dependency of outsourcing their materials. With Apple “outsourcing

as much work to Samsung as they have…it’s impossible not to wonder whether Tim Cook’s

announcement [of] bringing back Apple’s manufacturing to the USA is the beginnings of an attempt to

rectify the problem” (Allworth, 2012, ¶ 3).

Strategic Choices and Recommendations

While Tim Cook has been working on “revamping the company’s supply chain and improving

overall efficiency” (Marino, 2012, C-187) Apple still needs to work with their suppliers to improve plant

working conditions. Currently Apple has refused to heed complaints over their labor practice which is a

mistake if they consider how successful the anti-sweatshop campaign was at damaging the Nike and The

Gap brands (Harrison & Scorse, 2006, p. 150). If Apple were to work to improve working conditions and

wages for their plant workers they “would not only improve the lives of hundreds of millions of the

poorest workers, but companies operating in developed countries would no longer be forced to compete

‘unfairly’ with developing country manufacturers who can draw on unlimited pools of cheap labor”

(Harrison & Scorse, 2006, p. 144). Because of the issues with Apple’s “working conditions in regards to

criticism over Chinese industrial giant Foxconn” (Gustin, 2012, ¶ 11).Tim Cook has worked hard to move

aggressively to address these issues. “Since Mr. Cook became chief executive in August, shortly before

the death of Mr. Jobs, Apple has taken a number of significant steps to address concerns about how Apple

products are made” (Wingfield, 2012, ¶ 11).

Apple also needs to address issues with the fact that they “Apple requires many key suppliers to

keep two weeks of inventory within a mile of Apple’s assembly plants in Asia, and sometimes doesn’t

pay until as long as 90 days after it uses a part, according to an executive who has consulted for Apple

and would not speak on the record for fear of compromising the relationship” (Satariano & Burrows,

2011, ¶ 9). This level of control that Apple exerts over their suppliers puts strain on workers and causes

“factories [to] work overtime to build hundreds of thousands of devices” (Satariano & Burrows, 2011, ¶

10). By changing the way that Apple deals with its suppliers and allowing factories to have more time to

products this would give Apple a better social responsibility rating among consumers. “Procurement

processes should be mindful of supplier quality and reliability, and also keep track of budget overruns and

delays to help firms gauge the total realized costs associated with their supply chain model” (Noël, 2014,

¶ 8).

For Apple penetrating new markets such as selling in “China offered the greatest growth

opportunities but also presented challenges to smartphone producers” (Marino, 2012, p. C-195) and by

2010 “Apple began selling the iPhone 4 in China…though its partnership with China Telecom, the

country’s second-largest wireless provider” (Marino, 2012, p. C-197). With new market opportunities for

Apple grow in places such as India which currently “smartphone penetration in India is currently

relatively low, with only 110 to 120 million of the 1.2 billion people in the country able to claim

ownership of such a device, forecasters say this will change very quickly in the coming years” (Chang,

2015, ¶ 1). Apple is also now given an opportunity to move into Iran. “The United States and Iran finally

signed an official nuke agreement today after 20 months of negotiations, and according to a new report,

Apple is already looking to move in” (Hien, 2015, ¶ 1).While it is still unclear if Apple will be welcome

into Iran or even be profitable there it is a great opportunity for expansion.

Apple in 2015

While Apple still has some issues to face and opportunities that they should take advantage of

Apple has also been known to do things that they initially stated that they would never do. Back in 2007

with the launch of the first Apple iPhone Steve Jobs had stated that “nobody wants a stylus, so let's not

use a stylus” (Whitten, 2015, ¶ 2). However, “eight years later, the company has revealed the Apple

Pencil, a device remarkably similar to a stylus. The Apple Pencil is designed to aid users in graphic

design, photo editing and document annotations on its new iPad Pro. Unlike styluses, this device detects

the pressure, position and tilts of the pen against an iPad and will create thin and thick lines based on

slope of the Apple Pencil's tip” (Whitten, 2015, ¶ 3).Along with the new Apple Pen device Apple

“released the iPad mini” in 2012.

Currently Apple fans should be looking forward to the second half of the year. “

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The Apple Watch, first unveiled in September 2014 and finally released on 24 April 2015” (Casserly,

2015, ¶ 4). As this creation has entered the marketplace it has helped make Apple products “feels far

more competitive” than in the past (Casserly, 2015, ¶ 4). Apple has been working in their improved Apple

watch their “watchOS 2” this new and improved device “claims to be faster, less buggy, and should be

out at some point in the Autumn, along with iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan” (Casserly, 2015, ¶ 17).

Also this year we find Intel “doing everything it can to become a major partner of Apple's next

iPhone manufacturing process, according to a report by VentureBeat” (Kim, 2015, ¶ 1). While this deal

that Intel is trying to get with Apple hasn’t yet been set into stone “a major partnership with Apple will

signal Intel's first step into the mobile business” (Kim, 2015, ¶ 8). With how big and powerful Apple is

only the future will tell if these changes that they need to make will be addressed properly and how these

changes will affect Apple in the long run.