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Apple Inc.
History
It operates in the USA designing and manufacturing computer software, computer electronics and personal computers. Some of its products include Macintosh computers, iPod, iPhone, and Mac OS among others. The company was established in 1976, in California (Scott, 2008). It underwent through its initial public offer in 1980 (Freedman, 1998). In 2007, the company changed its name from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc. due to a reflection of the expansion and growth that it had undergone in the electronics industry. It has about 37,000 permanent and temporary employees with a 20% employee turnover. It has earned a good reputation which results in increase and loyalty of its customer base.
Mission
Apple Inc. has its commitment to the protection of the environment, safety, and health of the customers, employees and global communities. It strives to improve health, environment and safety management systems, as well as, the environmental quality of services, products, and processes.
Vision
The vision of Apple Inc. is to be the most admired company in the world and the most loveable brand people ever use.
Values
The values of the company include simplicity, control, contribution, collaboration, self-honesty, and innovation.
The mission, vision and values of the company express its community participation, safety measures, innovativeness, and contribution in the market. They convey the purpose and objective of the company. This is through their vision statement of being the most admired and used brand in the world. Additionally, their values express the way they will achieve the objectives.
Strategic Goals
According to the research conducted, Apples three main strategic goals are as follows:
The company strives to expand its sales to customers who have not yet owned an Apple product.
Another goal is to produce hassle free products that offer service and satisfaction for clients.
Apple also strives to become the leading business in the mobile market.
These strategic goals are in alignment with the companys mission, vision and values. Apples vision is to be the most admired company and the most admired brand. One of its goals relates to having each person using at least one Apple product. In addition, its mission strives to improve the quality of services and products offered. To motivate many people to use the Apple products, they must be of high quality (Buy, 2009). Therefore, the achievement of this goal will enhance the accomplishment of the mission and vision. Expansion of distribution networks and advertising has assisted in increasing the use of Apple products. For example, they have expanded distribution channels through the sale of the iPhone via the Internet providers such as CSL and Smartone.
The production of hassle free products that provide enjoyment and service for customers will also enhance the achievement of the mission, vision and values of the company. This calls for intensive research and development, as well as, innovation. Innovation and contribution are some of the companys values. The company has developed innovative strategies to enhance the development of new products. It has also added new features and improved product generations, to achieve the goal of providing high quality and user friendly services. For example, the improved generations of iPhone have new features such as voice control, Face Time, and access to new games and software updates. Customers can play games and watch movies through their phones. This has created a hassle free service to the customers, and thus more people would like to use the product, which accomplishes the companys vision. The strategy applied to achieve the objective of becoming a leader in the mobile market involves tactics such as research and development in online search and advertising (Dess, 2012). In addition, they monitor the work of their competitors such as Yahoo and Google. They strategize on becoming an online search machine and platform for online advertising. They would like to improve the iPhone so that users would feel the computer in their hands when using it. They have kept a keen eye on Google and Yahoo so that to learn how they do their operations.
Recommendations About the Strategic Goals
Technology is changing at a fast rate. Apple laptops will lose relevance in the near future as a result of increase in device convergence. They should ensure that they keep up with technological dynamics. Since Apple Inc. is one of the leaders in innovation and portable technology, they should utilize the convenience in their position to become market leaders. They should enhance their current portable devices such as the iPod Touch, iPad, and the iPhone (Dess, 2012). Innovation should also be enhanced due to the reduced lifecycle of the products. They should ensure that they release the products into the market on time to avoid missed opportunities. Finally, they should also target the Chinese market as the Chinese economy is growing. Apple Inc. should adjust its objectives and strategies in order to tap such markets.
External Factors and Influences
Globalization
In order to increase their sales, Apple Inc. has set up strategies to use their services in different countries around the world. Excellent management and planning is required so that to venture into other markets (Dess, 2012). This is necessitated by the difference in needs and markets of different countries.
Technology
Technological changes have impacted on Apples business adversely. As a result of technological dynamics, the technological devices have a reduced lifecycle. This requires Apple inc. to keep researching and innovating to remain relevant in the market.
E-Business
Apple Inc. requires e-business strategies so that to build cutting edge enterprises that provide high quality services and retain customers. They are implementing strategies to engage in online business.
Internal Factors
Financial Strength
Apple Inc. has a well-established financial base. Apple does not pay out dividends hence they re-invest the money into capital structures (Dess, 2012).
Diversity
Apple employs diverse employees hence is able to tap the expertise from different areas and regions.
Ratio Analysis
The companys current ratio is lower than the market average. This means that the company has few resources to offset its debt (Tar, 2013).
SWOT Analysis
The companys strengths include financial vitality as a result of the robust cash reserves which has enabled them to advance in product packages and strategic alliances, and Apple customers are loyal to the companys products. This makes the brand loyalty costly and time-consuming to imitate (Tar, 2013).
The weaknesses that Apple Inc. experiences include market share and products lifecycle. Apple requires investing additional cash so that to keep their market share in the USA and all over the world. Additionally, the lifecycle of Apple products is very small (Tar, 2013).
Apple has several opportunities available. The growth of the consumer electronics and laptops is high. This gives Apple an opportunity to provide gadgets for the increasing market. The increase in the PC worms and viruses gives Apple an opportunity to develop an antivirus (Tar, 2013).
However, Apple Inc. faces threats from Microsoft Windows 7, 8 and mobile systems which are gaining market share fast. Apples software and hardware are expensive as compared to its competitors. This makes them unavailable to the average software and hardware customers (Tar, 2013).
Competitive Strategy
Apple targets big firms as their customers. It uses strong polycarbonate plastics, and solid aluminum blocks to make its portable computers. They use well-designed computer cases with efficient and intelligent internal cable routing layout. This promotes airflow and keeps the computer running efficiently. The competing firms that offer mid-range and low-end computers use inexpensive plastics and materials. They pay little detail to the internal layout details (Mootee, 2011). The design to price and design to quality relationships have a high impact in the market. Apple Inc. offers an in-store one on one support to all their customers. Additionally, they offer warranty support.
The companys strategy to compete in the international market involves advertising in international markets, and e-marketing. They have an understanding of the local customers needs. The operating system used by Apple, as well as, their keyboards supports about 50 languages. Opening up businesses in different countries, they use benchmarking as well as transfer of workforce in those countries in order to standardize their services.