Analyzing Strategic Planning Apple Inc and Industry

Strategic Planning: Apple Inc. and Industry Apple Inc. is global technological corporation based in California, America. The company's business operations encompass the designing, developing and retailing of computer software, electronics and also provision of online services. In particular, Apple Inc. is set within the technology industry, competing on different fronts such as the mobile sector and computer sector as well. Technology transformation and change has completely altered the mobile industry and the manner in which it used to function.

The internet specifically has changed the way in which people view business and make transactions. The current business model of Apple Inc. can be categorized broadly into three sectors: Retail, Software Engineering and Hardware Engineering. Apple can be said to be a multinational corporation as it is involved with three major companies; Microsoft, The Gap and Dell which lie in different industries and that makes it even more successful. The software engineering sector is innovative and brings out the success in the hardware and retail businesses.

Apple's basic approach to the business is through diversification by designing different products and venturing into different businesses. The company strategizes in globalization by marketing its products globally and also through retail and individual markets. The company adds value to its customers by providing a specific design to its products. It has also opened retail stores such as the apple store for customers. Apple is best known for designing its products. The company adds value to its shareholders by maximizing the profits of the company.

The value of the employees is added by the companies by being given employee perks such as personal time to work on their own products. Apple Inc. competes in multiple businesses. This includes hardware (PCs and laptops), software (Cloud services, Adobe, Safari), and retail business (Apple Stores and Genius Bar). This venture into multiple businesses has great significance as it increases the revenues of the company in overall. For example, the iPhone generates a great majority of the revenue generated by Apple.

The purpose of this paper is to undertake the strategic planning of Apple Inc. offering suitable objectives that the company implement. Vision Statement, Mission Statement Just about every organization across the world has a vision and mission statement in addition to business strategies that are geared towards achieving the long-term and the short-term goals of the organization. Different from majority of the other organizations and companies, Apple Inc. does not have a published vision statement. However, the organization's vision statement is conveyed to the public by its leaders.

This is completely dissimilar from any other company. However, this can be deemed to be radical and avant-garde meaning that the vision of the company is changing at all times which might be perceived as a significant aspect as the global technological world today keeps changing. The mission statement of Apple Inc. states that "Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store.

Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad" (Blodget, 2013). The business strategies of the company are indeed aligned to the mission of the company. This can be seen by the constant innovation of products almost every year. For instance, Apple recently unveiled its latest smartphone iPhone 5S and is in the preparation of unveiling iPhone 6 in the forthcoming.

The company has also involved itself with iCloud, which is yet another innovative product (Zylla-Woellner, 2010). Analysis of Objectives Apple is dedicated to control the industry with its amazing products such as iPhone, iPad, iPod, its operating system OS X and even cloud services with the iCloud. Apple's main goals and ambitions follow the company's mission and vision as well as its internal and external environments. Continual investment in research and development is critical to facilitate innovation of new and improved products and technologies.

Apple is also committed to expand its digital footprint in the music industry, and worldwide expansion of its retail operations. The company's strategies are in line with its mission, objectives, and both internal and external environments. Internal Environment and External Environment Analysis 1. SWOT Analysis This is a technique utilized to analyze both the internal and external environment of a company. In particular, the approach assesses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and growths that the company faces.

The main objective of this particular method is to aid the company in having total cognizance of all the factors that are to be involved in making a decision. In addition, this helps in the identification of change required, examination of new initiatives, and decision making on policies (Bohm, 2009). Strengths 1. Internationally Renowned Brand Apple has been proclaimed and is very well-known across the globe for being one of the most innovative companies. In particular, the company's brand is renowned for inventive diversity across its products. 2. Loyal Consumer Base Apple Inc.

has a very strong loyal consumer base that sticks to its products. This offers it a competitive edge over other technological companies. 3. High Level of Innovation The company is largely acknowledged for manufacturing and unveiling innovative and groundbreaking products, for instance iPhone, iPod, iMac and also the iCloud. 4. Strategic Alliances: Apple has created strong strategic partnerships with different mobile providers such as AT&T as well as T-Mobile. 5. Strong Marketing and Advertising: This is one of the strong suits of the company.

Irrespective of is high-end products, the promotion level of the company is top-notch, which appeals to consumers (Bohm, 2009). Weaknesses 1. Costly and High-end Products The company prices its products at considerably higher values compared to rival firms. This might be a downside for the company with consumers opting for cheaper products. For instance, Chinese smartphones that are almost $200 cheaper (Swartz, 2016). 2. Great Responsibility Levels Being such a major company and brand as Apple, the firm is obliged to produce top-notch products and surpass the expectations of the consumers at all time.

A lack of this simply implies a downgrade in the brand. 3. Incompatibility with Different Operating System Apple products are solely compatible with iOS and OS X. For this reason, the consumers might opt to remain with their respective preferences of hardware or software. 4. Patent Infringements Apple Inc. has experienced several litigations regarding the breach and transgression of patents. Such aspects are a downside as they tarnish the brand (Fine, 2009). Opportunities 1.

Increased Growth in Smartphone and Tablet Demands Owing to increased demand, this poses as a great opportunity for the firm to expand its markets into the BRIC nations and Africa. 2. Mergers and Acquisitions Apple Inc. is a large and well-known corporation. Its status and market capitalization give it the prospects to merge with or acquire smaller innovative firms. 3. Demand for New Products Apple faces demand from consumers for technological products such as new iPhone versions, iPads and iMacs.

This implies that the company has the chance to increase revenue generated and at the same time solidify market share. 4. Obtaining Different Suppliers of Materials At present, the major provider of application processors of Apple Inc. is Samsung Electronics, which happens to be one of the company's biggest rival. It is imperative for the company to source another supplier to preclude dependence on its major rival (Fine, 2009). Threats 1. Pressure from Competitors and New Entrants Apple Inc.

faces stiff competition on all fronts from competitors such as Samsung as well as new entrants like Huawei. These offer a threat as the company might end up losing some consumers. 2. Dominance of Android Operating System The Android OS continues to offer a serious threat to iOS with increased dominance in market sales across the world. This increased growth and predilection dissuades clients from buying Apple products. 3. Fast-Paced and Changing Technology Being set in the technology industry, companies such as Apple Inc.

face the threat of incessantly coming up with new, innovative and superior products to prevent them from becoming obsolescent quickly. 4. Appreciation of the Dollar Majority of the revenue generated by the company are attained from overseas. The appreciation of the dollar implies increased prices for the products and might cause a decline in the revenues (Fine, 2009). 2. Porter's Five Forces Analysis Porter's Five Forces Analysis Model is an approach that is used to analyze the external environment of an organization.

In particular, this technique enables the firm to assess its capacity to be able to create or sustain a competitive advantage. These five forces include threat of rivalry, threat of substitutes, threat of buyers, threat of suppliers and threat of entry. 1. Threat of New Entrants: Low The threat of new entry is a major concern because new entrants into the market are easily able to imitate the product and restrict the competitive advantage.

Despite the fact that several companies are popping up in the market with new apps just about every day, this does not imply that the threat of new entrants is high. This is largely for the reason that in order to enter and compete with companies such as Apple Inc. there is a great need for capital for entry, which deters several start-up companies. 2. Threat of Substitutes: High The threat of substitutes is considerably high. It is imperative to note that Apple Inc.

faces a great deal of competition from all fronts. Therefore, it implies that it is possible for the products to be substituted. However, there are several elements to take into account. In particular, Apple's products are unique and distinctive and therefore it is much difficult to substitute such products. 3. Threat of Buyers: High This encompasses the power consumers or buyers have over the company. Buyers have good leverage owing to the ease of access to information and how substantially competitive the technology industry is.

They can easily consider different aspects such as tech specs, operating system, and screen resolution. In addition, there are cheaper switching costs to shift from one phone to another. In addition, in the contemporary, the level of technology is swiftly advancing, which implies that buyers have several options to pick from. Consumer satisfaction is important in order for the company to increase its consumer base. In as much as Apple Inc.

has a loyal consumer base, the buyers have a great influence on the company as it is reliant on sales revenues. 4. Threat of Suppliers: High Since Apple only has control to its design, the suppliers have a major part to say on the production of the company. For instance, Samsung is one of the major suppliers of the company, and continues to source a key constituent of the phones made by the company.

This is despite the fact that Samsung is the major competitor of the company with respect to the mobile phone sector. Despite the fact that the company has signed an agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to manufacture its chips, the company has found it hard to divorce Samsung, which indicates that the bargaining power of suppliers is high (Lessin et al., 2013). 5. Threat of Rivalry: High This takes into account the ease of a firm facing competition. The technological industry is considerably competitive.

With the espousal of the internet and the advancement in technology, there are several companies that can offer competition. Apple Inc. faces severe competition on all fronts. The company faces a great deal of rivalry from major mobile firms such as Samsung, Sony and Huawei on the mobile front. It also faces competition from IBM and Dell on the hardware front, in retailing PCs and laptops. Lastly, there is competition from companies such as Google, on the software business.

In the contemporary, there is a great deal of advancement in technology in the industry and this has created intense competition as new and more progressed products are incessantly being unveiled. Therefore, the threat of competition is high (Srinivasan, 2012). EFAS Analysis EXTERNAL FACTORS Weight Rating Weighted Score Comments OPPORTUNITIES Sell of Ads on Apple Store (O1) 0.15 4 0.6 Addition of Revenue Branching into new markets (O2) 0.05 3 0.15 Increasing markets and brand name Creation of new tech advances e.g.

iWear (O3) 0.4 5 0.2 Well positioned THREATS New product advances (T1) 0.05 3 0.15 Better innovation needed Competition (T2) 0.05 4 0.2 Well positioned Shut down of companies (T3) 0.3 3 0.9 Collapse of product as a whole The forces which are most important to Apple as a company and to the whole industry as well currently, is the advancement of new and differentiated products and fierce and stiff competition between companies. Forces such as shut down of companies and selling of advertisements on the apple store are future considerations for both the company and the market as well (Srinivasan, 2012).

IFAS Analysis The company is structured around the executive team and the board of directors. The decision-making authority is centralized around the executive team, which helps in the designing of the products of the team and the decision making of the company. The company is organized on the basis of projects and also geography. For example, it can be structured to be an iPhone marketing project in India. The present structure is consistent with the current strategies laid out by Apple.

Part of the strategies of the company is to procure materials from companies all around the globe and this is consistent with the company's international operations. However, this structure does compare to that of similar companies in the sense that companies like Google also set out their organization in terms of projects being undertaken (Lessin, 2013).

INTERNAL FACTORS Weight Rating Weighted Score Comments STRENGHTHS Employee Relations (S1) 0.15 4 0.6 Employee perks introduced to boost relations Experienced top management (S2) 0.1 5 0.5 Well positioned Innovation (S3) 0.2 4 0.8 Well positioned WEAKNESSES Manufacturing facilities (W1) 0.2 3 0.6 Apple has control of the design only Global positioning (W2) 0.05 4 0.2 Not fully tapped into all markets Product Expense (W3) 0.3 3 0.9 Cheaper products from competitors Innovation and an experienced top level management are the core competencies of the company.

These two help in the creation and designing of the software and hardware of the company which are the main driving forces of Apple Inc. The level of innovation from Apple is distinct from any other companies as their products stand out from the rest. For example, iPod and iTunes are products from Apple which have not been able to be replicated (Sadler, 1996). Forces such as top level management, innovation and global positioning are factors which are of great significance for Apple in the current.