Strategic Competitiveness of Apple

Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness

How globalization and technology changes have impacted the Apple as a corporation

Globalization refers to the possibility of a firm opening up and expanding it in various places whose culture might be different from that of the place that it originally is from.

Apple recently launched two of its latest phones. The larger phone is a 5.5-inch "phablet" which is also known as iPhone 6 Plus and has specifically been designed for the Asian market whereas, the smaller phone is of 4.7 inches and resembles the competitive phones a lot (Simonds, 2014).

When changes take place in a market it usually results in the creation or appearance of untapped markets and domains of such kind were inspected by Apple so that it could be the first one to reach those markets and gain a primary position.

On researching Apple realized the potential for digital services in the market. However, the firm knew that they will face a lot of competition in the world of digital cameras as there were already a lot of big players in the market. Therefore, Apple focused its direction towards the digital MP3 players as there was high demand for them in the market but not a lot of option for the customers with regards to designs and functionality. Upon realizing this Apple decided to work on music and more specifically, music on the go for its customers as no one in the market was providing it (Ashcroft, 2010).

Therefore, Apple incorporated globalization and technological changes in its company's policies in a very positive manner. Due to detailed research, globalization helped Apple in reducing their production costs as it moved its manufacturing to China and with the help of technological changes Apple was able to target untapped markets such as the demand for Digital MP3 players etc.

Application of the industrial organization model and the resource-based model

Resource-based model

The resource-based model suggests that the resources of an organization play a very important role in that organization's performance and competitive edge. There are a couple of assumptions provided by this model with regards to the resources of a firm playing a role in its competitive edge.

The first assumption is that firms within the same industry can be different on the basis of their resources and this variation in the resources can stay for a long period of time because it is not always possible to copy or achieve those resources for the other firms (Bridoux 2007, p. 3)

Along with the building of competitive advantage, these resources also allow the firms to charge more for their products and services which is ultimately related to a firm having competitive advantage. In addition to all this, Apple can also try to erect entry barriers with the help of these resources which would further increase the chances of the firm to earn returns that are above average (Bridoux 2007, p. 3).

The industrial organization model

According to the industrial organization model, which is based on economics, Apple can earn above average returns if it starts the implementation of strategies that are made according to the environment of the industry as well as the competitors. The chances of success of those companies which acquire or develop the internal skills which are necessary for the implementation of needed strategies by external environment are quite high as compared to the firms who fail to do so (Hoskisson et all 2008).

How the vision statement and mission statement of Apple Inc. influence its overall success.

The vision statement

A vision statement is more like the heart of a company as it is on the basis of the vision statement that a company forms its operations (Hull, 2012).

Apple's CEO Tim Cook in an interview once said that it is our believe that we are here to provide our customer with amazing products and this believe isn't going to change. He further said that we would rather work on a few exclusive programs and products that we know would benefit our customers rather than taking thousands of projects at a time and compromising the quality of our work. We are able to come up with products that our competitors can't make because we believe in cross-pollination and extensive collaboration among our groups. He believed that it doesn't matter who is running the company or doing what job because we have got such strong values that the company will excel in any case (Hull, 2012).

The mission statement

Mission statement is basically the operational procedure which allows the firm to achieve its vision.

The mission state of Apple in 2013: Apple is responsible for the designing of Macs, OS X. iWork, iLife, great personnel computers as well as personal software. Apple's iTunes and iPods are the market leaders in the world of digital music. The mobile phone has been reinvented by Apple with the help of its App Store as well as iPhone and is further defining the mobile media along with the computation of devices that will work with iPad (Jurevicius, 2013).

We can clearly see that this mission statement is technological as well as product-oriented.

Therefore, the vision statement of the firm is such that it increases the employees' loyalty with the company and puts the quality of products and services at top priority. Whereas, the mission statement shows us the achievement that have been made by the firm in the industry as well as the ways in which it further plans on achieving its vision statement.

How each category of stakeholder impacts the overall success of Apple Inc.

The stakeholders that are of prime concern to the firm can majorly be divided into 3 groups: the capital market stakeholders that are majorly responsible for providing the firm with capital, the product market stakeholders such as its customers, suppliers etc. And the organizational stakeholders that are the employees in the firm. (Hoskissonet all 2008)

Capital market stakeholders

It was only in 1980 that in Apple's IPO it raised new funds and since that time its customers have gained back their return on investment. The stock history of the firm shows that it has purchased a lot more stocks from the public than vice versa. However, after accumulating so much wealth the company does pay dividends as it did in 2012 in the amount of $2.5 billion and since then dividends are being paid by Apple every quarter (Lazoniket all 2013)