Apple Corporation SWOT analysis
Apple Inc. is one of the well-known and recognized enterprises by not only the business community but populace from all over the world are cognizant about this corporation. It started off its business from the decade of 1970 that has been involved in the designing, manufacturing and offering its consumers with a wide range of innovative and technologically refined products like computers, software, music players and its related accessories, peripherals, and networking solutions.
Apple Inc. globalization initiatives and their contributions
Globalization initiatives have contributed to the need for many companies across the globe to expand their businesses beyond the local or domestic markets. The focus of this article is to analyze Apple, Inc., an American multinational that operates in several countries in the world. It begins with an analysis of the strategies for competing in international markets and how the firm is organized to gain regional or global advantage while remaining responsive to local conditions. This is followed by a summary of how the firm is organized internationally, its structure, and modus operandi, and whether it has resources to compete globally. The final part of the paper provides specific recommendations for Apple Inc to become a market leader in the next five years throughout its operations.
Organization (Apple) Apple Inc. (Apple) Was Built
Apple Inc. (Apple) was built on January 3, 1977. It is presently engaged in manufacturing, designing and marketing mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital devices. It also sells a number of related software, peripherals, services, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The Company's products and services comprises iPad, iphone, Mac, Apple TV, ipod a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the Mac OS X and ios operating systems, iCloud, and a number of accessory, service and support offerings. It also sells and provides digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store. By the end of year 2011, the Company, as part of a consortium, obtained Nortel Networks Corporation's patent portfolio. In February 2012, the Company obtained app-search engine Chomp.
Market Behavior One Industry That Has Seen
This paper is about an industry that has changed form. In this case, the smartphone industry which was an oligopoly, moved to monopolistic competition but appears to be shaking out back to oligopoly conditions. The industry is examined in terms of firm behavior, transaction costs and also the response of consumers and app developers to these changing conditions.
Impact of New Technologies and Globalization on the Music Industry
The global music industry today is going through a series of disruptive innovations that are changing business models in the short-term and value chains over the long-term. The pervasive influence of the Internet, mobile and streaming technologies, and the shift from CD-based music to digital and online music also signals how quickly the global value chain of the music industry is changing today. Of these many disruptive innovations, the most significant is the shift from individual record labels and their relatively un-integrated approach to delivering digital music to the pervasive platforms that include Apple iTunes
(Hopkins, 2011). With the number of legitimate online sources for music growing from 60 in 2005 to more than 400 in 2010 the role of the platform as consolidator in this global industry is clear (Hopkins, 2011). Of the many types and forms of global music distribution, online music is forecasted to grow at a 31% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), increasing from $5.9B in 2010 TO $7.7B in 2015 (Apple Investor Relations, 2012). Apple's internal research shows that online music subscription services will also experience very rapid growth, with one of the most well-known being Spotify, which is predicted to grow five-fold between 2010 to 2015. The Recording Industry of America (RIAA) estimates that 47% of global music industry can be attributed digital music downloads and subscription services (Apple Investor Relations, 2012). Contributing to these exceptional levels of growth are the impacts of globalization, technologies that are making online digital music sharing highly price effective and reliable, and greater clarity in the area of copyright and licensing. The global impact of piracy and free source software is also having a very significant impact on the global profitability of the music industry (Preston, Rogers, 2011). These constraints will be assessed and analyzed throughout this report.