Strategic Management and Business Policy †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Management and Business Policy. Answer: Introduction: Apple Inc. is the company based at America. It is the company that deals with designing and developing the electronic products such as laptops, mobile phones, personal computers as well as some software products. As far as the main products of the company are considered, it has been analyzed that macbook, ipod, ipad and iphone are the major revenue earning products for the company. It is termed as one of the most innovative firm in the industry since it has launched its first product in 1976. Apple has faced many issues in the market but still managed to conduct its operations in the market properly and considered as the premium brand to be owned by the premium users. The success of the company can be measured by various sources such as analyzing its financial data, its net income, it growth value and the level of satisfaction of the employees in the company (Freeman, 2010). Below discussion helps in analyzing and measuring the success of Apple: Growth rate of the company: Growth rate of the company helps in determining the pace at which the company is growing in terms of revenue and market share. Growth rate of the company can be measure of the success of the company every year. It has been reported that Apple is the company that has largest annual profit that any company has till date (Ansoff, 2007). The above statistics or figure suggests that the company has grown 35% from the last year and has acquired 41 x growth. Introduction of iphone in 2007 has supported the company to attain such heights (Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson, 2012). Reasons for companys success: It is a well-known fact that Apple is the very successful company in terms of the competition as well as market share (Hill, Jones Schilling, 2014). This is because company is serving its products very confidently by maintaining its brand image very efficiently. Some of the reasons why this company is becoming so successful are discussed below: Product differentiation: When the company has started its operations in the market with the launch of a computer system, it has been analyzed that the system was very much differentiated from the products of its competitors. The product failed at first but its operation system was found to be virus free and has the advantage that it cannot be hacked unlike Microsoft (Wheelen Hunger, 2011). As and when the weaknesses of Microsoft has been detected the products of Apple become famous. As far as the graphics and the architectural designs of the company and its products is considered, it has been analyzed that they are far superior than the architectural designs of the competitors and thus helps Apple products to attract the customers in the market. Brand image: Brand image of the company is said to be very high in the market. Branding helps in retaining the customers and attracting the new customers as well (Klein, 2009). Apple is observed to be most reputable brand among the competitors in the market. The logo of the company is also very attractive that helps in attracting more and more customers. The brand image of the company supports the company to reduce their advertising expenses as they need not to remind the customers about the brand every time (Swayne, Duncan Ginter, 2012). This is because people already have brand image in their minds about Apple. Manufacturing of hardware and software: Apple is the company that not only manufactures the hardware devices but also deals with development of software for those devices. iOS is the biggest operating system that has been made by the company. As far as the hardware is considered, all the products such as iphone, ipad, ipod, etc. are hardware products. The capability of the company to develop hardware as well as software products both helped the company to generate more revenue. Another benefit for the company is that it does not need to collaborate with some other software company in order to incorporate software in their hardware devices because they already have one. Product ranges: The Company has a diversified range of products. The company deals with mobile phones and captures the share in the mobile phone industry by competing with Samsung, Nokia, and Google nexus etc. (Eden Ackermann, 2013). In laptop industry the company competes with the brands like Samsung, dell, HP by introducing its Macbook, that is the most popular product of the company. User interface design: It has been analyzed that the main motto of the company suggests that if the products is not easy to use than it is worthless (Finkelstein, Hambrick Cannella, 2009). This is because the products that are made and launched in the market are for the use of consumers, if they are not able to use the products easily then it becomes difficult for the company to retain the customers for long. Apple follows the same philosophy while designing its products. Every product that is made by Apple is so easy to use and attractive at the same time. This helps the company to attract more and more users. Great customer service and in store experiences: Steve Jobs suggested that even after keeping the things simple and easy, the customers may have some of the technological issues while dealing with such technical devices (Nahavandi, 2016). Thus, it has developed the need of customer service all the time so that customers can ask their queries about the products and its specifications (Eden Ackermann, 2013). Apple uses this as the advantage and provides the customers with the exclusive customer service stores that help the customers to resolve their issues (Schoemaker, Krupp Howland, 2013. As the company keeps its products simple, every member or the sales staffs in the store have the knowledge of every single thing about the products. As far as the service environment is concerned, it has been analyzed that the ambience of the Apple stores is so soothing and calm that allow the customers to think peacefully and take their buying decision. Always ahead of competitors: It is one of the points that scare all the competitors of Apple the most. This is because Apple always remain ahead of the competitors in terms of technology and processes (Gavetti, 2010). The credit goes to the research and development team of the firm. It has been analyzed that the company research a lot in the field and try to implement the processes that are being thought of by their competitors. Financial strength: The fact cannot be denied that android is considered as the most popular and mostly used operating system in the smartphone industry (Hitt, Haynes Serpa, 2010). But, at the same time, it has been observed that the real success can be measured by the profits and Apple is still ahead in that case. Apple acquires around 70% of the whole profit of smartphone industry. This is because popularity is not the only measure but the numbers associated in financial terms matters a lot for measuring the brands success in the market. Innovation: It is the most important reason why the company is so much successful. This point can be associated with the research and development department of the company (West Mace, 2010). It has been identified that innovation is the key to success for the organizations. It is the company that started the trend of live photos in its iphone unlike other phones. There are many such innovation takes pace by the company at different times. Analysis of strategic capabilities of Apple: Strategic capabilities refer to the ability of the company that helps in attaining the competitive advantage for the firm. The first one is the value chain analysis and the second one is VRIN framework. Value chain analysis: Value chain can be defined as the series of activities that helps the company to add value to its processes (Laugesen Yuan, 2010, June). Value chain analysis involves two types of activities such as primary activities that form the basis of the organization and the support activities that are conducted in order to support the primary activities of the firms. Infrastructure: The Company is very strong in terms of holding cash. Thus, the company has great infrastructure in terms of its building and offices. It has been analyzed that the company is focusing on reducing the greenhouse gases and thus making huge investment for the same. The company is redesigning their processes and infrastructure that depends on the renewable power (Bharadwaj, El Sawy, Pavlou Venkatraman, 2013). Human resource management: It is the activity that involves the processes of hiring, recruiting, training and managing the employees working in the organization. Apple is the organization that deals with organizational approach that is non-conventional in nature. The structure of the organization suggests that there is streamlining procedure of interaction between the employees and the management. Besides all these activities, the process of training and development of the employees portrays Apple as the learning company (Shneiderman, 2010). The company has large workforce in which some of the employees are permanent and some work on contractual of temporary basis. The large workforce in retail stores of the company allows the company to enhance its customer service practices. Technology and development: The Company believes in making huge investment in upgrading its processes with the latest technology persisting in the market (Kimbler, K. (2010, October). This suggests that the company keeps its research and development department upgraded so that they can make innovations and the company can attain its competitive advantage with its innovative products. Procurement: Raw material for the products of the company is procured from the manufacturer of China. This leaves the company to have great focus on the international procurement activities. In this process, the company used to focus on selecting the suppliers very cleverly so that the material procured cannot be of bad quality. Inbound logistic: As the company does not manufacture the raw materials itself so it has to depend on the suppliers from China and Taiwan (West Mace, 2007, February). This company is known for its supply chain management. The companys current processes suggest that it outsource the raw materials from the other companies and spend that time in research and development. Outbound logistics: It has been analyzed that the net sales of the company from its distribution channels is 28% (Cusumano, 2010). The company tries to reduce its inventory cost. Sometimes outsourcing and heavy reliance of the company on the suppliers leads to issues of loss of control of the company and late delivery thus company has developed a suppliers code of conduct to overcome such issues. Operations: As far as the operations of the company are considered, it has been analyzed that around 92, 6000 employees work for the company to conduct its operations. Most of the operations of the company are outsourced from third party (Butler, 2011). This is because company believes that outsourcing some of the activities helps in focusing on the core activities of the company. Marketing and sales: Apple is the company that has vast distribution network that helps the company to enhance its sales at every corner of the world. The number of large subsidiaries and franchisee stores help the company to increase their brand recognition. As far as the advertising of the company is considered, the company believes in advertising of the products through print media and TV ads (Van Den Berk, Jansen Luinenburg, 2010, August). To increase the sales, the company hires and trains the salesperson so that they can work towards increasing the sales of the products as they are the one who remains in direct contact with the customers. Customer service: The Company focuses on the activities that help in enhancing and improving its customer service processes. As discussed, it focuses on training its sales staff so that they can help the customers with full efficiency (Pisano, 2015). The ambience of the stores is also very calm so that the customers do not feel burdened and can sit peacefully. The company invests huge amount in enhancing its customer service activities by opening large number of customers care stores with educated and well-knowledgeable salesperson. VRIN framework: VRIN framework defines the values, rarity, imitability and non-substitutability of the organization as the whole. VRIN framework helps in conducting internal analysis of the company. Resources value Rarity Imitability Non-substitutable Competitive advantage Brand name Yes Yes No Yes Sustained Simplicity Yes No Yes No Parity Hardware Yes No Yes No Temporary Software Yes Yes No Yes Parity The above VRIN framework is the analysis of internal factors of Apple. It is required by the company to explore its external and internal factors that can help the company to attain the competitive advantages of the company. Value: Value of the Apple products suggests that they are well equipped with latest technology, high brand name and the most important thing is that they are very easy to carry and use. Rarity: It has been analyzed that the technology that has been used by the company in order to produce the Apple products is very area and is the result of its research and development department (Cusumano, 2008). Imitability: The Apple products are not at all imitable. This is because of its unique design and usage. Some of the companies in the market are trying to copy some of the Apple features but they are not getting success in imitating the quality like Apple. One of the Chinese brand a have tried copying the logo of the company. Source: ("15 Hilariously Bad Knock-Off Products | 15 Knock-Off Products: Bad Alcohol", 2017) A big brand like Samsung has also tried copying iphone 4: Non substitutable: All the qualities and offerings of Apple can be substituted by other companies, but somethings remains the same and that is the brand name. Apple has the brand name that cannot be substituted by nay firm. It has portrayed its image as the premium and stylish brand which is hard to be substituted by their products or companies same (Shih, Lakhani Nagy, 2010). As far as the leadership style of the company is considered, it has been analyzed that the type of leadership was autocratic in nature at the time of Steve Jobs. That is the time period from 1997 to 2011. Autocratic leadership style can be defined as the style that does not allow the involvement of the employees and the decisions are made only by the leaders without any consideration from other people. After that, when Tim Cook has become the leader or the CEO of the company, it has been analyzed that the changes have been brought up in the leadership style. Fortune magazine has declared Tim Cook as the worlds greatest leader. The leadership style of Tim Cook has been praised by the people as he has used the inspirational type of leadership which was also enjoyed by the employees of Apple. Simultaneously, Tim has also been criticized for his leadership. This is because the reports suggest that it is very much cautious to introduce new products for the company under the leadership of Tim. The organization structures of the company compliments its innovative practices. The structure of the organization is responsible for creating new opportunities for the company to explore. Apples organization structure is traditional in nature with typical hierarchy (Boudreau Lakhani, 2009). The most important characteristics of the companys organization structure involve wheel hierarchy, function based grouping and products based grouping. The functional based grouping is the basis of upper tier jobs of the company and the lower tier jobs are based at products based groupings. Apple is the company that uses top down approach for decision making and behavioral approach to manage the company. Earlier at the time of Steve Jobs, the Steve allow the other members of the team to let him know if he is wring but he himself decide whether they are right or not. It is very important for the companies to develop a generic strategy in order to attain a competitive advantage over the competitors. The generic strategies of the company is directly associated with the firms proving and marketing strategies at global level.it has been analyzed that even if the prices of the products of Apple is high still the company is earning profits and acquiring the market share because of its design and differentiating in its products then the competitors. The porters generic model; suggests that the generic strategy of the company is its differentiation from other companies in the industry. The differentiation of the products in terms of their designs, branding, user-friendliness etc. helps the company to be unique in the market. The brand differentiation strategy of the company suggests that Apple get success in proving itself as the brand with unique features because of its innovation and research. Although the company has differentiated products but the designs of the products are made according to customers so that anyone can use the devices of Apple easily (Hoog Strzempka, 2011). To continue this differentiation, the company needs to make more focus on its differentiation or research and development strategies so that it can bring innovation in their products frequently. As far as the innovative strategies of the company are considered, it has been identified hat Apple is number one in terms of innovation practices. The company delivers the customers with great products such as improved software with great hardware sets. The company not only focuses on creating innovation in the products but also in market. The company has created new business ideas in the market by development of the products such as iPods, ipads iTunes etc. Focusing on products is not the only objective of the company, bringing innovation in the business model is another strategy that helps the company to innovate. It has been said by Jobs that Apple is the company that has built its own innovation system in order to allow the people to create new ideas, streamline those ideas and processes and launch those ideas successfully. Another strategic capability of the company is its brand image. It has been observed that company has made its brand image so strong that it helps in retaining the customers and enhancing the brand loyalty. The brand focuses on maintaining simplicity in the lives of the customers by providing the product that are easy to handle and use. Apple is the fastest growing brand worldwide and thus is the market leader in the industry. External and internal factors that affect the sustainable growth of the company: It has been observed that most of the business of Apple is from international countries. The factors such as wars, terrorism, bad international relations can restrict the sustainable growth of the company at international level. The global economic crisis also affects the company's sales as it affects the economy of all the countries where Apple caters its services. There are some of the legal factors also that affect the companys sustainable growth (Bader, Baggili, 2010). This is because every country has different legal consideration which needs to be followed by the company and thus makes it difficult to deal with international customers. As far as the internal factors are considered, it has been observed that company is lacking in developing new customers in the market although the customers of Apple are loyal but due to high prices, it is difficult for the company to attract more new customers. High and premium prices of the products have made the premium image of the company and thus people think that they cannot afford to buy the products. It is recommended to the company that they should concentrates on providing the products of every range for the people so that everyone can relate themselves with the brands. It is mandatory for the economy to maintain the innovative strategies of the company so that they can sustain their success in future in the relevant industry. Conclusion: It has been concluded from the study that Apple is the company that has a brand image that cannot be substituted by any other company. This is because it has portrayed the image of a premium brand.as the growth of the company is measured, it has been analyzed that the company is growing at a very fast pace. There are many reasons behind the company's success such as its innovation, its business strategies, its brand image; simplicity etc. after analyzing all the factors, the company has been recommended with the fact that it has to focus on some of its innovative activities so that it can maintain its image. References: Ansoff, H. 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