Marketing 330 Topic: Apple Air pods headphone Company description, competitive advantage and strategy o A description of the firm and its strategy. You need to examine and should be able to derive: o A brief description of the company that is relevant to the project. o The strengths and weaknesses of the company under investigation. o The overall strategy and sustainable competitive advantage of the company as to illustrate what makes this company successful overtime. 2-3 References should be in APA format and appropriately referenced in the body. Stay away from any Plagiarism type. 2 PAGES, 1.5 space, Times Roman font 12 Company Background Geographic areas served 478 Apple retail stores in 17 countries (as of March 2016) Headquarters Cupertino, California, United States Current CEO Tim Cook Revenue US$215.639 billion (2016) Net Income US$60.024 billion (2016) Employees 116,000 (2016) Main Competitors Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Amazon.com, Inc., International Business Machines Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Dell Inc., LG Electronics, Lenovo Group Limited, Hewlett-Packard Company, Sony Corporation and many other technology companies. Company Description What does the company do? Designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and sells a variety of related software services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third party digital content and applications. How does the company sell? Sells and delivers digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store. Sells its products worldwide through its retail stores, online stores, and direct sales force, as well as through third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers. Examples of products/Services Products include Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, OSX, iOS, WatchOS, iLife, iWork. Services include Apple Pay, Apple Store, online Apple Store, iTune Store, iOS App Store, Mac App Store, iBooks Store, iCould, Apple Music. Key partners and suppliers Works with international ODMs and OEMs through global supply chain, provide products and apps with Third party developers and distributes via third party vendors and value added resellers Examples of SW for Company Strengths • Strong brand names • Large customer base • Patents & technology • Good corporate image • Cost advantage • Extensive distribution • Strong financials Examples for Apple • Strong brand awareness and loyalty, due to marketing and advertising capabilities • Strong financials and performance • Strong leadership and management Weaknesses • Poor brand perception • Lack of patented technology • Poor corporate image • High cost structure • Lack of access ($, distribution or other crucial resources) • Weak management Examples for Apple • Strong reliance on single product series: iphone – over 50% of total sales Examples of Sustainable Competitive Advantage Product Excellence? • Strong brand names • Constant innovation with cutting edge design, research and development • Patents & technology • Premium quality products Operational Excellence? • Cost advantage in marketing and advertising • Excellent global supply chain management for both cost savings and value added-ness Customer Excellence? Locational Excellence? • • Large customer base Strong sales and after sales support • Relatively extensive distribution both online and its own stores, as well as through retailers, and third party value-added reseller.
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