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Need assistance with assignment. All specifics are in attachment. I have included one of the references that need to be used. Please check for grammar and plagiarism below 5%
Reference:
Dyer, Jeffrey H., Godfrey, Paul, Bryce, David (2016). Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases (1st ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
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Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING - APPLE INC.
Environmental Scanning - Apple Inc.
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING - APPLE INC.
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Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation which deals with designing,
manufacturing and selling music players, mobile communication and media services, personal
computers and software, as well as computer peripheral devices. The company has its
headquarters in Cupertino in the United States. This analysis aims at evaluating the business
environment of Apple Inc. together with its competitive advantage. In addition, the analysis will
examine the strategies used by Apple Inc. in creating value and gain competitive advantage and
the guidelines used in verifying the strategic effectiveness.
The internal environment scan of the Apple Inc. indicates that the company has essential
strengths as well as opportunities which can be employed to increase its market share. However,
Apple Company faces major weaknesses and threats which have to be handled so as to enhance
the competitive position of the company. By considering the strengths, Apple Inc. has enjoyed
good sales growth as well as cash flows from the international market. This factor has enabled
the company to acquire enough resources to be used in conducting the market research. This has
made the company to be more innovative than its main competitors in the industry (Dyer et al.,
2016).
Apple Inc. enjoys the strength of a strong brand which is highly valued by the consumers
internationally. The introduction of iPads, iPhones and iMac tunes are some of the innovative
brands of the Apple Inc. which has greatly assisted the company to gain a competitive advantage
in the electronics sector (Khan et al., 2015). In addition, Apple Inc. manufactures high-quality
products which are user-friendly. Apple Inc. depends much on the iPod and iPhone products,
ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING - APPLE INC.
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unlike the main competitor business firms which are diversified within the market. This is clear
because the company gets approximately 70% of its revenue from the sale of iPhones.
The opportunities which Apple Inc. enjoy can be applied especially in the growing
markets which are mainly occupied by the competitor firms like Samsung Company. However,
Apple Company should handle the massive threats from the competitors like Techno, Huawei,
and Samsung which have established bases in different nations. Apple Inc. can achieve this by
offering their products at prices which match with the purchasing power of the consumers within
the market. In addition, the company faces a great threat from the international suppliers thus
affecting the supply chain networks (Khan et al., 2015). This can also affect the capability of
Apple Inc. to continue with production thus leading to a low-profit turnover.
Apple Inc. enjoys a great competitive advantage which enables the company to achieve a
high market share. The competitive advantage of Apple Company lies in its capability of being
innovative and coming up with good and quality products which attract many customers.
Introduction of the iPhone series is an example of the important sources of the competitive
advantage for Apple Inc. Even though Samsung come up with a similar model by introducing the
smartphones, iPhones are usually considered to be luxurious and classy brands thus enabling
Apple Company to charge high prices hence high profits. Additionally, Apple Inc. gains its
competitive advantage from the company’s protected ecosystem because its devices usually run
on iOS. The differentiation ability of Apple’s product from the electronic companies with
devices running on Android system is likely to keep the Apple Company ahead of the
competitors in the near future (Noe et al., 2003). While the prices of the Android smartphones
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decrease each year, the iOS brands from Apple keep enjoying high premiums. This is because in
the Android system there is stiff competition since any business firm can develop the Android
phones. The Apple’s iOS systems cannot be replicated thus making the company enjoy a great
dominant in the market more than the competitors.
Apple Inc. uses a premium pricing strategy and product differentiation in creating value
and gain competitive advantage. The premium pricing strategy can be seen from how Apple Inc.
charges premium prices for their quality products. The high quality, user-friendly as well the
unique features of Apple’s products attracts customers who can afford to pay the quality on these
products. This strategy of pricing has enabled Apple Inc. to enjoy the competitive advantage
more specifically in the high-income nations where the consumers can afford to pay the high
prices for the products (Porter, 2008). This strategy is not common in the less wealthy...