How well placed Apple is to sustain its recent success in the Consumer Electronics Industry

Table of Contents

Introduction

About Apple Inc
Mission and Vision
Product line
Market Share
Other Achievements

Apple Inc.: Growth strategy and Case Analysis
Competition
Political Factors
Social Factors
Micro Environment
Relative Strength and Financial Analysis
Apple Post Steve Jobs
The Rise of Xiaomi in China
The future

Bibliography

Introduction

Apple Inc. has been into the electronics business since some decades in the industry. It had built its place in the markets, all over the world through its dynamic strategies that focused on quality and innovation. Apple Inc. has made progress from being a loss making company to being the biggest company in the electronics industry with incredibly high revenues and profit margins.

The assignment is going to be based upon Apple Inc.'s case study and its journey as a whole to becoming a successful company. It will highlight the strategies adopted by the company, their adoption of the environmental changes and how it used these dynamics for its own benefits. Apple Inc.'s vision, mission and beliefs as an organization, the company's strengths and weaknesses have been highlighted in the following assignment.

Also discussed in the assignment are the changing business and competitive environment and its impact on the company, the challenges it faces in such an environment and, the strategies it adopts to excel in this field. The structures that the company follows, the systems on which it is based on and other operational efficiencies, all play a major role in the Apple growth story. The company is known for innovation and quality. In spite of the premium prices, the company has almost a maximum market share to it and continues to grow up the success ladder with its ever evolving product line which is a mixture of quality, innovation and highly detailed mechanics.

Apple continues to not only survive, but excels in the electronics market which, is becoming more and more competitive by the day.

About Apple Inc

Apple Inc. is a multinational born in America which, is involved into designing, development and sales of consumer electronic products, computer software and hardware and personal computing. Headquartered in California, it was founded on the 1st of April, 1976 by Steve Jobs. Also accompanying him in foundation were Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak Initially it was found to develop personal computers and later expanded to include other consumer electronic items in its product line. It is spread across 14 different countries around the globe and is present by means of around 408 retail outlets which sell Apple products. (Kim, 2012)It is the largest retailer for music in the world through its iTunes store. Apple Inc.'s headquarters are:

Apple Campus

One Infinite Loop

Cupertino

California, U.S.A.

The company has around 72,800 full-time employees who are permanents and 3,300 full-time employees who are temporary. Apple was ranked sixth in the list of Fortune 500 companies in 2013, from being 11th place in 2012. Its revenue is about US$ 156 billion. (Goldman, 2012)

Mission and Vision

As a company that believes so firmly in innovation and quality rather than simply sales and lower costs.Apple's mission statement as reported in the 1980s, by Steve Jobs, was ‘To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind'. ‘Man is the creator of change in this world’ was also reported to be among one of the mission statements. (BLODGET, 2013)

Apple Inc. has had a strong value system and work culture. Their belief in quality work and doing everything right has led them to be one of the most admired companies in the world.

According to the current CEO of Apple Inc., Mr. Tim Cook, the values on which Apple as a company is based on are:

- Making great products
- Keeping it simple, rather than complicating it
- Making and owning the primary and basic technologies used to develop their products
- Being a participant of only those markets, where the company feels, it can make a valuable contribution
- Focusing on only those projects that are meaningful and important to the company, rather than going in for thousands of other projects
- Deeply collaborating and cross-pollinating across the companies various groups, allowing them to innovate in better ways which gives them an edge over other competitors
- Anything below the level of excellence is not settled for, for every group within the company
- Being honest to admit to mistakes and courageous to make positive changes.

Product line

Apple's product line has been ranging right from its initiation. Its development from Apple II in 1977, which was a successful micro computer has come a long way by way of product innovation and technological advancement. Its breakthrough was achieved by the invention of the Macintosh personal computer in 1984. Followed by that were PowerBook 100, a track ball laptop launched in 1991, the iMac G3 Desktop Computer, the iPod in 2001, the iPod mini in 2004, iPod shuffle in 2005, iPod nano, also in 2005, the MacBook in 2006 which, was known to be the best Macintosh in history, the iPhone in 2007, iPod touch in 2007, iPhone 3G in 2008, showcasing its features of GPS, the MacBook Air in 2008 known for its light weight, portability and sophisticated design and high performance, followed by iPhone 3GS which was an upgrade to its previous version in terms of design and some other voice features, followed by another breakthrough in computing by the launch of iPad in 2010, which was Apple's line of computer tablets, followed by iPod touch 4G in 2010 too, the iPhone 4 in 2011 with better features that involved video calling and FaceTime, better design and technology, followed by iPad 2 and iPhone 4S in 2011, iPad 3 in 2012, iPhone 5, iPad touch 5G, iPad Mini also in 2012. Also, Apple launched a new Mac Pro, iPad Air, iPhone 5 S- claimed to be ‘the most forward-thinking phone in the world' and the iPhone 5C-claimed to be ‘the most colourful iPhone yet' in 2013. (PIERONI, 2013)

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