Apple is one of the leading information technology companies worldwide. Even with the dynamic business environment, the company has continued to do well even though there are still some weaknesses in its operation.
Strength
Since the companys diversification away from personal computers, the company has experienced a significant increase in sales and has managed its revenues cleverly with a total capital of $ 417.63 billion. The analysis of the Apples Strength shows that the company is endorsed by a large brand; a company has strong credit as a result of its aggressiveness character of a founder who emphasized on creativity and innovation (Khan et al.2015). The company has increased its investment due to its innovative culture i.e. $ 5.2 billion in 2015, $ 4.5 in 2013 and $3.4 billion in 2012. The company also has strategically positioned its direct sales at high traffic locations and this plays an essential role towards strengthening the revenue of Apple. In order enhance its brand recognition, the company has controlled its supply chain significantly and publishes its supplier codes of conduct on the annual basis. Notably, the companys unbelievable trade name trustworthiness is a major strength; its customers can stand for a whole night in order to be the first one to get a newly launched iPhone (Khan et al.2015).
Weakness
Being a world biggest information technology company, the company has a lot to deliver. Just like any other business entity, Apple faces some challenges in its daily operations. The company has a strong strategy for the promotion of direct sales channels but it lacks behind due to its policy of exclusivity. The exclusive strategy supports the distribution of its product but restricts Apple market reach. Furthermore, Apple has a weakness of obtaining most of its revenue from a high-end market due to its premium pricing. Such market is made up of the customer from upper and middle class. The company ends up losing lower class customers who are unable to purchase most of its products and yet they represent the majority of consumers worldwide. In addition, its hardware products are only supported with iOS hence has some compatibility issues with most applications, as compared to some of its competitors product which are android which does not have such compatibility issues. Research also shows that another weak are of the company is its dependency on iPod and iPhone as their contribution towards overall revenue is dominant (Khan et al.2015).
Competitive advantage
The current competitive advantage of apple is linked to its initial competitive advantage. Consumers nowadays are still valuing the user experience just like when Mac was originally introduced. The companys offers product which with attractive design, bundled software, and ease to use and well secured and all this contributes to an Everything-ready system that is user-friendly. Apple has also come up with Apple stores; this has offered a unique retail, as consumers mostly look forward to a good shopping when buying some of its product such as computers. Notably, it is believed that apple strongest competitive advantage is its competitive strategy. The company focuses on what will fulfil its customers needs and then works toward that vision. The company has shown it cares about its customers instead of talking about features of its product (Chang & Tsai 2016).
Resources
The most important resources for the company are the integrated system of hardware and software that the company has developed and marketed successfully. The companys key designers, programmers, and engineers each represent key resources that are essential for the t company to create their entire hardware and software ecosystem. Additionally, the creation of Apple stores with the significant physical presence that acts as both advertisement and sales location (Chang & Tsai 2016)
References
Chang, S. C., & Tsai, P. H. (2016). Evaluating the Competitive Strategy of Tablet PC
Industry by Using Fuzzy Group Decision Making Techniques.Journal of Testing and
Evaluation, 45(2).Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A Critical Analysis of Internal and External
Environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(6), 955-961.
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