GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH, GURGAON
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PROJECT REPORT
STRATEGY MANAGEMENT AT
APPLE, INC.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
PRESENTED BY: Group 11 Kapil Bhati (19) Kumar Rathnam (21) N Praveen Kumar (29) Nikhil Yadav (30) Sharath Babu (46)
Date: April 3, 2012
Contents
1. 2. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 3 APPLE: BRIEF HISTORY ........................................................................................................ 4 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 3. 3.1 Early Products
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Originally Apple Computer, the company was renamed Apple Inc. in 2007 to signify its enlarging its pie from merely selling high-end computers to include iPod, iPhone and now iPad. As its revenue and net income have shot up in recent years, Apple’s share price outperformed S&P 500 index by nearly ten times. Apple Inc. is by far the largest company in the world by market capitalization. At $565 billion (INR 28.25 trillion!) it pips Exxon Mobil, the largest upstream oil company in the world, worth $408 billion! The subject of study in this report is how sustainable is Apple’s position in its various product markets – PCs, digital music, smart-phones and tablets. We shall briefly touch upon the structure of the PC business and the role of the iPod, iPhone and iPad in Apple’s overall strategy, primarily to discuss the industry analysis, competitive positioning, and sustainability analysis. Four central issues in strategy formulation have been discussed here – 1. Evolution of the computer industry over time and its implications for strategic positioning 2. Nature of sustainable competitive advantage 3. Timing of strategic moves 4. Challenge of invigorating competitive through innovation
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Strategic Management Project Report: Apple’s Strategy
2012
2. APPLE: BRIEF HISTORY
Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak effectively created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, with the release
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in California in 1976. Their mission was to introduce an easy to use computer to market, which led to a computing revolution and quickly became the industry leader by selling more than 100,000 Apple IIs in 1980. After IBM entered PC market, IBM PCs, which used Microsoft’s DOS (OS), gained more market share and became the new standard for the PC industry. At the same time, Apple introduced the Macintosh in 1984. However, Apple’s net income fell 62% due to the Mac’s slow processor speed and lack of software limited sales. In 1985, Steve Jobs was forced out and John Sculley took charge of the Mac. Under the direction of Sculley, Apple
Steve Wozniak’s interest in electronics had grown stronger, and he began to regularly attend meetings of a group of early computer hobbyists called the Homebrew Computer Club. The knowledge that Wozniak gained from these Homebrew meetings, as well as his amazing talent, allowed him to build his own computer board, simply because he wanted a personal computer for himself. Steve Jobs took interest in this, and he quickly understood that his friend 's brilliant invention could be sold to software fanatics, who wanted to write software without the trouble of putting together a computer kit. Jobs convinced Wozniak to start a company for that purpose. Together they created the first Apple Computer on April 1, 1976.
Apple Incorporation is one of the largest organizations dealing into Information Technology. Apple has a host of products ranging from Laptops, Desktops, Mobile Phones and Multimedia Devices. The company has been extremely innovative in the field of multimedia and it owes it success to one of the greatest innovators, Steve Jobs. The company has always believed in innovation and that is the major reason why it has been so successful in the mobile phone segment. In recent years Apple is second only to Samsung in the Global Mobile Phone industry. However the operations have been largely based in the United States and in times of recession any organization needs to focus on economies of scale and thus focus on growth
Apple the pursuit of perfect, it also led to the growth of its ups and downs. Jobs not willing to give up work and control anything, especially when it may affect the customer experience. But he was faced with a problem. There is a part of the process he does not control: in a store to
Apple is a global company represented in many parts of the world, but born in the United States by computer wizards by the names of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who founded the company back in 1976 (Capon, 2008). The organization deals with the design and sale of computer hardware, software and offers tech support to its customers. Examples of the hardware the company manufactures and sells include mobile phones, personal computers, iPads, tablets and iTunes with associated brands, like the MacBook and iPhones that represent Apple’s driving force towards its success. It is recognized as a brand leader in consumer electronics by the world in terms of quality and customer satisfaction and despite the wide product range, Apple manages each product in a distinct way that is a single business unit (Mittan, 2010).
Apple Inc. is a software and electronics manufacture that was established in 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The first computers the company manufactured were aimed at computer hobbyists, while they worked on making their computer simpler for the non-computer users. They later succeeded in creating the Apple II model which would become one of the most popular computers in the through
The awareness that Woz gathered at the meeting allowed him to build his own computer board. Steve Jobs took interest, and he instantaneously understood that his friend's brilliant invention could be sold to software hobbyists. Jobs persuaded Wozniak to start a company for that purpose Apple Computer was born on April 1, 1976. The following months were spent assembling boards of Apple I computers in the Jobses' garage, and selling them to independent computer dealers. Jobs and Wozniak knew how at the top their product would be.
Apple Inc. was founded by Steven Jobs and Steven Wozniak in 1976 by selling a designer personal computer, called the Apple 1. Through technology Steven Jobs and Steven Wozniak were able to introduce a mass-produced personal computer called the Apple 2, which was the first color display. With the Apple 2 being a success the partner upcoming revision of the product line was the Macintosh (Mac), a user-friendly product that allows users to interact with screen images rather than text commands. The Macintosh (Mac) was introduced to the public in 1984 but failed to uphold as a prospering product. Software used in the Mac was not upgraded and did not have the availability to compete with the other leading electronic equipment such as PC and IBM, which had previously been introduced in 1981.
The company started off as “Apple Computer,” best known for its Macintosh personal computers (PCs) in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Despite a strong brand, rapid growth, and high profits in the late 1980s, Apple almost went bankrupt in 1996 (Kim & Yoffie, 2010, p.1). This can be explained that Apple has become larger and more significant than other competitors put together in 1980. Because Apple failed to innovate in 1996, the company almost went bankruptcy but eventually Steve Jobs took Apple from bad situation to the company that can make billions of dollars through promoted itself as a hip alternative to other computer brands. Apple highlighted its computers as the world’s “greenest lineup of notebooks” that were energy efficient and used recyclable materials. The goal was to differentiate the Macintosh amid intense competition in the PC industry (Kim & Yoffie, p.4).
tionally excellent companies take few risks, product leaders encourage new ventures and a steady stream of new products. Although they take security seriously, good-enough security is a guiding principle; innovation—not process—is the key to avoiding or preventing security problems. As a result, security takes a back seat to performance, is less centralized, and is not the key determinant of a product’s success. The third market discipline, customer intimacy, emphasizes customer needs and requests and excels at meeting them. Security is important for customer-intimate companies when customers express security needs. Thus, the security organizations of customer-intimate companies are less topdown than those of operationally excellent companies, and their centralized procedures involve significant customer interaction. As a result, security is built into products and services only when the customer demands security.
Apple’s history dates to 1974 when two men, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had a vision that inexpensive home computers would soon be in demand. Two years later, Jobs and Wozniak built their first computer in Jobs’ family garage, they named it Apple I. On April 1, 1976, the Apple Computer Company was established.
On his return Steve started hanging around Wozniak, the electronic genius. The Apple Computer was formed on April fool’s Day 1976, after Jobs and Wozniak created a new computer circuit board in Jobs’s family garage. The Apple 1 computer goes on sale by the summer for $666.66.
Stephen Woziniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer in 1976, which was called the Apple I, then in year 1978 just two years after, Apple II was introduced. More than 10,000 units were sold which relatively was a success, Macintosh (Mac), which dramatically change personal computer. iMac, iBook, iPod, iPad, iPhone, and other come from the lineage of Apple.
In its infancy, Apple Computer Inc. began with the Macintosh personal computer. The company was founded on April 1, 1976. The founders were Steve Wozniak and Steven Jobs. They incorporated the company in 1977, on January 3rd, in Cupertino, California. In the twenty years that followed, the company produced personal computers. Besides the Macintosh, Apple Inc. made Apple II, and the Power Mac lines. Although they lasted for decades, during the 90’s the company experienced some turbulent times with low sales and market share. Steve Jobs left Apple Inc. and came back in 1996 when his company, NeXT was purchased by Apple. In 1997, Jobs became the interim CEO. In later years it became a permanent position for him.
According to (2000), Apple was founded by Stephen Gary Wozniak, Steven Paul Jobs and Ronald Gerald Wayne in California on April 1, 1976. At the early years Apple released many products like personal