Apple Inc. Strategy Formulation

Strategic management is the art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its objectives. It involves the systematic identification of the firm 's objectives, nurturing policies and strategies to achieve these objectives, and acquiring and making available these resources to implement the policies and strategies to achieve the firm 's objectives. Strategic management, therefore, integrates the activities of the various functional sectors of a business, such as marketing, sales and production to achieve organisational goals. It is the highest level of managerial activity, usually

Apple Inc, best known as Apple is an American based global company that designs and sells electronics, PCs and computer software. The company was established in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and was incorporated in 1977. Some of the Apple’s best-known products are the Macintosh range of personal computers, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. By 2012, Apple reported to have more than 300 retail stores located in more than 10 countries in the world and more than 60, 000 employees on permanent employment, and about 2,800 on temporal employment. Despite the success the company, Apple has faced hard competition from other electronics manufacturing companies. The objective of this paper is to develop a strategic plan that will enable Apple improve its position in the personal computer industry. The paper will use Michael Porter’s forces; key success factors, SWOT analysis and the competitive strength to point out specific, workable recommendations that will allow Apple stay afloat and improve its position in the personal computer industry (Gamble & Marino 2012).

"Strategic management is a set of managerial decisions and actions that determine the long-run performance of a corporation" (Wheelen & Hunger, 2006, p.3). The benefits of strategic management helps the firm focus on the objectives and develop the steps involved in obtaining the vision and financial wealth of the organization. An effective strategic management plan should include the following three questions: (1) Where is the organization now? (2) If no changes are

Strategic management is the process where leaders establish an organization’s long-term direction, set the specific performance objectives, develop strategies to achieve these objectives in the light of all external and internal changes, and undertake effective strategies to manage these changes and execute action plans.

It has been noted for years Apple doesn’t appear to have an official Mission or Vision Statement. Google searches produce only quotes from executives and speculation but the following is a quote from Tim Cook regarding Apple’s business philosophy found Alvin Alexander’s blog at alvinalexander.com dated May 5, 2015:

What Is Strategic Management a process for defining and addressing the management implications of an organization's strategic and operational plans? A long-term context for short-term activities. Strategic management is the analysis of the work done by the management of an organization on behalf of the owners. It gyrates around expressing the purposes of the organization and coming up with an appropriate mission and vision statement. Mission and vision statement together are used to help develop policies and plans to be used in long term and short term goals often categorized as projects or programs. It also involves the right resources of management to ensure that the business profit are maximized to grow the company. Strategic Competitiveness

Even though Apple has encountered many setbacks, it continues to bring new and improve products to the market. Apple’s competitive strategy has been innovation. They have made an extraordinary effort developing, implementing, and executing its very unique strategy through innovation which has resulted in new product, and the enrichment of the existing ones. More specifically, Apple attempts to meet and supply the needs of a global market, by offering eager and enthusiastic consumers with innovated and high-quality products and services. Apple has employed a differentiation strategy linked to innovation with its three core products (computers, personal media player, mobile phones, tablets and other accessories). A key piece of their strategy involves meeting the needs of the converging digital electronics and computer markets. Apple has elected to implement its strategy by designing and developing proprietary operating systems and software technologies, thus allowing for strict protection of its intellectual rights.

Therefore, strategic management is an all-encompassing approach for formulating, implementing and evaluating managerial decisions in a way that permits the business to reach its objectives.

1. What are the chief elements of Apple’s overall competitive strategy? How well do the pieces fit together? Is the strategy evolving?

The strategic management is actually defined as the process in which an organization actually formats and also implements the plans which espouse the objectives and goals of that organization (Diana Wicks, 2011). The process of the strategic management is continuous and it changes with the evolution of the organizational goals and objectives.

Nowadays, Apple has positioned itself to be an innovator in the personal computer industry and Apple has developed by offering modern products compared to its competitors. According to Apple’s mission statement last year, “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.” (Business Management,

Introduction The intention of presenting this report is to give a full strategic appraisal and evaluation of Apple Inc. In 1976, the company was founded in a garage in Santa Clara, California. The American multinational corporation mainly involves in designing and marketing consumer electronics, computer software and as well as personal computers. Differentiation is the current strategy position of Apple Inc. There are five main firms in the PC industry and among them; the world’s leading brand is Dell. Apple’s major target is to sustain their present strategic position and to take over the market position as a leader. The key stakeholders include Steve Jobs, employees, lenders and the government.

It is beyond all doubt that Apple Inc is one of the most successful and well-known companied all over the world nowadays. What’s more, the company is considered to be the leader of the industry The Apple products are of high quality and in high demand on all the markets. Apple services and stores are the gold standards for all the followers and niche players of the industry. Moreover, the majority of Apple customers are extremely loyal to the brands. Once they started using its high-technical products they keep doing it. At the same time the market share of the company is increasing constantly. Probably all the competitors are questioning what is the key to Apple Company’s success. It is important to note that the whole strategy determines the success of the business and the strategic analysis of the company can help to identify the main criteria. Thus, the object of the research paper is to develop a strategic analysis of Apple Inc, including its internal and external environment.

‘Strategic Management’ is a very complex term as many eminent researchers and scholars have had different views and conclusions on strategy. According to White (2004), “Strategic Management involves both systematically developing an idea together with its implications and testing the empirical validity & usefulness of that idea against the real world.” Thus strategy is not only about planning for future but also about confirming the validity of the hypothesis considered and implementing it successfully. Strategy formation may take various forms such as implicit, explicit or emergent. Implicit strategy is a strategy formed by intuitions of an individual. As per implicit strategists, strategic management is about reading the environment

Steve Jobs, one of whom established Apple, led Apple to achieve widespread success with its products. He is the man whom led Apple to be the largest cell phone provider, the second largest company in the world, and the most innovative company. In addition, he is the reason why Apple has the unique corporate culture. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs has passed away because of cancer. Thus, Tim Cook, the chief operating officer has taken his position to manage the whole company. Although Apple Inc. still has the most of market share in the world; there are some potential problems in Apple Inc. The metaphors described in Gareth Morgan's book “Images of Organizations” can help us to maintain a professional stance about the situations. They also help us to find new ways to give recommendations. Specifically, the machine, living system, brain, culture,