Industry Analysis: Apple Computers Essay

The multi billion-dollar corporation, Apple Inc., designs and manufactures some of today’s highest technological gizmos and gadgets. Among their best known products are the Apple and Macintosh computers, iPods, iTunes, iPhones and iPads. Apple is one of the most powerful and influential high tech companies in the world. The success of Apple Inc. stems from the innovation and visions of co-founder and entrepreneur, Steve Jobs, the excellence of the stylish, user-friendly products, and the ability to create innovative products that consumer’s desire.

In his article “The five competitive forces that shape strategy“, Michael Porter (2008) updates and extends his “five forces” framework he first introduced in 1979 and which has influenced the academic and business research for decades. He reaffirms that “THREAT OF ENTRY”, “THE POWER OF SUPPLIERS”, “THE POWER OF BUYERS”, THE THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES”, and “RIVALRY AMONG EXISTING COMPETITORS” are the forces that shape every single industry, and a thorough understanding of such forces help analyze everything from the intensity of competition to the profitability and attractiveness of any industry. The framework has two dimensions; the vertical dimension that connects

In order to truly understand how Apple operates and what products they offer to consumers in the personal electronics in comparison to other companies in the market. There are many players in the personal electronics industry and Apple is 3rd place for market share capturing 11.1% of the US PC market share. HP is the leading player in the US market accounting for 26.1% share of the market, Dell accounts for 22.3%, Toshiba falls behind Apple with 9.3% of the market share.

In week 8 of AMBA 640, we will be analyzing the Apple case located in chapter one of Management Information Systems: Business Driven MIS Inc from an information systems management perspective. Our analysis will look at some of the common tools used to analyze competitive intelligence such as Porter’s Five Forces Model, the three generic strategies for choosing a business focus and the value chain analysis. We will also discuss why and how data, information, business intelligence and knowledge are important to Apple. This analysis will also include how Apple identified areas where it achieved a competitive advantage using management information systems and why competitive advantages are temporary.

(General Provision 4) 4- Employers shall establish and improve labor rules and regulations, so as to ensure that workers enjoy their labor rights and perform their labor obligations. When an Employer formulates, revises or decides on rules and regulations or material

There are many competitors in the PC industry, which results in intense competition in the industry. The top PC competitors are Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell, and Apple. Apple controls a large share of the PC market. Since Steve Jobs as CEO, Apple has gain significant market share with their innovative and high quality products. HP is a top competitor to Apple, but does not offer significant differentiation in products. Dell and Lenovo are strong competitor and offer low cost PC products. HP, Dell and Lenovo compete in the low cost PC market, which make the low cost PC market competition very stiff. Apple choses not to compete in the low cost market and instead competes in the high PC market. Apple does very well in the high end PC market as they restructure their business to be innovative and high quality.

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).

Microsoft and Apple are the two biggest companies in computer manufacture. The two companies have many similarities and differences. Firstly, both use the basic of the computer, the keyboard, the mouse, and the design of the screen. It is vital for a buyer to considerate that a Microsoft P.C. is designed for affordability, efficiency, and compatibility. Macs, however, are designed for the technological lovers, known by terms such as “geeks”. Microsoft and Apple have competed for years, earning billions. It has been Microsoft who sells more computers, but just in recent years Apple has become very popular with new Mac computers. The consumers take into consideration many aspects before buying a computer like virus protection, game use, business use, and programs. Apple is gaining popularity despite its high prices, yet Microsoft still sells the most computers

And these analyses will be done with the help of Porter’s 5 forces (see appendix 1, 2, 3). This analysing toll deals with issues which are from outside the industry that impacts the nature of competition within the certain industry. Thurlby, (1998) stated “Understanding the nature of each of these forces gives organisations the necessary insights to enable them to formulate the appropriate strategies to be successful in their market”1. The analysis of the three industry are given belowPC industry (See appendix 1) This competition within the PC industry is extraordinarily high consisting with top companies like Dell, HP, Apple, Gateway and Sony. In order to gain competitive advantage, the key factors are advancement in technology, custom built PCs, reliability and standard customer service. The life cycle of PC industry can be seen as mature (See appendix 6); however the growth of PC’s has not decline. The reason is due to the globalisation trends taking place within the major firms. The barriers very high where there are already five main firms that dominate the market. Therefore, the chances of new PC companies entering the market and get significant hold of market share is very slender. The main two factors that are making the entry level high are mainly cost and distribution and the top five firms also control 70 per cent of the global personal computer market. Another factor may be is that

Apple Computer began it’s existence on April Fools Day in 1976 when two young men decide to sell a computer that one of the men designed. Steve Wozniak (Woz) had designed a personal computer that he and Steven Jobs built together. Woz had not even considered that idea of anyone wanting to buy it, however Jobs had a vision to introduce it to the public for sale. Woz and Jobs started the Apple Company in Jobs garage and from there it has blossomed into a billion dollar company. “Apple Computer is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings”(Apple).

This is the paper for course where we are discussing about the Apple Inc. publicly traded company in NASDAQ, This paper deals about the SWOT analysis of Apple and matching its Weakness to opportunities and Drawing potters five forces and finding out the apple position in each force and the way apple do the international trade and how the leadership changed the apple Inc. and figuring out the competitor advantages and recommending how apple need to over them and lastly discussing about the financial report for the past years .

Porter's Five Forces can be applied to particular companies, market segments and industries with the step-by-step analysis of market structure and competitive situation. First of all, when implementing this module in organizations, it is necessary to determine the scope of the market to be analyzed. Following, all relevant forces for this market analyzed and key forces are identified (Gerry and Kevan, P.117). Actually some organizational strategy and the longer-term goals are mainly based on or consistent with the key forces. Hence, it is not necessary to analyze all elements of all competitive forces with the same depth. Moreover, the key forces in the competitive environment will vary in different industry. Different forces take on prominence in shaping competition in each industry (Porter,

Apple Inc. has launched its iPhone in January 2007 (telegraph) as a new product in the market with latest technology and it was the first multi touch smartphone adding the feature of iPod and received an overwhelmed response by selling 270000 units. It had created a new record for a new company like apple, iPhone had laid a stepping stone for the success of Apple and till this time iPhone is the best seller product of Apple Inc. during first quarter of 2016 apple has sold over 74 million iPhones worldwide. (statista, 2016).

Therefore, the existence of substitutes have the potential to reduce the future growth of the brand. -Rivalry within the PC industry Apple is facing very tough rivalry. Competing brands involve in price wars. Customers have different needs and wants. No specific market segment is strong enough to justify price premium. Buyers have increasing knowledge about the product. Overview of the industry The PC industry has powerful buyers, vicious rivalry, intense threat from the new entrants, some strong suppliers who harvest most of the industry’s residual profits. Overall, the PC industry is not an attractive business. Analyze the internal environment of the firm For companies to build competitive advantage, they need to examine the entire value system. What really delivers value in Apple? The following analysis will adopt the Resource-Based View. Specifically, Apple Inc. is an effective manufacture and designer of consumer electronics and closely related software product. The tangible resources of Apple may include its flagship products, the current customer base, the company’s current distribution systems, etc. For example, Apple leads the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, iLife and its range of professional applications. Apple also spearheads the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online music store. The intangible resources of Apple may be the

The rivalry in this industry is high with the four top Pc vendors- Hewlett- Packard, Dell, Lenovo, and Acer accounted for 53.6 percent of worldwide shipments. (Pg 5) Even though it was Apple who founded the first personal computer it was IBM that brought them into the conventional lives of society. Within this time period there were a lot of mergers and acquisitions making rivalry amongst firms even greater as every time this occurred these merged companies would have more market share and more capital to help their business.