Strategy Analysis : Apple's Strategy

The British Airways Board was established in 1971 to control the two nationalised airline corporations, BOAC and BEA, and two smaller, regional airlines, Cambrian Airways, from Cardiff, and Northeast Airlines, from Newcastle upon Tyne. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways. After almost 13 years as a state company, that was sold in February 1987 as part of a privatisation plan by the

Strategy may be one of the most misinterpreted concepts in buiness which are essential in every facet of an organization. In general, it is nothing but an obligation towards a set of logical policies meant for accomplishing a definite competitive goal. To be more specific strategy is to convey the distinctive blend of values by picking a diverse set of activities (Porter, 1983). If the strategy is good it helps to prioritize the objectives and to promote alliance within the diverse organization. A company’s successful endeavours in their accomplishments, a well- driven strategy is essential and the various internal departments should have to support it. Irrespective of your part in a firm, strategy plays a crucial role for your

British Airways (BA) was formed when the 4 nationalised airlines were merged together in 1974, it was then privatised by the then conservative Government in 1987, this led to a period of growth and expansion with the airline taking over three smaller British Airlines before merging with Spain’s Iberia in 2012 to form the International Airlines Group (IAG) which is the third largest airline in the world in terms of revenue. BA has been the United Kingdom’s flag carrying Airline since its formation in 1974 however it is only the second largest airline in the UK after EasyJet.

British Airways (BA) was formed in 1974 by the merger of the British Overseas Airways Corp (BOAC) and the British European Airways (BEA). BA’s integration did not come without problems. By the early 1980’s BA generated debs in excess of £500m, staff discontent and customer dissatisfaction were common denominators across the operational equation and in 1980 the airline topped a list of airlines to be avoided at all costs.

Apple has been on the cutting edge of technology for many year. However, their leading competitor Samsung has begun to close the gap. Apple has several major and minor issues that should be addressed in order to corner the market and pull ahead of their competitors. In the past, Apple has been able to generate a buzz with their revolutionary products and top of the line technologies. However, in the past few years , their lack of product innovation has caused a drop in the companies popularity. Apple needs to reinvigorate their imagine in the eye of the public and improve their business strategy. Outlined below are several of the major and minor issues facing the Apple corporation, as well as recommendations to help the corporation regain its share of the market.

More competitors have been appeared on the industry as technology has been developed and provide similar products with different prices.

British Airways also known as BA is United Kingdom based airline. Based on fleet size, British airline is the largest airline of the United Kingdom. It is the second largest airline measured by passengers carried. In 1972, British Airways board was established by the government of United Kingdom for managing two nationalised airline corporations British European airways and British Overseas Airways Corporation along with two regional smaller airlines Northeast Airlines from Newcastle upon Tyne and Cambrian Airways from Cardiff. All four companies were merged in 1974 to form British Airways. In 1987, British Airways was privatised after being the state company for almost 13 years. With the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1987, Dan-Air

A strategy is a plan for the company, which has to establish a difference with its competitors, and has to preserve it in order to create a greater value. Strategy positioning is choosing different ways to achieve similar activities from the competitors.

"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations".

Alfred Chandler(1963) defines strategy as ‘ the determination of the long-run goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals’. And Michael porter(1996) sees it as ‘Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value’.

The case study will follows examines Apple Inc., which launched its iPad on 4 April 2010. Apple was founded in 1976 by two college dropouts, specifically, Steven Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The two built a computer circuit board working in Job's family garage located in Los Altos, California. (Yoffie and Kim, 2010, paraphrased) After several months time they produced 200 units and took on a new partner, A.C. 'Mike' Markkula, Jr., who played a primary role in the attraction of venture capital since he was the one with the experience in business.

There is no exact definition for Strategy because it is defined in different ways as some people think that make a plan to get success in future is a strategy while others think that future is hard to predict. Exceptionally, some Japanese companies have no strategies though these companies have a good cost and continuous improvement. The definition for strategy is to explain the direction and scope of any company for the long term to achieve advantage for the company or to fulfill the needs and expectations. Strategy is different from Operational effectiveness and they work in different manner in the companies. Michael Porter, who is a professor at Harvard Business School and a strategy expert, says that it should determine how organizational resources and skills should create advantage. Accordingly, Strategy can also be defined as an organizational change during actions in the organizations for better and advantageous results or to determine how we win and get success in the future period. It is a needful developed plan with respect to market to compete the world. Organizations should be responsible for competitive changes according to the market. It is the main goal for any Organizations. Business/IT strategy is very important to know the success rate of your business. Apart from Business Strategy, the other two main types of strategy are Corporate Strategy and Team Strategy. These strategies give competitive advantage of cost leadership, differentiation and focus. The

Strategy means consciously choosing to be clear about your company’s direction in relation to what’s happening in the dynamic environment. With this knowledge, you’re in a much better position to respond proactively to the changing environment.

According to Tony proctor (Strategic Marketing, 2000) a strategy is a plan that integrates an organization’s major goals, policies, decisions and sequences of action into a cohesive whole. It can apply at all levels in an organization and pertain to any of the functional areas of management. Thus there may be production, financial, marketing, personnel and corporate strategies.

A strategy is said to be a plan that is made for the long term success of a product or brand. It is extremely important to have a strategy in order to figure out a direction towards which any company is able to focus all its resources efficiently and achieve desired outcomes. Formulating effective strategies is a considerably long process in itself that combines analysing several factors, situations and issues that are already present in a company and looking to improve on them alongside trying to implement various innovations and ideas to collectively create a direction towards which they can move and direct the resources available to them.