BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW OF THE COMPANY

This chapter presents the overview of the the company of Apple

Incorporated including a general history and the nature of the business.

Apple Incorporated

Through the continuous rise of technologies in this age and its increasing
demand in relationship towards to its great influence to the people’s way of
living, business operations assure to equal the needs and go along with this
phenomenon. One of these businesses that all through the years builds its name
and still paving the way through dominating the market with innovative
application in the field of technology and electronics is Apple Incorporated
(formerly Apple Computer Inc.)

Apple Incorporated that has been founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs in
partnership with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne who also created Apple
Computers, is a multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and
markets personal and mobile communication and media devices, networking
solutions and peripherals, personal computers, and portable digital musical
players worldwide. This company has established a unique reputation in the
consumer electronics industry for their excellent connection to people through
building a product ecosystem emerging their products into all aspects of the their
lives.

Apple Inc.’s products family includes iPhone, Macintosh (“Mac”) line of

desktop and notebook computers, iPad, iPod digital music player, Apple Watch
and Apple TV which are all already in the market for the long run. With this
number of products offered by the company, there are still other products and
services such as portfolio of consumer and professional software applications,
the Xserve G5 server, the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems, related software,
services, accessories, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and
applications. As stated earlier, the company has been assuring that Apple
products are associated with the lives of people thus creating various Apple-
branded and third-party Mac-compatible and iOS-compatible accessories,
including phone cases, speakers, displays, power and cables, mouse and
keyboards, storage devices, headphones, apple watch bands and various other
connectivity and computing products and supplies.

Furthermore, as Apple targets a wider scope of consumer and as online

community quickly establishing its presence in which electronic businesses are
prevailing the market, the company also synchronizes with the insurgence of
social content in forms of selling and delivering digital content and applications
through the iTunes Music Store, App Store, iBooks Store, and Mac App Store.
Despite this, Apple sells its products through its retail stores, online stores, and
direct sales force, as well as through third-party cellular network carriers,
wholesalers, retailers, and value-added re-sellers. It serves consumers, and small
and mid-sized businesses, as well as education, enterprise, and government
customers.
 Apple’s present Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook, has won a strong
reputation as his focus on improving Apple’s supply chain to secure its
competitive advantage. Tim has introduced Apple’s new vision and mission
statements including the changes to the Steve Jobs mission statement to reflect
the current positioning of the company. Apparently, the firm’s mission statement
and vision statement evolved over the time to address changing organizational
and market conditions.

Vision

Apple 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

Mission

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
 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

This chapter presents the relevant literature and studies gathered from
reading materials. This shows the analysis of competitiveness of Apple Inc. in
terms of price, quality, product and service differentiation, flexibility, time,
service and managers.

Price

Apple incorporation is one of the innovative companies that uses and applies
several pricing techniques that helped them gain a high performance metrics in
sales. One pricing technique that Apple Inc. is using is the Skimming Price
Strategy. In this technique, product pricing of a firm charges the initial price that
customers will pay and lowers it overtime and as a new model has been released
in the market. As the demand of the first customers has positive feedback and
competitions are now entering the market, the firm lowers the price to attract
another, more price sensitive segment.

Apple has a valuable and high brand perception thus, using a value-based
pricing method to keep maximum profit with minimum unit sales. It is not a
secret in the market that the products of Apple cost much more than its
competitors devices. This situation pertains that the opportunity of the company
to target a wider range of market is lacking for ordinary consumers do not have
the capabilities purchase product within the price offered by Apple devices.
Whereas, with the fierce competition, Apple products’ price becomes a weakness
because consumers can easily opt for lower price product. This strategy reduces
some costs like stock but the downside of this strategy is that the low end of the
market is being left misaddressed by Apple. The other all customer segments out
of premium have been left to rivals.

However, the company’s main target market is middle to upper class people
and the millennial generation. This is because, middle to upper class people is
the demographic that commonly has the means to pay the higher premium price
for Apple products. These people are willing to pay a little extra for quality and
have the income to do so. According to survey data conducted on 2017 it
revealed that 94% of Apple users are more affluent than those who purchase
other brands of mobile devices. Millennial are also a huge target market for
Apple as this generation are typically hooked on technology more than other
lineage and are seeing an inflow of money.

With this, the company focuses on setting a higher price for the product in
order to grab the maximum profit in the short term as the goal rather than to get
the maximum sales. This is an affective pricing technique for this targets a
smaller scope of consumers but sustains profit for retrieving from the price of
each product. Take for instance is the Dell computers that costs lower than
Apple. On 2016, Apple Computers are reportedly to increase again the market
share following the Dell however, with an almost the same annual profit with a
difference of 2%. Dell’s individual product count sales is higher than Macintosh
but the reported annual profit in dollars, as stated earlier is almost the same.

However with this, even with this benchmark, Apple incorporation has
product that costs lower but with the same quality that Apple has been
established compared to other leading brands in digital music industry. iPod,
which costs $399 can hold 1000 songs which is a much better deal you could get
the holy grail of Mp3 players at the time which could only hold 100 CD’s. The
iPod was literally half the price of its biggest memory competition for ten times
as many songs. Once Apple introduced this product, they became the leader in
sales when it came to portable music devices. First movers always run the risk of
imitators coming along and creating a better product for a lower price. In fact,
some competitors even imitated creatively, like Dell and Gateway entered the
mp3 market within one year of the iPod’s introduction and offered close
substitutes for the product but none of those had successfully made it to the
level of iPod.

Quality

Apple products has been known for its excellent quality that mirrors the
capacity of the product to last long and cope up to different situations. Apple’s
line that is known by a lot of critiques is that “quality over quantity”. This has
proven by the people who designs and makes every apple products. It took 600
Apple engineers fewer than two years to develop, debug, and deploy iOS 10.
Steve Jobs, the late Apple Inc. CEO, was fond of saying that the he only wanted
A-level people in his staff. Therefore, only those who passed the standards of
working under Apple Incorporation shall have the opportunity to create and
design Apple products assuring the competence of every personnel. In fact, only
Apple are differentiated in terms of designing the product with hardware
engineers consisting the knowledge of all industrial, silicon, wireless and
specialized engineers where minimum of two years is given to be able to create
another product to be released in the market manifesting a critical process of
accepting the product.

While most of the Android and other apple competitors focus more in either
software or hardware, Apple has achieved and is still pursuing excellence in both
aspects. By tightly integrating the hardware and software design, the company
has been able to optimize system performance to the benefit, and relief, of its
customers. Apple encompasses a broader array of technological competencies
than any of its competitors. Its mastery of semiconductor design, advanced
materials, batteries, power management, component packaging, application
development, and industrial design gives the company a distinct advantage in
launching groundbreaking products--and in controlling its own destiny.
 On the other hand, the quality of Apple products is always assured by the
materials and specs that are being used in manufacturing the product.
Additionally, the company owns chip manufacturers, controls manufacturing,
follows extremely strict software standards, and operates in a nearly closed
ecosystem of proprietary retail stores.

Furthermore, another key component of the well-known and recognized

quality of Apple products that cannot be seen or felt with other companies is that
Apple never rushes a product out to be the first in the market. The product was
ready if and only if it is ready. By working with their own timetable, for when
something would come out, they weren’t driven by the competition, they were
driven by the quality of the product. In fact, Macintosh computers model design
and release dates reveals that on 2006 to 2008, there is no new release model of
Mac desktops and laptops but came back after the hiatus to promote an
advanced model of Macbook Air on late 2008.

Apple adapted advanced features and capabilities of its products and services
as bases of its competitive advantage. The list of innovations introduced by
Apple include but not limited to the introduction of just one product such as iPad,
which is the first device of its kind. Thus developing variety of electronic of
products that assures quality of manufactured products.

Moreover, fast connection and internet surfing is one of the key points of
Apple products. Studies of 2014 reveals that compared to other mobile phone
brands such as Samsung and Huawei, iPhone is the fastest in mobile surfing
since 2008. Reviews and feedback from customers also find iOS “incredible” in
this area. What’s more to this area is that Apple assures the quality of their
products that would not be easily attacked by unnecessary things, thus
guarantees security. In one study, 97% of all malware, viruses, and worms were
for Android phones and in that particular study again, 0% attacked the iPhone.
Even the head of the Google Android team admits that “We cannot guarantee
that Android is designed to be safe. If I had a company dedicated to malware, I
should also be addressing my attacks to Android”. That says it all. That iPhone
really has this advantage in this area in quality and security. Also, Apple’s
computer operating system is highly secured and is not subject to viruses and
hackers which tend to affect the Windows software of Microsoft.

All Apple’s products are made of high quality material, such as aluminum,
combined with comfortable designs.

Product and Service Differentiation

Apple’s products are indeed superior to their rivals’ products in the same
market segment in terms of differentiation through its purpose is designed to be
able to indicate all the concerns about consumers’ lifestyles. If one had to
summarize Apple Inc.’s business strategies in one word, it would have to be
“differentiation.” Apple makes huge efforts to differentiate its products from its
competitors.
 Apple’s design philosophy is based on minimalism. It removes clutter both
from its products’ outward appearance as well as from their user interface. Apple
attempts to increase market demand for its products through differentiation,
which entails making its products unique and attractive to consumers. This is an
easy-to-use functional product.

The company’s products have always been designed to be ahead of the

curve compared to its peers. Products that display a different visual style, include
different features or handle of different tasks stand out from those offered by
the competition. It is differentiated in design and quality such as the introduction
of iPad which is the first device of its kind that stores thousands of songs with a
simple shuffle capabilities.

Furthermore, the vertical integration of Apple is what they are very known
for being differentiated towards others. Apple devices and software sync easily
and work well with each other together. Applications work on multiple Apple
devices at the same time and there is no much difference in user interface. Apple
builds its own hardware, operating systems and applications. This strategy is
diligently followed by Apple over years. Apple believes that having all the experts
in one place leads to a more holistic perspective on product development. Their
tight integrated ecosystem work on multiple devices at the same time—even with
a single purchase—and user interfaces are very similar across devices. Currently,
Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have entered the fray by setting up their own
ecosystems, including devices, books, games, music, media, and storage
services. However, Apple had a head start with the success of its iPods, iTunes
software, and iTunes Store, and Apple was also one of the pioneers of
touchscreen technology in phones.

While other PC manufacturing brands are competing for shelf space,

promotion, position, etc. at retail stores, Apple invests heavily in their brilliant
retail strategy. Apple has 325 stores in 11 countries, 87 of those stores are
outside the U.S. Apple is aware of the importance of interacting with customers
to understand their needs. While the rest of the PC industry is struggling with
differentiation and depends on software providers to improve their products,
Apple has a strong competitive advantage because they manufacture both
software and hardware . According to Ron Wayne, a senior analyst in
competitive analysis at IHS,“ Apple takes a vertically integrated approach to its
products, from the operating system to the user interface, to the hardware
design, down to the selection of individual parts used in the device”.

On the other hand, the services offered by Apple is also what differentiates
them from other electronic devices company. Take for example is the Apple
Music from Spotify and other competitors. Apple Music offers three additional
features other than just streaming music that is present to other music
streaming sites. Apple Music has a radio service called Beats 1, which is a 24/7
music radio station that airs a mix of pop, rap and indie music from DJs located
in Los Angeles, New York, and London. The second feature of Apple Music is a
playlist that is automatically chosen by real people and not electronically selected
like what other music streaming sites have that follows a certain genre that is
built in dependence of the listeners’ selected music genre and artist. The last
unique feature is Connect. This is a social networking feature, which lets fans
follow artists.

Finally, is the Apple Pay which was released last October 20, 2014. Apple Pay
is a mobile payments service which is designed to allow users to make payments
for good and services in retail stores using an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, or Apple
Watch. For security, Apple uses tokenization, which prevents actual credit card
numbers from being sent over the air. Apple Pay aims at replacing the wallet.

Jobs always pointed out that the biggest difference between Apple and all
the other computer companies through history is that Apple always tried to
marry art and science. Jobs pointed out the original team working on the Mac
had backgrounds in anthropology, art, history, and poetry.

Flexibility

Apple's overseas manufacturing operations offer flexibility, not just savings.

Business experts have branded Apple as the leading brand that practices
flexibility and owning to the great extent. The company assures that every
situation either expected or not should have an equal and well-thought solutions
that are accustomed prior the situation. Take the 2012 situation of Apple phone
as an example of this flexibility on how the former executive recounted an
instance prior to the launch of the original iPhone. iPhone 4 is already set to be
released in the market, however, Jobs demanded a sudden change just weeks
before its scheduled launch. He noticed that the keys in his pocket has scratched
a prototype device he had been testing. He then mentioned that he would never
sell a product that gets scratched, thus needed a glass screen then set it to be
perfect within the span of six weeks.

To cope up with this sudden change, the management called for a last
minute addition for the handset wherein 8,000 employees were woken up in the
middle of the night to begin outfitting glass screens. Even an Apple executive left
the meeting and quickly booked a flight to Shenzhen, China to address the issue.
Then take the challenge of time and the sudden change and reacted positively
that resulted into the success of the current iPhone 4. This issue has proven that
Apple products are used to sudden changes and are experts to how are the
departments are going to react for a certain issue. Within just a few days, the
factory was producing more than 10,000 iPhones a day.

There are also changes and challenges that have faced by Apple over the
years and they have successfully overcome it with the solutions and the coping
mechanism that they have practiced within the long run of business requiring a
good leadership and management skills. On 2012, Apple felt the heat as the
world most advances economies faced global recession and took time to recover
from it. Most of these countries suffered from half of the sales and economic
standing than the previous years. However, although Apple has suffered from
this recession, they focused more on the developing countries that are not too
much affected by the phenomenon and lessen the cost and production to the
areas of economic downfall.

Another is the technological advancement. The fast pacing problem of

technological changes has been a challenge for every company that features and
manufactures product related to this. If the electronic devices company does not
know how to cross over and respond to this changes, then the company might
fail. This is the reason why companies assures that their product go along with
the current trends meaningfully and quickly thus making their products in
demand to the market. This situation has lead the Apple company to go first in
this change. Instead of going along these changes, their strategy is to set and be
a trend setter for innovations. Surprisingly as it offers unique and advanced
technology retained 49% of its customers and convert 20% to iOS in year 2012-
13.

Time

The company’s time of service delivery, the competence in supply chain

management and the efficiency of the company to be able to develop a new
product is also being assessed in this research.

Apple products can be delivered to consumers within 1-3 days after the item
is shipped, between 9:00am and 12:00pm. This pertains that the delivery time
from the retailers or the Apple stores requires an direct and known time.

The Apply Supply Chain is considered as the “Best Supply Chain

Management” as stated by experts evaluating other supply chains. Supply Chain
Planning at Apple Inc purchases components and materials from various
suppliers and ships them via air, to save time and money, to the assembling
plants in China. From there, products are shipped (via FedEx or UPS) directly to
consumers who purchased Apple products from their on-line store. This supply
chain is established and has been on the practice since its rising times. This
emphasizes that the time from the suppliers to the manufacturer requires a
scheduled time and process thus saving money through air transportation.

Additionally, from the manufacturer, there are only 368 legitimate retailers
and distributors thus making the supply chain easy and not complicated. The
time that this process requires a faster pace than the competitors. Take for
example is the Samsung. Samsung acquires the supplies then distributes the
finished goods to number of distributors. This larger scope makes it a
disadvantage since the time requires for the supply chain is longer than Apple.

Therefore, with the Supply Chain Map used by Apple Inc., other distribution
channels (retail stores and distributors), Apple stores products at their central
warehouse/call centre in Elk Grove, California and ships products from there. At
the end of product’s life, customer can send products back to nearest Apple
Stores or dedicated recycling facility.
 Aside from that, with regards to the time that the Apple is using in order to
develop a new product; an innovated product, there is no absolute time required
to be able to address the time that they use. The product is ready when it is
ready. They do not rush the development in order just to release in the market
because they are too careful for details and the acceptance process to the board,
requires time to be approved. On the other hand, The Apple New Product
Process (ANPP) information is given to the product development team when they
begin work. It details every stage of the design process and it goes into
elaborate detail. The process defines the stages that the product creation team
will go through. The process is established, but the time is not. Though they
make it as fast as possible, they never rush it to be presented in the market.

Take for example is the creation of the first version of iPhone that became
publicly available on June 29, 2007 in selected countries/markets. The nest
model of the product was then releases on June 11, 2008, the iPhone 3G which
is 12 months after the first release. However, the next was the announcement of
the release of the iPhone 3GS on June 3, 2009 with their plan of market release
on either June, July or August, again depending on the time when it is ready.

This instances only proved that the time of the release of Apple product does
not make it a disadvantage with the lack of agility to develop a new innovated
product rather made it as an advantage the customers and the public has
increased their interest and curiosity.

Service

As Apple is one of the most in demand and sought after branch, services for
the customers also requires a lot of time and effort that must be exerted by the
company to secure efficiency and their soundness to the consumers.

Apple Inc. is very much aware about the consumer preferences with regards
with their new products and their interest in the technological innovations. The
consumers are more interested with a product if it is newly released in the
market. This state has led the company with the idea of iPhone installment plan.

On September 9, 2015, Apple announced a payment plan for iPhones in

response to carriers no longer giving phone subsides. Customers can buy an
unlocked iPhone and pay for the device over a 24-month time frame. The
customer has the option to trade in their current iPhone for a new iPhone at the
end of 12 months, as long as they sign on for another 24-month agreement.
Apple is catering to the consumers who prefer the newest model available but at
the same time refurbishing and reselling the recently traded-in phone.

On the other hand Apple maintains and monitors the after sales service that
are served to the customers. In fact, the company call center has 20000
telephones, is the world's largest call center, the incoming calls are more than
1800000 every day and the numbers are increasing. All are handled by the
employees and make sure that all calls and customer questions and complaints
are handled professionally.

The complete product is the augmented product which consists of additional

services and benefits like warranty, installation, after sale services, delivery and
credit. In 2001 Apple opened their first retail stores and because of that, they
gained another market advantage connected with all of these benefits and
services. Through the direct connection with customers, they were able to
provide better services to them. Salesmen in the stores could immediately help
with installation of a device, with any problem or complaint or the customer
could buy or pick up the phone directly there.

The company maintains loyal customers by focusing on customer service and

improving the customer experience. Helpful 1-on-1 interaction and service on
products with 1st party provider. Included and extended warranty is the
protection against defects and build positive image. There are also free
consultation in either in-or out-of-warranty consultation.

An example is what feedback and a review by Larrys Desk. In that time, his
MacBook Pro warranty is already in the clock and it is having an issue with the
computer’s retina scree m. Though it wasn’t a major issue for daily use, still he
wanted to make sure that he was taken care very well and the warranty would
serve its purpose. In that situation, he gave the MacBook to Apple retail store
and then simply file a phone claim up until the date the warranty expires, and
then get 30 days to send your computer back to them. This is the key distinction
of Apple warranty that is not present to other brands. While Apple will give you
30 days from the date of request to get your laptop into their postage prepaid
return box and on its way back (even if your warranty is expires within those 30
days), the same isn’t true when making an in-store appointment to bring your
computer in yourself. It’s not entirely clear why they do it that way but for in-
store service, it must be dropped off no later than the last day of the warranty –
or there is no warranty.

The location also plays well its Apple’s support strategy. The Retail Strategy
of Apple make it to their advantage were it is a fact the consumers can go in and
get support or repairs for their products and then get some other shopping done.
This strategy can be applicable since with the retail strategy they assures that
the employees and the retail outlets are very much informed about the product
and trained to respond wisely and accurately to consumer complaints. But
primarily, the main priority that Apple places on their retail strategy which has
set them apart from those who have tried retail, kiosk, and other outlets in the
past. Apple spends top dollar on the look and feel and the in-store experience
and it shows. While there is always room for improvement in Apple stores, they
have assembled a strong team, experiment heavily, and listen to customers.

Apple also on their practice of direct customer contact wherein, the company
uses a phone-based tech support provided accurate answers in a speedy
process. Apple's phone support number (1-800-275-2273) isn't highly visible on
the company's site, so most people will find themselves navigating to
http://support.apple.com, and then clicking through a short series of prompts
and filling in contact information to arrange a phone call. In this way, the
company will get rid of the unnecessary calls and only those who are really
having the problems and complaints about the product would reach them. The
direct calls that Apple has been producing received a positive feedback from their
consumers thus the feeling of being cared and gaining equal attention are
received by them.

Lastly, because Apple owns the retail experience they also have direct
conversations with their customers and potential customers. This data is
invaluable for Apple as they think about future needs of their customers and how
their products can help solve current and future problems for consumers.

Managers

Apple organization structure is one of the key factors which make it very
successful. Under Apple, Inc.’s CEO, there are eleven executives of departments
which will work directly under the company’s top leader. The organizational
structure of Apple Incorporation is very organized thus the roles of every one in
the company is structured. Apple’s CEO has power to control all of departments
that are headed by the Senior Vice Presidents of CFO, COO, Legal, Design, iOS
software, Operations, Retail, Software Engineering, Product Marketing, and
Global Communication. Simplicity is a key of the company’s structure approach.
Top executives’ responsibility is straight forward to departments without any
matrix relationship. Apple, Inc.’s approach of structure clearly engages in
centralized decision-making. This centralized form of making decision promotes
that every decision that would be made by the CEO and board of directors of
Apple, Inc. will go straight down the line to every employee of the company
therefore, practices a top-down approach on management.

Though Apple focuses on the quality that they are incorporating to each of
their product and the materials that are used passed their qualification, the
company also assures that all of the employees and managers are given the
position based on their competence and are still boosting their capabilities inside
the company. Apple Inc. invests in training the employees to maintain high
quality products. Intensive training for managers are also practiced through the
years of service to ensure that the capability of every manager to make small
decisions are accurate.

Apple’s unique success is their unique cultural values that are practiced
inside the organization. It is indeed fascinating to evaluators that the space
where deeply held organizational values are firstly established and then
manifested in everything that the organization does. While this fundamental idea
is easily contained in a short sentence it seems to legitimately exist in so very
very few entities.

The entity make the employees own their learning, training and
development. The organization make it possible for the managers to be able to
be productive on their own leanings but still following and making sure that
every decision is intact with their mission and vision. The employee skill set
requirements change faster than at almost any other tech firm. While there is
plenty of training available, there is no formal attempt to give every employee a
learning plan. Just as with career progression, employee training and learning
are primarily “owned” by employees. The firm expects employees to be self-
reliant. Its retail sales force for example receives no training on how to sell, a
practice that is certainly unconventional in the retail environment. The lesson is
simple: providing target competencies and prescribing training can weaken
employee self-reliance, an attribute problematic in a fast-changing environment.
Employee ownership of development encourages employees to continuously
learn in order to develop the skills that will be required for new opportunities.

Furthermore Apple Inc. makes their managers undisputed kings. Since Apple
is not a democratic organization, most of the decisions are made by the senior
and upper management. However, Steve Jobs already made sure that the
reputation of Apple will deemphasize the power of Human Resources.The
resulting decrease in overhead function interference, coupled with the increased
authority and accountability, helps to attract and retain managers that prefer
control.

Another advantage of Apple is the primary goal of the talent management

which is to ensure that the workforce which is focuses on the strategic element
that drive company success. That focus can be distracted with selfish or self-
serving behavior that instead shifts the emphasis to the individual, a business
function, a particular business unit or even a region. Although deciding to have a
product focus is normally a business decision, it turns out that Apple’s strong
product focus also has significant positive impacts on talent management.

The management is focused on producing a product that promotes high

quality. They are trained to focus on one product at a time thus making each of
their product critically thought. This approach centers on increasing coordination,
cooperation, and integration between the different functions of the teams. So the
focus isn’t dispersed among hundreds of products as it is at other firms. By
releasing products only when it can have a major impact.

Apple also practices a team environment. Although many teams are forced to
operate in isolation, that actually helps to build team cohesion. The competition
between the different development teams is also intense, but that also helps to
further strengthen cohesion. Like most engineering organizations, its decision-
making model is certainly focused on data. Apple management likes to control all
aspects of its products, but despite that, it is one of the best at using outsourcing
to cover areas like manufacturing, which it has determined is not a core
corporate competency.
 CONCLUSION AND LEARNING

With this report, this research has identified Apple’s competitiveness in

different areas of management and sales. This elaborated the current strategies
that Apple uses and how this affects the productivity and operations of the
company. Apple Inc. uses a range of business strategy from the price, quality,
product and service differentiation, flexibility, time, service and managers. Apple
leads its market without letting the surge of low cost technologies are emerging
the market but continues to manufacture products with high quality and
advanced technological and electronic components not risking the quality. Apple
assures that their product is differentiated towards others in creating both
hardware and software unlike its competitors that focuses in one aspect.

Moreover, the wise decision making of the company makes it their biggest
asset that was established by the later CEO, Steve Jobs. Apple never releases a
product in the market that is not studied thoroughly and deeply. This requires
time, effort, cost and a well-trained managers and workers. Quality above all. It
is the main objective of the company. The range of business strategies are
flexible with the sudden changes in either internally or externally. Both are very
much studied and can adapt to changes that appeared.

With their technique to target the niche market, it became their advantage
while giving focus on profit margins. They are successful in selling their products
and had highest customer satisfaction ratio. Apple owns the biggest market
share on the U.S. smart phone market, making their strategies effective on its
terms. What made this possible is that I therefore concluded there are three
aspects. Simplicity, differentiation and management itself.

There are factors that must be considered in building and creating a brand
image and a product release in order to assure its success. The price that must
be set in the standards of your target market which would be based from their
needs. The quality of the product that has to be the priority of the manufacturers
in order to secure consumer satisfaction and loyalty. The differentiation and the
ability to innovate. The time allotted and how is the company going to use time
wisely in developing the product and increasing the consumer curiosity. As well
as the managers, their competencies really play a big factor in making the
feedback positive and assuring wise decision making skills.
 With all these information and analysis I learned that through the years in
the market, both Apple Incorporated and Steve Jobs have established their
names making them known and branded in different terms. As for Apple
Incorporated, I think that what sets apart them from other companies is the
combination of hardware and software. It would be very hard for other
competitors to compete with Apple since it has already build its league. Not just
a part of the league but the one who took part on building it. Therefore, Apple
has become the setter of quality electronic hardwares and softwares.

REFERENCES

Journal References

Abdulla Aljafari, “Apple Inc. Industry Analysis Business Policy and Strategy”,
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 7, Issue 3,
March-2016

Apple Press Information (2012, 12). Business Conduct, the Way we do Business
Worldwide. Volume 2, Issue 6, September 2011

Blodget, H. (2013, 08 03). Apple’s ‘Mission Statement’ Is Making People Worry

That The Company Has Gone To Hell. Retrieved from Business Insider:
http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-new-mission-statement-2013-8

Gartner. (2015, 06 14). Gartner Announces Rankings of Its 2015 Supply Chain
Top 25. Retrieved from Gartner: http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3053118

Online References

Apple Investor Relations. (2013, 04, 10). Q2 FY13 Earning Release. Retrieved
from http://investor.apple.com/

Apple Store. (NA) Apple Inc. Retrieved from: http://store.apple.com/us

http://support.apple.com

http://www.concurrentmusingsofahumanbeing.blogspot.com/2012/06/

http://linked2leadership.com/2011/10/09/steve-jobs-never-learned/

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/apple-s-product-
development-process-inside-the-world-s-greatest-design-organization

https://appleinsider.com/articles/12/01/22/apples_overseas_manufacturing_oper
ations_offer_much_needed_flexibility_not_just_savings/amp/

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/a-swot-and-competitive-analysis-
of-apple-inc-marketing-essay.php

https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/AAPL.O
Thesis References

Huber John, “Apple’s Key Competitive Advantage”, Saber Capital Management

LLC, January 2017.

Wang Yiyan and Ma Xuequan, “An Insightful Analysis Report on APPLE,INC”,

April 2014-2015

Kovácsová Lucie, “Making You “Think Different”: Apple's Marketing Strategy and
its Comparison with Competitors”, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, 2014.

Sharma Abhishek, “Apple INC; A Strategic Analysis”, Memorial University Of

Newfoundland, Faculty Of Business Administration, 2013.

Appendices

Exhibit 1

Source:http://www.statista.com/topics/840/smartphones/chart/528/apple-
claims-71-percent-of-the-mobile-phone-industrys-profits/

Exhibit 1 shows the competitiveness in market share and industry profits of

Apple phones. (iPhone)

Exhibit 2

Warranty Process
Source: Wang Yiyan and Ma Xuequan, “An Insightful Analysis Report on
APPLE,INC”, April 2014-2015