SHANXI UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

ASSIGNMENT: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED BY: MARYAM ALI KAZMI (穆蕊)

(MBA 2020)
 TOPIC: COMPARISON OF STRATEGY DIFFERENCE AMONG APPLE, HUAWEI AND XIAOMI

Following heads will show the main strategic differences among these three companies.
APPLE:
Apple Ecosystem:

Apple has been designing, developing and producing its own in-house hardware and software. This natural advantage helps them build a
deeper level of integration between its hardware and software - across all of its devices.

Here is an example - Say, you buy an iPhone. You soon start using a few of its online services like iCloud storage. Here's where the light
comes in - the Hardware, software, and apps on the iPhone are well-designed and accurate to use that you'll soon fully embrace. Once
done, it leads you to create a beautiful image and only other Apple devices can use the apps.

This allows you to buy their laptops and other items that play well with each other. This extends to their accessories as well - the latest
line of iPhones has removed the headphone jack that makes people buy more Apple wireless AirPods earphones.

This strategy has helped Apple create an environment or "ecosystem" that provides a consistent and positive experience for its users.

Customer relations:

Apple has been making great strides in providing customer service and has been able to do so with the help of AppleCare and by using
experienced retailers and service staff to cater for customers in need. This has helped Apple to break away from all other competitions in
terms of customer relationships and support, increasing its product reliability. Apple has focused on providing the highest quality service
to its customers and this has reflected the increased potential for customer adherence to Apple.

Apple Stores also helps with excellent control of the customer experience and in addition to displaying Apple products and devices,
Apple Stores doubles as a service center.
Form over function:

One of Apple's key strategies when it comes to product development lies in its ability to provide well-designed products and services -
with a little emphasis, clean lines, and strong tones. But it can also be said that Apple has made it a point to focus on design and
performance planning if possible. The latest MacBook (laptop) system is a good example of this. Apple has given up the power to
dissipate heat and install a thin keyboard - full of issues such as inefficiency in the event of dust getting stuck between the keys - all in an
effort to keep the design slim and smooth. But the strategy still works well and favors Apple. The average consumer prefers smaller and
quieter laptops.

Brand differentiation:

Apple's product and marketing strategy has always made a point of advertising itself as a symbol of luxury while focusing on separating
itself from its competitors. Apple confirms it presents the following image - Apple competes with it and not with others. This helps
Apple in gaining its brand image and reputation. Consumers however often assume that this is because Apple has built a reputation as a
manufacturer of well-designed premium products.

Customer privacy:

Apple has always made it clear that it values customer privacy and has proven to manage its customer data much better than its
competitors. During CES 2020, Apple's executive director of global privacy spoke about Apple's take on privacy as

 Limit the amount of personal information collected from its users.

 Provision of secure cloud storage (Cloud)

 Providing tools for users to be able to maintain their privacy

HUAWEI:

Love for its workforce:

Without people, organizations are nothing. In the competitive world in which we live, knowledge-based firms, representing 99.9 percent
in the technology industry, understand the number of employees.

The new invention comes from passionate, curious and intelligent employees who feel they are the integrated body of the company they
work for. Huawei understood this approach before it became a theology of Silicon Valley HR. In the 1990s, Huawei developed a stock
ownership system where its employees' money was based on three factors: salary, performance and share divisions.

By accepting this form of compensation, Huawei wanted to apply a law known as the "knowledge-ism", which focused on allowing and
encouraging employees to think of themselves as owners who benefited from the company's success, not as employees whose
replacement had their contributions reduced.

By transforming Huawei into an employee-led company, it allowed the company to seek out and retain top talent in its rankings and stay
away from its competitors.

Learning focused:

Ren realized the importance of R&D as part of Huawei's competitive strategy. To that end, he instilled in his senior management a sense
of urgency and urgency. That is, whatever made Huawei successful years ago was thought to be demolished and, as a result, innovation
had to be an ongoing effort.

So why, since its inception, the company has never failed to reinvest, at least 10 percent of R&D revenue. That's 5 percent higher than
Apple's, and about 2.5 percent higher than Samsung's. .

R&D: a global story

Instead of expanding its R&D department within China, Huawei deliberately went abroad to establish R&D laboratories around the
world. Indeed, between 2002 and 2010, the giant opened 57 new and other corporate centers in the US, Sweden, Germany, Russia,
Sweden, Canada, and the UK based on regional expertise¹.

In addition, Huawei's new facilities are closely linked as they work seamlessly to ensure that information sharing takes place.

Not surprisingly, Huawei is the sixth largest R&D investor in the world in 2017, surpassing Apple.

Leveraging untapped markets:

Huawei, on the other hand, has sold the prices of its phones to reach a growing level of mid-range and emerging markets that Apple has
failed to regulate and serve.

It is Huawei's aggressive pricing strategy that protects emerging market shares in countries such as India, Indonesia, China, Russia, South
Africa, Nigeria, Indonesia and Pakistan.

The growing demand for optional assets combined with the growing investment in telecommunications infrastructure, as well as brand
awareness already established, Huawei finds itself on the right track in the world.

Strategic partnership:

In addition to its aggressive marketing efforts, Huawei has established stable relationships with reputable international brands such as
Leica Camera AG, Google, and Porsche Design to reach the mid-range market currently marketed by Apple. So far, this relationship has
only produced positive results.
Customer driven innovation:
Huawei has made significant changes over the past two decades - transforming itself from a technology-focused company to a customer-
driven organization. Reportedly, over the years, Ren has repeatedly told his employees that they should “keep their eyes on customers
and their backs to management”.
The company structure has a key element of customer orientation within its three business units: operations, business, and terminals.
With that in mind, all business units operate in a disciplinary manner to assist customers¹. As a result of such a plan, Huawei's 22-year-
old regional headquarters is set up to deliver as many new products as possible to its customers.
XIAOMI:
Use of new kind of social commerce:
Because Xiaomi sells most of its phones online, social media is an integral part of the way it is always visible and engaging with
potential customers and customers. It does this in China mainly through Weibo, and in new markets it uses Facebook, Twitter, and -
especially with Hugo Barra, the former Googler turned to Xiaomi VP for international operations - Google+.
Creates scarcity:
Xiaomi's flash sales help restore and reduce waste, avoiding the kind of over productive disasters recently detected by Amazon's Fire
Phone and Microsoft's Surface RT.
While that makes it difficult to find the Xiaomi gadget, the company has managed to turn it into a good thing, creating hype from time to
time as flash sales of a limited number of devices open each week. Xiaomi's social media accounts, especially on Weibo and WeChat,
play a major role in driving people to the page for each new flash sale.
After that, when the flash sale was completed, Xiaomi used a quick sale of some social media posts, announcing that, for example,
50,000 Mi4 Smartphones were sold in just 25 seconds.
Every product range has a social hub:
Another important part of Xiaomi's communication strategy is that it operates Weibo accounts throughout the product range. Xiaomi has
10 major Weibo accounts, best known for Xiaomi Mobile Weibo with nearly 11 million followers; the new, MiPad (pictured above),
recently surpassed 500,000 fans. Xiaomi's company Weibo has four million followers, indicating that people may prefer internet and
gadgets (i.e.) than the company. Gadgets are very secretive, but companies are often empty, so this makes sense in terms of human
perception - yet it is something that few companies do, especially outside of China.
Offline is secondary to online:
Xiaomi has 451 national service centers, but they are not stores - although they look very similar to Apple's iconic stores with their pine
desks and plenty of gaming space around gadgets.
These relatively small stores - usually just outside of the city's major shopping center - save Xiaomi's money from premium merchandise.
When Xiaomi gets offline - like its events or service centers - it's all at the very top of its ecommerce core.
Runs its own community:
Along with its careful communications framework, Xiaomi is also active in operating its own social media platforms, or BBS. This is
where the brand’s most hardcore fans, called "Mi fans," come together to discuss gadgets, share information, and often share. This is
typical of Chinese companies, but especially those that can be used by major brands overseas.
Xiaomi's BBS has 30 million registered users and sees 579,000 new posts every day.