NAME – JIDNYASA NANDRE

CLASS – MMS
ROLL NO – 105
SUBJECT – STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

CASE STUDY
APPLE Inc

1. Perform SWOT analysis of Google , Amazon, Microsoft and Apple

A. SWOT – GOOGLE
ANS - Introduction - Google is the best company who pioneered the search engine
revolution, Provides means to all internet users to search minute information within
micro-seconds of search.
Google importance is for their work in organizing information “Concise-Precise”
manner was their best product for internet economy. As Companies, Individuals,
Consumers search and access information about Anything, Anywhere, Anytime with
ease.
Do not be evil means their business practices to enhance information and actualize
best practices, organize information and helping people search information without
censoring information.
Strengths – Maintaining undisputed Market leadership in Search Engines is their
biggest strength. Controlling approximately 65% market share for internet searches,
competitors are having far lower market shares than google.
Able to generate User traffic as its become an powerful household brand in the
world, able to drive internet users traffic smoothly. Average 1.2 Billion hits a month
gives them top edge over competitors.
Their Revenue from Advertising and Display generate profit partnering third party
sites, this maintains their Top / Bottom Lines very well in these years.
Google got a big boost by Introduction of Android and Mobile Technologies, they
positioned themselves as a direct competitor to apple for their devices and
operating system.

Weaknesses – Too much importance to Secrecy of their algorithms for searches,

formulas for internet searches, experts think they hide it in name of Secrecy, but
recently they are providing Bare bone versions of their Search engine algorithms.
Dropping Advertisement rates from 2013, resulting decline in revenues, due to
global economic slowdown, aggressive competitors, Apple is also taken steps in
getting search engine revenues on their devices posing challenges to google
Total dependence on advertising revenue almost 85% of total revenue, if it dips
drastically due to any reason, so they need to devise a different and most robust
business model considering Ecommerce, Mobile commerce along present business
model
Google is not compatible with next generation computing platforms, mobiles, tablet
computers and this need to be looked seriously by them.
 Opportunities -
Android technology is biggest opportunity as Android OS ( Operating system )
directly competing global leaders Apple & Samsung
Diversification in Non-Ad revenues by sites like google books, google maps
commercial revenues.
In Nano computing Google Glasses and Google play will take google to next level
Cloud Computing providing cloud solutions for enterprise market will be best
opportunity
Threats -
Facebook, Twitter as a new competition of Social media threat to google in internet
space, they need to increase features of Facebook, Twitter to retain top position
Mobile computing by new competitors is another big threat to them
B. SWOT Amazon
Introduction – World’s leading online retailer and successful in becoming leader, forcing
other retailers to create online presence, Its like Online Wal-Mart by offering higher sales
with most competitive pricing
Leveraging many opportunities in emerging markets and bringing a paradigm shift in global
supply chain models, their network of Warehouses and Secondary distribution created a
great value.
Inspite of all these brand positioning and excellent customer service, they are still operating
with paper thin margins and have huge scope to improve their profits.
Strengths
World’s leading online retailer, due to their Cost leadership, Diferentiation than
competition, and marlet focus makes them No. 1 position. These actions gained the Market
Value for stakeholders
Information technology by Amazon makes them most competitive, their Ecommerce
platform scalability gives them upper edge than competition
Every consumer has Amazon on their top of mind and this makes them entering new market
verticals compared to their competitors
Logistics & Supply Chain system by Amazon is successful customer order fulfilment on time
makes them leader.
Weaknesses -
Diversification into new segments, losing focus on core competencies of retailing Books, it’s
a good strategy to divert risks but need to retain core competencies too.
Free shipping feature losing them revenues compared to competition
In emerging markets, Only Online Retails as a single focus may become obstacle in near
future for their growth and expansions.
Zero Margin business model denting profitability inspite of higher volumes, huge revenues
but no profits is a worrying situation.
Opportunities
Amazon online payment system (UPI) platform has a strong opportunity to scale up and
grow basis Security & Privacy in place, offering Own payment gateway
Instead of being third party products forwarding site, they need to roll our products under
their own brand to capitalize the markets,
Improving inventory management for millions of products, Stock pile up, can make them
strong and comfortable to enhance the revenues.
Opening more sites to cater the global market which will give them leading edge over
competitors
Threats
Online shopping has a big threat of hackers for Consumer data theft, Cyberattacks, data
exposes Amazon customers, so they need to gurantee the Consumer privacy and security
concerns.
Aggressive pricing strategy may put them in lawsuit from retail industry stakeholders, Cost
obsession by amazon upsetting the competitors for taking business share.
With Global strategy, they need to have local strategies also to cater the niche needs of local
consumers.
C. SWOT Microsoft
Strengths -
Recently Microsoft gone through change in leadership for strategic directional changes,
getting their acts together. These strategic moves in perspective and appraise the situation,
this is very good move for Internal dynamics and external business drivers to regain their
market leadership.
In all PC users in world, Microsoft maintains top of the mind brand recall, keeping them
ahead of competition, recently they lost some features of their product.
Users are ready to use Microsoft software as it is very easy option, as this is most important
Second Industrial revolution by making computing available to the masses.
Its global distributors network, co-branding with leading hardware makers enables them
strategic depth and breadth of user base.
They consistently beat the analyst expectations in profitability, revenues by shifting trends
like mobile computing in recent years.
Weaknesses -
They did not anticipate the emergence of Internet, mobile computing as a phenomenon
which will take over the world.
Microsoft was slow to respond, with monopolistic charges in early years was main source of
company
Mobile computing, Computing revolution, they missed in early stage, Apple revolution was
great success, their smartphone devices, operating system got delays in launch and getting
success globally.
Security flaws in software, windows users, irrespective of the versions the users using.
Opportunities -
Internet, Mobile opportunities were lost in recent years but Cloud computing paradigm can
be an opportunity for them, this can gain them leadership position again
Satya Nadella, CEO is in line with aggressive push towards Cloud computing as a game
changer for them, he can ride over the challenges and get success in next wave
Having huge cash hoard, so they can still grow inorganically through Acquisitions of smaller
competitors
Misreading internet in early stage, Hotmail gave some edge for few years before Google
personal email products.
Threats -
Its very size as an asset, as they were not quick to seize market opportunities by proactively
reading market signals.
Open source software is another challenge which they gradually overcome
Software piracy in India, China put them in revenue losses
Microsoft monopolistic business practices are facing lawsuit from Europeans

D. SWOT APPLE
Strengths –
Market Share - Apple, Global Tech Giant, Growth and captured market in a very short span,
Market Share holding highest market share of 1.8 Billion devices in use in 2022.
Technology - Apple is highly advanced technologically compared to their competition,
Airdorp, Sire are the prominent features attracting consumers
Invention - Good quality camera in a mobile phone is initiated by Apple products, later it
was adopted by competitors, these kind of advancement in technology gives them upper
edge than competition
Diverse product range - Apple’s diverse product range filling market gaps in recent years and
they really worked on various product ranges as per user needs and wants
Initially the products were only computer related, later they diversified into iPods, iPhones,
Macbooks, Desktops, Smart watches, TV etc. Addition to this they have a wide product
range of electronic accessories like headphones, mobile cases etc.
Service - Apple after sales service is very efficient, their 19% revenue is generated from
Service vertical, Apple care, Apple Card, Apple TV+ etc are the products contributing to it
Design & Quality – Classy product design, e.g. iPhones simple structurs with no make over
but always carry grace and became a Status & Class
Uncompromised Quality of product – Major part of consumers don’t want to compromise
on Quality, SO Apple focused on High-Quality, Modern – Innovative techniques reduced
major share of customer complaints
Customer loyalty – They have a loyal customer base, They are known as “Once an Apple
user, Always an apple user” which is a correct statement in most of the cases. Apple users
don’t easily switch from this brand dur to privacy features to great extent makind users
more secured.
Weaknesses -
No company is perfect in the competitive world, they don’t do digital advertising and
marketing, less spend on advertising, no TV Ads compared to Samsung yet they manage
record sales every year
If they do Digital and Social media advertising, they will generate more revenues.
Limited designs in phones category, appearances, sizes, thickness, lack of variety
Very high inflated prices of their products, becomes unaffordable,
Tracking exact location of users is a allegation on Apple products, resulted in bad publicity.
Compatibility only with their software, Once bought apple product need to create Apple id.
Once that id is made, device only work through that Apple id. Not compatible with other
software is inconvenience to users.
Heavy reliance on iPhone product range for revenue generation, this can result ins serious
trouble for some reason
Opportunities -
Developing AI (Artificial Intelligence) new wave of AI, they can benefit from AI to make their
products more user-friendly, Also producing Eco-Friendly products for positive image of the
company
Use of virtual reality for marketing purposes,
Dependence on technology may provide opportunity to expand customer base,
Threats -
Present Russia-Ukraine War impact globally – It will incur losses in major customer base in
Russia, Ukraine also other part of the world,
US tariffs on China will increase apple’s production cost
Increasing Competition from Google, Huawei, Samsung giving tough time with their
Advanced Tech products, so they need to strive hard for maintaining leadership in
challenging scenario.
Rapid Technological change making existing Tech outdated, to maintain the position in
market, to adopt new technologies
Pandemic caused them huge losses in stock value due to delays in launch of new series

2. Summarise apple product segments and suggest where it can pursue growth

ANS - Apple’s diversified product segments are Inventive, High-Tech having a good global
market share, Due to Sales, Service, Design, Quality and loyal customer base.

To pursue the growth they need to do digital and social media advertising, changing designs
as per market trends, with affordable pricing, offering customer safety and security

They need to develop AI (Artificial Intelligence) & Virtual reality as a new wave of AI, User
friendly products,
They should get ready for the challenges from competition like google, Samsung, Huawei
advanced tech products to maintain leadership
By Adopting to new technology, staying updated of socio-political and economically updated
they can pursue growth
Also they can introduce affordable priced products for global customers. Be pandemic ready
will help them to retain the leadership position.

3. Identify top challenges that Tim Cook faces and he should address them

ANS - Tim cook taken over in August 2011 as a CEO, His style is democratic, compared to Mr
Steve Job’s autocratic. He lacked visionary style of Mr. Job. He has slower decision making,
he also lacks micromanagement skills.

He has faced manpower issues, Some he hired / recruited and some he fired swiftly

Apple stock prices dropped to Half, Grilled in congress for tax saving strategies, ugly legal
fight with shareholders.

Apple identity remains constant and maintain apple persona for outside world

Managing the revenue and sales growth for apple consistently

 4. Consider the internal and external environment of your assigned firm ( Google,
Microsoft, Apple, Amazon) develop alternative how it can adapt to increase
competition

ANS- Google

• Investing in Android OS is the biggest opportunity for google to directly compete

with Apple, Samsung
• Google Maps, Google Books and similar google commercial products will add on to
more revenues
• Taking Google Play, Google Glasses to next level in nano computing and cloud
computing,
Microsoft

• Internet, Mobile opportunities were lost in recent years but Cloud computing
paradigm can be an opportunity for them, this can gain them leadership position
again
• Satya Nadella, CEO is in line with aggressive push towards Cloud computing as a
game changer for them, he can ride over the challenges and get success in next wave
• Having huge cash hoard, so they can still grow inorganically through Acquisitions of
smaller competitors
• Misreading internet in early stage, Hotmail gave some edge for few years before
Google personal email products.
Amazon
Diversification into new segments by maintaining consistent focus on core competencies
Zero margin business need to move towards revenue making business
Amazon online payment system (UPI) platform has a strong opportunity to scale up and
grow basis Security & Privacy in place, offering Own payment gateway
Instead of being third party products forwarding site, they need to roll our products under
their own brand to capitalize the markets,
Improving inventory management for millions of products, Stock pile up, can make them
strong and comfortable to enhance the revenues.
Opening more sites to cater the global market which will give them leading edge over
competitors
Apple
Developing AI (Artificial Intelligence) new wave of AI
By offering products more user-friendly, Also producing Eco-Friendly products for positive
image of the company
Use of virtual reality for marketing purposes,
Dependence on technology may provide opportunity to expand customer base,