Apple Computer, Inc: Maintaining the Music Business while Introducing iPhone and Apple TV - Case Study Example

?Apple Computer, Inc: Maintaining the Music Business while Introducing I-phone and Apple TV Brief History: Apple Inc came to the forefront in mid 1970s when two individuals sat together and decided to launch a platform that would be based on innovation and productivity. The two individuals were Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. They started off with a computer launch which led to introduction of series of products later. Steve Jobs and Apple have a history amongst them and he is considered as one of the best pioneers and entrepreneur the world has seen in recent times (Muller, 2011). There were some sore times between the company and Steve Jobs but they were resolved in later year. Apple Inc has its headquarter at California United states and has its chain spread across the world in major cities of the world, namely Canada, United Kingdom and other parts of Europe to name a few. It has a work force of nearly. It has a large work force spread in different retail stores and the revenues generated every year are in billions of dollars. 1-Describe the key strategic challenges faced by Apple Computer. Apple Inc is faced with number of challenges; a serious challenge faced on internal grounds is in form of the loss of its pioneer Steve Jobs. He was the one who brought it to this level, and made it possible. His loss has been a loss not only to the organization itself rather the entire modern technological world. This shows the role the man played and the impact he had on the company itself. Replacing him will take some time and it will be a job in itself to find the personnel who can fill in his shoes. A general debate exists amongst the technology gurus that question the future of Apple without the legendary man who has brought the company to this level. Its impact might not be visible as yet, but in years to come it can have an impact on the organization, its productivity, innovation and market leading trend. The challenge can be mitigated through introduction of effective management team that is focused on creating innovative ideas and introducing products and services that represent the company in a true shape. On external front the challenges faced are more severe and there is a general concept of rest of the world vs. Apple Inc. Since the digital technology trends change at a lightning speed, the need is to embrace themselves to changes and think one step ahead of the competitors in terms of change and new products. 2- Describe the dimensions along which company success can be measured.  Apple Inc is a top name in the electronic and hardware industry of manufacturing market. It is specialized in providing number of services and products which include mobile phones, computers, software applications, operating systems and various other characteristic items. Apple Inc’s areas of strength in modern times are its world renown and ubiquitous smart phone I-phone, the state of the art tablet I-Pad , a product for music savvy customers I-Pod and subsequent software application I-Tune. Apple T.V is its one of the latest offer that has given it a total new dimension and has attracted large number of customers towards itself .The aim behind introduction of Apple T.V is to capture the online internet customers market of streaming and live feeds. This will allow downloading large number of online data in form of movies and online programs .The Company provides equal options in the field of computers and operating systems and is not behind any one. Mac books and desktop computers are world famous for their class, elegance and performance (Porter & Norton, 2009). Apple T.V has not been a great success and has not achieved the outputs as expected, there were number of reasons to it, and revamping this idea and aspect serves as a challenge and an opportunity at the same time. The company achieved its boom in last decade of 20th century when Steve Jobs through his skill of sheer innovation and creativity set the organization on a path towards complete elevation. This was the second time when he joined the company and as the C.E.O. he brought up massive changes in the entire setup and introduced new reforms and managerial approaches which lead to the level where Apple Inc stands today. It has also joined hands with Nike; the IPod Nano in running can provide athletes with details of pace, millage and other relevant information (Ireland, Hoskisson, & Hitt, 2008). 3-Describe the critical external and internal environmental factors that have strategic implications for Apple's future.  Android operating systems has set a trend for an open source operating system interface in the field of mobile communications and cellular divine. This has set precedence for other competitors including Apple Inc to work on open source platform in the field of mobile phones operating systems and hence has a direct impact on the strategy of the company. The need is to establish an R&D team that works for making the operating system more user friendly in context of reaching to its peers. Since the margin for improvements is quite extensive in the field of open source operating system, this will enable great amount of improvements and possible new options creation. Apple Inc was named Apple Computer Inc for many years and it was renamed as Apple Inc only recently(Sander & Slatter, 2009)due to the reason that it does not deal in computer manufacturing only, rather has an expended platform that provides number of services stated above). The establishment and further enhancement of research and development team will have a positive implication on the internal environment of company and possibly open a totally new dimension. This in return will attract the experts from across the world to their platform. Marketing strategy as an external implicating factor: The modern times are about going together and making more friends than enemies in the corporate enterprise. Apple has followed the same principle and has launched various packages and has taken on different ventures which will allow expansion and spreading the good name in different segments of society. An example in this case was seen when Apple Inc started a venture with Starbucks which enabled the member customers at their food chains access to ITunes and other related services of Apple Inc. A similar step in this direction has been the opening of number of retail stores across the globe with aim at reaching the most versatile of environments and customers. Microsoft without a doubt is the dominant force in the desktop and laptops operating systems around the globe. The operating system provided by them Windows has been around for number of decades and is more common amongst common users than Apple’s Macintosh (McDonald & Keegan, 2002). The users category might vary and Apple might be the choice of the elite and sophisticated, but the bulk of population falls in the middle class and relatively above, Hence efforts must be made to capture the market in that segment of society and industry. In the computer category the need is to come out of the cult customers and make it to the mass population. Hence Apple needs to take critical decisions in time in order to compete with the already stable players in market. 4- Describe how Apple's strategy stands up against industry rivalry.  The strategy is based on the concept of novelty. Apple Inc’s core competence is based on innovations, design and creativity, in order to maintain its position it must live up to its mark and that is possible through continuous innovation and creativity .Innovation in itself is an enduring task and requires skills to maintain it. A product launched on a certain style might not be the demand of the customers tomorrow. Both in the field of mobile phones and other electronic equipments, Apple has made its name through innovation (Lundahl, 2011). The concept of touch phones was largely introduced by Apple and others followed afterwards. To live up to its expectations, innovation and customer satisfaction is the order of the day. Marketing strategy has always been Apple’s Strength .In such critical times, the organization must focus of marketing strategies that yield the maximum profits. This can be done by identifying the segments of customers and focusing on the requirements of each on individual basis. With large number of products being introduced in recent years, the customer list has expanded by large proportion, satisfying them all and living up to their expectations is a challenge in itself, therefore marketing strategy is a challenge in itself that is confronted by Apple Inc. Strength in the Music Corridor: While Apple Inc has stretched its hands to hardware devices and operating systems, it must be kept in mind that the one of the more vibrant core competence of Apple Inc is its music store applications and MP3 player I-Pod. App Store is a recent progress that has been added to the list of services offered by the company. The I-Tunes has large number of fan following behind it and the website receives thousands of customers and applications download from its platform (Afuah, 2009). The purpose of I-tunes is to discourage music piracy and provide a platform where large scale music can be used. Earlier the use of I-tunes was limited to Apple’s machines but now it can be downloaded on other platforms as well. On a rough scale i-tunes has a collection of roughly six million songs in its archery (Palfrey & Gasser, 2010).Hence amidst the hardware progresses and other innovative pursuits, the earlier strengths must be taken into account and must not be pushed into the background. Zune is catching fast on I-pod and aims at providing tough fight to Apple in the music arena. Other players are also joining in the battle for dominance in the discipline of Mp3 players and music applications. Apple is confronted with massive competition and insurgents in form of Nepster, peer to peer music sharing sources, Real Networks Inc, in bid to outsmart Apple has reduced its sharing costs by a staggering amount and poses a serious threat to the incumbent company’s real strength. Others in the battle against Apple Inc include Sony, Virgin Media, Wal-mart. All these have followed the footsteps of Apple Inc and are trying their level best to upset the market trend setter. 5-Describe the recommendations you would make to enhance the effectiveness of the company's strategy or to change its strategic approach for better results.  Achieving excellence is a difficult task, maintaining is a far more difficult challenge. Apple Inc has achieved excellence and with the ever growing industry, challenges are at door step. The nature of industry is such that any player can take the lead any time, for this reason Apple Inc must not relax and work on its management principles. There were some issues reported against the launch of I-phone 4 where antennas in the mobile phone came up with some error. Such events must not be repeated in order to keep the customers on board. Pricing has been an issue at times, reduction in products prices can bring about more customers .It can adopt the strategy followed by Amazon for Kindle Fire. Need is to create a think tank and effective strategy making team so that the need for relying on one person is future does not arise again. In the category of mobile phones, operating systems and laptops, this is the external challenge faced is in form of Apple versus rest of the league. Since Apple has always outclassed them by innovation and new ideas, all others would aim to side line Apple Inc whenever possible. Players like Nokia and Samsung have been in the business for many years and have their roots firm along with large number of customers’ bank. Attracting their customers towards itself would require something special like I-phone 3 and I-phone 4 in future. A general perception exists about the apple a product pricing, for being relatively high compared to its counterparts, which to a certain level is true, the need is to bring down the prices in order to make it to the common market and common class. Seeing the challenges and competitors at hand Apple’s strategy should be based on number of factors, first and foremost is the customer satisfaction, since customers are accustomed to innovation and creativity from this brand, This should be kept as the norm and everything should be done to ensure that the brand name lives up to its expectations. Bibliography: Afuah, A. (2009). Strategic Innovation: New Game Strategies for Competitive Advantage. Taylor & Francis. Ireland, R. D., Hoskisson, R. E., & Hitt, M. A. (2008). Understanding Business Strategy: Concepts and Cases. Cengage Learning. Lundahl, D. (2011). Breakthrough Food Product Innovation Through Emotions Research. Academic Press. Muller, C. (2011). Apple's Approach Towards Innovation and Creativity: How Apple, the Most Innovative Company in the World, Manages Innovation and Creativity. GRIN Verlag. McDonald, M., & Keegan, W. J. (2002). Marketing Plans That Work. Butterworth-Heinemann. Palfrey, J., & Gasser, U. (2010). Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. Basic Books. Porter, G. A., & Norton, C. L. (2009). Using Financial Accounting Information: The Alternative to Debits and Credits. Cengage Learning. Sander, P., & Slatter, J. (2009). The 100 Best Stocks You Can Buy 2010. Adams Media. Read More