Apple: Company and Its Visionary - Case Study Example

APPLE COMPANY Affiliation Apple Company History and Growth Apple Company Inc. is a corporation that was formed by two college dropouts students on the 1st of April 1976. The two students, Jobs, and Wozniak felt there was a need for a user-friendly computer that was easily portable and convenient to use. (Jargosch, 2014, p. 94) This was the driving factor behind their invention. The company manufactures and distributes personal computers, computer soft wares, and commercial servers besides consumer electronics. The two students started establishing the company in Jobs garage where they were making the computers and selling them excluding the monitor, keyboard. They later decided to include these in their sales in 1977. Apple Computers Company enjoyed a rapid growth and quickly expanding market base in the computer industry. It became the first company to introduce color graphics. Initially, the company was mainly dealing with personal computers but with time expanded its range of production. (Jargosch, 2014, p. 146)In 2001, it introduced into the market the iPod music player and later in 2003 introduced iTunes music store. Due to differences in ideas between the two friends over the day-to-day management of the activities of the company, Wozniak walked out of the company. This made jobs to hire a manager whose services did not help the company realize its dreams. Jobs fell out with Sculley, who was the appointed manager and also quitted the company but returned in 1996 after his new company, NeXT, was bought by Apple computers. Jobs deployed his skills and tactics in management to ensure the company was successful. Apple Companys revenue has been on a steady increase from $7.8 million in 1978 to as high as $127.8 billion in 2011 and further to $156 billion in 2012. Strengths and weaknesses Strengths Apples app store provides a platform on which the customers can access such electronics as phones, computers and tablets. The availability of the closed app store ensures the approval of the entire app sold from the store. Ability to manufacture compatible products. Products from Apple are easy and convenient to install and use making the customers prefer their produce. Once a customer has had an experience of the user interface of the products of the Apple, the next time he wants to acquire a similar item, he wouldnt look elsewhere but from Apple. (Lüsted, 2012, p. 88) Full control of their goods and services. Apple manufactures both the hardware and soft wares of computers thus do not rely on other companies to manufacture the compliment of their soft wares. It has its own retail shops from which it can sell it commodities. Weaknesses The closed app store though of importance to the company is thought of as weakness as the company dictates the programs and applications one can run on his gadget. High-quality products made from materials of very high quality makes the products to be charged very high prices Apple Company has only one phone, and tablet in the market is hence facing stiff competition from the varied ranges that are consistently reaching the market. External Environment Apple Company has managed to manufacture commodities that satisfy the needs of its consumers. Other companies are dealing in the same line of products thus find it very tough to outdo Apple Company. Such companies thus come up with commodities that are similar to the products of Apple. Apple Company faces a very stiff competition from companies such as Microsoft and Samsung, which consistently work tirelessly hard to make better and better smartphones. (Newlands, 2012, p. 335) Analysis Being an enormous company operating all over the world, Apple Company experiences some challenges. With the weaknesses mentioned above and strengths, the companys management has to strive to ensure it balances out. The company has done investigations to reach out on what the customers need and direct all their efforts toward achieving the same. This makes it able to withstand the competition and remain the best in the technology industry. (Lüsted, 2012, p. 199) The company takes advantage of the high demand for their commodities. As the company grows, the customers expectations from the company also keep rising hence the company must always think beyond the expectations of the customers to keep track with them. Following the statistics on the trend of growth of the company, it is clear that the company is rapidly rising and remains the most developed and competitive technology firm in the technology industry. The company can, therefore, continue with its activities at the current pace taking care to keep the customers hearts with them. Implementations The company hired Tim Cooks as the CEO to replace Jobs, who was the initial CEO and the originator of the idea. The company has also employed personnel in the various fields in the company. This personnel is among them the staff in charge of retails, counseling, the design of the industry, marketing of the companys products internationally, software engineering, hardware engineering. (Newlands, 2012, p. 294)There are also officers that handle the management of the various branches of the company in different parts of the United States of America. The CEO makes official communications to the public on the trends and issues in the company. The CEO informs the customers through press statements the progress of the company besides any new products the company has introduced in the market. Corporate Level Strategy The mission statement of Apple Company is Apple is a manufacturer of Macs, which is at the moment, regarded the best personal computers in the world in addition to OS X, iWork and professional soft wares. Apple leads are the in the transformation of music to digitality with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and Apple Store and is defining the future of mobile media computing devices with iPad. (Jargosch, 2014, p. 354) The goal is to ensure it powers all its products with renewable sources of energy. The goal of the company reflects how concerned the company is in conserving the environment thus ensuring the safety of the customers. Apple Company faces very stiff competition in the technology industry. The use of similar techniques in the designing of their products makes it very easy to identify its products in the market. The creation of the online stores besides the retail shops creates a stable market base. The shops ensure the commodities of the company are available to all the consumers worldwide. The full range of commodities manufactured by Apple also gives the customers a brand of products to choose from. The iPod, iPad, Apple TV and iMacs besides to the various apps from the iTunes stores keep the customers lively when using commodities from Apple. The complaints from customers are always given the attention they deserve, and this helps to ensure the company remains relevant to the needs of the customers. Provision of valid warranty to the commodities make the customers feel secure to go for their products. These services make Apple Company continue experiencing wonderful business success. (Newlands, 2012, p. 430) Business Level Strategy With the aid of the Apple stores, Apple Company easily displays their products to its customers. This gives the customers an opportunity to identify the latest Apple product in the market. From the Apple stores still, the customers are offered after sales services including the process of installation of their devices. (Jargosch, 2014, p. 88)Apple goes overboard to ensure the interest of the customer is given the priority. The company goes as far as replacing iPhones whose warranty periods are expired. This provides an excellent marketing strategy as the customers would go round sharing the information with other people urging them to come and buy from Apple. Apple Company has such applications that enable customers to make purchases of some commodities from through their phones. This saves the customers the time and cost of traveling to the retail stores to make such purchases. The adoption of iPod Touch that is used for checking out that relieved the customers of the previous online waiting that the customers had to do to make purchases. Recommendations I would recommend the following to this prestigious and successful company to see them fly higher. Establishment of companies in other parts of the world besides the main headquarters in the United States of America. With more companies, the companys reputation and an image would be built. Besides to this, the company would be able to reach a greater number of customers faster. Simplicity is modesty as was once said by the scholars remains very relevant to this enormous company. The company should keep manufacturing simple but unique commodities. Simple products save on the cost of manufacturing besides saving on the time spent on production. The customers thus receive affordable products at convenient times when they need without necessarily making orders for the same. I would recommend that the company to keep the needs of the customers on top of any other thing. This is achievable through the production of goods according to the customers specifications and responding to the customers complaints swiftly. References Jargosch, R. E. (2014). Apple Inc Patent Landscape Analysis – January 1, 1994, to December 31, 2013. California: IPGenix LLC. Lüsted, M. A. (2012). Apple: Company and Its Visionary Founder, Steve Jobs. New York: ABDO. Newlands, D. D. (2012). The Global Business Handbook: The Eight Dimensions of International Management. Kansas: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Read More