Analysis of Apples Competitiveness - Assignment Example

Apple Inc. Case Study Name Institution Section 1 Apple’s phenomenal success in post-2000 can be attributed to various factors, including a strong leadership orchestrated by the founder and the then CEO, Steve Jobs. He was the mastermind behind Apple’s product line, the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. Many companies focus on satisfying the shareholder and generating maximum revenues, but as Meyer (2015) asserts, Apple gave priority to customers, satisfying them first, and then worrying about the shareholders. As such, the strategic plan revolves around customers, and the driving force behind can be attributed to a high level of competitiveness compared to competitors and a strong organization culture. According to Robbins et al. (2014), whenever a company has a strong corporate culture, it has a strong foundation for success. In the case of Apple, this was provided by Steve Jobs and laid a workable framework for supporting change, as well as new strategies and policies. As such, this is the reason the company invests in research and development to enhance innovation. Apple’s innovation is observable regardin how it fabricates its line of iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch brands that have gained international recognition. According to Meyer (2015), the company’s corporate culture is characterized by top-notch excellence, creativity, innovativeness, and secrecy. In addition, Steve Job’s combative leadership style was one of the features that led to the success of the corporation, as he challenged the employees to ensure that they had what it takes to work at the company (Fogliasso and Williams, 2014).However, as Meyer (2015) points out, under the leadership of the current CEO, Tim Hook, the leadership is changing to less combative and more sociable one. Apple’s Competitiveness has enabled its global success. According to Johnson, et al. (2012), the company produces high-tech products, the company since 2000 faces stiff competition from other companies including Google, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Amazon, and Microsoft. However, Apple has managed to leapfrog these companies and has quickly become a legend, and as Johnson et al. (2012) point out, innovation has been the core of its survival and development. Ideally, the company has excelled in fabricating products that warrant customer loyalty. In essence, as Meyer (2015), asserts, Apple grasps the requirements of the customer, while at the same time ensuring that the products are trendy, impeccable, technologically sound, and luxurious. All these aspects combined enable consumers to pick Apple’s products rather than the competitors’. For this reason, the company has experienced tremendous growth compared to competitor firms. Also, the company had adapted to the new market trends, where consumers prefer products that are user-friendly, trendy, luxurious, and technologically superior. Apple capitalized on these patterns by manufacturing products that fit into these trends, as well as adopting a broad differentiation facilitated by the generic strategy, such as smartphones, computers, and watches. Consequently, it facilitates the company to differentiate its products from those of the competitors. As such, market segments that grew from Apple’s strategies include those characterized by behavior bases, such as the effectiveness of product usage, as well as psychographic segments which are forged by lifestyles and values. Section2 Steve Job’s management style can be deemed as unconventional. He did not use traditional managerial advice, and as McInerney (2011) pointed out, he was best known for consensus building and consultative leadership approach. For this reason, as the author asserts, he could be described as a “high-maintenance coworker” and demanded excellence from the employees, and bluntly delivered criticism. As such, his leadership style cannot be pinned to one particular style. He was uncompromising and egotistical (Moltz, 2011). As Moltz (2011) points out, Jobs made frequent rants and embarrassing outbursts against his rivals and employees, and in some instances threatened them. Jobs never capitalized on consensus, rather, he believed that he knew better that his workers, and thus, he did not care whether anyone agreed with him. In effect, this provides the first sight of an authoritative leader, which as Robbins et al. (2014) assert, is characterized by a firm manager who motivates his workers through persuasion and feedback on task performance. The good thing about his staff is that they believed in him, as well as his judgment. In addition, due to his visionary nature, Jobs management style exhibited some aspects of authoritativeness, especially by the fact that he insisted on having his way. For this reason, he pushed his workers too hard, away from their comfort zones, but he excelled in getting them together to accomplish tasks they believed they could not do. Therefore, he acted more of a leader than a manager. As such, working for Jobs was not easy as he pushed the employees to their limits. His constant rants and threats were not motivating to the employees. According to Robbins et al. (2014), a good manager should be supportive to his staff, not blaming over mistakes. However, he believe that the ends justified the means, and for this reason, this always worked, but as far as the employees were concerned, it was not easy working with Jobs. He was too controlling. However, he had positive aspects such as encouraging the employees to follow their passion, which he believed was a core paradigm for success. For this reason, he fostered greatness in his workforce. The culture at Apple is geared towards customer satisfaction, excellence, and innovativeness. Tim Hook supports this as he has adopted a different approach to management. He stresses on teamwork and transparency, and as opposed to Jobs management style, Cook is calm and more approachable than Jobs was. He inspires the workers via an open-door policy, and capitalizes on collaboration. Robbin’s et al (2014) assert that a participative style encompasses the inclusion of others’ opinion. As such, Hook, as opposed to Jobs, capitalizes on this management style. Apples has been criticized for poor Corporate Social Responsibility. For example, there have been claims labeled against the corporation by SACOM that it exploits student interns (Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), 2014). Also, SACOM has pointed out that the zero inventory policy is not in accordance to the Chinese Labor Law, as well as the fact that it does not support democratic trade unions. These are important CSR aspects and Apple is losing on them. Section 3 Concentrating on global market share, Apple remains the second position after Samsung in the smartphone market as shown in the table below: Source: Hall (2016) From the table, it is clear the company is no longer the market leader in the smartphone industry where its main product, the iPhone, occupies. For this reason, the company has declined from the pinnacle of market leadership in the smartphone and tablet segments owing to the extreme competition the company faces from companies like Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Lenovoamong others. Ideally, Apple’s iOs is losing its cool against Google’s Android. In essence, Apple is losing to Samsung in the market share supremacy. As evidenced by the table above, Samsung exported more smartphones compared to Apple, and so does the market share. It is proof that Apple has failed to defend its market position. Firstly, this owes to the fact that the smartphone market is highly volatile and competitive (Zhang, 2013). Consumers are increasingly becoming price sensitive. For instance, Apple’s iPhones are costly compared to the counterpart Android phones. In addition, Samsung is fabricating many variant phones that are designed for every market segment while that for Apple is remaining the same. As such, there is a high possibility that Samsung’s products will have more customers compared to Apple. For this reason, with the many varieties of smartphones that Samsung fabricates compared to Apple, Samsung enjoys a bigger consumer market, hence more market share. IPhones are very costly, but in the case of Samsung, the price is differentiated. There are Samsung phones which are cheap and Apple cannot compete in this sector. However, Samsung also fabricates high-end tech smartphones which can also effectively compete with Apple’s smartphones. At this point, it is difficult to predict whether Apple will regain its market leadership position due to the increasing rise of the number of consumers using Android phones. Ideally, the Android market is increasingly becoming larger, particularly in Asia and Africa, and when this trend persists, then Samsung will continue to be the leader. In addition, there are upcoming competitors, including Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Huawei, which utilize the Android Operating System. For this reason, there will be numerous Apple competitors in the smartphone and tablet market. This owes to the fact that their sales are increasing globally. While they may not compete favorably with Apple on an individual basis, their combination may be a great threat to Apple (Zhang, 2013). In essence, they are using Google’s Android, and when combined together, they may oust Apple’s iOS from the prime market share it currently bolsters. These companies are selling quality products at a cheaper price, which is aye-catching to consumers. As such, according to Zhang (2013), more consumers are beginning to prefer these cheap phones as far as they can provide the same user experience compared to Apple. It is appalling that Apple had a first mover’s advantage of market leadership in its segments along with massive funds for investment but now the company is no longer a market leader. What went wrong is that many of the upcoming companies are encroaching the market segments which Apple bolstered leadership. For this reason, Apple lost many of its customers to competition. Also, it is important to note that Apple’s pricing strategy might have contributed as consumers are currently looking for cheap products which can still have the qualities of iPhones. Section 4 Apple has been associated with innovative tactics, but the company is currently choosing directions that will certainly affect the company negatively. It was a decisive move to diversify with the Apple Watch, iTunes Radio, and the new Apple TV set box, however, the latest upgrades of iPhone 6S to 6S Plus, iPad with the Pro does not reflect aggressive innovation. Many critics of the move argue that this is continuous improvement of the already established products, and provided that the segments are diminishing, it is not a good move by the smartphone giant. In addition, many cite that these innovations are catch-ups to some of the other smartphones. For instance, according to Warren (2015), the WWDC keynote was filled with ideas that never originated with Apple, rather from Google and Microsoft among other smartphone companies. In addition, as the writer asserts, the iOS 9 takes the best Windows 8 feature for multitasking which enables the iPad to operate more like Microsoft’s tablets. Microsoft introduced the feature in 2012 and it did not take long before Apple caught up with the iPad Pro. Similarly, the OS X catches up to Windows 7. As such, Apple is just improving on what others have already done. Robbins et al. (2014) point out that development of innovative products for variant target markets is paramount in the process of new product development. Therefore, this is the approach that Apple should implement, rather than playing catch-up games with other companies. As for now, Apple concentrates on the upper class, but it would be beneficial if the company also targets the lower and middle-income consumers. That is the secret that most new companies, including the Xiaomi and OnePlus. By doing so, the company will have an increased market share in the Smartphone, phablet, and tablet market shares. In addition, the CEO should also break the habit of catching up. Essentially, being unique is advantageous to a company, and in the case of Apple, is a failing endeavor owing to the catch-up practices. This alone compromises the credibility of the Smartphone giant. It is possible for the company to regain its market innovativeness and become a leader in the market share, but Apple needs to adopt and streamline its strategies. As such, to regain its reputation, Apple needs to take a variety of steps. Firstly, it should drop its catching up to competitors; rather, it should capitalize on being the first to adopt a certain technology. For instance, Samsung’s S7 is incorporating virtual reality, and thus shows how the company is taking an initiative to ensure that it stays ahead of Apple. Therefore, Apple need to take similar steps, and this can be promising for the company owing to the respectable image along with brand loyalty it has created since its IPO. Many would prefer working at Google primarily because provides best services and working environment. Google is also concerned about the wellbeing of its employees as it offers on-site nurses, physicians, and health coverage among other medical services (Moore, 2016). It offers parental leave, and above all, a good remuneration package. It also seeks to improve employees morale, for instance, workers are free to bring their pets. As such, Google is better in terms of employment compared to Apple. References Fogliasso, C. E., and Williams, A, 2014. Analysis of the Business, Societal and Governmental Relationships of Apple Inc. Leadership & Organizational Management. Journal, 2014(1), pp161-175. Gallo, C., 2012. The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty. McGraw Hill Professional, NewYork. Johnson, K., Li, Y., Phan, H., Singer, J. and Trinh, H., 2012. The Innovative Success that is Apple, Inc. Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. Paper 418. Hall, Z. 2016, Here’s how the iPhone is performing in global marketshare against the competition. [Online] 9to5Mac. Available at: http://9to5mac.com/2016/01/28/iphone- global-shipments-marketshare/ [Accessed 12 Mar. 2016]. McInerney, S., 2011. Steve Jobs: an unconventional leader. [Online] Executive Style. Available at: http://www.executivestyle.com.au/steve-jobs-an-unconventional-leader-1lcmo [Accessed 12 Mar. 2016]. Meyer, P. 2015, Apple Inc. Organizational Culture: Features & Implications - Panmore Institute. [Online] Panmore Institute. Available at: http://panmore.com/apple-inc- organizational-culture-features-implications [Accessed 12 Mar. 2016]. Moltz, B., 2011. Steve Jobs' Style: Everything We Know About Managing Is Wrong. [Online] OPEN Forum. Available at: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small- business/openforum/articles/steve-jobs-style-everything-we-know-about-managing-is- wrong/ [Accessed 12 Mar. 2016]. Moore, C., 2016. The Future of Work: What Google Shows Us About the Present and Future of Online Collaboration? TechTrends, pp.1-12. Robbins, S., Bergman, R., Stagg, I. and Coulter, M. 2014. Management (7e). Australia: Pearson Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM), 2014. [Statement] Well- polished Apple’s CSR report is just another fairytale for workers | Sacom. [Online] Sacom.hk. Available at: http://sacom.hk/statement-well-polished-apple’s-csr-report-is- just-another-fairytale-for-workers/ [Accessed 12 Mar. 2016]. Zhang, M., 2013. International Competitiveness of the Chinese Apples Industry: A Comparison of Six Countries. Read More