Performance of Apple Inc-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignmenthelp

Question: Analyze the Performance of Apple Inc. Answer: Introduction: Apple Inc. is a multinational company globally known for its high quality consumer electronics, online services and computer software. Some of the most popular Apple hardware products include the iPhone Smartphone, the Mac personal computer, the iPad tablet computer, the Apple smart watch, the iPod portable media player, the HomePod Smart speaker and the Apple TV digital media player. The performance of the mentioned company was found to be outstanding even when the global economy was flat. The yearly revenue of the company is enhancing due to crucial innovations and high level of performance. While in 9 sectors of the company positive results have been noticed, negative results are noticed in three sectors. Apple Inc. believes in continuous innovation and high quality consumer service in order to gain competitive advantages. Discussion: Identification of the issues In spite of the fact that Apple Inc is still enjoying competitive advantage in the global market, some o the major issues that may adversely affect the companys success in the long run are stated bellow. Apple Inc. is highly dependent on its CEO Steve Jobs, who was suffering from severe illness. There is a potential risk that the company may decline in absence of the effective leadership provided by him. In this era of competition, Apple is comforted by aggressive competition in all areas of business. The difference in opinons between Steve Jobs and John Sculley can be considered as another issue of Apple Inc. Analysis of the issues Absence of leadership due to leave taken by Steve Jobs Considering the fact that Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc. had been suffering from several health issues for a prolonged period of time, he is unable to provide effective leadership to the company. In 2010, he held a meeting with top managers of Apple Inc. and there he stated the possibility of not returning to the management due to his health issues. In this meeting the impact of the absence of Steve Jobs on the management of Apple Inc was also being discussed. According to several executives, there exists a risk of not able to achieve success in future. Before leaving Apple Inc, Steve Jobs had recruited Tim Cook as the CEO of the company. Unfortunately, soon after Jobs leaved the company, Apple Inc. experienced a fall of 10 percent in the stock market. Besides that, unlike Steve Jobs, Tim Cook is more inclined towards acquisitions instead of innovation. Apart from this, Apple is facing problem for its products like Apple TV and iWatch. While the companys competitors are providing smart TV within a price of 600 dollars, price of Apples TV is 2000 dollars (Govindan Popiuc, 2014). Difference in opinions of the managers Another issue of Apple Inc was that the managers of the company were unable to extend the company. While Steve Jobs, the then chairman of Apple Inc. wanted to continue innovations and take the brand to new directions, John Sculley, being the CEO, insisted that the management of Apple Inc. should stop innovative new products and pay more attention on the strategic moves. The board of directors of the company supported Sculley and as a result Jobs resign from his post. Initially the strategy of Sculley worked as Apple Inc. was able to achieve a huge hike in revenue by selling computers in the early 90s. However in the rapidly changing industry, the company soon started losing ground to companies like Dell, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard since they were providing the consumers with more affordable and user friendly computers. In addition to that issue several executives of Apple Inc. resigned from their post since the company refused to merge with other companies. Moreover, since Apple had refused to provide license of using the Mac Operating system to other manufacturers, the market was solely captured by Wintel personal computers. In order to cope up with the adverse situation, Apple Inc bought Steve Jobs Company NeXT and recruited him as the CEO of Apple. Huge competition faced by the company Considering the fact that the market in which the company competes is highly competitive, Apple is losing its field to its competitor companies. Due to rapid technological advancement, several companies are able to offer computers and mobile phone to consumers with similar features like apple gadgets within a comparatively low price range. The competitors of Apple Inc. in mobile communication and media device industry are characterized by frequent product introduction and aggressive pricing practices (Kumar, Teichman Timpernagel, 2012). The iPod and digital content services of the company is also facing severe competition. Earlier, the management of Apple believed that the strategy to provide high quality products and services will drag the consumers to the company. However, several competitors of Apple Inc are selling high quality products at a considerably low price range at little or no profit or even at loss just to gain more market share than Apple Inc. SWOT Analysis of Apple Inc Strengths Till date, Apple Inc. is one of the leading technology organizations across the World when it comes to revenue. Being one of the leading organizations, the brand equity of the company is high (Govindan Popiuc, 2014). One of the reasons behind its high brand equity is the design of Apple products and the technology used by the company. The distribution of the products is well maintained by Apple. Besides having 407 stores in 17 countries, Apple Inc sells its products online, through premium retail stores and trade partners. Weaknesses Absence of effective leadership after the death of Steve Jobs can be considered as one of the major weaknesses of the company. Incompatibility of Apple products with third party accessories or software is another crucial weakness of the company The yearly revenue of Apple Inc. is completely dependent on seven to eight Apple products. Table 1: (SWOT Analysis of Apple Inc.) Source (Created by the author) Possible solutions of the problems encountered In order to gain sustainable competitive advantage even in the absence of Steve Jobs, the present CEO of Apple Inc. should follow the path shown by Jobs. Considering the fact that unlike its competitors, the company will not be able to lower the price of its products to gain competitive advantages, Apple should concentrate on implementing market driving approach that includes developing new and innovative products that will attract consumers. Conclusion and recommendation: From the above discussion it can be understood that being a globally celebrated company, Apple Inc. posses several strengths which if effectively used, can help the organization to overcome its weaknesses and enhance its market share. Some of the major issues faced by the company are lack of leadership in absence of Steve Jobs, highly competitive global market and clash between the managers of the company. The only way the company can overcome the above mentioned issues is by innovating new products and expanding its market to other markets. Some of the suggested recommendations to the company are: The company should invest on highly developed technologies and ideas to incorporate unique features in the brand new products manufactured by it. Apple can use its brand image to expand business in other markets. Apple Cars are expected to be launched by 2020. The company should take steps to stop imitation which is one of the chief reasons behind its decrement of market share (Amit Zott, 2012). Instead of depending on 7 or 8 products, the company must invent new and innovative products and diversify its business. References Amit, R., Zott, C. (2012). Creating value through business model innovation.MIT Sloan Management Review,53(3), 41. Gershon, R. A. (2013). Digital media innovation and the Apple iPad: Three perspectives on the future of computer tablets and news delivery.Journal of Media Business Studies,10(1), 41-61. Govindan, K., Popiuc, M. N. (2014). 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