Apple Competitive Strategy

Apple Competitive Strategy Apples practices, procedures and policies reflect the differentiation strategy to target the wide range of customers as the overall competitive strategy of the company. The company serves a wide range of differentiated product to the customers ranging from the classy power user to the new first time users. The differentiation is based on unique design, reliable quality and customer services driven by high customer values. The innovation strategy allows the improvements in new product development and development in the existing products. The differentiation strategy provides such innovative products to a wider range of customers. Through the integration of these strategies the company aims to meet the demand evolving in the market. The implementation of unique designing and development of operating system and software has been a source of strong competitive advantage. The company has diversified its market to digital electronics and computer market in addition to personal media player industry as the target market which proves that the strategies of the company are still at evolving stage due to new diversified market. Apples has also entered to the tablet industry through the products such as iPad and mobile industry through the products such as iPhone (Masi, 2009). Question 2: What are the key elements of Apples strategy in computers, personal media players, and Smartphone? Have its strategies in its core businesses yielded success? Explain. Answer: The business strategy of Apple aims to design and develop its own OS, hardware, software applications and services uniquely which facilitates the customers with the innovative and new product solutions having unique features such as easy usage, flawless additions, and innovative designs. The companys strategy of continual improvement and research and development leads to the development of new innovative product which enhances the market position of the company. With the integration of the strategy, the company consistently builds and hosts the dynamic platform for identifying and releasing the third party digital content and its application through various stores of iTunes. This store comprises of the Apps store and iBookstore which helps the users to use and access the third party applications either in MAC or through iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. The company strategy also includes the expansion of distribution channels so as to enhance its wide customers reach, high quality service s and after sales services to the customers. The company has also uniquely positioned itself as a superior and highly incorporated digital lifestyle and productivity solution provider (APPLE INC FORM 10-K (Annual Report), 2011). Question 3: What does a competitive strength assessment reveal about Apples computer business, as compared to the leaders in the personal computer industry? Use the methodology in Table 4.2 to support your answer. Does it appear that the companys competitive positions in personal media players and Smartphone or stronger or weaker than its position in computers? Answer: Competitive strength assessment of the company reveals following factors as the strength of the company: Highly Differentiated Business Strategy: The company provides highly differentiated product to its wide range of customer in highly diversified market including personal computer, Tablets, mobile, portable media player industry. It also provides highly innovative and new product integrating with its own hardware, software and designs to solve the problems of the customers and meet their demands (Danesi, 2011). Diversified Product Offering: Apple provides its various products in multiple market segments i.e. MP3 players market, PC market, Tablet Market, and other wireless communications market within the digital and consumer electronic industry. Apple is considered as the true innovator in the consumer electronic industry and this has exposed the existing products to gigantic market opportunities (Danesi, 2011). Other strengths: Other strengths of the company as per the advisors and critics are as follows: Apple Hardware Design. Apple Marketing. Leadership. Competitive Advantage (Apples Competitive Advantage, 2004). The market analysis suggest that the Apple stands at 3rd position in the PC market with the market share of 10.6 % while in the mobile market, it stands at second position with 24.2 % of market share. The company holds the share of 78 % in the overall media player market. This reveals that the market share of the company in this industry is much stronger than the personal computer industry (Slivka, 2012) (Keene, 2012) (Macale, 2011) Question 4: Does it make good strategic sense for Apple to be a competitor in the computer, personal media player, Smartphone, and tablet computer industries? Are the value chain activities that Apple performs in computers, personal media players, tablet computers and Smartphone very similar and compatible or are there very important differences from product to product? Which of the four products linescomputers, tablet computers, personal media players, or Smartphonedo you think is most important to Apples future growth and profitability? Why? Answer: The value chain of the Apple Inc suggest that the company is efficiently handling the chain of activities in innovative and design leading to management of all the activities and operations which provides it a great competitive advantage. The procedure at Apple Inc is moved in following manner: As per the market growth and stock report, the iPhone generates 42.1 % of the total revenue for the company while iPad generates 21.8% of the total revenue. Mac Contribution to the total revenue is 18.9 % while iPod contributes for the generation of 7.3% of the revenue and other peripheral services contributes 9.8 % of the revenue. From this data, it is clear that the Smartphone market and revenue share is the highest contributing segment for the company. However equal emphasize should be given to all the other segments also in order to achieve the total competitive advantage (Danesi, 2011). Question 5: What is your assessment of Apple Computers financial performance the past three years? Answer: The above graph depicts that the profitability of the company increases form 25 % to 40 % consecutively from 2006 to 2009. The graph also depicts that the revenue of the company have been increased from 10 billion to 17 billion in due course of time which depicts that the company is continuously growing with the total competitive advantage of the global international market. The ratio analysis suggests that: The current ratio of the company is continuously increasing showing the increase of current assets and decrease in current liabilities with some downturn in the year of 2009. Debt equity ratio remains the same with small fluctuations which shows that the company is balancing effectively between the current liabilities and the shareholders wealth. Efficiency ratio and debtor turnover ratio is continuously increasing with a certain down turn in the year of 2009 which shows that credit sales are going down and cash sales are increasing (Apple Inc). Question 6: What recommendations would you make to allow Apple to strengthen its position in its most important markets? What steps should it take to ensure that the iPad becomes a success in the marketplace and a major contributor to the companys overall performance? Answer: Following recommendations are being recommended for the company in order to strengthen its position in the market: The Ultimate Convergence Device. Modern Medical Device Platform. Environmental and social efforts in partnership. Dual Band GSM/ CDMA iPhone Worldwide. Collaborative Recycling benefits. Capturing Convergence Device Market. iTune Stores eBook Distribution. Implementing First party quality check in OEM Factories. Productive use of unused cash. Continues implementation of expansion strategy. Differentiated Lifestyle Branding. Following strategies are recommended for iPad: Flash player should be added as one of its feature. It should also be comprised of USB and camera. It should be compatible with the iPhone applications. Develop a separate marketing strategy for iPad.

Information Systems in Global Business Today Essay

How IT drives the UPS operation worldwide. Using smart people and smart technology, UPS delivers over 14 million packages daily to 200 countries and territories, requiring the talents of 70,000 drivers who are wirelessly connected to UPS main databases located in seventeen major data centers throughout through out the world. Case United Parcel Service’s global operations are driven by its information systems technology. What UPS can do is largely a function of its information technology investments. Beginning as a local delivery service in 1907, UPS expanded on the West coast initially, reached New York in the 1930s, and went international in the 1970s. Today, UPS delivers over 14 million packages daily to 200 countries and territories, requiring the talents of 70,000 drivers who are wireless connected to UPS main databases located in seventeen major data centers throughout through out the world. A multi-year, multibillion dollar investment in technology drove the growth of UPS over the last twenty five years beginning in 1990. This investment enabled the development of the DIAD, the Delivery Information Acquisition Device. DIAD is a key element in UPSs business technology platform. Company spokesmen say that â€Å"UPS revolutionized the package delivery business in 1991 when it developed and deployed the first Delivery Information Acquisition Device, known as the DIAD. More than twenty years later, UPS continues its pioneering development efforts with the fourth generation of the DIAD – the DIAD IV. To ensure maximum flexibility in field transmission capabilities, DIAD IV includes multiple wireless connectivity options. Each DIAD IV features a built-in GPRS and CDMA radio, an acoustical modem to facilitate dial-up access if necessary, and 802. 11b wireless local area network connectivity to enable transmission in a UPS center. The DIAD IV also features a Bluetooth wireless personal area network and an infrared (IrDA) port to communicate with peripheral devices and customer PCs/printers. DIAD IV introduces a revolutionary new feature – Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) – to the handheld terminal market. UPS plans to use this technology to provide drivers with more detailed directions to pick-up and delivery points in order to improve customer service. The monochrome screen on previous DIADS will be replaced with a color screen that accommodates more information which can be displayed in an easier-to-read, more attractive manner. The color screen also enables UPS to color-code messages transmitted to a driver’s DIAD. Urgent customer pickup messages, for example, can be color-coded to alert the driver. In addition, the DIAD IV contains 128 megabytes of memory – 20 times the capacity of the DIAD III. UPS will use this expanded capacity to provide new and improved customer services. Like its predecessors, the DIAD IV’s battery lasts an entire work day. The DIAD IV sends delivery information to the UPS data repository as soon as the delivery information is entered. Drivers simply scan the package bar code, collect the receiver’s signature electronically, type in the Copyright Notice This work is protected by United States copyright laws and is provided solely for the use of instructors in teaching their courses and assessing student learning. Dissemination or sale of any part of this work (including on the World Wide Web) will destroy the integrity of the work and is not permitted. The work and materials from this site should never be made available to students except by instructors using the accompanying text in their classes. All recipients of this work are expected to abide by these restrictions and to honor the intended pedagogical purposes and the needs of other instructors who rely on these materials. last name of the receiver and push a single key to complete the transaction and send the data. There is no need to activate a cell phone or return to the vehicle. Part of what makes the DIAD such a powerful tool is the system – ODS (On-Demand Services) – that enables communication with the driver. Every UPS driver automatically logs into the ODS system first thing in the morning. This allows dispatchers and center management to access the driver via his/her DIAD throughout the day by sending generalized text messages. Virtually all drivers start their day with a list of predefined customer pickup locations for that day. Thanks to ODS, the addition of a one-time pickup can be added to a driver’s work list on-the-fly, enabling UPS to take best advantage of the geographic location of its entire fleet for servicing pickup requests. By using the DIAD, UPS eliminates the use of 59 million sheets of paper per year. The DIAD IV is the most comprehensive tracking device in the delivery industry, combining data collection and transmission technologies, digital signature capture, extensive expandable memory and rugged construction to withstand extreme temperatures and hard falls. † Other Features The UPS technology infrastructure enables UPS to offer its customers many services, such as package tracking, freight planning, and freight truck packing optimization, in addition to the basic shipment of packages.

Modern Life of Computers

The computer has changed the modern lives of many. It is very common for a household to at least have one computer. In addition, computers are essential tools that help ease daily life. Also, computer comes in Various sizes and has many different types of applications. Computers can affect ones daily tasks, finances, and time. To begin with, computers can change ones daily tasks. Programs can do various functions and ease the process of doing it manually without a computer. For instance, a student may finish most of their assignments online with more accurate answers. In fact, there is a well known program called,† Microsoft Word,† that actually corrects many grammatical errors such as punctuations, capitalization, and the most common sentence fragments. Thus, ones essay or report can be done at home, which is more convenient. Since there is a program like the one mentioned it actually reduces errors and makes ones daily task much easier. Finances can be very difficult without any tools, but when you have access to a computer you can do it virtually online without having to go through the hassle of filling out paperwork and using stamps. For example, one may pay their bills online with a credit card in a few clicks. Usually a bill would have the option for the customer to go through their webpage and log in to their account. After, the customer would then go through a process in which he or she would enter the confidential information into the website which would then make the transaction successful. Next, he or she would have the chance to look at the account balance and statement which would then show the mathematics without actually having to go through a calculator. Using a computer to do finances is a very beneficial way for the consumer and the service provider. Computers can dramatically decrease the amount of time necessary to get the job done. For example, it may take a person five hours to finish their shopping needs excluding the time to get to the destination and the time to get back home, but if the person shops online the item may be a click away and be at the door within a few days. In order for a person to shop online they would need to have a credit card and be able to confirm their address. Next, he or she would then go to a reliable website and purchase the items desired for the cheapest amount possible with a few clicks, beats going to the mall for hours and not getting what you desire. As mentioned before, one may pay the bills online which saves time for the mail carrier to actually ship the documentations the destination. This is very beneficial if your bills are on the verge of being late. Finally, having a computer is a very spectacular tool that has many functions that can change the way a person lives. In almost every way the computer is a very beneficial electronic device to have. The computers affected many by reducing daily task, changing the perspective of finances, and decrease the amount of time a person would need to spend.

Project Management for Family Day - 793 Words

Introduction Company ABC is a small company consist of 100 employees in total. To facilitate bonding between the employees and their family and enhance relationships between co-workers, company ABC will make a family day that will be held in Chinese Garden on 1st of July 2013. In this family day, employees and their family will participate in some activities that has been arranged by company. Project Scope Statement Project Objective The objective from these activities are happy employees with stronger relationship between each other. It also expected to give a new positive atmosphere in the workplace. To achieve it, there are some activities that will be done. Those activities will be divided into teenage-adults, family and kids.†¦show more content†¦Baseball game will have two teams with 9 member (around 2 families) each, each game will be provided 3 balls, 1 bat and 8 gloves. For volleyball, it can fit 12 persons that divided into 2 teams in each game, on this game will be provided by 2 volleyballs and 1 net. Cooking competition equipment 1 small stove, 2 knifes, 2 bowls, 1 cutting board, 1 frying pan, 3 plates and the salad ingredients will be provided. One for each family, there will be 10 family competing on this competition. Kids zone activities, handicarfts stuff, scissor, glue, coloured plastic, origami, and wire are provided. On painting section, brush, canvas, and paint will be given to each kids. Lastly, percussion instrument will be provided. Limits and Exclusions Employees need to bring their own cap, change of clothes and apron. Those things are not provided by committee. Reviews with Customer For this family day, we have four sponsors. Faber castel for painting equipments, SBS transit for shuttle bus, DBS, and Yamaha for percussion instruments. 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