Comparison Of Market Position Of Apple, Tesla, And Nike In An Essay.

Nike's Market Position and Competitive Advantage

Question:

Discuss about the Comparison Of The Market Position Of Apple Inc Tesla Motors And Nike.

The essay will be based on the comparison of the market position of three organizations which belong to three different industries. The comparison is mainly based on the financial position of the three companies and the ways by which they create a competitive advantage in the market. The three organizations that are taken into consideration for this analysis are, Apple Inc. which is an American multinational organization operating in the technology sector. The second organization is Tesla Motors which is a multinational organization of American origin and operates in the automobile sector. The third organization is Nike which is also an American multinational organization and operates in the sector that offers footwear related products and fashion apparel as well (Brewster, 2017).

Nike is an American multinational organization which is engaged in the development, designing and manufacturing of footwear, apparel, sports related equipment and accessories. The headquarters of the company is located in Beaverton, Oregon in the Portland area. Nike has held the leading position in the market based on the sales and supply of sports shoes in the different markets. The organization employs more than 44,000 employees in the whole world and the value of the brand is around 19 billion dollars (Nike.com, 2018). The value of the brand has further increased and Nike is now valued at 29.6 billion dollars. The revenues of the organization in US was 34.35 billion dollars approximately in the year 2017. The market share of the company has been highest for many years even after the advent of many competitors. Nike has been unbeatable in the US which is considered to be the largest sneaker market in the world. Nike has held the topmost position in the market with the help of its unique promotional and marketing related strategies and the premium pricing of its products (Nike.com, 2018).

The major reason that lies behind the huge success of Nike in the market is related to the association of the brand name of the organization with some of the popular names in the industry. The marketing and promotional strategy of the company has always been quite string and this has acted as a major success factor for Nike in the industry. Nike has always been successful in creating an impression with the help of its products in a constant manner. This has helped the company in creating a different space in the minds of consumers (Brewster, 2017).

The industry of athletic footwear, equipments and apparels is a competitive market. The various brands have to face international competition from the other organizations that operate in the environment. The major competitors of Nike in this industry are, Adidas, Puma, Under Armour. The toughest among these competitors which has exerted huge pressure on the operations and revenues of Nike is Adidas. Adidas has therefore proved to be the strongest competitor of Nike in the sports shoes market. The organizations in this industry also have face major challenges which are related to the changes in technology and the increase in consumer demands. The major aspects related to competition in this industry are, quality of the products, the innovation in new products and the development of product as well (Castellucci & Podolny, 2017).

Competition in Athletic Footwear, Equipment, and Apparel Industry

The competitive advantage that has been gained by Nike in the market will further help the organization to maintain its topmost position in the sports shoes market. However, the organization needs to continue with its innovation related activities to maintain the position in the market as competition in this industry is on a constant rise.

Apple Inc. is a multinational technology organization of American origin. The headquarter of the organization is located in Cupertino California. The organization mainly operates in the designing, developing, and selling of computer software, consumer electronics and other online based services. The organization was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The hardware products of the organization include, iPhone, Mac personal computer, Apple watch and Apple TV. The software related products of the organization on the other hand include, macOS. iOs, iTunes and the Safari web browser (Apple., 2018).

Apple has been able to create a unique position in the market with the help of its innovative and premium products. The company has further developed a loyal customer base who are considered to be the repeat buyers of the products of Apple. The financial position of the company in the industry has always been strong enough due to the strong capital backup. The net revenues of the organization in the year 2017 was around 229.234 billion dollars. The company employs more than 1,00,000 employees all over the world. Apple has been successful in claiming around 50% of the total shares in the US market during fourth quarter of the 2017 after the launch of its latest product iPhone X (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015).

The major reason behind the immense success of Apple in the market has been innovative and high-end products that are offered by the company. The company also possesses a loyal customer base who are attracted by the premium pricing of the products. The creative advertising and promotional strategies of the company have been helpful in developing the huge market share of Apple in the technology industry (Urde & Koch, 2014).

The biggest competitor of Apple in the mobile phone industry is Huawei. The organization has given tough fight to Apple in the market with the help of wide range of products. The latest product of Apple iPhone X is fighting against the new product that has been launched by Huawei named Mate 10. Huawei is considered to be the third largest smartphone company in the world. Apple has however been successful in maintaining its position in the market in spite of the competition that is being provided by the other smartphone organizations like, Samsung and Huawei (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015).

Apple has a position that has been developed during the years of its operations in the industry. The competition in the smartphone industry is increasing and the advent of Android has challenged the iOS operating system of Apple. The organization will therefore have to continue with its innovative operations so that it can maintain its position in the market successfully.

Apple's Unique Position in the Technology Industry

Tesla Motors is an American organization that specializes in the production of electric and high technology based vehicles. The other products that are manufactured by the company include, energy storage related devices, and solar panel. The company was founded in the year 2003 and operates in the field of automobiles (Electric Cars, Solar Panels & Clean Energy Storage | Tesla., 2018).

The financial position of Tesla Motors has been declining since the year 2012. The revenues of the company have been growing in the year 2016, however the operating expenses have also increased with the same speed. The revenue growth of the company has shown lack of sustainability which means that company is unable to operate without a certain amount of debt or loans. The company also risen the prices of the cars after the year 2012and this has further affected its progress in the market in a huge manner. The study of the financial data of the organization have depicted that company is not able to operate in the market in a sustainable and profitable manner (Electric Cars, Solar Panels & Clean Energy Storage | Tesla., 2018).

The major reason behind the success of Tesla Motors are the innovative car models that have been manufactured by the organization over the years and the environment friendly nature of the cars.

Tesla is facing high levels of competition from the other automobile organizations of the industry like Volvo. The main uniqueness of Tesla motors are the electric cars and the eco-friendly operations in the industry. Volvo has been successful in providing competition to the various products of Tesla Motors with the help of its plans to launch electric cars by the year 2019. Volvo also has the major advantage related to the support that is provided to them by the government (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015). Tesla has been holding the topmost position in the industry for producing electric cars. However, with the improvement in technologies many other organizations are getting into the competition of manufacturing electric cars. The organizations which are planning their operations related to the production of electric cars are Jaguar, Nissan and General Motors.

The future operations of Tesla Motors can be successful if the organization can decrease the costs that related to its operations. This will help the organization in increasing its revenues and operate in the market in the market in a sustainable manner without getting into too much debts (Urde & Koch, 2014).

Conclusion

The essay can be concluded by stating that the three different organization belonging to three different sectors have different styles of operations. The financial stability of the companies depends highly on the costs that are related to their successful operations. The future performance and sustainability of the organizations also further depend on the profitability and high revenues of the various organizations. The various competitors of the companies also affect their profitability in the market and the ways by which they can maintain their competitive position.

References

Apple. (2018). Apple. Retrieved 10 April 2018, from https://www.apple.com/

Brewster, C. (2017). The integration of human resource management and corporate strategy. In Policy and practice in  European human resource management (pp. 22-35). Routledge.

Castellucci, F., & Podolny, J. M. (2017). The dynamics of position, capability, and market competition. Industrial and Corporate Change, 26(1), 21-39.

Electric Cars, Solar Panels & Clean Energy Storage | Tesla. (2018). Tesla.com. Retrieved 10 April 2018, from https://www.tesla.com/

Fleisher, C. S., & Bensoussan, B. E. (2015). Business and competitive analysis: effective application of new and classic methods. FT Press.

McCrohan, K. F., & Lowe, L. S. (2015). A Critical Analysis of the Impact of Legislated Market Shares. In Marketing Horizons: A 1980's Perspective (pp. 293-295). Springer, Cham.

Nike.com (2018). Retrieved 10 April 2018, from https://www.nike.com/in/en_gb/

Urde, M., & Koch, C. (2014). Market and brand-oriented schools of positioning. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 23(7), 478-490.