Consumer Electronics and Computer Software

Running head: MANAGEMENT Apple Inc Name of the Student Name of the University Author Note 1 MANAGEMENT Introduction Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company which has its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The American company essentially develops, designs and sells online services, consumer electronics as well as computer software. The company, along with other companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, is deemed as one of the biggest compan ies in the American information technology industry. The company was founded in the year 1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak. The company initially began its sale by selling personal computers designed by Wozniak called Apple I. The company finally saw its sales rise in the year 1977 with Apple II. Today Apple has become a popular choice for people when they want to buy electronics. Starting from iPods, laptops all the way to air pods and iBooks and iPhones, the company has made its name thro ugh producing and manufacturing a variety of products. This paper aims to discuss the business level strategies incorporated by Apple in order to maintain its long term success. In addition to this, the paper also aims to discuss the corporate level strate gies followed by comparative analysis between the two. Discussion BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY fellow competitors it is essential for them to apply both business level as well as corporate level strategies. Business level strategies essentially refer to certain activities undertaken by businesses in order to gain an advantage against their fellow competitors within their 2 MANAGEMENT concepts such as differentiation, inte grated cost leadership or differentiation, cost leadership etc contribute to providing the company with an added advantage. Differentiation strategy essentially refers to a range of products that a company provides in order to set itself apart from the res t. In terms of Apple, the company has been presenting new products such as iPhone, iPad as well as MacBook ( Vazquez Sampere , 2016) . This essentially refers to the fact that Apple dominates the technology industry and leaves its fellow competitors behind. B y producing and manufacturing new products promptly, the company beats its competitors in terms of its differentiation in product range. The strategy incorporated by Apple essentially allows the company in engaging with a different company in order to prov ide its products with operating system hardware. This basically provides the company more time and focus in its reputation among customers as a high quality product, the company has the ability to position itself within a high end market. Similarly, another business level strategy that is incorporated by apple includes the cost leadership strategy. This essentially includes the production and manufacturing of products that are valuable to customers at a low price. This strategy is essentially used for earning more profit for the company. In order to achieve it, an organisation must minimize manufacturing and overhead costs, establishing scale facilities that work effic iently and minimize trivial costs such as research delivery, sales research etc. In regards Apple, the company incorporates this strategy by the production of cost effective and high quality products. In addition to this, the company also produces quality products with economical as well as affordable raw materials. Another cost leadership strategy incorporated by the company is its forming business alliances with other companies that are successful. This essentially enables the company to focus on market i ntelligence as well as 3 MANAGEMENT essentially provides its services at cheaper rates and by letting go of the middlemen and selling the products directly from the website. Corporate Level Strategies Corporate level strategy is essentially a plan of action that enables the company to gain competitive advantage by managing and selecting a combination in regards to competing with a business in product markets or a variety of industries. These strategies, when incorporated, enable the firm to not only create value for the shareholders but also earn profits that are above average in value. In regards to Apple, the corporate level strategy that the company incorporates is the clo se related diversification of its products at both high and moderate levels (Furrer, 2016) . These products include mobile phones, personal computers, software, music stores and home computers. This essentially is advantageous for the company as its targete d customer base is able to get their hands on their product of choice which is of both a high quality as well as a high design standard. This is because all the products provided by the company are not only running on the same operating system but are also highly integrated. Another corporate strategy that gives Apple an edge among its fellow competitors is by creating strategic and lucrative alliances so as to reap benefit from economies of scale, sharing costs and risks and also gaining tap knowledge from its competitors. Some of these alliances created by Apple include Microsoft as it provides iPhone and Intel for providing processors. Another essential corporate level st rategy applied by Apple includes industrialisation of production (Gehani, 2016) . This essentially refers to market whose potential is high, accessible raw materials an d the favourable environment of China economically due to its economic stability. By implementing this, Apple sets itself apart among its competitors by the production of standardised products in the global market 4 MANAGEMENT due to the centralised and closely control led monitoring of engineering design as well as manufacturing process (Miller & Maxwell, 2016) . This essentially contributes to the fact that apple products are easily recognizable with the only difference being in the customized power source due to varyin g voltages in several countries. Competition Environment It is no secret that the industry of technology is highly competitive due to the number of technology companies. This sheds light on the fact that Apple faces stiff competition in all sectors and ve ntures of its business. In regards to computing, the company faces competition from Microsoft, HP, Acer and IBM. In its mobile phone venture, Apple faces high competition from other companies such as Samsung. Microsoft also provides tough competition for A pple in the portable music device sector as both companies produce those products. Due to the evolution of the market in a global sense, it is understandable that competition would increase due to the concept of trade globalization. A fine example of this smart phones and tabs provided ( Cusumano et al , 2019) . However, despite the company facing such high competition, the business level strategies incorporated by Apple allow it to rule the market because of the rapidly increasing differentiation strategy that essentially refers to the addition to this, the company also rules the mar ket because of its constant innovation and creative development and research team. The company keeps on developing its product on a constant scale. This essentially sheds light on the fact that by producing innovative products such as iPads, iTunes store a nd iPhones, the company maintains its position at the top of the market. This differentiation allows the company to sell its products at premium prices while also retaining the loyalty of its targeted customer demographic. In regards to the corporate level 5 MANAGEMENT than the rest as Samsung invests in competitor intelligence. This essentially refers to the fact that Samsung studies the work and production of its competitors and the n comes up with its own product accordingly. This gives Samsung an edge against its fellow competitors. The well as its distribution channels. However, despite th is, Apple remains at the top of the market because of its availability. This essentially refers to the fact that Apple makes its products available in both retail and online stores, which makes it easier for customers to access the products as well as enab les Apple to function cost effectively. In addition to this, in regards to the accessibility of digital music, apps and videos. Apple by incorporating corporate le vel strategies such as making lucrative alliances, vertical integration and internationalization of being ahead of its competitors and corporate diversification has realised that it must be more forceful in regards to the implementation of strategies. Con clusion Therefore, from the above discussion it can be understood that Apple Inc. has implemented both business level as well as corporate level strategies in order to stay on top of the market. The paper also sheds light on the corporate level strategies have had a positive change in the development of the company. Furthermore, the paper also sheds light on the competitive environment faced by the company in its designated market. 6 MANAGEMENT References Miller, T., & Maxwell, R. (2016). Apple. In Global Media Gian ts (pp. 369 - 382). Routledge. Furrer, O. (2016). Corporate level strategy: Theory and applications . Routledge. Vazquez Sampere, J. P. (2016). 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