Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that creates, produces, and markets personal computers, computer software, and consumer goods. This growth can be attributed to two factors: first, the technology industry has undergone a transformation, and Apple has benefited from this wave of dependence on technology; second, Apple has successfully captured the computing market by enhancing existing technology and stimulating demand for new products through pervasive transformative innovation. Even while Apple now has a monopoly on the American market, its ability to expand hinges on the creation of cutting-edge technology for both developing and emerging economies.
Apple has yet to exhibit genuine global adaptability. According to projections, there is room for global expansion in iOS-based technology. To compete in the global market, Apple must make its software accessible to hardware from other manufacturers. Android has expanded its reach thanks to its control over both software and hardware. Apple will not be able to capitalize on worldwide opportunities until it changes its strategy. Similarly, it is possible to progress the company by addressing key issues that press the company’s activities. They could be observed via PESTLE structure and SWOT Analysis. These two tools could be used to develop a new strategic plan that will benefit the company.
Introduction
Strategic Management concentrates on regularly examining, vetting, and conducting evaluations of the company’s current advancements. In order to accomplish the organization’s vision and purpose throughout its operations, a number of outstanding organizational practices must be adopted in an inventive strategy coupled with several theories. The value of Apple as a business that is making an effort to improve its branding is significant for the analysis of strategic management approaches to problem-solving. Industrial leaders in the phone sector have undoubtedly reached the highest level due to their innovative methods of tracking and altering consumer preferences. Using specific strategic management theories and methodologies, such as PESTLE and SWOT Analysis, this report analyzes the firm’s current situation and organizes a plan to elevate its position in the market. The firm’s brand image will be recognized in a way that will further the company’s presence on the market if a strategy implementation plan is correctly executed.
Strategic Relationships
Separating the power and obligations of the firm’s stakeholders will help in the formulation of a new strategy for the organization. Identifying key positions to monitor is the first stage in creating a plan, which is then honed by focusing on the firm’s stakeholder vulnerability and current performance. Stakeholders are shown as focused groups that have the potential to influence a company’s actions and operations directly or indirectly (Charan and Murty, 2018). Apple’s primary stakeholders could be identified as customers, employees, sponsors (shareholders and investors), suppliers, competitors, and communities (local government and major associations). Each stakeholder has unique expectations of the company’s performance, products, and operations. Similarly, they have a varying degree of influence and interest in the company’s activities.
In the contemporary setting, consumers are the drivers of the market. Companies are operating in a way that aims to satisfy customer demands and deliver high-quality products and services. Consumers constantly expect to receive innovative products from the company and strive for quality, efficiency, and sustainability improvements from the products and operations. Therefore, their influence over the company and interest in its operations is strong. Consequently, the role of employees as the operating machines that sustain the life of the company is similarly high in all aspects of influence and interest. Their expectations and concerns revolve around the company’s mission and goals and the ways to attain the highest performance marks across every sphere of the company’s activities.
Investors and shareholders expect the company to strive, develop and bring profit. Therefore, they are highly involved in the management and decision-making activities of the company as the board of directors appoints a chief executive officer who represents it. The role and concerns of suppliers are similar to investors, as the collaboration with Apple allows them to further their interests in the market.
On the other hand, the influence of communities and competitors on the company’s operations is low and often seamless, with several exceptions. For example, if the company were to violate business ethics or local government regulations, it would be subjected to major penalties that affect current operations. In addition, Apple’s competitors may pave the way for future tendencies in the technological market that will decrease the value of the brand’s image. Nevertheless, both share a high interest in the company but with differing expectations. Both are concerned with the way Apple operates in the market, but communities evaluate the organizational processes and the company’s official obligations while rivals focus on the business outcomes. The analysis of stakeholders is crucial at all levels of operations in order to optimize the company’s performance and reach valued business outcomes.
It is important to design methods for monitoring organizational performance that addresses each of the stakeholders. The achievement of these objectives binds together what was imaginative and suited to the customer’s lifestyle. For successful strategic management, it is essential to embrace a resources-based strategic philosophy. This should be done on par with proper product positioning and integration of Apple products into modern dynamics to seize competitive advantage, secure brand loyalty, and increase market presence. According to the resource-based theory, resources are essential to an organization’s success (Barney et al., 2021). The foundation of the business is to carefully handle corporate development cycles in order to reduce production costs and draw in customers at all levels.
Using current resources in a novel way to take advantage of external chances is far more practical than trying to learn new skills for every opportunity. Therefore resource-based theory is chosen as a development method of the strategy. The theory would suggest four essential efforts for strategic development. The first is to define the characteristics of resources that lead to sustained competitive advantage. The second is to understand the difference between resources and capabilities for proper implementation. The third is the careful management of tangible and intangible resources. The fourth is the compilation of data into a progressive marketing campaign and product development.
This theory was chosen due to the cost-effectiveness associated. It is focused on the reorganization of the assets to take advantage of external forces. The company might suffer losses due to the introduction of third-party solutions and the need for development of new tools given that the situation could be improved via proper management of resources. Apple is the company that has an abundance of intellectual and monetary resources that could be utilized on the internal improvements via proper distribution and focus of the strategic objectives. Therefore, the implementation of the resource-based theory would be the most suitable choice of action for the company.
External Factors
The assessment of external factors that may impact the company’s activities is commonly analyzed via such frameworks as PESTLE. PESTLE stands for political, economic, sociological, technological, legal, and environmental differentiation of external pressures on the company (Thomas et al., 2021). It may be applied in a variety of situations and aid senior managers and human resource specialists in making strategic decisions.
Political pressures on Apple could be seen in the company’s collaboration with Chinese manufacturers. Making decisions based on Chinese societal concerns could be too expensive for Apple. This may raise the price of Apple items. Because of its reliance on Chinese sales and manufacturing, Apple is susceptible to political unrest in the country. Apple may start focusing on energy production and pose a threat to Americanism in China, which would decrease its share in the lucrative market.
Economic impacts could be similarly seen in the developments within local governments where the company’s interests are secured. For instance, rising labor costs in China may cut off the cost-saving features of various companies and goods (Yi et al., 2020). Standard incomes that are on the decline in many developed nations, like the United States, may increase demand for higher-quality consumer items. Apple may find it far more advantageous to develop initiatives in important areas like Europe and China in relation to the US currency’s market strength.
Social factors include a variety of perceived influences within the local communities. It is reasonable to predict that in the coming years, clients in Apple’s established business areas, including the United States, will enjoy the greatest improvements in customer service. However, there is a reaction against costly luxury products in the United States and Europe (Cannon and Rucker, 2019). There are ethical worries that Apple’s celebration in China may make its goods less appealing to socially conscious consumers.
Technology is an essential external driver of the market. Developments in the IT industry often dictate the flow of the market. Therefore, Apple’s ability to produce new consumer items may negatively result in sales as technology becomes more integrated unless the product lines would expand to other technological areas. For example, the growing popularity of blockchain products and their application within the metaverse is the new trend in the tech market that promises high valuation and profits (Kraus et al., 2022). The expansion of Apple to this new area of activities is essential to secure a competitive advantage.
Legal factors dictate the company’s ethics and operations as new regulations administer companies’ management approaches. Apple may be subject to increased amounts of litigation because of its reliance on a variety of products protected by recognized progress laws, including those of music and programming, for a major percentage of its revenue. From a wide view, this leaves the business vulnerable to theft and legal action.
The importance of environmental factors is expanding critically in the business world as sustainable development has become a primary goal for continuous human development. Apple may be required to include that cost in light of concerns over the possibility of such devices ending up in landfills due to contamination and other environmental issues that are caused as a result of social events and working conditions in China (Paam et al., 2019). Finally, this could have an effect on the enlarged rule and higher party fees. Apple may incur higher power and gathering costs in China as a result of the country’s promises to decrease ozone-depleting emissions and limit oil fuel use.
The operations of Apple stores can be severely impacted by the progression of global warming as climate change may incur heavy damage to essential manufacturers. Apple has shown a great ability to adapt to shifting conditions, so it should have the choice to succeed by paying attention to these challenges. Particularly, Apple’s evaluation and plan limits provide it a competitive advantage that should drive long-term advancement in compensation.
Strategy Tools
The company has to understand its internal and external factors to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to conduct a SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis is an essential tool that directs a company’s into self-assessment of areas for development. The SWOT analysis chart is provided in the Appendix 1 and demonstrates the need for management of competition and resolution of dependence on the Chinese market. This would allow the company to reach the objective of market expansion. Similarly, the company would benefit from the incorporation of sustainable manufacturing technology. Re-modeling of the key factories would contribute to the decrease in the energy consumption levels which would have a significant effect on the global emissions.
Supporting Innovation and Change
The strategy to expand the company’s market presence into the peak in all sectors would be difficult to achieve but may undermine the resolution of key external and internal factors. It is evident that the company is highly dependent on its relations with the Chinese market and requires the transfer of core processes to more accessible and cost-effective areas. This would resolve multiple issues within the socio-political and economic sectors of the company’s activities and diversify the possibilities for the company’s operations. At the same time, the resolution of compatibility issues and losing market share to competitors’ software should be made by differentiating their products from the existing solutions. For example, the deployment of enhancements in the settings and AI capabilities for the Apple Music App to induce more customer-regulated and focused preferences will be a lucrative step. This will allow the company to meet various customer expectations in the existing segments without the deployment of new products. Simultaneously, the development of compatibility software would allow for a smoother transition of customers from the competitor and diversify existing customer profiles.
Apple is showing its commitment to sustainability goals via the offering of less plastic presence in the packaging and the usage of recyclable materials in production. However, the company’s power consumption and need for large manufacturing facilities necessitate the transfer towards a more sustainable energy resource. This step will assist in the company’s alleviation of dependency symptoms on the Chinese manufacturing market. At the same time, this way, the company will highly contribute to the essential sustainable development goals established by the UN.
Implementation
The strategy implementation would follow several consecutive steps. First of all, the company should start with the research and development of software solutions to address existing problems in the information technologies, such as compatibility and differentiating market presence. Secondly, the company should plan to transfer core activities to a more suitable area other than China or start the construction of new manufacturing facilities that will be based on sustainable energy. The third step would be progressing existing products towards a new height via the introduction of new, more integrated capabilities with metaverse to secure a competitive advantage in the new market. Consequently, it would be possible to address every aspect of stakeholders’ expectations in the long and short-term future.
Recommendations and Conclusion
Apple is the company that operates on the multinational level and requires similarly large scope of strategic development plans. Therefore, the 4 implementation steps introduced vary in the scope and investment needs. They are differentiated by the high-level deliverables such as time and budgeting needs and could be the most effective in a manner that follows priority by addressing the deliverables. The deployment of new products should be postponed for the focus on existing capabilities and raising cost-effectiveness of future products while the other steps will increase current performance of the company.
It is recommended for the company to focus on the expansion towards new customers via launch of the new product lines that will be available on budget. The primary reason for Android’s popularity over iOS is the affordability. It might be essential for the company to give customers’ a new approach to smartphone making and deliver quality product with simpler design but high performance.
Appendix 1
Table 1. SWOT Analysis
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