Analysing Apple'S Strategies To Build and Sustain Competitive Advantage
Analysing Apple'S Strategies To Build and Sustain Competitive Advantage
BUSINESS STRATEGY
MODULE CODE: 6WBS0009
ACADEMIC YEAR - 2015/16
SEMESTER - A
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................4
Strengths.................................................................................................................................4
Weaknesses............................................................................................................................5
Opportunities..........................................................................................................................6
Support Activities...................................................................................................................9
Primary Activities................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................15
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................23
Introduction
In December 1980, Apple Inc. went public presenting an initial price share of $22. Within
minutes, the company’s market price was worth $1.78bn, marking a financial trend that
culminated in Apple’s actual worth value of $1 trillion (Neate, 2015). The company’s core
values, base for the formulation of Apple’s strategies, are undoubtedly responsible for its
current success in the high-tech market, being perceived by stakeholders worldwide as a
disruptive company in terms of innovation, technology and design (Gustin, 2015).
Gendron (2012) notes that in order to evaluate the success of a company, it becomes
imperative the utilisation of business analysis tools. Therefore, this report will discuss how
Apple’s strategies have been used to build and sustain competitive advantage, allowing the
company to become a benchmark to all players in the technological market.
Moreover, while not offering recommendations, this paper intends not only to highlight
Apple’s strategies for success, but also to present some of the issues faced by the company in
the adoption of certain strategic decisions.
Furthermore, Marti and Cabrita (2013) remind us that the classical SWOT analysis may not
be currently effective per se, suggesting adapting the tool to a more modern approach
emphasising on resource-based and activities-based elements. By shifting the focus of the
tool, it is possible to enrich the SWOT analysis by adding external suppliers (supply chain) to
the equation towards success.
For these reasons, we evaluate Apple’s strategies employing the SWOT analysis below,
analysing internal and external variables to the organisation.
Strengths
Customer loyalty
Goodson (2015) suggests the Apple strategy towards loyalty comes from a series of
vectors such as social media interaction, customer service, etc., emphasising an
intangible aspect of its products (design, status, etc.) instead of technological
specifications.
According to Pinson and Brosdahl (2015) Apple reinforces customer loyalty
promoting a clear strategy of brand personality, and even its product design
strengthens this point, eg. By simplifying process, maintaining beauty as iPhone
advocates (Bonetti, 2010).
Apple is a leading innovator in mobile device technology
Factually, Apple is a leading company in innovation (Griffith, 2015), and the
company strategically uses of its position to keep its market share safe from
competition. As an example, although the iTunes media player was not the first in its
kind (Schramm, 2015), Apple occupied the leadership in the music market in 2013,
with 64 percent of the market share (Bostic, 2013). Apple’s image as an innovative
brand and its leadership in the market allowed the company to strategically wait until
Finally, its profit margins also have been growing consistently, achieving 25 percent
in 2015, granting an excellent return rate to its investors (Warren, 2015). All these
positive numbers give Apple and its CEO Tim Cook the flexibility when it comes to
change the company’s financial strategies. For instance, in opposition to Apple’s
previous CEO Steve Jobs’ strategy, Tim prioritises reinvesting the company’s money
through buybacks and dividends (Lashinsky, 2015), safeguarding its financial position
‘independently of the value of money, exchange rates and tax burdens’ (Yarow,
2015a).
Strong supply chain
Since 2013, Apple has been in the top list of Gartner Supply Chain Leaders (Rivera,
2015). This competitive advantage will be discussed further in this paper when
analysing the company’s Value Chain strategies.
Weaknesses
Higher prices than competition
While a price differentiation strategy can be seen as a strength when we analyse the
historical Average Retail Price (ARP) of the iPhone and iWatch (Sheehy, 2015), the
approach represents a weakness to other products of Apple’s portfolio. iPad’s sales
have decreased year by year because of cannibalising competition, where competitors
are able to manufacture cheaper alternatives for customers. Apple’s launching of a
Despite Apple being the leader in the smartphones market in the US, it finds difficult
to enter new markets because of its premium prices. In order to keep its growth, the
company has defined a strategy of launching entry versions of its iPhones (iPhone 5C,
for instance) in order to reach new niches around the world. However, the company
has already considered the possibility of depreciation its position as a prime brand,
hindering its leadership position in markets such as the US (Blodget, 2015).
Incompatibility of Apple products and services with other systems
The famous (or infamous) lock-in strategy Apple imposes to its customers does
represent a potential strategic risk to company (Dörr et al., 2009). By ‘locking-in’
iPhone users to iTunes music store, Apple did not anticipate the advent of Spotify.
The streaming music app, which replaces the need for buying the digital version of
the songs, impacted directly iTunes sales, causing a decrease of more than 13 percent
in one year (Thompson, 2015).
No major improvements in latest product versions
In 2014, Apple saw its brand value decline by 20 percent after 12 months of none new
products being launched (Gilbert, 2014). The company’s strategy of investing
massively in Research and Development (R&D), which will be explained further in
this paper, seems to have considered this weakness. In 2015, Apple releases its
iWatch generating a big hype in the market, seeing sales going up by 90 percent in the
period (Heisler, 2015).
Opportunities
Investments in Research and Development
If innovation can be considered one of Apple’s core competencies to achieve
sustained competitive advantage over its competitors, it has not been sufficient to
sustain the company’s growth (Ramsey, 2015). For that reason, Apple’s R&D
department has received a major increase in fundings, from $500M to $1.3bn in 2015
(Hughes, 2015). This aspect will be further analysed in the Value Chain analysis.
Strategic partnerships
Steve Jobs defended that Apple should not aim to specialise its manufacturing and
research too broadly, needing to conglomerate with other companies in order to
Apple’s strategies in this area can be exemplified by the reduction of app prices by 25
percent in Australia, keeping prices at the same level in other countries (Moses,
2011). Another example is the price of iPhone 6, cheaper in the US than anywhere in
the world (Jones, 2015b). This price strategy is understandable due to the elevated
market penetration in US, where Apple represents 44 percent of market share
(Rossignol, 2015). Consequently, customer perception of Apple as a ‘premium brand’
in the US reduces as the product becomes more commonly spread (Yarow, 2015b).
While it makes possible for the company to keep its internal growth by reducing profit
per unit in US, the global pricing strategy reassures Apple’s ethos worldwide.
In 2001, Porter rethinks the application of his existing model considering a rapidly changing
economy, correlating strategy and the internet culture (Porter, 2001). Nonetheless, authors
such as Karagiannopoulos et al. (2005) criticise the approach adopted by Porter, influenced
by his initial overestimated expectations of the expansion of the new economy. The current
reality of the digital market, where Apple’s financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter of
2015 reach $51.5bn in revenue (Apple, 2015b), seems to validate Porter’s preliminary
outlooks. For this reason, this tool will be employed to identify the attractiveness of the
Ferguson (2015) also points out that individual buyers do not have the ability to
influence Apple’s entire price system directly to some extent, therefore constituting in
a low bargain power in relation to this customer base. Alternatively, consumers have
many substitute brands for every item of Apple’s product portfolio, and this
substitution incurs in a considerably lower switching cost (Tan, 2013). Nair et al.
(2010) defends that Apple’s strategy to minimise buyers’ bargain power in this sense
involves focusing in product differentiation with emphasis in branding, advertising,
design, customer services and quality (Grant, 2002).
The following analysis will be mainly focused in the activities that Apple invests to keep its
competitive advantage.
Support Activities
Infrastructure
Apple has plans to build its own high-speed communications network (Eadicicco,
2015). With this move, the company strategy aims to diminish the dependence on
competitors such as Microsoft and Google. Rosenstock and Huguet (2015) reveal that
Primary Activities
Inbound Logistics
In 2014, Apple’s production relied on about 200 different companies (Mitchel, 2014),
maintaining a state-of-art supply chain management (see Fig. 1). As mentioned in
Porter’s Five Forces analysis, Samsung still stands out as a key supplier to Apple
(Hall, 2015), as the company has direct supply connections with three different
companies from Samsung Group (Mitchell, 2014).
Furthermore, Haslam et al. (2013), argues that this factor demonstrates the
vulnerability of the Apple’s business model, which relies on exercising power over
the supply chain, as has been suggested in the Bargain Power of the Suppliers
analysis. This issue can be noticed in Samsung’s increase in the chip prices for Apple,
in the order of 20 percent in 2013, thus creating the backbiting between Apple and
Samsung.
Outbound Logistics
Apple products can be purchased in several retail channels including online, big-box
retailers and in their own Apple’s retail stores (Montgomerie and Roscoe, 2013).
Parsons (2015) explains that, after the company’s products are manufactured in
China, the devices are shipped to Apple Stores, cell phone retailers and directly to
customers worldwide. Made-to-order devices have a maximum time of 15 days
between their manufacturing and shipment to the final customers. During the launch
of iPhone (Satariano, 2013), Apple executed a complex operation: after the gadget
was ready at manufactures in China, they were shipped by plane worldwide and
security personnel accompanied the devices from the manufacturers until their final
destinations. The secrecy once more acted as a successful strategy for the company.
These examples support Apple’s leadership in 2015 Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 list,
and the company’s competitive advantage in the supply chain face its competitors
(Howard, 2015).
Marketing and Sales
Apple is taking corporate marketing to a whole new level in its industry. The
company is creating an internal marketing agency that will recruit, when fully
Apart from marketing campaigns, Apple’s sales rely in its own stores, where every
detail is designed to make the customers spend more money (Gmoser, 2015). The
open design permits easy flow and the lighting is projected aiming to make the
products look more appealing to customers. With all the products being connected to
the internet and displaying up-to-date versions of the company’s software, thus
encouraging complete interactivity throughout this immersive shopping experience.
As an result, Apple’s stores generated $4,708.82 in sales per square foot in 2014
(Wahba, 2015).
Horizon 1
Company’s core business,
accounts for the biggest share of
profits.
Horizon 2
Emerging lines of business that
could improve the company
revenue and customers base, but
needs substantial investment
first.
Horizon 3
Business' future opportunities.
The following table presents Apple products’ net sales and unit sales information for 2015
(Apple, 2015c) to support the products’ classification in Horizon 1:
Finally, Horizon 3 relates to new opportunities. According to Harris (2015), Apple has been
secretly working on a self-driving electric car, codenamed Project Titan. Wakabayashi (2015)
reveals that the expected shipping date is 2019.
Conclusion
This paper intended to offer a critical discussion on Apple’s strategies for acquiring and
maintaining competitive advantage in a highly competitive market, thus dynamic pace is a
thriving environment for the appearance of unexpected issues that force the entire strategical
decisions to be developed or realigned constantly.
While individually the analysis tools presented in this paper are insufficient for a
comprehensive identification of Apple’s strategies, the combination of approaches allows us
to understand how the company seeks a synergy between internal and external factors in
order to construct a successful strategy.
Ultimately, Apple’s success can be directed linked to the constant quest to fulfil customer’s
expectations in relation to innovation in technology and design. Through the utilisation of
strategic tools and data analysis, the company gathers the knowledge to support and
determine which directions are more effective to become successful. The secrecy created by
Apple from the architecture of its differentiated products until its debuts, creates a big
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Rushe, D. (2015) Tim Cook orders retraining for all Apple store staff after Melbourne
controversy. The Guardian. Available at
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/13/tim-cook-apple-store-retraining-melbourne-
black-teens [Accessed 14 Nov, 2015].
Sandro – SWOT
Luis - PESTEL
16/11/2015 – Decision is made in relation to exclude PESTEL to comply with the final word
count. Luis’ task is now helping with Porter’s 5 Forces analysis and conclusion.
Sandro raises his considerations and group members rewrite their parts
considering his suggestions.
As the original log currently displays more than nine thousand words, increasing the number
of pages of this assignment to ninety-nine, we condensed the main contributions as it follows.
The full file can be accessed on:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B79d8pkfv2mIb3laaVdHcUZ1b2M.
12/11/2015
Sandro Alencar Mrowinski - Reviews of the iPad Pro may be lukewarm, but
it's still the future of computing. Microsoft shouldn't get used to its time on
top. The Surface Pro 4 may look good in comparison to the iPad Pro right
now, but Apple has The App Store. uk.businessinsider.com
Jean Carlos Visentainer-
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/05/18/apple-incs-sustainable-
competitive-advantages.aspx. Apple Inc.'s Sustainable Competitive Advantages --
The Motley Fool. Apple’s closed ecosystem and brand appeal will protect its core
iPhone business from hungry rivals. fool.com
Why innovation could be the key to Apple's growth - Market Realist
Apple's business strategy leverages its unique ability to design and develop its own
operating systems, hardware, application software, and services to provide its
customers new products. marketrealist.com
Apple's Competitive Advantage: Multiple Products That Integrate as One
Apple's competitive advantage is growing in the smartphone, tablet and personal
computer categories. The company's strength is product, including the iPhone, iPad,
and Mac computers. But it's the advantage of the three combined that's pushing Apple
to marketshare dominance. ibtimes.com
Porter’s 5 forces model and value chain
Porter’s 5 forces Model And Porter’s Value Chain for Apple - slideshare.net
Apple Value-Chain Analysis - Research Methodology
https://prezi.com/a23yvk0pbhbc/apples-value-chain/
This was the beginning of 2014: Samsung remains a key supplier for Apple’s iPhone
despite patent disputes, competition
No matter which way you cut it, it remains remarkable that Samsung continues to
serve as…
13/11/2015
3553-6309-1-SM.pdf
14/11/2015
15/11/2015
Crainer_et_al-2014-Business_Strategy_Review.pdf
16/11/2015
“The three horizons model was first published in The Alchemy of Growth by
Merhdad Baghai, Stephen Coley, and David White in 1999. The fundamental
idea behind the model is that we need to be thinkin...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2013/03/07/how-to-manage-
innovation-2/
https://hbr.org/2012/10/how-apples-little-approach-leads
Bringing discipline to design, innovation, and R&D isn’t easy, but it pays off.
http://gizmodo.com/apples-first-store-in-singapore-is-powered-by-the-sun-
1742726624?
utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebo
ok&utm_medium=socialflow
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AAPL/1027689957x0x861262/2601797E-
6590-4CAA-86C9-962348440FFC/2015_Form_10-K_As-filed_.pdf