Business level strategythe business level strategy
· Resources and competence analysis
· Given the analysis in parts a, b and c provide a reasoned argument for the strategic direction you believe the organisation should consider
Apple Inc. was established as a computer company in the year 1976. It was previously known as Apple Computer Inc. It is a multinational organization which creates electronic goods, servers, personal computers and software for computers and is also a media content digital distributor. The company has several retail stores globally which are known as Apple stores. Apple computer was created by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on 1st April, 1976 and later the company was incorporated by them in Cupertino, California, on 3rd January, 1977. The main products of the company are the smartphone iPhone, computer line Macintosh, iPod media players and iPad tablets. Apple Inc. is currently one of the dominant players in the phone and music industry.
2. Corporate Level Strategy
- PEST
The strategies that are formed by every company depends on the external environment of the market. The factors of external environment are political, economic, socio-cultural and technological.
5. Internal Analysis - SWOT
Strengths –The strengths of Apple are its innovation and creativity which has given a strong recognition to the company. They have also positioned their branches at areas where there is high traffic and this attracts a lot of customers and increases the trust among the customers as they realize that they will be able to get prompt support due to the availability of the support centers (Minakhmetova & Savchenko, 2015).
Apple has various resources and capability to operate in the business world. There are two kinds of resources which are tangible and intangible. Tangible resources of Apple are very extensive in spite of the high security level of the company in the section of design. The tangible assets of the company are measured in such a way that they are able to give competitive edge to the company. Determining the financial resource, the annual sales of the company is about $100 billion and the market capitalization is about US $550 billion. The share price of the company started at $5 and has currently reached about $600 under the guidance of Steve Jobs. The physical resources of the company comprises of about 362 retail stores all over the world so that they are able to promote their sales and advertising (Dimitrios, Sakas & Vlachos, 2013). The intangible resources is also a major reason behind the success of Apple. The retail stores are an intangible resource which enable millions of users to communicate with the concerned person in case they face any issues. Therefore the intangible resources of the company is presented in the form of proper communication with customers, technological support provided to the users at all times and attractive designs of the stores which appeals to the customers. The technological advancements that have been made by Apple has led the consumers to trust them to provide the best services. The capability of Apple is based on their ability to combine all the sections of their company which may be marketing and sales, advertising, research and development or even product development (Zamir, Sahar & Zafar, 2014). The skills and design team of the company makes it possible to develop products which can enhance and showcase the capability of the company in the market.
7. Strategic Direction
The mission that would be set by the company according to the strategic direction is that the company should plan to make those products which would be lower in price than the other products of Apple. This mission needs to be fulfilled by the company as every person want to use Apple product but are not able to do so due to the high price.
2. Objectives
1. Communication methods of internal and external stakeholders
Stakeholders are the people who have an interest in the operations of the company and are often indirectly or directly affected by their stake in the company. They are the ones who contribute to the business and always have an interest towards the company. The stakeholders are positively affected if the company performs well and are negatively affected if the company does not perform well. Every stakeholder has a different set of needs and demands which can often become conflicting and every requirement may not be possible for the company to satisfy at all times (Scheer et al., 2014). Thus it becomes mandatory for the company to prioritize the different demands and requirements of the stakeholders. It is mandatory to keep the stakeholders happy as they are the ones who are always in favor of the growth of the company. The profits that are incurred by the company will benefit the stakeholders in different forms such as in the form of dividends to the investors and shareholders and in the form of remuneration and bonus for the employees (Andriof et al., 2017). These stakeholders will always keep their focus on the profitability of the company and expect an increase in their gross profit.
On the other side the strategic plan that have been made by the company should be monitored and evaluated by the company at all times. Firstly, the strategic plan formed should contain the name of the responsible person who will monitor and evaluate the plan as per the decisions that have been taken in the plan. The person should see if the desired goals and objectives are being fulfilled according to the plan and according to the mentioned timeline as well. If a goal is not being fulfilled then the person has to ensure that the right steps are taken so that the correct way is formed (Willcocks, 2013). The resources that are needed for the fulfillment of the objectives should also be kept track of, since they are needed to develop the company’s goals. A report should be prepared at a fixed interval regarding the progress of the strategic plan and this report should be discussed and evaluated among the top management to determine the shortcomings of the plan. The strategic plan should be kept under notice at all times of the company wants to succeed in their field and beat all the competition that they face.
Conclusion
Coombs, W. T. (2014). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. Sage Publications.
De Stefani, S. (2015). Why did Apple change its strategy? The case of the iPhone: adoption of a new technology and trade-in programs in the context of innovation (Bachelor's thesis, Università Ca'Foscari Venezia).
Ho, J. K. K. (2014). Formulation of a systemic PEST analysis for strategic analysis. European academic research, 2(5), 6478-6492.
Johnston, K. A. (2014). Public relations and engagement: Theoretical imperatives of a multidimensional concept. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(5), 381-383.
Peng, M. W. (2013). Global strategy. Cengage learning.
Pisano, G. P. (2015). You need an innovation strategy. Harvard Business Review, 93(6), 44-54.
Willcocks, L. (2013). Information management: the evaluation of information systems investments. Springer.
Young, A. (2014). Brand media strategy: Integrated communications planning in the digital era. Springer.