Business
Internal Analysis of Apple
Apple is a well-known firm, to assess their position and strategies an internal analysis looking at some of the main strengths and weaknesses can be conducted and consideration of the firms competitive advantage. It may be argued that the strengths are greater than the weaknesses, with the firms' ability to create and leverage strengths leading to the competitive advantage of differentiation.
One of the firms major strengths is the way that the products are designed; in terms of functionality and appearance. The firm sees its product range as more than simply high tech items, but as lifestyle goods that empower users and improve lifestyles (Apple, 2012). A key aspect of the products, including the MacBooks, iPods, iPhones and iPads is the high level of integration. All the goods use the same, intuitive, operating systems, and will sync data automatically across linked devices (Apple, 2012). In addition apps which are bought for one product in the range, can be used on the same users other units. The functionality is supported by the appearance; the units are designed to be attractive, with a simplistic but clean design that appeals to the target market. The design of the products has seen the firm gain a very high level of customer loyalty, so much so, that many of the users do not even consider other brands in the purchase process, often buying multiple products from the firms range (Kotler and Keller, 2011).
The second strength of the firm is in the operations, with a high level of control over the supply chain, and a low level of capital tied up in stock. At any point in the firm has only five days worth of stock on hand and Gartner has rated Apple as having the worlds' best supply chain (Gartner, 2012). Part of the efficiency is with the use of outsourcing; the firm exercises a high level of control through long-term relationships and strict contracts with the suppliers, and many goods sent direct from the outsource supplier to the end consumer as they are ordered, and Apple stores hold only minimal stock (Nui, 2012).
The last strength of the firm may be seen with financial performance. The company is highly profitable, performing well above industry averages. The current net profit margin for Apple is 23.46% against the industry average of 13.28% and has low debt levels (MSN Money, 2013).
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