Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness (revised)

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Tomia Willingham

Strayer University

BUS499 Business Administration Capstone

Dr. Grizzell

August 7, 2021

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Week 3 Assignment 1

Introduction

My paper will discuss both strategic competitiveness and strategic management of Apple

Inc. Company. This will provide a clear picture on how different processes and projects are carried

out for the success of the company. Again, the paper will focus in summarizing different articles

for the purposes of ensuring that awareness is created on how the organizations in a country should

be run for quality products and services to be provided to the customers. This will play significant

roles in the encouragement of the people to engage in productive activities leading to the success of

their businesses. The paper will again discuss the different strategies utilized by Apple Inc.

Company in ensuring that its competitive advantage is enhanced and the operations carried out

made effective for the satisfaction of the customers to be achieved. The discussion on the strategies

used will motivate the people to come up with businesses which focus on quality standards for the

set goals and objectives to be achieved (Burke, 2021).

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Globalization

Globalization is among the important aspects which have contributed to the success of

Apple Inc. Company by changing the manner in which the processes in the company were carried

out. It is through this whereby the company’s supply chain has been impacted positively therefore

enabling it to record high sales within a short time. As a result of the proper utilization of the

globalization concepts, the company has had its profits increased because of its ability to produce

the products at low cost hence selling them to the customers at high costs. On the other hand,

globalization has led the company to an effective competition which has made it easy for the

management to come up with strategies of ensuring that the competition is managed in ways which

contribute to the success of the business. The competition experienced by Apple Inc. Company is

mainly related to aspects such as prices, target market, adaptation of the available technology and

quick production. For the issues in the company to be addressed, the management has been able to

come up with global strategies which have contributed to the satisfaction of the customers. The

business has again been able to create a robust global brand therefore attracting competing with

other companies effectively. One of the global brand introduced by the company is the iTune

stores which has played a role in the discovery and the delivery of third party digital content. One

of the concepts of globalization used in the company is the economic globalization which has

enabled to business to contribute to the growth and the development of the economy of different

countries. This has been achieved by its ability to come up with other branches in the entire world.

It is through that whereby employment opportunities are created in the country hence contributing

positively to the success of the country’s economy. Finally, globalization has impacted the

company in a positive way by ensuring that international human resource management strategies

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are utilized. This has made it easy for the company to hire experts and professional from different

parts of the world therefore improving the performance of the corporation (do Carmo, 2021).

Technology

Technological changes are among the contributors to the success of the corporation. For the

past few years, the company has invested in technological advancement for the purposes of

ensuring that quality products and services are provided to the customers. Some of the

technological changes such as MacPaint software have impacted the business positively by

bringing in place programs such as Photoshop and PageMaker which have brought about

transformations in publishing. Being one of the technologically advanced corporation in the entire

world, it has been able to benefit from the advanced technology by improving the rates of

production and human resource management. These have therefore led to a demonstration of

planning, long term thinking, consistent marketing and careful and thoughtful research. Some of

the technological aspects such as social media, cloud computing, program apps, texting, email,

robotics, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, crowfunding, websites, data and analytics and

e-commerce have impacted the corporation in a positive manner by ensuring that the standards of

the products and the services provided are high. These have therefore improved the competitive

advantage of the company. On the other hand, the company has been impacted by diffusion and

disruptive technologies in way which has led to increased rates of production through effective

innovations (Edeh, 2021).

Industrial Organization Model

The company could earn above average returns by ensuring that it focuses on consumer

centric devices and innovation. This leads to increased numbers of sales made by the company

within a short time. The consumer centric devices and innovation lead to the increment of the

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morale of the customers therefore encouraging them to purchase more of the company’s products.

The data migration to new products and the easy to use devices by the company have played

important roles in the improvement of the financial performance of the business. This is facilitated

by the ability of the company to safeguard the welfare of the customers by improving the quality of

the products made (Hitt, 2020).

Resource-Based Model

The resource based model has been used in different cases in ensuring that the company is

able to utilize the available resources and assets effectively. One of the ways in which the company

has utilized this model is by providing a foundation which has been used to develop the capability

of the organization. The development of the capabilities has helped the company in the

improvement of its performance hence ensuring that it earns above average returns. For the above

average returns to be earned by the company, unique resources are effectively utilized. Some of the

resources include; product quality, brand equity, global presence, effective marketing, customer

loyalty and supply chain (Patrushev, 2021).

Vision

For the last 20 years, the activities and the processes carried out by the company have been

controlled by its vision statement. The vision statement has again influenced the overall success of

the business by ensuring that it focuses on innovations which lead to product of quality products.

The company has been determined to deliver high quality products therefore improving its market

share. The actual vision statement of the company is “We believe that we are on the face of the

earth to make great products and that's not changing”. The vision statement has again contributed

to the overall success of the corporation by inspiring both the customers and the employees to

work for the success of the business (Smizer, 2021).

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Mission

In different cases, the actual mission statement of the company has influenced the company

positively. It is through the mission statement whereby the organization has been enabled to remain

honest and genuine to its ideals. This has therefore impacted the management of the company to

think critically on how the business operations can be carried out to change the entire world. The

mission statement influences the overall success of the organization by providing the management

and the employees clear and effective guidelines on how quality decisions should be made for the

success of the entity. The mission statement of the company is “to bring the best personal

computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers,

businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world”.

Stakeholders

The success of the company has been facilitated by the collaboration of different categories

of stakeholders. Some of the stakeholders include; employees, customers, investors, communities,

government and suppliers. The employees are some of the important stakeholders of the company

which have contributed to the overall success of the company ensuring that quality products are

produced. This has enabled the company to manage the available competition effectively. The

other stakeholders are customers. The customers contribute to the success of the business by

ensuring that they purchase the products in large numbers therefore improving the financial

performance of the company. This has helped in facilitating an improved sustainability. Investors

are the other stakeholders who contribute to the overall success of the company by ensuring that

the capital of the business is raised. This makes it easy for the company to fund the different

projects carried out. On the other hand, communities are stakeholders who have contributed to the

success of the company by ensuring that a conducive environment is provided to the employees.

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This has helped in the improvement of the performance of the business. For the obstacles to the

success of Apple Inc. Company to be reduced, the government should be engaged effectively.

However, the government contributes to the success of the company by ensuring that effective

policies are introduced to control the operations of the company. Finally, suppliers are important

stakeholders due to their ability to bring the products close to the customers. This enables the

company to record high sales as well as profits within short time (Srinivasan, 2021).

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Sources

1. Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson. 2020. Strategic management: Concepts and cases: Competitiveness

and globalization (13th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning

2. Burke, J. J. (2021). FinTech. In Financial Services in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 107-130).

Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

3. do Carmo, M. J., Neto, M. S., Donadone, J. C., & Cavenaghi, F. (2021) FINANCIALIZATION

INDICATORS IN LARGE CORPORATIONS: MAXIMIZING SHAREHOLDER VALUE IN

THE CASE OF APPLE INC.

4. Edeh, F. O., Teoh, K. B., Murugan, Y., Kee, D. M. H., Wong, J., Wong, X. S., ... & Jacinta, O.

B. (2021). Contributing Factors to Apple’s Sustainability in Malaysia’s Information and

Communication Technology Industry. Asia Pacific Journal of Management and Education

(APJME), 4(2), 74-84.

5. Patrushev, V., & Popov, V. (2021). Modeling the process of innovative transformations at the

industrial enterprise. In SHS Web of Conferences (Vol. 116, p. 00005). EDP Sciences.

6. Smizer, E. C. (2021). Epic Games v. Apple: Tech-Tying and the Future of Antitrust. Loy. LA

Ent. L. Rev., 41, 215.

7. Srinivasan, S., & Jayaraman, V. (2021). Orchestrating Sustainable Stakeholder Value Creation:

A Product Life Cycle Extension Perspective. Pursuing Sustainability: OR/MS Applications in

Sustainable Design, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Resource Management, 239-254.