It is essential to conduct an internal scan on the iPad business unit especially regarding uncovering the assets and operation features of the group. The organizational assessment clarifies how the guiding statements offer support to business strategies, the value chain strength as well as the prevailing culture in the unit supporting its policy. To obtain a deeper understanding of the internal environment, it is mandatory to conduct a SWOT analysis. The other part of the organizational assessment is the balanced scorecard since it tries to align the iPad business unit activities to its overall vision and strategies. This piece, therefore, highlights and analyzes the obtained results from a thorough internal environmental scan of the apple company, iPad unit.

Part one: internal environmental scan

Vision, mission, and values

The iPad business units' mission and vision often mirror the ones for the parent organization. Mission refers to the future of computing as well as mobile media devises through product innovation whereas the vision is becoming the leading dealer of easy to utilize, high-quality goods integrating the resourceful technologies with the aim of enhancing user experience (Godfrey, 2015). The mission, values, and vision of this business unit possess direct link with the strategy of the company because the company's major emphasis lies on innovation as well as creativity which is aimed at producing high-quality products for the consumers' targeted segments. Some of the values which are shared by the iPad unit comprise of integrity, honesty, delegation, accountability, social responsibility, and even excellence. The organization's mission, vision, and values also have a consensus.

Strategy clarification

An interview which was conducted with a mid-level iPad business unit's manager depicts that the members of the firm including its CEO, managers, other senior executives, and even subordinates possess a heightened knowledge of their business techniques. This is because the business unit offers effective and periodic strategy communication to all the employees through weekly gatherings, online platforms, and even staff notice boards (Khan et al., 2015). The manager also confirmed that he enjoys a thorough understanding of the interconnectedness existing between the values, competitive advantage the market partition and the proposition of the company. Creation of a strong value proposition together with the enjoying a top market position helps the business unit in having a competitive edge over the other firms in the same industry.

Cultural assessment

Different values which are shared and the rules which are unwritten govern the business unit. The most prominent is the personal integrity, adherence to the ethical standards and constructive problem solution govern this tablet sector of the company (Smith, 2016). The shared values have resulted in a vast corporate culture fostering the accountability principles, teamwork, honest communication as well as respect for diversity. To reinforce the vibrant culture, the firm trains and offers incentives to its employees who have to lead by example. What I learned from the manager interviewed that the iPad business leaders strive towards also promoting this culture through exhibiting the required values.

Value chain analysis

The principal activities of the value chain are the infrastructure of the firm, procurement as well as the human resource management processes. Technology plays a vital role in the iPad value chain streaming. The whole value chain of this unit of business right from the procurement of the raw materials, management of logics, warehousing to distributing depends heavily on the technological leadership (Tomczak et al., 2017). Having qualified manufacturers, marketer, logistic personnel as well as the R&D team also leads to value chains' value addition. It is vital to note that, the iPad business unit similarly possesses high impeachable customer service reputation at different segments including post-purchase and pre-purchase.

Summary of findings

From the brief internal environment scan, it is depicted that the mission, vision, and value of iPad business unit supports directly the strategy of the business that focuses majorly on innovation as well as the technological leadership. All the employees also possess a great familiarity with the approach of the company and the expectations, a factor which can be attributed to the business' conscious decision of communicating the very strategy to the workers (Tomczak et al., 2017). The employees also enjoy a variety of shared values like the effective problem solving, openness as well as strict adherence to ethical standards. All these have contributed to the vibrant culture development which is characterized by two-way communication, teamwork, innovation, accountability and even respect for diversity. Ipad business unit's value chain is also seen to be innovative and responsive to both the needs of the customers and those of the business itself. It achieves this due to the sophisticated deployment of technologies in all the value chain domains. Generally, the business unit's internal environment is healthy.

Part two: SWOT Analysis

The SWOT Matrix

Positive

negative

internal

Strength

Strong presence of brand

Strong corporate culture

Strong financial position

Communication of market share

Weaknesses

High ipad prices

Negative publicity

Incompatible with other products

external

Opportunities

Product development

Expansion room

Increase of market share through strategic alliances

Threats

Stiff competition from amazon and Microsoft

Economic recessions

Changing landscapes of regulatory

Shifting threats of consumer

Analysis

The iPad business unit is built on different strengths which it enjoys. The first strength comes from the parent company's strong financial position. This financial standing offers the business unit a competitive advantage over treats since it always receives free advertisements and product upgrading allocations. The unit also benefits from the strong brand loyalty and presence of the apple company. Other of its strengths is effective leadership, corporate culture, an innovative international supply chain as well as the commanding market share.

However, despite the strengths, the business unit similarly has some serious weaknesses. The primary flaw is derived from the product pricing. As the cost of the average tablet is 250 to 300 dollars by the rivals, iPad sells it's at 400 dollars and beyond (Smith, 2016). This high end strategy can discourage the customers especially those coming from middle-class backgrounds. Another potential weakness is the incompatibility of their product with such platforms as windows. It dissuades the customers from purchasing Apple products and even the iPad. Furthermore, technical problems which are associated with the functionality of the product and even its adverse publicity problems have also undermined the firm's operations.

The scan also reveals some iPad opportunities for exploitation. The primary opportunity for this unit is the internal expansion which is achievable through the strategy of market development (Godfrey, 2015). Even if the unit enjoys a strong market presence, most of the stores it has been situated in first world nations like Western Europe and North America. The unit can, therefore, boost its brand recognition by establishing markets in developing countries which express surging demand for the products. The financial standing, as well as the substantial market share, can help the business expand. Other opportunities include product differentiation and product development.

The business unit should nevertheless be wary of the threats which are seen to confront the company. The uncertain economic condition throughout the world, for instance, can undermine the sales due to diminishing the power of spending among the customers. The stiff competition from the rivals is another significant threat of the unit (Godfrey, 2015). All the iPad rivals sell their products cheaper than the iPad hence posing a primary threat to its market share. The continued changing of the legal requirements in various nations is also a threat to the firm.

Part three: balanced strategic scorecard

The balanced strategic scorecard is essential for the company's activities alignment to its overall vision and strategy. Other than measuring performance against the primary strategic goal, the scorecard can also be vitally used since it improves the internal and external communication (Tomczak et al., 2017). In the scorecard, the primary interest areas include internal processes, financial, stakeholder as well as growth and learning. Below is a balanced scorecard which depicts the perspectives, objectives as well as success measures.

perspective

Activities/objectives

measures

financial

Reduced cost of unit

Grow revenue

Increase market share

Increase utilization of assets

Improvement of productivity percentage

Revenue growth percentage (15%)

20% by first year

Capacity utilization percentage (85%)

customer

Bolster customer relationship

Becoming an innovative supplier

Improvement of overall reputation

Delivering timely and quality products

Customer account share

Percentage of new products sales

Customer returns and percentage of OTD

Customer ranking and retention

process

Enhance efficiency of manufacturing

Product development excellence

Improve supplier relationship

Distribution network expansion

Rates of PPM and cycle time

Time-to-market

Number of new distribution

Certified suppliers percentage (less than 15 per year)

Learning and growth

Grow human capital

Leverage information technology

Build a change-supporting culture

Employees increase

Number of shared best practices

Customer databases increase

References

Godfrey, R. (2015). Strategic Management: A Critical Introduction. Routledge.

Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of internal and external environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(6), 955-961.

Smith, B. (2016). Nature and Geography: Tragic Voids within Marketing Textbooks and the External Business Environment. In Global Perspectives on Contemporary Marketing Education(pp. 47-64). IGI Global.

Tomczak, T., Reinecke, S., & Kuss, A. (2017). Strategic Marketing: Market-Oriented Corporate and Business Unit Planning. Springer.