Part of a apple case study
Hwqueenofthepla
case_study.docxMark details
Key Questions to consider have been provided to help you pull out the relevant information. Feel free to bring in outside information as you see fit.
1. The history, development and growth of the company over time – 2 pages
· Chart critical incidents
2. SWOT analysis-1-2 pages
· The identification of the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses
· The nature of the external environment surrounding the company
· The SWOT Checklist Pg C4 provides detail
3. Evaluate the SWOT analysis
· Is the company in an overall strong competitive position?
· Can it continue to purpose its current business or corporate level strategy profitably?
· How is it impacted by porters 5 fources?
· What can the company do to turn weaknesses into strengths and threats into opportunities?
· Can it develop new functional, business or corporate strategies to accomplish this change?
4. The kind of corporate level strategy that the company is pursuing
· Define the companies mission and goals
· Do they actually live by them? Does it make sense in todays environment?
· Debate merits of their current strategy.
5. The nature of the company’s business-level strategy
· Identify the company’s generic competitive strategy – differentiation, low-cost, or focus – and its investment strategy, given its relative competitive position and the stage of the life cycle.
· Identify functional strategies that a company pursues to build competitive advantage through superior efficiency, quality, innovation, and customer responsiveness.
6. Analyze the company’s structure and control systems &how they match its strategy
· What structure and control systems the company is using to implement it s strategy and to evaluate whether that structure is the appropriate one for the company.
7. Make Recommendations
· Recommendations are directed at solving whatever strategic problem the company is facing and increasing its future profitability.
Questions to consider throughout:
1. Historically, what were Apple’s major competitive advantages?
2. Why did Apple fail to build on these advantages to lead the industry?
3. Was Apple’s demise inevitable, or could they have succeeded despite the decision not to license the OS?
4. How has the structure of the personal computer industry changed over the last 20 years? What are the implications for the profitability of personal computer manufacturers?
5. Given the analysis of industry dynamics, what must a PC firm do to make an economic return in this industry? Is Apple protected from these competitive forces in any way?
6. In the early 1990s, Dan Eilers commented that Apple was on a “glide path to history”. What underlay this assessment?
7. Evaluate Apple’s strategies since 1990 (focus on Scully and the return of Steve Jobs)? How did Scully try to save Apple? How did Jobs?
8. The iPod: Why has Apple been so successful with the iPod business?
9. What have been the main themes of Apple’s strategies post 2003 -
10. What explains Apple’s success with the iPhone? How sustainable is this success?
11. Has Apple finally solved its long standing problems? Strategically, where might the company go from here?
