Company Bio : Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company that is currently headquartered in 1 Apple Park Way Cupertino, CA 95014. It is in this location that the company personnel design, develop, and sell consumer electronics such as smartphones and online services. Since the death of Steve Paul Jobs, one of the company's founders, Tim D. Cook has been enforced as the CEO while Arthur D. Levinson took up the role of Chairman and President of the company. The firm is traded for its public stock at the Wall Street, New York, NY under the stock symbol AAPL. Its final stock price in U.S.: "NASDAQ-GS at the close of business 4:00 PM, EDT 06/15/2018 of the market, was $188.84" (Jones, 2018).
History of Apple Inc .: Steve Paul Jobs, Steve Gary Wozniak, and Ronald Gerald Wayne co-founded Apple Computer Company in April 1st, 1976 at 2066 Crist Drive Los Altos, CA 94024 (Steve Jobs garage). The company was incorporated on January 3rd, 1977 and it became Apple Incorporated. Apple Inc. is associated with designs, mobile communications, and personal computers. Mike Markkula Jr. "brought his business expertise along with the US $250,000 ($80,000 as an equity investment in the Apple Inc. and $170,000 as a loan. Soon after, Mike Markkula Jr. became an employee number four" (Dernbach, 2016). The company then introduced computer products which had personalized compatibility with office functions with Wozniak engineering the building of such computers. On December 12, 1980, Apple went public with $22 per share. Wozniak left Apple in 1985. From 1991 to 1997, Apple Inc. went into a decline and finally restructured by the end of 1997 joining with Microsoft to make versions of Microsoft Office for Apple's computers. From 1997 to 2004, Apple restructured and went ahead to launch products such as iMac, iPod, and iPhone. Apple started its first laptop in 2006 in partnership with Intel Corporation.
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From 2003 to 2006, the shares of Apple Inc. increased from $6 to $80 per share (Dow Jones Inc. Company, 2018). From 2007 to 2011, Apple Inc. ventured into mobile devices, where it has been dominant since then. On August 24th, 2011, Steve Paul Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple Inc. and became its chairman. On October 5th, 2011, Apple Inc. lost Steve Jobs. Since then, however, Apple has still been prolific and even introduced further products such as Apple Energy and LLC that sell solar energy.
Enterprise Level Strategy : Apple Inc. has always been seeking for the need to improve the products it makes available to its users. They look into solving the need and creating an ambiance for personalization. This is seen on the modifications they make to their products and even the products of other companies such as the Walkman, "the introduction of Siri to iPhone gadgets" (Stony Brook University, 2018). Apple as a brand has always kept its customers and potential market expectant of improvement each time they announce to launch a product.
Corporate level Strategy : Over the years, Apple Inc. has grown to not only become a leading force in the mobile phones industry, but it has also made a name for itself in the corporate world has expanded its scope into other business ventures like Beats Electronic in 2014. The company which mainly deals in lines of headphones was valued at $3 billion at the time of acquisition. The second largest acquisition would be Shazam, a music-identifying app valued at $400 million. At the same revenue, the spot is NeXT Inc. acquired from co-founder Steve Jobs in 1988. PrimeSence, a 3D motion sensor company was purchased at $345 million, with Emagic coming in at 5th place valued at $30 million, a company famous for its Logic Pro music software. At the 6th spot is Siri, software that helps customers make reservations, get directions and stuff like that (Stony Brook University, 2018). Apple Inc. has stores all over the world and customers can purchase products from any store worldwide or solely on their website, Apple.com. The launch of new products and modification of old products have caused an increase in the share of Apple continuously. In 2016, "Apple had sought permission from the Indian government to sell refurbished iPhones, this caused a rise in iPhone sales in India by 400%" (Ovide, 2018).
Business Level Strategies : Apple Inc. has plenty of business implementations, these have ensured high revenue for the company, with the leading being The Apple Stores all over the world which serve as the retailer outlets for its products. In as much as Apple is the second largest electronic gadgets manufacturing company, after Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, it is through its iPhone series that it has managed to obtain its highest sales for revenue. The company has been keen on maintaining a high quality of products for its customers by adding useful features to each new product. Apple has sought the differentiation strategy in its business as it identifies the values unique in its potential market and exploits them. These values are treasurable to its market, and hence the market responds as it wants to attain convenience (Dudovskiy, 2018).
Core Competencies: Apple is a company that has been on the leading front for as long as most of us can remember advantaged with some core competencies including an extensive product range: Apple has many products that generate its revenue; this has enabled the firm to stay at proper earning levels. Efficiency and Personalization is another competent value. Apple is a company that avails products that have an assurance of quality. The use of iCloud to back up data and progress is amongst the mentionable quality improvements by Apple, Inc. This has enabled the organization to obtain the highest revenue from its products and stay competitive in the market.
Three Major Competitors: Apple Incorporation faces stiff competition in the market by established and upcoming gadget producers like HP Incorporation, Google Incorporation, and Blackberry Phones Limited Company. According to Hoover's Competitive Landscape, while Apple Inc. records a comfortable figure of $233,715 in millions of annual sales, HP Inc. follows closely with $111,454 million record yearly sales. Google Inc. and Blackberry Limited are at number three and four with record sales of $66 and $3 respectively annually. Google Inc. beats HP Inc. on the second slot after Apple Inc. on the market cap index with $358,043 million against Apple's $639,939 million (Jones, 2017). To curb this competition, the Apple Stores system has been equally upgraded with its services made flexible enough to adapt to changes in the market. First off, Apple Inc. has made a point in its periodic upgrade to be able to avail the latest technology to its users as soon as it is developed. After production, the upgraded versions are shipped almost immediately using the most efficient means of transport to ensure the stores are always updated as soon as an upgrade is out, thereby beating the technological advantage any other producer or OEM may have.
What I've Learned: After completing my research on Apple Inc. I've learned that there were more than two co-founders that founded Apple Inc. I've also learned that the first attempt on the modern-day tablet was in 1992. Also, in May 2016, Apple invested $1 billion to DidiChuxing, which is an automotive competitor to Uber. This investment signified that Apple Inc. could look into venturing into the automotive industry. Besides making great products such as iPhone, and iPad, etc., Apple Inc. has an energy division, Apple Energy, which sells solar energy.
References
Dernbach, C. (2016, September 15). Mac history: How the founders of Apple got rich. The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved from https://quotes.wsj.com/AAPL?mod=DNH_S_cq.
Dow Jones Inc. Company. (2018, June 15). News Apple Inc. The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved from https://quotes.wsj.com/AAPL?mod=DNH_S_cq.
Dudovskiy, J. (2018, January 10). Apple Business Strategy: Product Differentiation in Design and Functionality. Research Methodology . Retrieved from https://research- methodology.net/apple-business-strategy/
Jones, D. (2017). Apple Inc. company profile. D&B Hoovers. Retrieved from http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company- profile.apple_inc.4c9baa063908dbd8.html
Ovide, S. (2018, April 20). Everyone talks about Apple's changing business except Apple. Bloomberg LP . Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2018-04-20/everyone-talks-about- apple- s-changing-business-except-apple.
Stony Brook University. (2018). Final project on Apple-case study analysis: Apple's corporate level strategy . Retrieved from https://stonybrook.digication.com/final_project_on_apple/Corporate_Level_Strategy .
