Strategic Plan for Apple: Mission, Vision, SWOT, Corporate Values & Culture

Company Overview 

Apple, Inc., which is commonly referred to as Apple, is the largest manufacturer of technological products that include smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smartwatches. The company, which has its headquarters in California, United States, has been on the forefront towards developing products that would be able to build on its capacity to meet the demands within the global consumer market. Additionally, Apple has been involved in the development of iOS, which is an operating system that can be supported within its products. According to its 2018 valuation, Apple is valued at $1 trillion making it one of the most valuable corporate company in the world today (Etzioni, 2018). That can be seen from the fact the company has been on the forefront towards advancing its capacities to meet set out goals from a financial perspective; thus, serving as crucial strategic expectations towards attracting investors.

Company History 

Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple, Inc. under the name Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976, during which time the company was able to design its first, hand-built, computer, Apple 1. The company was later incorporated, under the name Apple Computer Inc., on January 3, 1977, by Jobs and Wozniak, who had bought Wayne's shares for $800 (Rasul, 2018). The company was able to build itself as a brand in the first five years of operations achieving a growth margin of approximately 533% with its annual revenues increasing from $775,000 to $118 million annually. That served as a clear indication of the fact that the company was fast becoming a key brand within the technology industry not only within the United States but also in other parts of the world.

In 1984, Apple launched its flagship product, Macintosh, which was considered as a revolution in the technology world, as this computer did not have a programing language. The product is regarded as key in defining Apple's success, as it sought to build on the fact that the company was fast becoming a fundamental entity within the technological world. However, it must be noted that between 1991 and 1997, the company experienced a significant decline in its financial performance, which was driven by the fact that it did not have low-cost products for the broader consumer market (Rasul, 2018). The ultimate result was the need for the company to come up with a restructuring approach aimed at ensuring that it would be able to create products that have the capacity of captivating the audience.

Between 1997 and 2007, Apple was able to go through corporate restructuring with the focus being towards adopting strategic efforts aimed at maximizing on its capacities to achieve overall success margins within the consumer market. The ultimate result of the restructuring is that Apple improved on its financial positioning, which is considered as a critical turning point for the company towards its current position. The company launched one of its most successful products, iPhone, in 2007 resulting in a significant spike in the company’s revenue margins (Rasul, 2018). The outcome of this is that the company has been able to build itself as a brand with the capability of building its understanding of the market. Additionally, this has also helped towards ensuring that the company is well positioned in trying to advance the overall capacity to deliver on what would be considered as an all-round company platform to help build on its success margins as part of its operations.

Products 

Apple, Inc. operates within the technology industry and has been involved in the development of a wide array of technology products including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and laptops. The company has also been involved in the development of the iOS operating system, which has been considered as one of essential operating platforms for both smartphones and laptops (Foros, Kind, & Shaffer, 2017). The company has also been involved in providing online services that include cloud computing with the sole intention being towards ensuring that it offers its clients with an all-around experience. As opposed to some of the other company, Apple seeks to maximize on its ability to develop products that are considered as being unique with the sole intention being towards establishing overall success margins.

Operations 

The operations that can be associated with Apple, Inc. revolve around extensive research and development with the focus being towards ensuring that the company would be able to create products that consumers would accept and appreciate. The company has been on the forefront in providing that it understands the demands from the consumers within the market as one of the ways through which to build on its success. Through research and development, it has become much easier for the company to enhance its capacities towards establishing a key front through which to help define its position within the consumer market. Another critical aspect to note concerning its operations is that Apple has been involved in creating what would be considered as a unique front the experiences that customers have while using products and services offered by the company.

That serves as a clear indication of the fact that indeed the company is working hard towards ensuring that it delivers on a positioning framework of success while providing that it limits its overall capacities while building on its operations within the consumer market. The demand for having to create a unique customer experience is driven by the fact that the company understands some of the key challenges that it is likely to experience if it fails to deliver high-quality products. That can be seen from the high levels of expectations among its clients, which can be considered as the key driver towards defining Apple’s success in the consumer market. However, this can also be regarded as a structured avenue through which to ensure that the company can develop a better understanding of what to expect while building its capacities within the consumer market.

Vision 

Apple, Inc.’s vision is to work towards building the company's innovation and product development with the sole intention being towards ensuring that it can deliver products that are considered as being unique and high quality (Rowland, 2018). Steve Jobs, who was the co-founder of the company, indicated that Apple would grow towards becoming a brand that reflects on a somewhat proactive avenue through which to change the world through innovation. That sought to suggest that the company's corporate vision was to build on its strategic position in trying to adopt new ways through which to change the way it is looking at the corporate environment. From this perspective, it becomes clear that the company is working hard towards advancing its organizational understanding of the consumer market.

Mission Statement 

According to Apple, Inc.’s website, the company mission is “to produce high quality, low cost, easy to use products that incorporate high technology for the individual. We are proving that high technology does not have to be intimidating for the non-computer experts” (Rowland, 2018). It has become clear that the company has adopted a mission of having to ensure that the world embraces technology as part of its structured approach towards changing the way people view or value technology. Additionally, it is clear that the company is focusing on the mission of having to ensure that it produces high-quality products that would be affordable for a majority of the people within the consumer market. That serves as a clear indication of the fact that the company is much more likely to establish itself as having a transparent front through which to change the corporate environment.

Corporate Values & Culture 

Regarding its corporate values, Apple, Inc. builds itself as an entity that does not only focus on advancing its financial positioning but also understands the need for having to change the way people view the world. In one of his addresses, Steve Jobs indicated that Apple was fast becoming an entity that is likely to change the way people understand the world through innovation and technology (Clarke & Boersma, 2017). That is a corporate value that the company has held to date, as it serves towards highlighting the critical expectations for the company. Another essential aspect to note when evaluating Apple's corporate values is that the company focuses much of its efforts towards ensuring that it can promote progress for the people in the social environment through its contribution to the communities.

On the other hand, Apple has developed an organizational culture that seeks to define the need for having to promote ethics among its employees, which would serve as one of the ways through which to ensure that they can advance their productivity levels. The company has been on the forefront towards highlighting the philosophy, values, beliefs, and related behaviors that its employees must embrace as part of its organizational culture. The overall impact that this has had is that it has helped towards changing the way its employees engage as part of their role in the success of the company. That serves as a definite factor that suggests that the company is much more likely to build on its success as a guarantee in the future.

SWOT Analysis 

Strengths 

Regarding its strengths, one of the key aspects to note is that Apple has a strong brand image, which enhances its ability to define its position within the consumer market much more comfortable when compared to some of the other brands. Apple is viewed as the most valuable and most reliable brand in the world today, which advances its capacities to define its success as part of the consumer market. The second key strength that can be associated with Apple is that it has a strong financial position, which makes it much easier for the company to make viable investments. Apple was valued at $1 trillion making it among the top most valuable companies in the world, which was seen as an approach towards ensuring that the company would be able to enhance its capacities to achieve some of its set goals. The third essential strength is that Apple has an effective rapid innovation process, which allows for the development of quality products matching consumer demands. Through innovation, the company has been able to build itself as a brand that understands the changing trends within the consumer market.

Weaknesses 

The main weakness that can be noted when dealing with Apple is that it has a high selling price when compared to similar products within the consumer market (Nair & Leng, 2012). That acts as a weakness, as it limits the number of people with the ability or capability of having to buy products from Apple within a given market. The other notable shortcoming is that Apple has a limited distribution network, which may affect its ability to deliver on some of its set out goals and expectations as part of the consumer market.

Opportunities 

The first opportunity that Apple may consider is the development of a low-cost product line, which would be of great value towards ensuring that the company would be able to reach a more significant market share. The company may seek to consider the need for having to engage in the production of low-cost products, which would help towards elevating its position within the consumer market significantly. The crucial second opportunity would revolve around expanding its distribution network with the sole expectation being towards ensuring that the company would be able to engage with the consumers. Having a limited network for distribution of its products means that the company finds itself at a disadvantage, as it becomes much harder for it to build on the expected levels of confidence among its clients (Nair & Leng, 2012). The third key opportunity would be taking advantage of the robust growth in the consumer market resulting from significant shifts in consumer expectations. The company may use the shifting consumer expectations to its advantage with the aim being towards creating products that would help reach a more significant market share.

Threats 

The main threat that Apple is facing is in the area of competition, as some of its key competitors are becoming more and more aggressive in their competitive approaches. That serves as a clear indication of the need for Apple to work towards building its capacity as a corporate brand to help maximize on overall abilities to achieve set out goals. The significant second threat is on imitation of its products, especially in the Asian market. That has had severe implications for the company's financial position, as it has become hard for the company to penetrate some of these markets.

Competition 

Throughout its operations, Apple has been facing severe competition, which may be considered as one of the factors that have impacted on its ability to build on the expected market share. The main competitors that can be noted as Samsung, Microsoft, and Google (Kochuk, 2014). Apple faces competition from Samsung within the smartphone industry with Samsung working hard to develop products that can be considered as being highly valued and low-cost for the consumer market. From a competitive perspective, it can be argued that Samsung has grown towards becoming one of the key competitors that Apple is facing today; thus, highlighting the need for Apple to change its strategic approaches as a way of improving on its competitive position in the smartphone industry.

Regarding Microsoft and Google, Apple faces essential competition on the areas of its iOS operating system with a significant number of consumers today moving towards Windows (Microsoft) and Android (Google). The need for Apple to make changes to its strategic positioning is driven by the fact that both Microsoft and Google are fast becoming key players in the technological industry, which acts as a definite challenge for Apple in its bid towards improving on its current positioning. Apple must work towards building its competitive advantage with the sole intention being towards ensuring that it can achieve a higher ability or capacity to maximize on overall strengths within the consumer market. By advancing its competitive advantage, Apple would be in a better platform through which to maximize the global competitive environment that it is facing within the technology industry today.

Management Team/Leadership 

Over the years, the leadership within Apple has been considered as one of the critical factors that have helped towards defining its performance with the top-level company management working hard to maintain decisive leadership. The current chief executive officer (CEO) is Tim Cook, who took over at the helm of the company after the death of its co-founder, Steve Jobs. Cook has been able to steer the company’s success towards ensuring that it maintains a structured platform for enhanced performance outcomes. Additionally, Cook’s leadership has been described as being one of the critical drivers for the company's growth capacities, as he has embraced expansion on one of his main strategies. Cook and other company executives have sought to create a friendly work environment for the employees with the aim being towards improving their productivity levels.

Apple has adopted what is described as centralized leadership in which regional managers report to a single manager, which allows for effectiveness in maximizing on some of the key strengths within the different markets. The idea of using a central management platform allows for easier monitoring of performance within the various markets, which provides for the top-level management to make changes where necessary. Apple's centralized management structure has also played a key role in ensuring that the company can effectively make decisions. By embracing a centralized management platform, the company can weigh in on the quality of the decisions that it creates, especially when dealing with issues that are likely to have essential impacts on its financial positioning. From that view, it can be argued that the management structure embraced within Apple serves as one of its key advantages while operating within the consumer market.

Financial Outlook 

From an economic perspective, it can be noted that Apple has been able to maintain a steady path towards advancing its growth. Over the years, the company has been able to build on its financial positioning by embracing strategies that seek to improve on the performance of its products within the consumer markets. The outcome that this has had is that it has provided the company is some form of leverage as part of its operations, as it becomes much easier for the company to make sound decisions that would relate to advancing its capacity for growth and success. The strong financial positioning that Apple has been able to maintain has also been of great value for ensuring that the company can make the necessary investments especially in areas of research and development.

The central aspect to note about Apple's financial outlook revolves around its valuation, which has been on the rise within the last few years reaching an assessment of $1 trillion in 2018. That acts as a clear indication of the fact that the company has been able to attract the expected amount of investors with the aim being towards ensuring that it builds on its success not only within the technology industry but as a corporate entity operating around the world. The valuation also serves as a clear indication of the fact that the company’s strategies have achieved expected levels of success towards creating a viable competitive advantage for the company. That helps in maximizing on its capacity to deliver on some of its key goals and objectives as part of its operations.

Strategies 

The strategies that Apple has embraced revolve around its slogan “Think Innovation.” An example of an approach that the company has adopted is the idea of having to ensure that its clients remain in a continuous loop in technological advancements. Apple has put in place a place in which individual clients would be able to upgrade their devices after six months through a check-off plan that would allow them to return their previous products. In this approach, the company has been able to maximize on its overall capacity to achieve global success considering that it allows for clients to maintain a high level of connection to the products offered by the company. Using such strategies, Apple has been able to build on its success within the consumer market, as these strategies allow for a more natural connection with the clients, which is essential in cases where the company has released new products.

Conclusion 

In summary, Apple, Inc., which is commonly referred to as Apple, is the largest manufacturer of technological products that include smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smartwatches. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple, Inc. under the name Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976. The company has been on the forefront in ensuring that it understands the demands from the consumers within the market as one of the ways through which to build on its success. Apple, Inc. manufactures itself as an entity that does not only focus on advancing its financial positioning but also understands the need for having to change the way people view the world. The main competitors that Apple, Inc. faces include Samsung, Microsoft, and Google.

References

Clarke, T., & Boersma, M. (2017). The governance of global value chains: Unresolved human rights, environmental and ethical dilemmas in the apple supply chain.  Journal of Business Ethics ,  143 (1), 111-131.

Etzioni, A. (2018). Apple: Good business, poor citizen?.  Journal of Business Ethics ,  151 (1), 1-11.

Foros, Ø., Kind, H. J., & Shaffer, G. (2017). Apple's agency model and the role of most ‐ favored ‐ nation clauses.  The RAND Journal of Economics ,  48 (3), 673-703.

Kochuk, M. (2014). In the Matter of Certain Electronic Devices: Apple, Samsung, Patent Holdup, and the Public Interest.  North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation ,  40 (3), 849-875.

Nair, P. B., & Leng, Q. A. (2012). The Sweet and Sour Apple: The Case of CEO Strategies at Apple Inc.  Vidwat: The Indian Journal of Management ,  5 (1), 21-24.

Rasul, T. (2018). Relationship marketing's importance in modern corporate culture.  The Journal of Developing Areas ,  52 (1), 261-268.

Rowland, C. (2018). Apple Inc.’s Mission Statement and Vision Statement (An Analysis) . Retrieved from http://panmore.com/apple-mission-statement-vision-statement