SWOT Analysis – Apple Inc
Competency 1: Competency Assessment
Instructions
Complete the worksheet based on your chosen organization: Use Business Source Complete and your selected company’s website, annual report, and other available sources.
Organization Information
Organization
Define your chosen company and its industry.
Apple Inc. is a US multinational technology company that manufactures and distributes electronics, online services, and software products. The company is mostly recognized for its iPhone series smartphones and personal computers that target premium consumers. Apple faces competition from rival industry players like Samsung, Microsoft, Dell, and Lenovo. Competition is based on different business segments; smartphones, personal computers, software products, household consumer electronics, etc.
Mission and Vision
Identify the mission and vision of the organization.
| Mission | “To bring the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services.” |
| Vision | We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products, and that’s not changing. |
Organizational Initiatives
Outline 1-2 major initiatives for this organization. What are they currently doing to support these initiatives?
One of Apple’s current initiatives is increasing its personal computer market share. That can be achieved by increasing iPad sales and Mac sales. Apple has reduced the prices of MacBooks and iPads to increase sales (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). However, a drop in prices sometimes may compromise quality. Apple prevents this by leveraging cutting-edge technologies in the industry. Another way to bolster sales in this market segment is by increasing display sizes.
Apple also supports poor communities in the US through some of its sustainability programs. One of such initiative is the Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI). REJI seeks to solve barriers that prevent the advancement of poor communities in society. Apple supports African American students’ university education through the initiative.
Organizational Plans
Describe the plans employed by the organization. Determine which types of managers create each type of plan.
| Type of Plan | Description | Type of Manager |
| Strategic plan | A strategic plan is an orientation of achieving organizational objectives through competitive positioning | Higher-level manager |
| Tactical plan | Includes the coordination of efforts to attain organizational objectives. | Departmental managers |
| Operational plan | These are the day-to-day activities in a company. | Team managers |
SWOT Analysis
There are various factors within an organization’s external environment that impact its strategy.
Analyze the organization’s SWOT analysis. Identify the internal and external factors. Include a link to the SWOT analysis in the Reference section of this worksheet.
| Internal Factors | 1. Strengths
2. Brand recognition 3. High profitability 4. Effective innovation 5. 6. Weaknesses 7. Poor product distribution network 8. High prices 9. Overdependence on premium customers |
| External Factors | Opportunities
New product development Wider consumer electronics market reach Rising demand Threats Competition Imitation Increasing labor costs |
Evaluation
There is a disconnect between Apple company and its customers. The company uses third-party wholesalers to distribute to their final consumers through their businesses (Tien, 2019). Its products have no quality issues, but its distribution channel is a problem. The problem with this distribution channel is that consumers do not access Apple specialists who can help them solve the problems they encounter while using Apple products. That keeps potential customers away because they go to rival stores where they can these specialist services.
Apple uses third wholesalers to provide fulfilment services to the company. Some of the companies that offer these services on behalf of Apple include eBay and Amazon. Failure to distribute products directly to consumers almost doubles their cost.
On the other hand, the rival company Samsung is in a favourable position since they sell directly to consumers. Samsung gives any willing distributor the chance to take stock. However, Apple only sells through Telcos, its stores, its online website, and its retail channels (Tien, 2019). Besides, Samsung can expand quickly to other markets with their current products. Unlike Apple, which applies market tiers such that different product versions are sold in different markets.
The major problem with Apple’s distribution strategy is applying an exclusivity policy. The company has selected a few distributors to sell its products, thus limiting its market reach. The company should ensure there are specialized distributors in third-party wholesalers’ installations to eliminate this problem.
References
Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of the internal and external environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(6), 955-961. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/md-alam-5/publication/282274921_a_critical_analysis_of_internal_and_external_environment_of_apple_inc/links/56ff003908aea6b77468d502/a-critical-analysis-of-internal-and-external-environment-of-apple-inc.pdf
Tien, N. H. (2019). International distribution policy comparative analysis between Samsung and Apple. International journal of research in marketing management and sales, 2020(1), 2.
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Question 
SWOT Analysis – Apple Inc
Managers at each level of the organization use SWOT analysis to identify strategies that will best position the company to achieve its mission and goals.
The first step in a SWOT analysis is to identify and describe an organization’s strengths and weaknesses that characterize the present state of the company. The next step requires managers to identify potential opportunities and threats in the environment that affect the organization in the present or possibly in the future.
When the SWOT analysis is complete, managers begin developing strategies. These strategies should allow the company to attain its goals by taking advantage of opportunities, countering threats, building strengths, and correcting organizational weaknesses. (any large company will work, APPLE, Walmart, Caterpillar, Starbucks, etc
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