Apple Inc
Contents
Introduction 2
Features of Apple Industry: 2
Evaluation of Steve Jobs as a strategic leader 4
Strategic Innovation 5
Recommendation 7
Conclusion 8
Reflection of our group work 9
References 12
Introduction
As the first of the World’s Most Innovative Companies (Business week, 2010) and the 17th of the Best Global Brands (Interbrand, 2010), Apple has succeeded in strategic leadership and innovation, which has drawn attention from the world recently. This essay focuses on some key issues of Apple’s innovation. It begins with analyzing the key features of Apple Inc by Porter’s five forces and Kay’s distinctive capabilities. Then, the evaluations of the CEO Steve Jobs as the strategic leader and explanations of Apple’s strategic innovation are involved. The final section is our recommendations to Apple.
Features of Apple Industry:
In the stage of analyzing the key features of Apple industry, the first method is the Porter’s five forces model. It divides into five parts, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers and competitive rivalry within an industry (Assen, Berg and Pietersma,2009).
Firstly, for Apple, there are some new entrants have disruptive power. For example, some online services which are similar to iTunes. However, there are numbers of high requirement for new entrants to get in the market, for instance, time and cost of entry.
In the part of substitutes, nowadays, large amount of substitutes have good performance, they cost lower, are easy to switch, but only few of them have same quality as Apple’s products in the same price.
In terms of bargaining power of buyers, it is an influential trouble for Apple. Although Apple has vast and loyal customers, every buyer and retailer all want better stuff in lower price. Moreover, they may reduce spending on Apple’s products if their economy downturn.
Furthermore, Apple can ignore bargaining power of its
Introduction 2
Features of Apple Industry: 2
Evaluation of Steve Jobs as a strategic leader 4
Strategic Innovation 5
Recommendation 7
Conclusion 8
Reflection of our group work 9
References 12
Introduction
As the first of the World’s Most Innovative Companies (Business week, 2010) and the 17th of the Best Global Brands (Interbrand, 2010), Apple has succeeded in strategic leadership and innovation, which has drawn attention from the world recently. This essay focuses on some key issues of Apple’s innovation. It begins with analyzing the key features of Apple Inc by Porter’s five forces and Kay’s distinctive capabilities. Then, the evaluations of the CEO Steve Jobs as the strategic leader and explanations of Apple’s strategic innovation are involved. The final section is our recommendations to Apple.
Features of Apple Industry:
In the stage of analyzing the key features of Apple industry, the first method is the Porter’s five forces model. It divides into five parts, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers and competitive rivalry within an industry (Assen, Berg and Pietersma,2009).
Firstly, for Apple, there are some new entrants have disruptive power. For example, some online services which are similar to iTunes. However, there are numbers of high requirement for new entrants to get in the market, for instance, time and cost of entry.
In the part of substitutes, nowadays, large amount of substitutes have good performance, they cost lower, are easy to switch, but only few of them have same quality as Apple’s products in the same price.
In terms of bargaining power of buyers, it is an influential trouble for Apple. Although Apple has vast and loyal customers, every buyer and retailer all want better stuff in lower price. Moreover, they may reduce spending on Apple’s products if their economy downturn.
Furthermore, Apple can ignore bargaining power of its
References: Assen. M.V., Berg. G.V.D., Pietersma. P. (2009) Key Management Models, Prentice Hall Best Global Brands, Retrieved Nov 4th, 2010, form Harvard Business review blog, Retrieved Oct 27th , 2010, from http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2009/06/decoding_steve_jobs_trust_the.html Markides. C. (1998). Strategic Innovation in Established Companies, Sloan Management Review, pp31-42. McGregor. J.(2008). The world’s most innovative companies. Business week, April 17. Retrieved Oct 27th, 2010, from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_17/b4081061866744.htm Palmer, D. and Kaplan, S. (2007). A Framework for Strategic Innovation, Innovation Point LLC, PP.1-24. Practice of leadership website, Retrieved Oct 28th, 2010, from http://www.thepracticeofleadership.net/2008/03/30/steve-jobs-and-his-leadership/ Roberts, J (2004). The Modern Firm, Oxford University Press. Saswati http://www.improvementandinnovation.com/features/articles/seven-dimensions-strategic-innovation?page=1 Strategy leader blog, Retrieved Oct 26th, 2010, from Yates, V.|(2010). Steve Jobs. Retrieved Oct 26th, 2010, from http://www.leadevalues.com/Content/detail.asp?ContentDetailID=1369 1000 ventures website, Retrieved Oct 27th, 2010, from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/market_leader.html