Strategic Management in Action Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Strategic Management in Action - Assignment Example Introduction Technology sector in the US includes more than 140,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $900 billion. AT&T, IBM, Intel, Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft are the major companies (US Technolgy Sector Analysis, 2010). â€Å"Industry concentration is high in many segments with the largest 50 participants generating more than 60% of the segment revenue† (US Technolgy Sector Analysis, 2010). Scientific discoveries and new product developments form the basis of profitability in this industry. Both large and small companies can compete successfully – the mammoths have access to capital and marketing and the miniatures have domain-specific expertise. In the period Aug-10 to Jan-11, the Application Software industry has been on a bullish trend before being thrust into a bearish mode in the wake of the European sovereign debt crisis. The history of Apple begins in 1976 when Stephen Gary Wozniak and Steven Paul Jobs began working on the Apple I. When the design was finished Wozniak and Job’s tried to sell it to Hewlett Packard but there was no interest in the Apple I. By April 1976 Ron Wayne had joined Jobs and Wozniak and designed the first Apple logo. Wayne sees the financial risk being too high and resigns. In 1977 Apple becomes incorporated and in 1979 the Apple II is introduced. At this time development began on Apple’s first business computer, the Lisa. In 1980 Apple went public and by 1983 Apple had become the fastest growing company in history. Flash forward to 1998 when the iMac is announced and releases, it becomes the fastest selling PC in history. May 19th, 2001 Apple opens its first retail store in Los Angeles and Washington DC, followed by the introduction of the iPod in October (TAM, 2010). Among Apple’s long list of products include the iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Mac, PowerBoo k, and Power Mac. As of May 2010 Apple had a gain of 1.8% at $222.12 billion (Nosowitz, 2010). While Apple has produced some products that have experienced the same success as the iPod, for example Apple TV, the authors believed that the new projector laptop will be among Apple’s more popular products. SWOT Analysis The primary strength of APPLE is its strong presence in the market. It could be realized from the fact that it is the world’s number one brand in Asia, US and Europe. It has outperformed technology giants like Intel, IBS and Microsoft in many segments. Its strong presence in the market has helped it to aggressively acquire market share compared to many other companies that only have strong presence in their local markets. The company has the largest market share in MB and motherboard segments selling approximately 22 million pieces in FY09. APPLE is one of the rear technology companies that had made operating profits even though global economy was undergoin g a recession (Apple Annual Report, 2010). Another Strength of APPLE is its advanced and excellent Research & Development capability, efficient and effective supply chain, and mass production at a competitive production cost. These competitive strategies of APPLE have helped it to become a market leader in many products. In 2009, the company came up with first of its kind notebook and motherboard that was compatible with USB 3.0 securing a leading position in the segment (Apple Announcements, 2011). This was a shear display of Research initiatives of the company. With the use of technologies like e-commerce, the company had created an efficient supply chain which helps it with seamless flow of information and products among resources. Mass production done by APPLE helps it achieve economies of scale thereby increasing operating profits of the company. The primary weakness of the company is that it is investing a lot of amount in restructure activities involving spin-off of certain s ubsidiaries