Apple: A Global Tech Giant With an Incredible Journey - Essay Sample

Introduction

Apple Company is an international technology company founded in America. The company has its headquarters located in California. The company is involved in designing, creating, and selling of electronics, software, and also offering services online (Linzmayer, 2004). The company gets considered one of the four big tech companies in the world. Steve Jobs, Wozniak, and Wayne founded the Apple Company in 1976. The company experienced fast growth and became financially successful in 1980. Currently, the company's brand gets valued as the most valuable brand in the world (Miller & Maxwell, 2016). The current paper focuses on the SWOT analysis of the Apple Company.

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SWOT Analysis

Strengths

A tag of Innovation. Apple Company has consistently applied the innovation tag in its products. The innovation ranges from iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Apple has come up with innovations over time. Innovation has been one of the main strengths of Apple Company over the past years. For this reason, Apple got named as the most innovative company for several years (SammutBonnici & Galea, 2015). Apple has established hit products after other hit products, making innovation the main strength. Apple first developed the MacBook, followed by the iPod, then IPhone, and now to the Ipad.

Brand Equity. Apple Company is one of the firms in the world, famous for its brand equity. Apple's brand is known as promising since the time of Macintosh computers. Naturally, to become a leading company requires that the brand equity of the firm be high. As of the year 2016, Apple's brand got valued the number one brand in the world. In the year 2015, the value of the Apple brand got estimated at one hundred and eighteen Billion dollars (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015).

Weaknesses

High Prices. The products of Apple Company get termed a luxury because of their high prices. Apple products usually get priced for consumers who have middle to high income. Individuals who earn a low income cannot afford to purchase Apple products. Some of the criticizers argue that Apple's products are not justified in terms of pricing (Yee & Yazdanifard, 2015). The price of Apple products is a weakness because consumers may opt for other products with the same quality, but sold at a lower price.

Poor Marketing Strategies. The Apple Company hardly markets its products. Most of the time, a marketing advertisement is only heard about the company when it is launching a new product or updating on an existing one (Haddon, 2017). The main reason for this is that Apple established loyal customers, thus solidifying its grounds. Therefore because of the company's success, it does not feel the need for investing in marketing. The poor marketing strategies can make Apple get defeated by rivals such as the Samsung Company.

Opportunities

Steady Customer Growth. The Apple Company has dominated the sector of technology for many years. Apple provides technology that is of top quality. Through the services, the customer experience is good, and thus the reason why the company has many loyal customers (Valentin, 2001). The Apple Company can always depend on the internet to get future opportunities, get more customers, and also form new partnerships.

Apple Cars. Typically, with other companies such as Facebook and Google extending their services, Apple could not afford to be left behind. Currently, the Apple Company is focusing on the Apple car, which will get launched in 2020. The apple car will provide an excellent opportunity for the company to experience the Automobile industry.

Threats

Market Permeation. The penetration of the smartphone market by other brands is a threat to the Apple Company. The androids brands have penetrated and taken a larger market share compared to Apple (Jing, 2018). Many companies are currently using android, and thus, Apple should get ready for competition in the smartphone market.

Laptop Competition. MacBook can get considered one of the best laptops. However, there are other laptop manufacturing companies, such as Lenovo. The companies are increasing competition in the laptop market, and are a threat to MacBook.

Competitive Advantage

Product Development

Apple has used the development of products as a growth strategy. The company should invest more in innovation and development of new products. By so doing, the company will have an advantage over rival companies.

Market Penetration

Market penetration is a good strategy for Apple to gain more competitive advantage. Market penetration can involve getting Apple products to countries that are not much familiar with using the products. Advertisements and promotions can help Apple company penetrate new markets.

References

Haddon, M. (2017). Become an apple spotter. HR Future, 2017(Mar 2017), 38-39.

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.

Jing, J. (2018). A case study on Apple, Inc., which affecting the world of Smati Technology Leader or heading down?

Linzmayer, O. W. (2004). Apple confidential 2.0: The definitive history of the world's most colorful company. No starch press.

Miller, T., & Maxwell, R. (2016). Apple. In Global Media Giants (pp. 383-396). Routledge.

SammutBonnici, T., & Galea, D. (2015). SWOT analysis. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 1-8.

Valentin, E. K. (2001). SWOT analysis from a resource-based view. Journal of marketing theory and practice, 9(2), 54-69.

Yee, F. M., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). The comparison between ngo marketing and conventional marketing practices from SWOT analysis, marketing mix, and performance evaluation perspectives. Economics, 2(9), 1075-1087.