Apple's Strategic Model for Value Creation: Solving Problems for Customers - Research Paper

Introduction

Value creation is the ability of a company to solve problems for its customers. Apple has a strategic capital model that brings together its purpose and culture, which ensures that value creation, is possible. Apple has been in the business of satisfying its customers by creating products that meet their needs. Apple develops most of its content or apps for its iPad/iPhone platforms. It also controls the publication of third party applications. The company believes that greater control and active curation will generate more value compared to the hands-off method. Its active curation method has created massive value for shareholders. A shareholder who purchased the company's stock in its initial offering would be richer compared to those who bought google stocks. The company has great market capitalization. The company has been creating great shareholder value compared to other giants in the market due to the active curation of its platforms.

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The products that Apple provides are essential to human lives. The company has an interest in helping people monitor their health as well as fitness because its product is known as IWatch, which assists in this role. Further, the company focuses on the positive aspects of life, which include music, FaceTime and family, photo albums, movies for children as well as security of the computing devices. Apple also pays dividends on its stock. The stock is also likely to become available to people every day due to the 7-1 stock split that it announced. Dividends are real, and valuable things that the company offers (Schneiders, 2011).

Customers are always crowded in the company's retail stores because they know that they get solutions for r their life problems have a real impact. Competitors of apple have a difficult time offering value the way that Apple does. Samsung final goal is to copy Apple's products and therefore achieve its financial success. Google goal is to excel in advertising and exceed Apple in this area. Microsoft desires to ensure that Windows and Office prolong its success. These competitors do not understand the importance of delighting customers. However, Apple knows the importance that it is not every technology that is out there that can create value to customers

The company also offers authentic value to customers. Companies that are more concerned about creating wealth play various tactics on customers. They offer products of a low quality, which makes them spend less in producing, leaving them with high-profit margins compared to companies that produce high-quality products.

Further, they advertise their products by making customers believe that their products have more features. This strategy makes customers believe that more features on a product create value. However, this strategy does not work in the long run because customers are delighted with products that are of high quality and are easy to use.

Apple products portray value in restrained ways. However, the products do well in the market because they provide joy to customers when they are using them because they are carefully designed, easy to use, and offer great protection of the privacy of users. The products are secure since they employ the app curation process. These values are difficult for competitors to imitate. Customers are happy to pay a little more for products that they know provide genuine value.

Customers are purchase Apple products as they are pleased with the experience it provides. They are aware that the products offer simplicity, safety, convenience, comfort, and productivity. They purchase goods that they combine with other products to gain meaningful experience. They also purchase the products since they offer satisfaction and hope. Customers do not know what they want, but when apple offers a product, they are delighted to have it. They put their trust in a company that will produce great things that they have not seen because of its positive reputation. These products deliver the satisfaction that customers have sought for a long time without getting it anywhere else.

Apple products have a long usable life as customers can use them for a long duration. Apple revenues come from daily revenues that come from all of its devices. Customers portray loyalty by upgrading their devices as their needs and technology advances.

Apple employs value-based marketing which allows the company to sell goods that customer's desire. People do not need the iPhone 6, but they desperately want it. People want these products because they stimulate them, give them power and self-direction. Apple is also dedicated to developing its hardware, simplicity and visual design which makes the products as well as the presentation which makes the products to look beautiful, be easy to use and hold and appeals to customers. Apple products are also preferred by customers due to its lineup of products that are extensive but connected. Then the company also offers an accurate and controlled retail experience as well as a specific brand of leadership. The company is also good at providing customer service. The company is committed to innovating and integrating products. The company has an ecosystem of hardware that is connected to its software, iTunes, Mac OS X, and iOS (Lashinsky, 2012).

The retail store is one of the ways that people interact with Apple. Those that visit the company are not just existing customers but also new ones. It is estimated that the company can have about 50 million customers visiting its stores every three months, where more than half of the purchase of its products. Apple has over 300 stores globally, and most of them are intentionally designed so that it represents the experience of owning and using an Apple product. Apple controls the whole customer experience from a narrow variety of products on shelves, training its employees, having qualified employees, and having its stores designed with architectural flourishes.

The Organization's Competitive Situation Analysis

Environment

The internal environment of Apple is great due to having a great workforce that is talented and willing to ensure that it succeeds. The company has financial resources that help it to accomplish all of its goals. In regards to the external environment, the company deals with various issues such as legislation, competition, politics, taxation, and other issues.

Industry (ies)

Apple does business in various industries such as computer hardware and software, cloud computing, semiconductors, financial technology, digital distribution but concentrates more on the consumer electronics industry. The company is known more for its gadgets that have revolutionized the world. There are various competitors in these industries, but Apple has succeeded in becoming a leader. Its high-quality products that are unique and attractive make it easy for the company to penetrate the markets (Hill & Jones, 2008).

Competition

Apple faces stiff competition in the market since there are companies that also desire to share the profits in the consumer electronics industry. The stiff competition indicates that apple has to continue being innovative to stay ahead of the competition. There is a great market for Apple products since the number of people who desire to use smartphones and computers has been growing worldwide. Further, Apple has a strong workforce, financial resources, and capabilities to handle the existing competition. Apple is a leading company in the industry and therefore has the power to deal with the competition.

Corporate and Business strategy

In regards to the company's business strategy, it is focused on innovation and differentiation of its products so that it can earn high-profit margins. This focus on profits allows the company to maximize its profit margins. The company designs and creates its products, which allow it to reduce costs and also offers products that are related and offer value. Apple has a great competitive position due to this strategy.

Apple's corporate strategy can be referred to as constrained diversification. It is the ability of its products to share resources between businesses. The company focuses on developing its software and hardware. For instance, the iPad, iPhone, AppleTV, and Macintosh run using the same software which is the OS X (Daidj, 2015). This strategy helps to create economies of the scope which allow the company to save costs since their resources are shared across various businesses. For instance, the iMac and MacBook Pro use are created using aluminum and glass, which helps to reduce the cost. Every platform complements each other. Products resemble each other, and this helps in creating unity between the product lines. The App Store allows customers to download applications for iPhones and iPads, regardless of where they are located. The company's platforms reinforce each other, which results in more powerful parts which establish a complete package of consumers to choose and is hard for competitors to match (Zylla-Woellner, 2013). The strategy makes every single business to be more valuable than when it operates as a separate entity.

Competitive Position Vis-A-Vis Markets and Operational Core Competencies

The competitive position of Apple is great since it is in control of its software, hardware, product differentiation and has great leadership. It is a leading company in the market. It also endowed with the ability to make products at a reduced cost, which allows it to create huge profit margins (Daidj, 2015). The company has unique system and products that are cherished by customers. Its products employ the iOS system and therefore avoid competition from companies that mostly use android. The company has a strong brand name and image that makes customers to want to associate with it and purchase its products to maintain their prestige and status. The support from customers and its ability to create great competencies ensure that the company has a strong competitive position in the market.

References

Daidj, N. (2015). Developing strategic business models and competitive advantage in the digital sector.

Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R. (2008). Strategic management: An integrated approach. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Lashinsky, A. (2012). Inside Apple: How America's most admired-and secretive-company really works. New York: Business Plus.

Schneiders, S. (2011). Apple's secret of success: Traditional marketing vs. cult marketing. Hamburg: Diplomica Verlag.

Zylla-Woellner, J. (2013). Corporate strategy for apple inc company. Place of publication not identified: Grin Verlag Ohg