Apple Firm Strategy Analysis Essay

The firm I have chosen to analyze is orchard apple tree. orchard apple tree, officially called as apple Inc. was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steven Wojniak. It was incorporated on January 3, 1977. (Mohta, 2010) orchard apple tree approach patterns and manu accompanimentures consumer products such as computers, laptops, t satisfactoryts, ph iodins and euphony players and computer parcel products such as Mac OS Operation System and iTunes. Over the past few years, orchard apple tree has gained a large customer base and been able to dominate the market sh atomic issuance 18. Strategic frameworks such as Porters five forces and Strategic focus will help us in analyzing how Apple has managed to sustain its scratch over a long period of time.Porters five forces frameworkThreat of rivalWhen it comes to computers, tablets and music players, Apple dominates the market sh atomic number 18 by a huge margin. The gross profit for Apple in the year 2012 is $65.64 billion wher eas the gross profit for HP and Dell is $27.64 billion and $13.06 billion respectively. (Sparks, 2012) HP was unable to compete with Apple in the tablet market that it has started to consider focusing only on the computer industry. In the smartphone market, Samsung has by far been the biggest competitor for Apple. Samsung has 29.1% of the market share in the smartphone market whereas Apple only has 24.2 % of the market share. (Reisinger, 2012)Threat of crude entrantsConsidering the large customer base Apple has, threat of new entrants is quite low. The new entrants have neither been able to match up to the quality of the Apple products nor to the sales volume held by Apple. Hence, if Apple continues to design and manufacture innovative products, it will be extremely baffling for new entrants to be able to compete with Apple.Threat of SubstitutesWhen it comes to Apples hardware products, there are no substitutes as such that could replace it. However, when it comes to Apples softw are products such as the iTunes, which is the music store designed and developed by Apple for the purpose of purchasing and downloading music, there is a towering possibility that the customers could look out for alternative sources for music such as limewire, youtube.com. (Mohta, 2010)Power of buyersApple has everlastingly focused on hardware and software integration of its products. Hence, Apple customers end up owning more than one Apple product. As a result of this, switching costs are extremely high. Also, due to the fact that large sales volumes are promised by Apple to the carrier networks such as AT&T and Verizon, iPhones are sold to the customers at a subsidised rate. This is an indication that the carriers have very less purchasing power. (Sparks, 2012)Power of suppliersApple has an advantage over its suppliers as it outsources most of its manufacturing and has also started producing its own supplies. Consequently, it also gives Apple a huge competitive advantage. (Term paper warehouse)Strategic focus frameworkThe three value disciplines that are taken up for analyzing a company areOperational ExcellenceApple as a company is highly high-octane when it comes to operational excellence. All the departments in the organization starting from the sales call department to the Distributions department are synchronised with each other leading to a highly efficient supply chain. Also, Apple has a limited product line. (Lariviere, 2011) Hence, it is able to provide its complete focus on designing and manufacturing those products rather than drifting away from the organizations objective to sustain profits with a large number of product lines.Customer intimacyApple targets people. It focuses on users. And it lets them decide how and where they will use its products. (Asay, 2010) Apple has eer been a customer focused company where its main aim is to deliver high quality products to its customers. product LeadershipApple has managed to be a leader in its ind ustry because of the fact it has been able to design innovative products. It has initiated changes to which its competitors had to respond. For example, Apple revolutionised the Smartphone market by introducing the iPhone. Except for Samsung, no other competitor of Apple has been able to come up with a strategy to deviate market focus from Apple. In addition, Apple has ever so on the lookout for new products to design and new markets to enter. This strategy has led to Apple being a leader in its industry.ReferencesAsay. M. (2010). Apple Doesnt target Markets. It Targets People. GIGAOM. Retrieved from http//gigaom.com/2010/08/26/apple-doesnt-target-markets-it-targets-people/Bargaining Power of Suppliers. Term base Warehouse. Retrieved from http//www.termpaperwarehouse.com/essay-on/Bargaining-Power-Of-Suppliers/84367Lariviere. M. (2011). Operations Apples Secret Sauce? The Kellogg Insight. Retrieved from http//operationsroom.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/operations-apples-secret-sauce/Mo hta, J. (2010). Poters 5 forces model boldness Apple Inc. Slideshare. Retrieved from http//www.slideshare.net/jontymohta444/porters-5-forces-model-case-apple-incReisinger, D. (2012). Samsung Pulling away from Apple in smartphone market. CNET. Retrieved from http//news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57424779-94/samsung-pulling-away-from-apple-in-smartphone-market/Sparks, D. (2012). Competing with Apple is No Fun. The Motley Fool. Retrieved from http//beta.fool.com/danielsparks/2012/09/03/apple-2012-50-growth/10776/Spartanski. (2009). Case sketch Apple Inc. Slideshare. Retrieved from http//www.slideshare.net/Spartanski/case-study-apple-inc-2008