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A Critical Analysis About Competitive Advantage of Apple Inc. Based on the Porter`S Five Force Model

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A Critical Analysis about Competitive Advantage of Apple Inc. based on the Porter`s Five Force Model

Northeastern University

Strategic Leadership

Xiaolong Cao

Instructed by James Lux

June 6th 2016

Abstract
This article aims to detect two key areas in Apple`s competitive advantage through using Porter`s Five Force model. According to the knowledge learned from class, there is no forever lasting competitive advantage, so through analyzing the case of Steve Jobs competitive strategy it presents a clear and reasonable structure and explanation of their competitive advantage. After doing this analysis, this article helps to fine both the disadvantage and advantage of their competitive advantage, and each of them contains two aspects according to Porter`s Five Force Model, which provides a reliable and meaningful support to test and excavate the effect of competitive advantage and future developing orientation.

Introduction
In the modern time, there are numerous resources that identify the importance of the competitive strategy. The ever growing technological trends and volatility within business operations in today's society make it extremely difficult for organizations to stay complacent with their strategies. Adjustments and new ideas need to constantly be developed to be able to maintain a competitive edge. The most obvious examples happen in IT industry, high performance laptop was a competitive advantage 2 years ago, but the industry developed and most of the laptops meet the basic performance requirement of customers. As a result, IBM, Microsoft and Intel were beaten by Apple, and it proves that Apple made a powerfully and sustainable competitive advantage. This article of Apple Inc. in 2010 maintain that business performance depends on that its competitive advantage sustains in a relative long period

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