Premium Essay

Apple's Case

In:

Submitted By sadiakh
Words 13676
Pages 55
9-710-467
REV: SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

DAVID B. YOFFIE RENEE KIM

Apple Inc. in 2010
On April 4, 2010, Apple Inc. launched its eagerly anticipated iPad amid great hype. The multimedia computer tablet was the third major innovation that Apple had released over the last decade. CEO Steve Jobs had argued that the iPad was another revolutionary product that could emulate the smashing success of the iPod and the iPhone. Expectations ran high. Even The Economist displayed the release of the iPad on its magazine cover with Jobs illustrated as a biblical figure, noting that, “The enthusiasm of the Apple faithful may be overdone, but Mr. Jobs’s record suggests that when he blesses a market, it takes off.”1 The company started off as “Apple Computer,” best known for its Macintosh personal computers (PCs) in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Despite a strong brand, rapid growth, and high profits in the late 1980s, Apple almost went bankrupt in 1996. Then Jobs went to work, transforming “Apple Computer” into “Apple Inc.” with innovative non-PC products starting in the early 2000’s. In fact, by 2010, the company viewed itself as a “mobile device company.”2 In the 2009 fiscal year, sales related to the iPhone and the iPod represented nearly 60% of Apple’s total sales of $43 billion.3 Even in the midst of a severe economic recession, revenues and net income both soared (see Exhibits 1a through 1c). Meanwhile, Apple’s stock was making history of its own. The share price had risen more than 15fold since 2003 (See Exhibit 2). By almost any measure, Apple’s turnaround was a spectacular accomplishment. Yet Steve Jobs knew that no company in the technology industry could relax. Challenges abounded. In 2009, for example, iPod sales were falling. At the same time, Microsoft introduced Window 7, which led to a resurgence in PC sales. Even though Macintosh sales had grown faster than the industry in

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Apple's Case

...1. How has Apple implemented the marketing concept? Apple implements the marketing concept by not focusing on so many products and recognizing the market of opportunity. As stated in the case study, “with a series of product flops…The company successfully adopted a market orientation in which it was able to gather intelligence about customers’ current and future needs. Apple has become skilled at recognizing strategic windows of opportunity and acting upon them before the competition.” This statement illustrates that Apple has shifted their focus on PCs where it is easily accessible and can be bought anywhere to creating iTunes, iPod, and iPad. Apple capitalized on the first mover advantage and transcends the marketplace with innovative products listed above. 2. Describe the role of Apple stores as an important part of its marketing strategy. Apple stores are different from other retailers. As stated in the case study, Apple stores are designed to reflect the company’s image. The store layout of glass and steel resembles their product themselves. The main focus of having brick and mortar is to showcase their customer service. Since their core competency is in customer service, employees are expected to speak to their customers within two minutes of entering the store. By having the customers in the stores, it will keep them engaged and intrigued with the product. Being a hands-on person like me, I love going into an Apple store where I can pick up a gadget...

Words: 480 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

The Case of Apple's Ipod

...223 Innovation and Job Creation in a Global Economy: The Case of Apple’s iPod Greg Linden1, University of California, Berkeley Jason Dedrick, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University Kenneth L. Kraemer, University of California, Irvine Abstract Globalization skeptics argue that the benefits of globalization, such as lower consumer prices, are outweighed by job losses, lower earnings for U.S. workers, and a potential loss of technology to foreign rivals. To shed light on the jobs issue, we analyze the iPod, which is manufactured offshore using mostly foreign-made components. In terms of headcount, we estimate that, in 2006, the iPod supported nearly twice as many jobs offshore as in the United States. Yet the total wages paid in the United States amounted to more than twice as much as those paid overseas. Driving this result is the fact that Apple keeps most of its research and development (R&D) and corporate support functions in the United States, providing thousands of high-paid professional and engineering jobs that can be attributed to the success of the iPod. This case provides evidence that innovation by a U.S. company at the head of a global value chain can benefit both the company and U.S. workers. 1 This article represents solely the views of the authors and not the views of the U.S. International Trade Commission or any of its individual Commissioners. This paper should be cited as the work of the authors only, and not as an official...

Words: 4893 - Pages: 20

Free Essay

Apple’s Case Study

...Apple Inc. (“Apple”) as a market leader in the technology industry remains appealing to its loyal fan consumers despite the death of Steve Jobs. The fact that Steve Jobs rescued Apple from the verge of collapse has actually made him a spiritual leader of Apple and part of Apple’s product attributes. The return of Jobs to Apple in 1997 marked the successful execution in the company. He stopped licensing program, moved manufacturing to abroad and the most courageous move was to move the products into retails. Despite other competitors’ success in total different business models, Apple was thinking something beyond not just simple sales in a store but the “foot traffic” it can create. Finally, today we are sure that in any of the Apple stores, people are not just coming for buying products but also visit the stores out of curiosity and want to take part in merriment which also draws more people in. In this way, Apple stores are doing something beyond sales but also image, brand, enjoyment, trend, curiosity and accessibility of products etc. Looking behind the scene, Apple’s success could also be attributable to the strong leadership of Steve Jobs in building a cohesive team with the technicality to reliable designs and quality products, the obsession with simplicity but yet sophisticated featured products. Rather than having prototypes or previews of upcoming products, Apple purposely releases their revolutionary products that have been kept completely secret until they suddenly...

Words: 870 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Apple's Business Case Analysis

...Mekayla Lowe Business Case Analysis Apple dominates the tablet market with the iPad. Our client could potentially obtain newer technology, including some potential breakthrough features but so do Apple's other competitors. Thus, bringing a new tablet to market will take 12-18 months, during which Apple could release a new tablet and the competitive environment could also shift. Our client could buy analyst reports, field a survey, conduct focus groups, or even use a concept testing service to evaluate their tablet's chances. But the high potential for the market to shift makes this difficult. To truly understand whether and how to enter the market, they need to simulate how consumers would react to their product introduction based on different market scenarios. The client could maximize their chances of success by building a forecasting model that takes into account consumers' preferences for different brands and product features, as well as consumers’ informed opinions on what products they would prefer in different market scenarios. While their main objective is to decide whether to release their tablet, they really have three goals: * Understand which product features are most important to consumers * Quantify their potential market share and profit opportunity based on the current market * Understand the impact on potential market share and profit opportunity of Apple introducing a new tablet device A standard discrete choice study by using the strategy...

Words: 440 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Case: Apple's Make-vs.-Buy Decision

...Case: Apple’s Make-vs.-Buy Decision In a turnaround from a trend in which high-tech (and other) manufacturers have outsourced the making of important components in order to increase efficiency and focus on what they do best, Apple has recently made moves that seem aimed at bringing the design of microchips back in-house. Apple is known for innovative design, and along with that, it tends to keep details of what it makes highly secret. Making chip design a company process, rather than a product to buy, gives Apple more control over the process-and over the secrecy. Of course, the decision to handle its own development has huge implications for human resource management. The company needs all-new labor forecasts, a larger labor force, and an intense push to bring in technical talent. Recently, Apple has been hiring many new engineers. Products they could be assigned to include microchips that require less power to operate iPhones and iTouch devices, as well as circuitry to improve the graphics displayed in games and videos played on its devices. A top-notch team could, at least in theory, come up with unique improvements that will take rivals by surprise. One way to acquire a lot of talent fast is to acquire entire companies and make them part of Apple. And that’s one move Apple has been making. The company recently acquired P.A. Semi, a start-up company that designs microchips. Its products could be used to run iPhones and iPods. Observers are guessing that chips developed...

Words: 511 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Family

...With these developments, it is obvious that conflicts between parties of different nationalities occur and liability to tax on income of foreigners especially among those engaging in trading venture. Whilst the laws affecting domicile and residence may be sufficiently settled, it is paramount for courts to pursue a detailed analysis to ascertain specific preliminary issues so as to avoid controversial rulings. Courts often handle numerous financial cases that involve what can be best described as foreign or international elements. In such cases, court must decide whether it has the jurisdiction under the Family Law Act 1975 to make a decision on such cases. In the event that it is determined that the court is invested with the jurisdiction to determine the case, the court has to consider whether there is a system of law in foreign country that also has the jurisdiction to handle the case. As it was addressed in the case Attorney General of New Zealand v Ortiz [1984] AC 1, these benefits and costs to either party if the case resolution is made in foreign country as compared with the apparent country should also be a subject of concern. [1] Legal systems in most countries around the world adopt community property regime, which takes effect at the inception of marriage or at the time of divorce. For instance, California and Massachusetts in the United States have adopted community property regimes that support equal division of assets upon divorce. However, this provision...

Words: 659 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

None

...Adapted from Bernhardt & Kinnear (1988). Cases in marketing management, pp. 6-16. Plano, TX: Business Publications, Inc. Pay careful attention to the following points. They are often used by instructors to evaluate either a written or oral analysis. 1. Be complete. Each area of the situation analysis must be discussed, problems and opportunities identified, alternative presented and evaluated using the situation analysis and relevant financial analysis, and a decision must be made. An analysis that omits part of the situation analysis or only recognizes one alternative is not a good analysis. Second, each area must be covered in-depth and within insight. 2. Avoid rehashing case facts. Every case has a lot of factual information. A good analysis uses facts that are relevant to the situation at hand to make summary points of analysis. A poor analysis just restates or rehashes theses facts without making relevant summary comments. 3. Make reasonable assumptions. Every case is incomplete in terms of some piece of information that you would like to have. A good case analysis must make realistic assumptions to fill in the gaps of information in the case. For example, the case may not describe the purchase decision process for the product of interest. A poor analysis would either omit mentioning this or just state that no information is available. A good analysis would attempt to present this purchase decision process by classifying the product and drawing upon real life...

Words: 487 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Save Me

...are given. It is understandable then that we should seek out more opportunities to apply our skills and make more positive impacts within our jurisdictions. It is this general attitude that led us to get involved in investigating cold cases. How We Got Started Mark had, for several years, been consulting with our Coroner’s Division as a forensic anthropologist. During this time he came to learn that there were numerous coroners’ cases in which the identity of the decedent was unknown. These cases were kept in three-ring binders on a shelf in the Sergeant’s office. Over the years, in the course of this forensic work, we would discuss these cases and the progress that was being made on them. The conversation usually ran along the lines of us asking “any luck with that 1980 homicide victim?” and the sergeant answering “well, we’ve gotten so many new cases that I haven’t been able to even look at it yet.” This went on for a few years and through two different sergeants. One day we, as a crime analysis unit, were brainstorming about how we could broaden our “client base”, as it were. We had been successful in integrating ourselves into our Investigations Bureau and had been involved in numerous major cases. And, of course, we had always been active in producing tactical and strategic analyses for our patrol personnel. But we knew that we could be doing more, particularly given the size and responsibilities of our agency. It was during...

Words: 412 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Business Case

...BUSINESS CASE Presented to the Accountancy Department De La Salle University In partial fulfillment Of the course requirements In ACCTBA2 (C33) March 2, 2015 A stakeholder is typically concerned with an organization delivering intended results and meeting its financial objectives. In general, a stakeholder can be one of two types: internal (from within an organization) or external (outside of an organization). The stakeholders in this situation are Lanie Marquez and Tim Rodriguez who are also partners in the retail distribution business and their capital contributions are as follows P500,000 and P300,000 respectively they are an internal stakeholder since they are also the owners. The total Capital of both stakeholders is P800,000 and with a monthly salary for both partners at P15,000 on the assumption that both of them will contribute to manage the business equally. Assuming that both managed the business equally the total salary for the year for Lanie and Tim are P180,000 each. They share profit and loss equally and no interest will be given on capital contributed. The problem for this situation is that Lanie is starting to get concerned with the behavior of her other partner Tim. He only manages the business 50% of the time, which will mean that his salary of P15,000 will need to decrease by also 50% since he does not manage the business equally with his partner. The business has seen a downturn in the profit outcome and for the current financial...

Words: 758 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ralph's Grocery Case Summary

...Ralph’s Grocery and United Food and Commercial Workers Union The case that I chose for the week 6 critical thinking assignment concerns Ralph’s Grocery Company, located in California. It applies to this week’s material due to the fact that the case involves unlawful suspension and discharge of an employee, as reviewed by the National Labor Relations Board. Background In May 2011, Vittorio Razi was an employee at Ralph’s Grocery and was suspended and terminated after he refused to take a drug test without first consulting with his UFCW Local 324 representative. The company (Respondent) says that on the day in question, Razi’s behavior was in question, acting nervous, anxious, agitated, and slurred speech. After a couple managers discussed the...

Words: 750 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Chromogens Affecting Wealth Wear Staining Teeth

... Many people wonder why their own teeth stain so easily. The enamel on your teeth and chromogens are what stains your teeth, but what exact beverage stains teeth the most? I chose this topic because I was curious to know what stains teeth the most. It affects us daily because it could rot your teeth or you can’t pick up hot chicks anymore. So what causes teeth to stain? The temperature causes teeth to expand or contract making it easier for stains. So hot and cold drinks affect that. Color in foods and beverages come from chromogens. Chromogens are intensely pigmented compounds that stick to teeth enamel. Chromogens cause a lot of trouble when they mix and react with other stain causing and stain promoting factors. Tannis may be natural or synthetic tannis is another factor that stains teeth. Tooth enamel is porous making it extremely susceptible to stains. The darker the liquid the darker the stain. There are some examples that stain teeth. Not only sodas bad but also Gatorade. Beets are bad for you also. Mostly cause they’re concentrated. Berries dark skins stain teeth. Ketchup is also really bad because of its bright red color and high levels of acid. Dark liquids and sauces you put on your foods also stain teeth. Colored candy and popsicles both contain colorants that will transfer to the teeth and embed in the porous enamel. Fruit juices, especially grape and cranberry, leave a colorful tinge on the teeth and tongue. Colored sodas instantly discolor teeth. The citric acids...

Words: 594 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Fin 571

...efficient investigative products and services. As a result, the coverage requirements for ANACI and NACLC investigations have been enhanced to support a common content baseline for all agencies. Note that these enhancements apply only to those ANACI and NACLC cases submitted on an SF 86. The purpose of this FIN is to provide you with information concerning what case coverage changes have been made. The case price adjustments necessary to support these changes will be reflected in the FY 2007 case prices. ANACIINACLC Cases Currently, listed and developed issues which are identified in ANACI and NACLC cases (for non-DoD customers) are not pursued beyond the normal scope of the investigation. These cases are returned to the requesting agency so that the agency may decide whether to adjudicate the case based upon the information in hand, conduct additional follow-up themselves, or request a Reimbursable Suitability Investigation (RSI) from FISD to cover the additional issues. Beginning with FY 2007, expansion of these issues will become a standard part of both the ANACI and NACLC products. Effective October 1, 2006, issues apparent at scheduling or developed during the course of the investigation and which fall within the 5-year case coverage period, unless otherwise noted, will be expanded upon according to the following chart (exception: issues which are known to have been covered in previous investigations, or which would reasonably have been expected to...

Words: 772 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Getting Ready for a Midterm

...find that you would like even more time. I recommend that you enter the exam promptly since I will make deductions for those exceeding the 9:00 o'clock end time even if you enter late. Third, know that the legal reasoning essay will come from Module 4 on immunity. The variety of scenarios in that question will force you to think about and explain the nuances between sovereign and personal immunity, between absolute and qualified immunity, about loss of immunity, etc. You will want to understand all four cases from that module well before the exam. I will expect specific citations to the cases and the principles that they enunciate. An additional case that might be useful for you to look at is Canton v. Harris. A second question will address the rulemaking process and the principles underlying it. You should "walk into" the exam (in a virtual sense) with a clear sense of a fully articulated rulemaking process, so that you can pick and choose elements as appropriate in the case you will be presented. The third question will be drawn from the text regarding the Constitutional framework. Finally, remember that "open book" exams can be as challenging as closed book because the "bar" (the expectation) is higher. I think you will find that prior preparation will make a good deal of difference. As stated before, when you open the exam, answer the questions initially in word and copy it back to the exam. That way, you will not lose work, time...

Words: 342 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Compensation Culture

...in which it is acceptable for anyone who has suffered a personal injury to seek compensatory damages through litigation from someone connected with the injury. It’s the idea that for every accident someone is at fault. For every injury, there is someone to blame. And, perhaps most damaging, for every accident, there is someone to pay. There are so many ridicilous cases througout history where people sue somebody or some company for no reason and get a lot of money from them. For example . A caretaker fell off a ladder and sued the local authority for not training him to use a ladder - and won.He could get up to 50.000 pounds compensation. One former ex policeman received nearly £90,000 compensation for the trauma of seeing a woman die after he crashed into her car during a 999 call .The husband of the woman killed by the policeman received £16,000 compensation. Policemen cause a tremendous number of accidents - so many, indeed, that one force has stopped its drivers from speeding. The effect is damaging to society. The courts become clogged up with greedy people out for themselves, many with no real case at all while other people with real compensation claims, the people disabled in accidents, crippled in operations or people who have lost loved ones due clear negligent behavior. All the other who just sue somebody with ridicilous acusations should be ashamed of themselves and I hope that in the future others avoid trying to cash in just because it seems so easy...

Words: 266 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Business

...Case - Swisher System Corporation I. Company Background: Swisher Systems Corporation (SSC) is an industrial heating company which was established in 1949. SSC is an innovator of flexible heating products, especially with its knit and braided heating element. The heating element is multi-stranded resistance wire that is knit and braided with fibreglass and is the base technology for almost all SSC products. SSC is known in the industry as being the highest quality flexible heat supplier which produces control devices and heating cable. SSC’s competitive advantage is on the quality products which maintains higher and safer temperature that are more flexible than their competitors or other products in the market. II. Facts of the Case: A. Mike Watkins  Director of Purchasing for Swisher Systems Corporation  Solely responsible for purchasing all materials of SSC.  Has various experiences in material management prior to SSC.  Has more than thirty-five (35) years of industrial purchasing experience. B. Products at Swisher Systems  All SSC products are solutions to industrial heating applications  SSC manufactures fifty percent (50%) standard products and fifty percent (50%) custom orders. o The custom products can be applied to virtually all industries that require heating products. Industries like semi-conductors, food processing, medical, petrochemical and others.  Biggest contributor of SSC’s sales is the cloth heating jacket, though expensive...

Words: 296 - Pages: 2