...Environmental Analysis SWOT analysis Apple has created its image as a multinational corporation, which designs, manufactures and sells computers, consumers’ electronics and software. Along with these, Apple provides related services to its customers. Area of concern | Types of concern | | Favorable | Unfavorable | Internal Environment | Strengths * Loyal Customers * Flame of Innovation * Diversification and differentiation of Products * Use of Mac OSX’s unique operating system * High Brand image in global market | Weaknesses * Lack of high quality control * Unaffordable Price * Lack of proper market consideration | External Environment | Opportunities * Stake in Mobile Phone Industry * Reaching the emerging economy | Threats * High level of competition in Technology industry * Availability of Substitute products | PEST Analysis PEST analysis is helpful for understanding the Apple’s potential market and thus it will be helpful for predicting about Apple’s operations including opening a new Store outside London. PEST analysis is the combination of political, economic, Social and technological factors of environmental Analysis. [ (Jackman, 2006) ] Political Factors Apple is a multinational organization, where the core business area of Apple is the U.S. Nevertheless, According to the report of 2012, more than half sale of the products of Apple is coming from other countries rather than the U.S. This clearly indicates the Apple’s customer...
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.............................................................................. 3 Theory and Analysis................................................................................................................................. 4 Research question 1: The structure of the PC industry....................................................................... 4 Research Question 2: The difficulty of Apple in the PC industry over time ........................................ 7 Research Question 3: Sustainability of competitive advantage for Apple in the PC business .......... 10 Strategic advice ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Conclusion and Reflection ..................................................................................................................... 12 References ............................................................................................................................................. 13 2 Introduction In 1976 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer Inc. together with a group of 20 other people and started out in Steve Jobs garage. Apple started making computer circuit boards and followed that with an easy to use computer in 1978, through the years it focused on the PC business and developed applications for their own Macintosh computers. They created laptops called the Macbook in 1994 and even entered the MP3 player industry...
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...Rauchenberger Five Forces Industry Analysis Michael Porter explains in detail the largest factors influencing profitability in any industry in the article The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy and gives his opinion on what to do once they are identified. These five factors can be evaluated with respect to the Personal Computer (PC) industry based off of a 2012 case study of Apple Inc. Rivalry among existing competitors, the first and most obvious of the five competitive forces, is a strong force in the PC industry with great impact on profitability. Rivalry is high because the competition in the computer industry is very intense among very few serious competitors. The top four PC vendors (Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, and Acer) accounted for 53.6% of worldwide shipments in 2011. Leadership in the industry has shifted numerous times, leading to slight differentiation and price competition by each company in an attempt to get ahead. Threat of new entrants is a weak competitive force for the PC industry. The presence of the four existing dominant players and significant barriers to entry deter new competitors from seriously entering the market. A new company would need to heavily invest in research and development and quickly generate brand recognition, and therefore would be unlikely to cause a large threat. Bargaining power of buyers Michael Porter explains in detail the largest factors influencing profitability in any industry in the article The Five Competitive...
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...in Organizations (IFSM 300) UMUC Haircuts Stage One This report is based on gaining intellectual technology knowledge from a business standpoint. The Porters 5 Forces Analysis will be used as the beginning stage into this continuing project. UMUC Haircuts will be used as the background story to gain real world experience through creating solutions around Porters 5 Forces Analysis. This report is written in stages with gradual information given as is required. Stage II, minimally explains the forces, how they are relevant to the UMUC Haircuts, Impact and whether or not it will impact the strategy. Porters Five Forces are: Buyer Power, Supplier Power, Threat of Substitute Products or Services, Threat of New Entrants, and Rivalry among Existing Competitors. Buyer Power is the force that the buyer has on a product. UMUC Haircuts will want to bring in the most amounts of customers to gain the financial footstep in the Haircut industry. This is a positive impact and can affect the strategy. Supplier Power is big in the Haircut industry, especially as it pertains to personal hygiene. This is a positive impact and will affect the strategy. The threat of Substitutes in this industry is high with a neutral impact and does not affect the strategy. Generally, people who cut other peoples hair are personal friends or a fad and there is always months of opportunities where substitutes are not an option such as during Prom or special occasions. Threat of new entrants is a...
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...TermPaperWarehouse.com - Free Term Papers, Essays and Research Documents The Research Paper Factory Join Search Browse Saved Papers Home Page » Other Topics Porter's Five Forces of Computer Industry In: Other Topics Porter's Five Forces of Computer Industry B. Industry Analysis (Porter’s Five Forces) 1. Rivalry Among Competitors The competition in personal computer industry is very intense and fierce. The five main manufacturers namely IBM, Dell, Apple, HP and Compaq are in competition to produce the least expensive and most efficient machine. Apple focuses more on innovation while Dell focuses on distribution channel and services, which create differentiation to some extent. Price competition has become severe in the industry as PC has become a more commodity-like product. This in turn has drives the industry to embrace any cost-cutting measures in an effort to increase their decreasing profit margin. Since the quality of a personal computer is largely determined by the microprocessor and application system installed, the profitability and prosperity of the industry is dependent of the profitability and prosperity of these suppliers. 2. Potential New Entrants The threats from new entrants to the personal computer industry is weak to moderate due to the presence of dominant players deters the entry of new players to immediately enter the market and establish their own brand. In such a competitive market, these companies have invested...
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...Apple (Computer) Inc. Whither the MAC? | Case Study Analysis | Strategic Analysis in terms of Capabilities Analysis & Five Force Model | Submitted by : Muhammad Saad Dasti Section B | 1. Prepare a Five Forces Analysis of the personal computer industry. (Think of your traditional Windows based PC.) How attractive is this industry? In order to properly identify and evaluate competitive position of personal computer , competitive analaysis model has been created to fully depict the position of display systems according to current scenario * The personal computer industry is somewhat vulnerable against the bargaining power of buyers. In recent years customers have more and more alternative options to the personal computer. Smartphone’s, tablet computers, and other handheld devices like IPods have most of the same capabilities as a personal computer. And because of the availability, sleekness, and trendiness of these alternatives, they have become increasingly popular making personal computers more and more obsolete. In order for the personal computer to compete with these newer alternative options, it must differentiate itself in order to regain market share. * Suppliers in the personal computer industry can be categorized into three groups, including hardware suppliers, software suppliers and service suppliers. The core of their...
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...Case study on | Strategic Analysis | Of Dell Inc. | | mujeeb | [Pick the date] | | Introduction: The purpose of this report is to analyze the strategic position of Dell Inc. Headquarter in Round Rock, Texas; Dell computer was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell who was then an undergraduate student at the University of Texas. From very inception the company is providing superior value to its target market by providing latest technology at competitive prices around the world. Dell is cited as the largest player of the personal computer market. The company follows unique selling policy that is known as Dell Model—selling computers and other equipments directly to customer and build-to-order strategy thereby eliminating the intermediary margins and inventory costs. The mission statement of Dell has been divided into three parts customer satisfaction that states “We are an established company striving to satisfy customers by meeting their demands of quality, responsiveness, and competitive pricing. Each customer is #1” , team satisfaction that states, “Management and employees are committed to cooperating as a team for the purpose of profitability and gratification of a job well done” and community satisfaction “We will provide jobs in a clean, safe, environmentally sound atmosphere and be an active participant in community affairs” (Dell, 2010). 1. External Analysis: The primary industry of Dell is personal computer and computer equipments that are evolving...
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...PORTERS FIVE FORCES Porter's Five Forces is a framework for industry analysis and business strategy development formed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in 1979. Porter referred to these forces as the micro environment. They consist of those forces close to a company that affect its ability to serve its customers and make a profit. The overall industry attractiveness does not imply that every firm in the industry will return the same profitability. Firms are able to apply their core competencies, business model or network to achieve a profit above the industry average. The five forces of porter’s five forces model are as follows: 1. The threat of the entry of new competitors 2. The threat of substitute products or services 3. The bargaining power of customers (buyers) 4. The bargaining power of suppliers 5. The intensity of competitive rivalry 1. The threat of the entry of new competitors Profitable markets that yield high returns will attract new firms. This results in many new entrants, which eventually will decrease profitability for all firms in the industry. The new entrants face barriers to entry. They need to overcome them to compete successfully. Some of the barriers are capital requirement, customer loyalty, experience, etc. Specialized technology, production and distribution require high capital costs which acts as one of the barrier. The high customer’s loyalty and experience of the established firms also...
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...CASE STUDY ON Strategic Analysis Of Dell Inc. mujeeb [Pick the date] Introduction: The purpose of this report is to analyze the strategic position of Dell Inc. Headquarter in Round Rock, Texas; Dell computer was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell who was then an undergraduate student at the University of Texas. From very inception the company is providing superior value to its target market by providing latest technology at competitive prices around the world. Dell is cited as the largest player of the personal computer market. The company follows unique selling policy that is known as Dell Model—selling computers and other equipments directly to customer and build-to-order strategy thereby eliminating the intermediary margins and inventory costs. The mission statement of Dell has been divided into three parts customer satisfaction that states “We are an established company striving to satisfy customers by meeting their demands of quality, responsiveness, and competitive pricing. Each customer is #1” , team satisfaction that states, “Management and employees are committed to cooperating as a team for the purpose of profitability and gratification of a job well done” and community satisfaction “We will provide jobs in a clean, safe, environmentally sound atmosphere and be an active participant in community affairs” (Dell, 2010). 1. External Analysis: The primary industry of Dell is personal computer and computer equipments that are evolving with the passage...
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...Title: The Fall of IBM Date: September 20, 2013 I. Executive Summary The purpose of this case study analysis is to analyze the situation of IBM in the 1990s, to come up with possible mutually exclusive alternatives for IBM’s management and ultimately, to recommend a possible strategy to regain back IBM’s throne in the industry. The problem of the case study is all about the survival of IBM in a much more competitive market ever encountered by the company. And also, overcoming new challenges brought about IBM’s new management and the dynamic technological environment. The methods of analysis used for this case study are the Porter’s Five Forces Model and the ANSOFF matrix analysis. Brief explanations were provided in each of the methods used for analysis. After analyzing the case study, the following three mutually exclusive alternative course of action were developed: 1. Decentralize Management; 2. Invest heavily on research and development and; 3. Partner with suppliers From the alternatives, I recommend that IBM should partner with its suppliers. Collaboration with suppliers will increase business flexibility and executive level business decision support. This will surely bring the most benefit for the company among the other alternatives course of action. The suppliers play a great role in the industry and having strong connections with them can help the company survive and even excel in the industry. Outline and Implementation: ...
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...The Five Forces Framework and Competitive Strategy In this framework due to Michael Porter there are two high-level stages in the creation of competitive strategy, each stage corresponding to a high-level determinant of profitability mentioned in the previous section. The first stage is the assessment of the attractiveness of the industry in which a given company is embedded based on a structural analysis of the industry. In this stage, called the five forces framework, five forces that influence industry attractiveness are identified, as well as the factors (e.g., number of competitors, size of competitors, capital requirements) that determine the intensity of each force and therefore the cumulative intensity of the five forces. The purpose of the five forces framework is to relate the degree (or intensity) of competition in a given industry, as qualitatively measured by the combined strength (or intensity) of five forces, to the attractiveness of the industry, defined as its ability to sustain profitability. Based on the structural analysis, a particular company may be in a very attractive industry (e.g., pharmaceuticals) or in an unattractive industry (e.g., steel). However, though a firm exists in an unattractive industry, it can still be highly profitable by choosing the proper competitive position within the industry, for example, e.g., a mini-mill such as Nucor in the steel industry in the nineteen-eighties. The second stage of strategy creation addresses the competitive...
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...IBM and Porter’s Five Competitive Forces Alexis DiOrrio September 21, 2015 Wilmington University History and Financial Analysis IBM or International Business Machines is a well-known American Computer manufacturer, founded by Thomas J. Watson (Bellis, 2015). They are also known as the “Big Blue” after the color of its logo. The company has manufactured everything from mainframes to personal computers and has been extremely successful selling business computers (Bellis, 2015). What started the beginning of IBM’s history, was on June 16, 1911 when three successful companies merged together; The Tabulating Machine Company, The International Time Recording Company, and The Computing Scale Company of America. These three companies joined together and formed one company, The Computing Tabulating Recording Company. In 1924, Watson changed the company’s name to what we know today as IBM (Bellis, 2015). IBM began manufacturing calculators in the 1930s, using the technology of their own punch card processing equipment. The financed the invention of the Mark 1 Computer with Harvard University in 1944. By 1953, IBM was ready to produce their own computers, which began with the IBM 701 EDPM, which was their first commercially successful general-purpose computer (Bellis, 2015). In 1980, Bill Gates agreed to create an operating system for IBM’s computer for the home consumer. Once IBM had now stepped into the home consumer market it sparked the computer revolution. Below...
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...Instructor's Name Course Title 2 February 2016 Microsoft Microsoft Corporation Introduction Microsoft Corporation is a multipurpose and multinational company based in America. The corporation is headquartered in the Redmond, Washington. It mainly focuses on the development, licensing, supporting and selling of the computer electronics, computer software, personal computers and the affiliate services. The corporation is mainly recognized for its software products including the operating systems, the Microsoft office suite among others. It has a high profile reputation of quality services and products that are consumed by both large-scale and small-scale consumers. The paper intends to analyze and deduce the factors of operation of the corporation. That includes the mission statement, the vision statement, culture, SWOT analysis amongst other attributes that determine the extent in which the corporation is an outstanding performer. Mission, Vision, Goals, and culture Mission At Microsoft, the central mission is to enable the people, as well as, the businesses across the international borders to realize their absolute potential. Particularly, the corporation considers it a mission to focus on the commitment to the customers. As such, the corporate attempts to articulate the full measure of the mission by striving to ensure that it creates outstanding technology. The technology is also developed...
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...Five Forces Analysis of the Video Game Industry The video game industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video and computer games. It includes video game consoles, game software, handheld devices, mobile games and online games. The video gaming industry has been growing exponentially in recent years with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo competing for the higher profits in the market. This essay will analyze each of the five forces acting on the industry: threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, and the competitive rivalry among existing firms. Then it will be determined if the video game industry is still an attractive industry for Sony. The video game industry has high entry barriers because of its high research and development costs, and capital investment needed to start a business in the console industry. The cost required to develop and manufacture a product that could be a decent competitor in this market is too great for a non-established company in this industry. The technology that is needed to be successful is too advanced for new competitors to achieve. For this reason, the threat to Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo of new entrants, was not very high in 2008. Additionally, Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Nintendo’s gaming systems were very well established names in the industry. The prestige of these products was so strong that it...
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...in Macro and Micro environment level 3. IBM strategy PESTEL analysis in Macro level Five forces analysis in Micro level Recommendation Conclusion SOWT analysis Complexity analysis 4. o IBM understood Value was shifting in the IT industry, driven by the rising tide of global integration, a new computing paradigm and new client needs. o Economies of developing nations were growing rapidly, driven by historic investments in fundamental business infrastructure. Enterprises were looking to tap skills and expertise available all over the world and to integrate their operations globally. o Change in computing architecture was rippling across the data center and the network, along with a proliferation of technology infused into all aspects of work and life. Companies were seeking to integrate advanced technology with their business processes and operations, not only to reduce costs, but to enable innovation and growth. o IBM remixed their businesses in order to move to the emerging higher- value spaces by focusing on software and IT industry. IBM Strategies 5. IBM Strategies Hardware And Services Software IBM sold the personal computing department To Lenovo 6. PESTEL Analysis for Macro environment factors Social Political Technological Environmental Economic Legislative 7. Iraq War in 2003, affected world economy, and IBM stock fell down. Technology affects directly to computer technology industry because computer technology can be used as a tool to invent many technological...
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