Apple Strategic Position: The Apple Inc .

. have become the market leader in their industry by supplying price worthy products which possess high value in terms of their genius technological design from their I-pods, I-phones to Macbook and extending it to their software like I-tunes and games which are at reasonable prices. It is very clear that the company which has adapted or improved wonderful supply chain will mostly successful in their industry. Here the reason for the Apples current strategic position is explained using different strategic management concepts for ease understanding of their performance in the context of supply chain. The main competitors in their industry are Microsoft, Blackberry, Nintendo, Sony, Rhapsody, DELL, Nokia, HP, Samsung and LG. The Apple is known for their innovation in the technology and so do is supply chain. The figure below illustrates the product life cycle and the position of apple in that life cycle. We infer from the below figure that apple is in the shakeout stage of its life cycle where their concentration mainly in improving the purchase of their products. At this stage they even concentrate on how they can extend their business in other fields. They also do concentrate on price cutting and increase in productivity to enhance their business with high productivity. In this stage they offer tuff business to the weak competitors and it may results in shakeout of their competitors business. In other context of Apple in their PC business, they are in the growth stage of the product life cycle by showing their steady growth in their sales.

Apples Product Life Cycle

Strategic Group Analysis: As per the figure given below, it is clear that Apples product line in the industry is comparatively low than Dell, HP, and Samsung. But the price that they offer their product is very high when compared to the above mentioned competitors because their product worth is very high due to their excellent technology offered by them to the industry.

Porters Generic Strategy for Apple: The below figure illustrates the competitive advantage of Apple over its other competitors. It defines that Apple Inc . is in its differentiation phase by offering highly technological products to its customers which are innovative too. When it refers to the Dell and HP, they are the cost leaders in the industry and the Microsoft lies partially in cost leadership and partially in differentiation. Apple can concentrate on their supply chain and improve its processes internally and externally, thereby they may migrate to the cost leadership without compensating their technologically innovative products.

To meet up the customer demands and to go beyond customer demands, Apple Inc uses the advance design concepts and product engineering in highly competitive world-wide markets while concentrating on profitable expansion for the business. To make sure steadiness in working across all the functions of the business, Apple Inc uses

integrated team work in every stage of project and also to ensure the improve programme objectives for, quality, cost and timeliness. To attain high levels in process design and assurance, Apple Inc uses computer assisted information technologies preface of creative quality tools and techniques while ensuring training employees in new skills. Apple Inc ensures the steadiness in delivery of the product in line with design specifications and quality objectives in launch process, manufacturing and quality. Apple Inc with the range of world class supplier base and their involvement all through the project life time helps to attain the world class standards of quality and delivery.

PEST Analysis The developments in the external environment which affect the external organisation are identified using PEST analysis. PEST analysis is done by analysing the Technological, Economical, Social and Political aspects of the organisation. Political Factors As Apple Inc functions in multiple countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East, it is necessary to pay close notice to the political climate and also to the regulations and laws in all the countries functions and also to pay attention to regional governing bodies. Laws governing growth, commerce, trade and investment are reliant on the local government as well as how successful economies and market will be due to regional, local and national influence. The planning and congestion restrictions forced by the government on construction of warehouses and stores considerably affect the choice of site and the location for the warehouses and stores. This has significant impact on the companys warehouse management policy which sequentially affects the level of customer service provided by Apple Inc . Certain environmental policies issued by the government impose the company to use specific kind of packing material and labelling for certain products. This has considerable impact on packing cost of goods.

Economic Factors Apple Inc have to notice the fluctuations in currency rates throughout the world. Currency shifts can associate to lower or higher demands for Apple Inc which in turn affect profitability. Apple Inc logistics strategy can be affected by any increase in fuel prices as the increase in fuel prices will directly affect the cost of distribution and transportation which result in decrease in net profit of the company. Decrease in cost of house ownership is due to lower interest rates, which gives the customers a chance to expend on alternatives like home improvement. Hence low interest rates trigger the demand for home improvement goods and the ripples of this will be visible through the entire supply chain. Social Factors Now-a-days there is a raise in consumer awareness. Customers are demanding for superior quality goods at extremely competitive prices and as a result the company is in constant pressure to supply quality and reliable goods at greatly cheaper prices. This has a major

effect on all the factors of logistics strategy and the company has to re-align its supply chain in order to deliver the expected level of customer service. In the current years there has been a turn down in the population of the young age group and this would critically affect Apple Inc ., performance as most of the customers it has fall in the young age category. A decrease in their population would mean a decrease in the sales of the company which again would affect its decisions from sourcing to distribution. Technological Factors The rapid expansion of e-shopping has significantly boosted the sales of Apple Inc . Goods are ordered by the customers over the internet and the companys supply chain has to deal with the additional burden of processing the order, notifying the store/warehouse about the order and then deliver it to the door step of the customer. The development of technology has brought drastic changes in the products in the DIY market. As customer demand is increasing for these specialised products the company either has to pressurise its existing suppliers or look for new suppliers around the world in order to procure these specialised and unique goods to cater to its customer needs. This also compels the company to alter its existing logistics strategy. Strategic Approaches could be used by Apple Inc Logistics Management

To reduce costs of operation, improve its supply chain and to provide outstanding levels of service to its customers Apple Inc can adopt the below strategic approaches: 1. Total Quality Management (TQM) Not only physical attributes of a product are related by Total quality management, customer satisfaction and the levels of service provided are also related. In the customer point of view it is not that the product should have desired feature, in addition to that the product should be available in a suitable manner and on time. Hence key importance of logistics management is total quality. Total Quality Management involves all the internal and external members to the supply chain to meet all the customer requirements at the lowest achievable cost. Apple Inc can implement Total Quality Management with the commitment and support from the top management by maintaining a customer centric focus in all of its services, products and processes. 2 Quick Response (QR) To improve the active logistics strategy Apple Inc can adopt Quick Response approach too. The distribution process between the organisation and the suppliers is focused in Quick Response. By

using this approach Apple Inc can improve the speed of inventory replacement through closely understanding and monitoring the customer buying patters. To implement the QR Apple Inc has to share its sales details with suppliers for specific products across its supply chain to assist the availability of the right level inventory when and where it is required. 3 Agile Supply Chain Responding to the end customer demands is focused in Agile Supply Chain, hence it is customer responsive. These supply chains are demand driven not forecast drive. These supply chains captures the demand data directly and benefit from understanding the variations in demand and these are fast supply chains in terms of responding to the demands of market. Apple Inc can improve its slow activities and respond quickly to its dynamic customer demands by adopting Agile Supply Chain. 4 Lean Thinking Lean thinking emphasises on operating with minimum wastes in the supply chain. Lean identifies seven wastes namely the waste of overproduction; producing too much the waste of waiting; not utilising and resources properly the waste of transporting; moving goods between processes the waste of inappropriate processing; incapable of meeting quality standards the waste of unnecessary inventory; not keeping too much of inventory the waste of unnecessary motion; unnecessary movements within the warehouse the waste of defects; producing defective products

By improving lean management process Apple Inc has, it can be more efficient in terms of cost effective and better quality to the customer. 5 Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Levels of inventory are monitored by the supplier in Vendor Managed Inventory; hence whenever refill is required at stock levels supplier will do it automatically. In VMI information sharing is crucial; to have effective information sharing, the computer systems of supplier and retailer should be interconnected. This permits the supplier to track product sales and manage inventory levels. By adopting Vendor Managed Inventory Apple Inc can maintain the availability of stock at all times and refill the inventory with no delays, hence it can deliver the excepted level of customer service.

Market Analysis

Target Market Apples target market consists of people with these characteristics: -35 for Music Fans 18-60 for all products

quality and better experience educational level is mostly secondary or higher. Depending on the product, it could be a 5th grader as well as a professional filmmaker

market mainly resides the cities

businesspeople and graphic and moving media professionals.

SWOT Analysis SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, and is very important of finding out where a business currently is and where it could be tomorrow. In order to find out Apples position and define the strategy to be used, internal factors (strenghts and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) are analyzed. Strengths: iTunes is a marvelous revenue source, since it also sells its own tool, the iPod; and is accessible on Windows as well. For every hardware Apple Inc. produces its own software as well, and is master of expertise for both. Apples price area level provides it with enough room to avoid price competition. Apples so much appealing design, is also easy to use. Low debt- gives more space to control finance The good brand loyalty of Apple Computers Mergers with Intel Computers since 2006 High developed Research & Development department Steeply growing market The services/products offered by Apple are original, meaning many people will return to Apple to obtain them.

Weaknesses: Weaknesses of a company or business are the negative elements that could be improved because they are under the control of that business. Weaknesses also express the disadvantages to competition that might not let the business meet the objectives.

Weak relationship with market titan Microsoft Technological products as Apples have extremely short lifecycles, this implies that the development and production of new products and services has to be constant Low presence in advertising other than products placement in publishing and educational areas Very little market share compared to main competitor Microsoft

Opportunities: Opportunities are external factors that influence the companys current and future position; they are presented as offers, trends, needs that promise beneficial outcomes for the company. The production of computer anti-viruses, which are increasing on PCs Large and increasing population resulting in more potential customers of tomorrow Increasing bonds and partnerships with other companies Increasing online sales Most demanded and sold Apple products are laptops, therefore producing more types to meet as many needs as possible

Threats: Threats are negative external factors the company has no control over. In cases of threats most and best a company can do is identify them and prepare scenarios of how threats can be turned beneficial or at least do no harm to the company. In the Laptop market Apple has very strong competition from Dell, HP, Sony and Toshiba Media piracy: iPod users illegally downloading music for free instead buying at iTunes Its product expensiveness threatens Apple being undercut by low-cost imports. The long lasting economic recession, which might influence Apples sales in the near future Windows 7 (software), which after the flop of vista is gaining more and more market share The very high speed of technology development

How is the current marketplace segmented? Apple operates mainly in the technology industry, which is segmented in smaller sectors, like the Computer Industry, Mobile-Device Industry etc. Apple is active in a number of segments, depending on the product-nature. mputers and partially with the Apple TV -phone industry: with the iPhone -music industry: with iTunes -device industry: with the iPod technological tools industry: with devices used for the main products mentioned above.

Who are the five most influential competitors? The Computer market in the technology industry is an Oligopoly market, ruled by five great corporations, Apple Inc. being one of them. Therefore for the sake of evaluating comparable factors, we will only take the market leaders into consideration; those who can influence the market. The most influential competitors of Apple Inc. are: Dell Inc. HEWLETT PACKARD CO Microsoft Corp IBM Are their businesses: Steady? Increasing? Decreasing? As Apple Inc. is increasing also, those other businesses are increasing and trying to do something interesting for their own good. What are their strengths and weaknesses? The strength part of Dell Inc. is that they offer to their customers direct relationships and thats why they even were awarded for customer services. Also, Dell inc. needs to make a drastic change. They dont need to wait for people buy their products only when they are on sale but they need to focus more on the customer support and improve the areas they already have problems. HEWLETT PACKARD CO as being a large company and doing business in 170 countries gave them opportunity to dominate in the market by selling printers to their customers and also many other companies. Hewlett Packard Co as all companies has its own strength and weaknesses. What I found interesting about the company was not marketing their products and businesses so in my opinion they need to focus more in their marketing and do something that will catch people attention. Microsoft Corp. abbreviates multinational differences in more than 60 countries and that make people feel more related to them and comfortable with their services. What makes Microsoft Corp. weaker is Bill Gates his own because as being the head of Microsoft he didnt develop still a band of products for his own company. IBM as a big company has experience and knowledge in planning A&M and also they benefit from their global relationships with clients to the technology layers. In other way they need to work harder in their pre-deal abilities because their competitors are much better than them in this part. How does their product or service differ? Comparing Dell with Mac is not easy because they differ from each other in many ways. Macs are better than Dells computers in quality, design, production of videos and web page designing. They also differ on software, using different operating systems and that is the main reason why it is difficult to compare them with each other. Mac and HP PC also have their differences. Mac has a cooler technology in designing and arts fields and the operating system called Leopard that HP pc doesnt have. Another crucial difference between those two is the price. Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in the computers industry are the biggest competitors. As Apple introduced Mac OS X operating system Microsoft introduced Windows Vista. Operating systems of both companies are very different but still both of them have their advantages and disadvantages comparing to each other. One of the advantages of Microsoft over Mac OS X is the user number. Microsoft is the most used and taught operating system world-wide- which doesnt make it the best though.

In the beginning IBM and Apple computers seemed to be similar just before Apple changed visual operating system. People were very enthusiastic about the changes and which increases Apple sales. As in the other cases the main difference between Macs and other competitors computers were the operating system they use.

Apple's Strategic iParadox

Enter iPad. The proponents call it a radical new dominant design for computing. Don't buy the hype, say the detractors:the iPad's just another land-grabbing walled garden. Both sides are right and wrong. The iPad is a revolution waiting to happen. But the revolution's biggest roadblock is Apple itself. Here's what's really going on. The iPad's like an amazing hairdresser who wants to monitor your bathroom for authorized shampoo, conditioner, and water. By building a device that liberates services, but locks down "product," Apple's shooting itself in the iFace. It's as if Apple wants to step into the hyperconnected network age but also keep one foot firmly planted in the industrial era. The iParadox is this: Apple should be striving to commoditize products if it wants to benefit from services (or vice versa). But it's trying to benefit from both at once which is, simply put, strategically self-destructive. One is the mirror image of the other. The real promise of the iPad is to help the beleaguered media industry, bereft of imagination, kickstart the great shift from products to services. Media's been stuck for too long in the the industrial era, trading in mass-produced, mega-marketed stuff. But in a hyperconnected world, as media players are finding out the hard way, mere stuff's a commodity. Service economics are superior: services are less risky, less capital intensive, higher skill, higher loyalty, and dramatically less imitable. The result is that service-centric businesses tend to have higher margins and create significantly more value than product-centric businesses. That's why every economy (and sector) that transitions past the industrial era is built on them. The iPad's App Store isn't technologically open. It is, more significantly, economically open: it's an open market for services. Many platforms are "open," technologically. But the costs of development raise steep entry barriers. Consider Linux, which still doesn't have a user-friendly GUI. "Openness" means nothing if the price of a can-opener begins in the millions. Real openness means that the costs of creating iPad Apps are relatively miniscule: Anyone can develop stuff, and quickly, literally bring it to (the) market. More to the point, you can access tons of services from beyond the App Store on the iPad: it's connected to the entire Internet, remember? But while it liberates people to enjoy services, the iPad chains people to "product." Its Grand Canyonsized flaw is lock-in: Apple's trying to lock people into media "product" in a variety of not-so-clever ways. First, through limiting physical connectivity (a lack of USB ports). Second, through file-handling:

Attachments are a pain on the iPad, perhaps by design. Third, through obscure, muddled "rights management." File browsing happens through iTunes, whose DRM is so backwards, it can't even remove files from iPods (talk about lock-in). So on the same device on which you can access hundreds of thousands of new services easily, products are locked down to a vicious degree. Want to move your books, music, and video around? Have fun trying. It's possible, but Apple's made sure it's as painful as possible. If Apple's igniting a services revolution, it shouldn't want to lock down "products" like songs, books, and videos. In fact, Apple should want to create as open, liquid, and frictionless exchanges of "product" as possible because that's what creates a thriving service economy. If, for example, you can grab a copy of the "product" of my next book cheaply, then you're more likely to take the plunge and splurge on the book's app the service. But you're unlikely to do both. Conversely, if the service, the app, is linked to an easily transferable, constantly updated "book," you're more likely to splurge on the app. The problem for our aforementioned hairdresser would be, simply, that by locking customers into expensive "product" he would limit the quantity and quality of services he could provide. So it is for Apple: I'm less likely to consume services because the iPad locks me into expensive, immobile "product." You can't live in the industrial era and the network age at once. The strategic confusion at the heart of the iPad makes it a grandee in revolutionary's clothing. Yes, the software's awesome. And its promise is vast. But keeping that promise demands less compromise with yesterday and more revolution for tomorrow.

Which products/services are in demand The most demanded products of Apple Company today include: iMac is considered to be one of the most demanded and sold products of Apple. According to an article of ZACKS analyst, the demand for iMac got higher when there was an increase in shipments in October, which resulted in strong earnings that increased for 32%. Also this article states that this increase in earnings is the highest revenue growth in the companys history. Moreover the article implies that the actual sales compared to the previous sales, were higher arriving at 3.36 million. iPod - based on the fact that Apple has sold 21milion iPod handy media player only in the last quarter, we can assume that the demand was extremely higher. This amount of sold iPods exceeds the amount of 20.1 million iPods that were predicted to be sold. iPhone- surely, one of the most demanded products the Apple manufactures and sells is the line of mobile phones, iPhone. The announcements for the latest financial results infer that there was a high demand for iPhones. The company declares that has sold 8.7 million iPhones over the world, only in the last quarter. Also the initiative to sell iPhones in international markets such as China, which is the most popular mobile phone market, was very profitable.

iPad-the latest most advanced product that Apple has launched in the market has reached high demand in the market. The high demand for this touch screen table device is result of its affordable price compared to other products that Apples sells. What are the growth opportunities? The main growth opportunities for Apple are: Selling products in international markets( such as the case of iPhone in China) Focus on customer needs Create more supporting and protecting programs Use other forms of advertising apart from product placement advertising Open more stores in different places in order to increase sales

Mergers and Acquisitions

1. Acquisitions Date March 2, 1988 June 7, 1988 Company Network Innovations Orion Network Systems Styleware Nashoba Systems Coral Software NeXT Business Software Satellite communication systems Computer software Computer software Computer software Computer programming services Clone computers Software Computer graphic chips Internet software Software Country United States United States Value (USD) US$404,000,00 0 US$100,000,00 0 US$4,926,000 US$15,000,000

June 27, 1988 July 11, 1988 January 3, 1989 February 7, 1997 September 2, 1997 January 8, 1999 November 3, 1999 January 7, 2000 April 11, 2000

United States United States United States United States

Power ComputingClone-Making
[note 1]

United States

Xemplar Education Raycer Graphics NetSelector Astarte-DVD Authoring Software [note 2] bluebuzz Spruce Technologies [note 3] PowerSchool

United Kingdom United States United States Germany

May 11, 2001 July 9, 2001

Internet service provider Graphics software Online info systems services Special effects software Software Digital effects software Software Music production software Gesture recognition company Software Software Semiconductors Streaming Music

United States United States

December 31, 2001 February 1, 2002 April 4, 2002 June 11, 2002

United States

US$62,000,000

Nothing Real Zayante Silicon Grail Corp-Chalice [note 4] Propel Software Emagic

United States United States United States

US$15,000,000 US$13,000,000 US$30,000,000 US$268,000,00 0

June 20, 2002 July 1, 2002

United States Germany

2005

Fingerworks

United States

October 16, 2006 December 4, 2006 April 24, 2008 December 6, 2009

Silicon Color Proximity P.A. Semi Lala.com

United States Australia United States United States

: Financial Analysis 3.1 Competitive Analysis (Refs 28, 38) Apple 2010 $000 Revenue 65,225 Cost of Goods sold (38,609) Gross Profit 26,616 P/L before Tax 18,540 P/L after Tax 14,013 P/L for the Period 14,013 Research & Dev cost No. of Employees (1,782) 49,400

MS 2009 $000 42,905 (24,999) 17,906 12,066 8,235 8,235 (1,333) 36,800 2010 $000 62,484 (9,888) 52,596 25,013 18,760 18,760 (8,714) 89,000 2009 $000 58,437 (9,864) 48,573 19,821 14,569 14,569 (9,010) 93,000 2010 $000 29,321 (9,036) 20,285 10,796 8,505 8,505

Google 2009 $000 23,650 (7,338) 16,312 8,381 6,520 6,520 (2,843) 19,835 2010 $000 52,902 (42,789) 10,113 2,024 1,433 1,433 (617) 96,000

Dell

2 $ 61 (49 11 3 2 2

(3,762) 24,400

( 7

3.2 Key Performance Indicator (Refs 28, 38) Gross profit margin % 38.38 40.14 Pre Tax Profit margin % 28.19 27.36 ROCE % 38.79 38.14 Return on total Asset (%) 24.66 25.40 Current ratio 2.01 2.74 Quick ratio 1.72 2.48 Total Debt/Equity 0.00 0.00 Solvency ratio (%) 63.57 66.61 P/E 18.42 19.34 3.3 Apple Year to Year Analysis (Refs 28, 38) 2010 Revenue ($000) 65,225 Current Ratio 2.01 ROCE (%) 38.79 Return on Total Assets (%) 24.66 EPS (Basic) 9.88 P/E 18.42 3.4 Net Sales increase by operating segments (Ref 9) Net sales by operating 2010 ($) Change segments: America 24,498 29% Europe 18,392 58% Japan 3,931 75% Asia-Pacific 8,256 160% 3.5 Net Sales increase by products (Ref 9) Net Sales by products 2010 ($) Total Mac 17,479 iPod 8,274 iPhone 25,179 Software and Service 2,573 3.6 Sony Sales and Operating Revenue (Ref 122)

80.16 40.03 54.17 29.05 2.13 0.13 53.62 10.75

79.20 33.92 50.11 25.45 1.82 0.15 50.79 14.90

64.47 36.82 23.35 18.66 4.16 0.07 79.93 17.04

62.61 35.44 23.28 20.70 10.62 0.00 88.91 25.79

17.51 3.83 35.88 6.01 1.28 0.72 16.76 20.17

2009 42,905 2.74 38.14 25.40 5.94 19.34

2008 37,491 2.64 40.13 24.74 3.52 15.96

2007 24,578 2.37 34.45 19.75 2.05 37.73

2006 19,315 2.25 28.23 16.38 1.31 31.12

2 1

2009 ($) 18,981 11,810 2,279 3,179

Change 15% 28% 32% 18%

2008 ($) 16,552 9,233 1,728 2,686

Change 26% 2% 93% 7%

2009 ($) 13,859 8,091 13,033 2,411

Change 3% 12% 93% 9%

2008 ( 14,35 9,153 6,742 2,208

Year ended March 31 Japan U.S.A Europe Other Total

2008 (Yen in million) 2,056,374 (23.2%) 2,221,862 (25.1%) 2,328,233 (26.2%) 2,264,945 (25.5%) 8,871,414

2009 (Yen in million) 1,873,219 (24.2%) 1,827,812 (23.6%) 1,987,692 (25.7%) 2,041,270 (26.5%) 7,729,993

2010 (Yen in million) 2,099,297 (29.1%) 1,595,016 (22.1%) 1,644,698 (22.8%) 1,874, 987 (26.0%) 7,213,998

Graph I: Net Sales Vs. Net Profit Store

Graph II: Growth of Apples App

Source:Retaing:Apple Inc. Euromonitor International

Graph III: Total Revenue (Country) size ($bn), 200914

Graph IV: Global consumer electronics market

Source: One Source Information Service

Source: Datamonitor

Graph VI: Revenues from Mobile Application (Present & Future)

Table 8: Ansoff

EXISTING PRODUCTS E X I S T I N G M A R K E T Market Penetration *Development of more apps *Geographically net sale increased 2010 in (America ,Europe, Japan ,Asia specific) (iPhone) (Financial Table 3.4 & 3.5) *Net Sales - increased by Product in 2010 (Financial Table 3.4 & 3.5) Market development N M E A W R K E T *New market for Apple *Consumers cloud market *Developing a low cost market-Telecom (Macs)

Ref

NEW PRODUCTS Product Development *Apple pricing decoy *Revolutionary product-ipad *Apple & Microsoft joint force *Apple pushed iPhone for business

57,58 28 28

Diversification 59 60 61 *First mover advantage-IPods *Multi-Product Strategy *Diversification of apple

Table 9: Generic Strategies COST B R O A D N A R R O W M A R K E T M A R K E T COST LEADERSHIP The Low-Price Leader iPad 2 crushed its rivals 119 120 Ref UNIQUENESS DIFFERENTIATION iMessage Price-Skimming Strategy App developers caught in iCloud storm FOCUSED DIFFERENTIATION 109 110 111 112 *Focus on Young Generation *Apple release products in China *Apple's Mac joins Windows generation

FOCUSED LOW COST *Apple planning Low-Cost version of the IPhone *Little MacBook *Targets the low-end market-Pc, iPod music player *iPad components Cost

Table 10: Leadership Traits (Steve Jobs) *None Adaptable to situation Achievement oriented Vision Energetic * Received lots of awards *A dent in the universe *Enormously energetic Apple + Disney

77,78 81 80

Persistent Self-Confident Tolerant of stress Ownership and Responsibility

*Never give up easily - NeXT *High risk taker *High - Aggressive *From start to finish

Table 11: Leadership Skills (Steve Jobs) * create whole businesses for application Intelligent development * Leadership position with innovation Creative * High-end technology & fashionable design

83 83 84,85

Fluent in speaking Knowledgeable

* Increasing role in Apple's public relations effort *Good technical skills

Table 12: Leadership Style & Behaviour (Steve Jobs)

Autocratic

* Everyone Report direct to him *Short-temper *Manipulative behaviour *Creates a sense of fear among employees

72,75 73 74 74

Charismatic

*Initiative leader *Gifted Speaker * Transformational leader creates valuable & positive change in the follower *Combination of Perfectionism and Vision

68 69 70 71

Table 13: Leadership Effectiveness: (Steve Jobs) Organization *963% growth (1999-2010) (Financial Table) *Company revenue from ($m) 6134 to 65,222 (1999-2010)

38 38

Leader

*Americas young entrepreneurs

76

Table 14: Apple Inc. Culture * Strategy has to fit with the vision of the company * No formal dress code for the employees * Continuous innovation

41 42 42

* Thinking together * Power culture US control * Every Monday meeting

41 42 40

Table 15: Comparison of person specifications Tim Cooks Michael Dell COA (CEO of Dell (Ref 92, Comp) (Ref 93, 94) 101) Experience of CEO Financial Technical Communication Interpersonal x Leadership Problem Solving Decision Making Self-Management Table 16: Tim Cook (Skills) Experience of *CEO experience of Apple CEO Twice Financial * Managing financial situation in economic crisis Technical *Expertise in logistics and operations Communication *Warm and outspoken

Phillip Clarke (CEO of Tesco) (Ref 95,96) x

Sir Terry (Ex-CEO of Tesco) (Ref 97, 98) x

Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google (Ref 99, 100) x

101 102 92 103

Leadership Problem Solving Decision Making SelfManagement

Participative Leadership style Ability to solve problem *Credited with reinventing * Play key role in development strategies of resale

101 102 101 101

Interpersonal

*Confidence, calm and quite

104

Conclusion
We feel that Apple must focus on several key aspects to continue to grow and succeed. They must continue a stable commitment to licensing, push for economies of scope between media and computers, and become a learning organization. Apple apparently made a commitment to licensing. Although it should continue, Apple may want to consider other forms of strategic alliances. An equity strategic alliance may offer Apple the opportunity to obtain additional competencies. An effective way for a company like Apple to accomplish this would be in the form of a joint venture.Apple should continue pushing the new line of media-centric products. Meanwhile, Apple should not lose focus on its computers.

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