Apple Inc.
Apple Computers Inc. 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino, CA 95014 Argjira Ramosaj Dorina Grezda Nertilë Latifi Vesa Batalli Section 13
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Executive Summary Quick clear description of the business and its goals Apple Inc. is a technology company, which designs, produces and sells goods of the Computer, Music and Mobile-phone Industries. It is differentiated by its brand-perception and identification. Over the last couple of years, Apple has become a cult-brand, thanking it’s iLife, iTunes, QuickTime and iMac lines. Apple Inc.’s short-term goals is currently increasing the sales of the just launched iPad (the most innovative web=browser in market). In the long-run, Apple aims for the top of the market, becoming the number one leader. Identification of unique features of the business that appeal to customers and why they are appealing. Apple Inc has incorporated numerous features that are unique and well known in the market today. We consider that there are several Apple products with several appealing features such as: iMack, iPhod, iPhone and iPad. These products represent a revolutionary era for the development of Apple. By placing such products in the market, Apple Inc. has attracted a lot of customers in one way or another. Highly advanced technology, simplicity and design, and the sense of luxury are the main features integrated in these products. Moreover the comfort and convenience that these products provide are very crucial. A short explanation of why the team chose the corporation “Think Different” One of the main reasons which inspired our team to choose Apple Inc. is its unique, simple and luxurious image that Apple has created in the market over the years. “Think differently” which is an inspiring motto, made us believe that simplicity and creativity combined with luxury can lead to a successful and profitable company, such as Apple. Another component that we found to be challenging for us was to understand Apple’s goals, objectives and their secret of being successful. A very important fact about Apple products today is that these products are globally spread. This has created among us the idea that Apple products are no longer luxuries but real necessities due to the technological developments. Moreover, what has motivated us most to select Apple Inc, is the way we relate ourselves with its products. Each of us being an Apple consumer has build trustworthiness relationship with the products that this company offers. Owning an ipod or iphone today definitely will make your life easy and simple. Single most important issue facing the corporation today As mentioned above, 2010 came with the launching of the iPad, which is a totally differentiated product in the market. It is a web-browser, which also can be used as laptop, and can be useful in every aspect of educational and professional areas. Its price, compared to regular Apple prices, is pretty affordable ($499), which is an incentive for more buyers to purchase. This is the main goal of Apple in the current day. 1
Table of Contents Business Mission & Vision……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 Mission................................................................................................................................................ 3 Vision .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Values.................................................................................................................................................. 3 Description of Business ................................................................................................................... 6 Location............................................................................................................................................... 6 Brief History of Business ...................................................................................................................... 6 Branding& Legal Business Form ........................................................................................................... 9 What are the growth opportunities? ................................................................................................. 13 Will franchising impact on growth opportunities? ............................................................................. 13 What we have learned about this kind of business from outside sources? ........................................ 13 Corporate Goals and Objectives ........................................................................................................ 14 What essential resources is the success of the corporation reliant upon? ......................................... 14 How do the Suppliers and Stakeholders define success? .................................................................... 14 Market Analysis........................................................................................................................ 15 Target Market Identification .............................................................................................................. 15 Age, Gender, Income, Education Level, Place of Residence ................................................................ 15 From the customer’s perspective: What is success of the company? ................................................. 15 Market Growth.................................................................................................................................. 16 SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................................... 17 PEST Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Market Segmentation ........................................................................................................................ 20 Five most influential Competitors ...................................................................................................... 21 How does the Corporation promote their Business? ......................................................................... 23 What pricing Strategy have they devised? ......................................................................................... 24 How can the Corporation hold/increase market share? .................................................................... 25 Scenario Planning Processes..................................................................................................... 26 Summary........................................................................................................................................... 48 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 49 Appendix........................................................................................................................................... 55 2
Business Mission & Vision Mission Statement: “Apple Inc. ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple Inc. II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple Inc. continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple Inc. is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.” (Investor Relations FAQ, para. 33) Starting from 1970s, Apple Inc. started to lead with its new innovative strategies. With different products and services, today Apple Inc. continues to maintain its global image and lead the technology industry with its original style. With new digital media Apple Inc. has created a revolution with its unique style starting with music devices to more sophisticated mobile phones. Vision Statement: “An Apple computer on every desk” – Steve Jobs Apple Inc. states its vision very clearly. They have changed our life with their products and services. They really have demonstrated the world, that a human has a strong capacity to create huge things with a big impact. Values and /or Guiding Principles: During some research that we made, we found some guiding principles to be important to Apple Inc. innovation strategy. We thought it would be interesting to analyze them. They also relate with Apple Inc.’s Design Strategy. According to Bruce MacVarish, the following guiding principles help Apple in its strategy.
1. Don't follow your Customers; Lead them Apple Inc. follows the strategy, which implies that consumers can’t tell you what they want from a product. Instead this, they need to be shown, a superior alternative. Apple Inc. Company distinguishes itself, as a business that creates those alternatives. 2. Temper Engineering with Art Most of the companies try to be like Apple Inc. They tap to organize the creative process, but in most of the cases they fail. Devices with high technology performance are built by engineers and also are designed by them. Sometimes, they tend to design products in their own way of using them. This unfortunately demonstrates why a typical device is filled with a lot of confusing features. 3
3. Focus on the Few to sell to the Many Apple Inc. is focused on selling just few products in each category, rather than other companies who sell dozen of models at any given time. Instead of trying to satisfy every taste, Apple Inc. tries to narrow it down. 4. Be your own toughest Critic What contributes to Apple Inc. success is that, apart from beating competitors, is its attempt to beat itself. As management guru Peter Drucker noted long ago, “Your being the one who makes your products, process, or service obsolete is the only way to prevent your competitor from doing so.” With this strategy to beat itself, Apple Inc. beat the competitors too. 5. Clear your mind and "Think Different" Jobs say- “Design is a “fundamental soul” that expresses itself through an end result- the product.” The motto “Think Different” explains everything. Apple Inc.’s ability to think differently about itself has kept this company at the head of the pack and has helped to create its unique operating style. 6. Build your Innovation infrastructure and Fortress Apple Inc. has expanded its organizational hierarchies. Most of the decisions at Apple Inc. come from Steve Jobs and his immediate deputies. Ordinary employees are given clear directives and supervision. On the other hand, people who demonstrate talent are given a freer hand, regardless of job title. 7. Cultivate your "Creatives" - the Innovation Elite The “ Creatives” is a specific group, which is referred to productive employees, which are provided with a meticulous care. Apple’s organizational structure is one of the company’s most formidable assets. 8. Institutionalize your "Creatives" Steve Jobs seem to have learned how to change his aggressive personality to a sensible one with a great effect. Even though he’s still an essential part of Apple Inc.’s success, the company has treated many of Job’s values so that now Apple Inc. is far less dependent on him. 9. Innovation is not Invention Creating something new of value is innovation. On the other hand, disruptive innovations are business model innovations that incorporate five, six or eight different types of innovation. Apple Inc. came up with a legal/ business innovation (the iTunes store) and a great industrial design (the iPod). This is what makes Apple Inc. a powerful disruptive innovation. 4
10. Organize Something At 21st century, markets, networks and communities can organize economic activities and drive disruptive innovations. Using these (markets, networks and communities) to reorganize inefficient industry models, while empowering end users created to Apple Inc. a number of innovative business models and designs. 11. MRD + ERD + URD Apple Inc. has these three evaluations required to start a product idea. MRD- Marketing requirement document ERD- Engineering requirement document URD- User-experience requirements document The documents are reviewed by a committee of executives, and if approved, a budget is assigned to the design, and a team leader is chosen. The team focuses on expanding the three requirement documents. They plan on how to cope with marketing, engineering, and userexperience needs. Environment Guiding Principles According to a facility report about Apple Inc. and environment, published in 2009 we found some guiding principles which we thought to be incorporated to Apple innovation strategy. Since 2006, Apple Inc. has been working continuously to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Apple Inc. also is very careful in activities to reduce energy, water consumption and waste production. Here are some of the guiding principles related to environment: 1. “Meet or exceed all applicable environmental, health, and safety requirements. We will evaluate our EHS (Environmental, Health and Safety) performance by monitoring ongoing performance results and conducting periodic management reviews.” 2. “Communicate environmental, health, and safety policy and programs to Apple employees and stakeholders. “ 3. “Design, manage, and operate our facilities to maximize safety, promote energy efficiency and protect the environment. “ 4. “Strive to create products that are safe in their intended use, conserve energy and materials, and prevent pollution throughout the product life cycle, including design, manufacture, use, and end-of-life management.” (Facilities Report, 2009, page 3).
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Description of the Business: Location(s): Addresses of corporate and regional headquarters. Apple’s headquarters are located in at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California 95014, in the middle of Silicon Valley. o
Identification of countries in which they operate. Apple operates in ten countries.
Worldwide United States Canada Australia Switzerland Germany
United Kingdom Japan France Italy China
Brief history of business
The Origin of Apple Inc. “He was the only person I met who knew more about electronics than me.” Steve Jobs, explaining his initial fascination with Wozniak. “Steve didn’t know very much about electronics.” Steve Wozniak It all started with two young people, Steve Wozniak, then 26 years old, and Steve Jobs, 21 years old, who were college students. They shared the same interest in electronics, so they would join together as “the two Steves.” According to a book called “Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World’s Most Colorful Company” author Linzmayer explains the origin of Apple and all the challenges that Jobs and Wozniak had during the early days of Apple. Wozniak started to build electronic boxes, which allowed him to do illegal long-distance phone calls for free. When he met Steve Jobs, they started to sell these blue boxes. They both attended the Homebrew Computer meeting club, where they swapped ideas with other people. At that time Wozniak started to work on designing a computer. Wozniak’s computer could connect to an ordinary television, not an expensive printer or monitor. After completing his basic design of his computer, Wozniak showed his work at the Homebrew Computer Clubs meetings. Jobs, seeing the opportunity, tried to convince Wozniak, to produce printed circuit boards and sell them as a product. However, Wozniak didn’t share Job’s vision, which was to sell personal computers. 6
"We were real small-time operators, kind of like somebody who sold arts and crafts on the side.” Steve Wozniak, on Apple’s early days
To finance Apple I, Jobs and Wozniak sold a VW and HP calculator. Starting a business, they needed a name for the company. According to Wozniak it was Job’s idea that the name for the company is going to be “Apple Computers”. However, in that time there was a company called “Apple Corps”, the Beatle’s recording company founded in 1968. The trademark problems would arise. In November, they signed a secret agreement that restricted the use of Apple trademarks. Furthermore, Apple Computers paid the British company $80,000 for the worldwide rights to use the Apple name on computer products. Later on, in order to help the company, they offered a position in the company to Ronald Wayne, to become a partner in their company, by offering ten percent interest in the company. Wayne designed the first logo for the company, in which was shown Sir Isaac Newton leaning against an apple tree. Job’s demonstrated the “Apple Computers” to Paul Jay Terrell, who operated the Byte Shop, which
would become the first retail computer store in the country. Over the years, Apple I Computers had made roughly $8000 in profit, and Jobs was planning to expand the business by going into debts with part suppliers, in order to build more computers. On the other hand, Wozniak was searching a way of how to improve his original computer, which would later be called as Apple II. The original Apple Computer was better than any other computer of that time, but it was hard to use it. Thus, Wozniak started to re-design it. They were working constantly in Job’s garage. Mike Markkula Jr. came to help in business plan. He would write several software programs for the Apple II. Realizing that Apple needed a strong leadership, he turned to Michael Scott, and tempted him to join Apple. He accepted, and was hired as Apple’s first president. Job’s felt that the logo wasn’t the appropriate one, because it wasn’t easy to be reproduced in small sizes. Thus, art director Rob Janoff started with a black and white silhouette of an apple, but he felt that something was missing. Having the feeling to simplify the image, he thought of a bite. Jannof added six colorful horizontal stripes. Apple II was introduced with a new logo. It was the first personal computer designed with an attractive lowslung case. Overall, it was a complete computer with standard keyboard, color graphics and power supply. In August 1977, Scott negotiated to pay $21,000 for an eight-year license to Microsoft’s version of the Basic programming language. Microsoft modified code was released as Applesoft. Ten of thousands of useful programs were written in Applesoft for the Apple II series. Apple II was a successful product. Apple I sales disappeared, in the face of far superior of Apple II. In order to reduce costs, Apple encouraged the owners of Apple I to trade them with Apple II. Furthermore, Apple II plus would later be combined with VisiCalc (a spreadsheet program for personal computers), featuring a memory disk and additional color capabilities. While enjoying the success with this product, Apple’s management believed 7
that an Apple III would be a solution to the company. The Lisa would actually succeed the Apple III. In 1983, Apple IIe was released along with Lisa. It featured an 80-column text display, full upper and lowercase keyboard, optimal mouse and monochrome monitor. However, Lisa was a commercial failure, because of high prices and limited software titles. Apple released Macintosh on January 24th, 1984. It was introduced by a commercial, in which the intention was to represent the IBM Pc as the Big Brother, and Macintosh as e female hero. At the beginning Macintosh sold well, but then the sales weren’t that strong. Due to some conflicts between Jobs and new CEO John Sculley in 1985, the board directors of Apple removed Jobs from his duties. He resigned later, and founded NeXT Inc. a computer company that built machines. Due to their high prices, NeXT computers didn’t have a strong success. In 1989, Apple introduced Macintosh Portable and in 1991 it introduced the Powerbook. The Powerbook was perceived as the modern form of laptop computers. The success of Powerbook led to increasing revenues. The time period from 1989 to 1991, was called the” first golden age” of the Macintosh. However, competition was kicking in, with the development of Microsoft Windows products. In 1994, Apple Inc. allied with its competitor IBM and CPU maker Motorola in AIM alliance. That year, Apple introduced the Power Macintosh using an IBM’s Power PC processor. Trying to improve the operating system’s multitasking and memory management, Apple chose to purchase NeXT operating system, which would bring back Steve Jobs in the company. At 1997, Jobs announced that Apple would be entering in a partnership with Microsoft to release new versions of Microsoft Office for the Macintosh. In 1998, Apple would introduce all-in-one Mac Computers. iMac features a plastic exterior in many different colors. It increased the profit of the company by selling 800,000 units in the first five months. In 1998, Apple introduced Final-Cut software in digital editing video market. The Mac OS X was released in 2001. Later on, Apple would continue to introduce new products such as iPod. This product proved to be very successful. On January 2006, Apple released its first Intel chip computers, MacBook Pro. In 2007, Steve Jobs announced a change in name from Apple Computers Inc. to Apple Inc. Also Apple announced that it would be willing to sell music on the iTunes store. In January 2007, the long waited iPhone was released, an Internet-enabled smartphone and video iPod.
Apple’s earliest employees: 1. Steve Wozniak 2. Steve Jobs 3. Mike Markkula 4. Bill Fernandez 5. Rod Holt 6. Randy Wigginton 7. Michael Scott 8. Chris Espinosa
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Ownership and Legal Business Form Since Apple Inc keeps most of its information confidential, we found a table summarizing the Stock Holdings.
Ownership Summary INSTITUTIONAL Total Number of Holders % of Shares Outstanding Total Shares Held
Description
1,360 71.54%
648,704,269 $126,795,736,41 Total Value of Holdings 9 Net Activity 10,617,506 INSIDER TRADES
Number of Insider Trades Number of Buys Number of Sells Net Activity
Last 3 Mo.
Last 12 Mo.
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2 12 3 26 (211,702 (897,545 ) )
Top 5 Holders FMR LLC BARCLAYS GLOBAL... VANGUARD GROUP ... STATE STREET CO... PRICE T ROWE AS...
Shares Held 44,491,109 40,504,045 31,333,351 30,261,267 23,664,021
Last 5 Trades OPPENHEIMER PET... SERLET BERTRAND PAPERMASTER MAR... RAFAEL BETSY JOHNSON RONALD ...
Shares Traded (1,900) (10,000) 176 22 (200,000)
Institutional Ownership supplied by EDGAR Online, Inc. Copyright 2010, EDGAR Online, Inc. All rights reserved. Replication or redistribution expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of EDGAR Online, Inc. EDGAR Online, Inc. shall not be liable for any e rrors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Mergers To view Acquisitions and mergers refer to the Appendix, Table 1.
Branding: For several years Apple Inc. has created a strong brand personality. Apple’s strategy is to appeal to people’s emotions and feelings. “The Apple brand personality is about lifestyle; imagination; liberty regained; innovation; passion; hopes, dreams and aspirations; and power-to-the-people through technology.” (Apple's Branding Strategy, para.2). Apple also focuses to create the image of simplicity. With their simplicity, Apple’s brand manages to attract consumers. With its brand identity, Apple has managed to beat competitors. The Apple Brand has created among users not only the so called “the like “but also the feeling of friendship and relation with that product. All of these have contributed very positively in the Apple’s Brand Strategy. Apple Inc. also tries to understand consumer needs and wants. 9
Business type: Merchandising, manufacturing and service.
Apple Inc. is considered as one of the most successful manufacturers of electronics and computer software in the business market. Being such a powerful company Apple is considered a merchandising company, as well. Also Apple offers a lot of services and supporting programs. Apart from being present in US market, Apple sells its products in United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, China, Italy, Germany, Canada and Switzerland. Apple is the producer and seller of different products such as: personal computers, handy media players, computer software, computer hardware also hardware accessories and mobile phones. What the product line and/or services are Moreover Apple Inc. most successful product lines are considered: Macintosh, the line of personal computers, the ipod line of handy media players, and the iphone, as well. All these are part of the Apple’s well known hardware products. In the other side, Apple’s most known software products are: the Mac OS X operating system, the iLife a set of multimedia and creative software applications, and Final Cut Studio, a product much more beneficial to the film making industry and other audio applications. Also Apple has created iTunes, an application which is very useful media player application used for music, games, videos, movies, and also downloading.
Describe the benefits of corporate goods and services from the customer's perspective There are a lot of benefits that customers might have while buying Apple products. Apple not only manufactures and sells products that benefit a person with a simple job, but they are also used for highly qualified jobs .The design and quality that Apple applies to its products distinguishes these products from other product available in the market. The advanced applications in Apple computers, audio media players, and mobile phones are used by people differently for different purposes. The iTunes Store of Music and also the application (iTunes) itself, has managed to simplify people’s life. With the help of ITunes, people better organize music, videos movies or they simply download them easy than ever. What are they selling? There are several innovative and creative products that Apple has launched in the market. Their range of products varies from the simplest products to the most advances and luxurious ones. Apple is the seller of personal computers, which involve in their production line: Mack Pro Mac mini, MacBook, MackBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMack, Mac OS X. Apart from these Apple also is the seller of handy media players. Starting from the: iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, and Product (RED)-type of iPod. The iPhone is another outstanding product which has been introduced by Apple. There are some types of iPhone such: iPhone, iPhone 3G (the third generation iPhone), and the latest type iPhone 3GS. 10
Moreover, Apple provides media player applications such as iTunes, Quick Time, Quick Time Guide, Quick Time Player and Quick Time Pro, ILife, and iWork. Also the company sells Apple TV and other accessories including Magic Mouse, keyboards and Cinema Displays. Further, iPad which is launched in the market lately is one of the most advanced Apple products.
How the products and/or services benefit the customer The products that the Apple sells benefit the customer in certain ways. o
High quality - One of the elements that customers see as very beneficial is the quality of the product they purchase. Apple is an example of a company which has managed to offer customers a product with high quality. Firstly, if we think of buying an iMac we should consider that we’re not buying a usual PC, but a high quality machine. The advantage that one gets when buying an iMac is its high quality. According to an article related to customer satisfaction, iMac is considered a “well built” machine since they are made of metal compared to other plastic products which are “cheap” products. Also iPhone and iPod are other examples of high quality products. Compared to other similar handy media players, they are seen as the “most wellmade pieces of electronics” since they’re not made of plastic and other weak materials.
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Storage drive and capacity - The capacity of the storage drive in an iMac, iPhone, iPod or other electronic devices and applications services that Apple sells is very big. This is one of the main reasons why people use them very often. The iPod with its capacity storage which varies from 2GB to 160GB allows us to store music, videos, photos and movies without any difficulty.
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Usage - Apple products have been used by different people in different fields. As we have noticed Apple’s range of products varies from the simplest ones to the most advanced. As a company they have build a market for different groups of people. One, who might think that Apple products are attractive only to adolescents and younger generations, is completely wrong. People of different ages use Apple personal computers or even iPods and iPhones based on their needs. An important fact to mention is that people benefit from these products while performing their job. Final Cut Studio which is an application program has been considered an invention in the film making industry. Professional film makers have considered such an application very helpful in editing and audio production.
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Luxury - apart from selling a product which is very comfort and simple, Apple has included the sense of luxury in them. The image of Apple sometimes is considered a synonym for luxury. However, people still are willing and able to buy them despite the fact that they are luxurious products and cost more. This fact makes us believe that Apple products day by day are becoming necessities more than luxuries.
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Level of quality and services that are provided o
Quality- The level of quality that Apple provides in its products is considered to be high. While comparing Apple products with other products in the market we might notice important differences among them. The material that these products are made of, along with the creative design is what distinguishes Apple products from other available products in the market. o Services- Apple offers a variety of services and support products in order to satisfy its customers. It provides feedback and support for anyone who is concerned or interested in a product. Apple Care Support website is available for anyone who wants to get information or instruction about products or services of Apple. Among different protection and supporting programs, Apple Care Protection Plan is available. According to Apple Care Protection Plan, you will have the opportunity to extend your computers 90’ days of complimentary support. In addition you can have one year repair coverage up to three years of world class support. Apart from this Apple also offers other services for your iPod, iPhone or your Apple TV. You can get up to two years support via email or phone. There are several service-supporting plans for your software: Apple Care Helpdesk Support Apple Care Professional Video Support Apple Care Technician Also there are other service-supporting programs for your server and storage Mac OSX Server Software Support Apple Care Premium Service and Support for Xserve Apple Care Xsan Support Apple Care Service Parts Kits
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 company’s 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
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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
Will franchising impact on growth opportunities? Taking in consideration Apple’s image which is very different from other companies in the market, the opportunities of franchising will not be very beneficial. What we’ve noticed while doing research on this company is the lack of Apple’s cooperation with other companies. In other words Apple is not willing to create partnerships or any kind of commitment with other companies in the market. One of the causes of such a fact might be the controversial image and business policies that other companies have compared to Apple. Moreover franchising or other similar practices will not contribute on growth opportunities. That is because Apple as a strong company at the moment doesn’t need such practices or simply is not willing to use such practices.
What you have learned about this kind of business from outside sources (trade suppliers, bankers, other franchise owners, franchiser, publications) There is not much credible information for our company and business from outside sources such as trade suppliers, bankers or franchise owners. The entire research that we’ve done is merit of available online sources. We have used a lot of surveys, stock shares and other statistical information. By analyzing these we’ve compared Apple and other companies in the market. Moreover, we have been able to understand the Apples growth opportunities, weaknesses and customer’s wants as well. In addition we have managed to collect information from credible sources such as articles and books. All these sources and information made possible for us to come up with better conclusion about the whole business and company, as well.
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Corporate Goals and Objectives 1.” Apple Inc. plans to keep creating and releasing computers and consumer electronics that are more user-friendly.” (Training and Development Program for Apple Inc., page 7) 2. “Apple Inc. will focus more opening more stores even on international locations to help increase in sales.” (Training and Development Program for Apple Inc., page 7) 3. Another objective of Apple is innovation. Steve jobs in one of his famous quotes said: “Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.”(Jobs, Brainy Quotes, sec.2)
What essential resources is the success of the corporation reliant upon? There are several essential resources in which the success of company is reliant upon. Generally Apple’s success relies in resources that they provide for their customers. This enables them to better understand their target market, and also built trustworthiness relationships with customers. Among some services the most important ones are: Service and Support Resources Consulting Online Resources Training and Certification How do the suppliers and stakeholders define success? Suppliers define success based on the demand for their products towards Apple Inc., and also on the price of Apple’s end-product prices. Stakeholders, in the other hand, define success based on the stock-values and their trends, and also on the current market share and its global expansion.
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Market Analysis Target Market Apple’s target market consists of people with these characteristics:
The Age groups of:
Both Genders Middle and upper economic class; that doesn’t hesitate paying more for a product that offers higher quality and better experience The educational level is mostly secondary or higher. Depending on the product, it could be a 5th grader as well as a professional filmmaker Mostly residents of U.S. and Europe, but generally globally resided. Within the countries, the target market mainly resides the cities From the lifestyle point of view it is people that get pleasure from technology and music but also businesspeople and graphic and moving media professionals.
12-35 for Music Fans 18-60 for all products
Customer Perception and Satisfaction Customers classify a corporation’s success based on their brand- perception and satisfaction of products and services. As for the brand-perception Apple evolved to cult, and represents a lifestyle; it is perceived as the simplicity of design and quality. As for the Consumer Satisfaction, Forrester generated a Customer Experience poll in 2009. Surveying over 4500 U.S. customers of Apple, Compaq, Dell, Gateway and HP, these were the findings:
Apple came out on top, with a “good” rating of 80%. Compaq, HP, and Gateway ended up between 63% and 66% while Dell came in at the bottom with a “poor” 58% rating. Apple received the highest score for all three components of the CxPi. It had a particularly large lead over all other PC makers when it came to being easy to work with (17%+ better than the others) and being enjoyable (15%+ better than the others). Dell landed at the bottom of the PC rankings because it was rated well below the other firms in the areas of being easy to work with and being enjoyable.
The bottom line: The Windows ecosystem needs an extreme customer experience makeover. (Temkin, 2009, sec. 1). These results clearly show that Apple customers are by far the most satisfied, which means from the customers perspective, they’re the most successful in meeting customer needs and expectations, thus giving them the best product-experience available in the market.
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Market Growth Apple Inc.’s Market started growing in 1997 then decreased slightly, until 2000. From then on it is steeply growing. Starting in the U.S., after the comeback of Steve Jobs, Apple started selling overseas as well. Since many of Apple’s parts and products are produced outside the U.S. (Europe and Asia), not only are the production costs lower, but Apple also got to have better insights in those markets. Other than that it must be said that since Apple’s market is growing, the market titan Windows has lost market, the graph below shows the differences over the past years.
Even in the current global economic situation, Apple Inc. is making more and more sales daily, the next charts will show difference of Apple product sales from 2008 and 2009.
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Important to know, are also Apple’s biggest markets worldwide, for the iPhone and iTouch it is surprisingly not the U.S. as many might thing, and not only not first but as the coming chart will show U.S. is the smallest market for those two products.
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 Apple’s 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. 17
Apple’s price area level provides it with enough room to avoid price competition. Apple’s 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 Apple’s 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 company’s 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 PC’s 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
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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 scenario’s 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 Apple’s sales in the near future
Window’s 7 (software), which after the flop of vista is gaining more and more market share
The very high speed of technology development
PEST Analysis The PEST analysis helps determine the current situation of Apple Inc., identifying potential influences of the political, economic, social and technological sectors; and have a glimpse into the future of Apple inc. Political Influences: It is reported that in 2007 52% of sales of Apple were from outside America. Bad international relations, wars and terrorism might influence Apple in a huge manner; moreover these are all factors Apple has no ability to control. Apple Inc. produces many of its parts and products outside the U.S., like Ireland, Czech Republic, Korea, China, and Cork. Political Conflicts between the U.S. and any of these states may have awful outcomes for Apple Inc. Economic Influences: The global economic depression might have immense impact on Apple Inc. The inflation rate is high, while consumer’s incomes didn’t have significant changes, moreover the unemployment rate has increased, leading consumers to spend less, especially on ‘luxury products’, as Apple products might be viewed. Even though the U.S. dollar has lost value, Apple Inc. is not as endangered economically. The corporation has purchased itself foreign currency, to minimize the economic effects of inflation on Apple Inc. It needs to be said that the U.S. dollar’s depreciation has in fact increased Apple’s revenue in the international market. 19
Social Influences: Globalization includes the interaction of people worldwide, for which technology plays the main role. Today’s World cannot be imagined without technological devices as Computers, mobile phones etc. Apple is the globally seen as the King of technology, not because of most usage, but quality and design. Another big social influence is the music industry, which over the last decade has become virtual and set its market to the cyberspace. Apple having developed the biggest virtual media store, iTunes, is well ahead any other competition of this direction. Web piracy might be a threat, but most governments punish those behaviors. All in all, Apple’s image also portrays the modern individual’s lifestyle, combining functionality with design, leading to brand identification and loyalty. Therefore social influences have positive effects on Apple Inc. Technological Influences: The technology market for computers and mobile phones has become huge, adding more competition in the market. Also technology innovations and changes are almost as fast as light, therefore the products lifecycle is very short. Investing largely in Research and Product Development, Apple is on top of the market, regarding innovative products. This includes making the work for the competition to follow, but it’s still better because innovation is a big part of the brand and has shown to pay out.
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.
The computer industry: with the iMac and Macbook desktop and laptop computers and partially with the Apple TV The smart-phone industry: with the iPhone The online-music industry: with iTunes The music-device industry: with the iPod The technological tools industry: with devices used for the main products mentioned above.
Who are the five most influential competitors?
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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 customer’s direct relationships and that’s why they even were awarded for customer services. Also, Dell inc. needs to make a drastic change. They don’t 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 didn’t develop still a band of products for his own company.
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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 Dell’s 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 doesn’t 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 doesn’t 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 Mac’s and other competitor’s computers were the operating system they use. Define how each competitor advertises, whether their copy is short, descriptive, or catchy? And how do they reduce their prices for sale? While researching for Dell ways of advertisement we have learned that from an audit that was done in Dell Inc. they moved from mass media to direct marketing. So they preferred to talk with their customers directly, ask and answer their questions and also learn more about their needs. This kind of strategy turned to be very successful for Dell Inc. This way of advertisement tend to be more memorable because as you have the chance to make questions for everything you are interested and get immediate answers than you understand that you are important for the company. Other than Apple, Dell competes on price. An advantage on price competition of Dell over other companies is the fact that they do not have stores. Dell sells over internet and phone; 22
therefore has no cost for rent or salespeople at stores. They produce stereotype computer models, but also give the opportunity for the consumer to choose the installations and parts of their Dell purchase on their own. It seems that Microsoft Corp. is one of the companies that have those creative ideas in advertising. Those days they put a kiosk in front of Apple store and try to push customer’s record their voice and say “I’m a PC”. This seems an attractive idea of Microsoft and makes people believe that company concerns about their needs. Also this can be memorable for them because they will always remember and tell their friends that ones they recorded something for Microsoft and that is a great advertisement. Microsoft advertises their company with direct marketing because it seems to be more effective. The last but not least important thing to mention is the way company reduces prices. They first reduce operational costs which make them save time and money for the company and make possible to offer a competitive prices. This factor makes relationship between company and customers stronger. During the 90’s it was interesting to analyze IBM’s advertising methods. Though they were targeting large businesses, they had ordinary TV commercials just like dishwasher-tablets. They tried to make the business owners aware of the brand, while those were sitting home, after long days at work and watching the news at prime-time. Things have changed. It seems that IBM during 2009 moved away from traditional advertisements. According to their scenario planning they made customer the center of them or centricity. So as they moved to centric marketing they started to experiment with new models. HEWLETT PACKARD CO is doing mass advertising, mostly through TV advertisements and web-advertisements; but also by sponsoring games and TV advertised parties and lotteries. HP is trying to connect to the consumer, and is targeting the young age-groups from 18-35 years. They also have very low minimum prices of computers starting by 350$.
How does the corporation promote their business? Public Relations plan. Advertising plan.
During all these years Apple Inc. was well-known for its advertisements. Their advertisement plan was designed to introduce Apple creative products to customers in a brilliant way. Many years ago, in order to make their ads more interesting and memorable Apple use a perfect plan on focusing their advertisement strategy in “special events” like conferences. The reason why Apple does this is because in those conferences the large number of media representatives is present and many other viewers or guests, assuming that the best way of promotion is made by media ambassadors in so called special conferences or events.
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In the beginning, the best advertising slogan and campaign since late 1990s was “Think Different”. This campaign remains an essential part of Apple Inc. even those days with iPod and iMac also, customers related it with famous people like John Lennon and Mahatma Gandhi were. After that, Apple Inc. in order to make their customers believe that their products are the best ones many years ago ran a “Test drive a Macintosh” promotion. Interesting and special about this promotion was that the potential buyers of Macintosh’s were able to try it for 24 hours with their credit cards and return them back. Even though dealers weren’t satisfied with this kind of promotion because some of the Macintosh’s when returned back were in a bad form and they couldn’t sell them anymore, a magazine named Advertising Age named it one of the best promotions of 1984s with 200,000 applicants. During the last couple of days an important issue about relation between Apple and Publics was the crucial part of Apple Mr. Jobs. As company announced that Mr. Jobs has health problems this issue became anxious for the customers but in a way they feel that their loyal company is being honest with them even though they are scared for the Apple Inc. future if something happen to the head of company. The public relation team closed this topic and comments about it by saying that Mr. Jobs will be the one to announce about his personal life after reading the letter he wrote for them. He said that he dedicated his life to Apple and that he will always do what’s best for the company first. This fact describes perfectly the relation that company has with its employees and customers.
What pricing strategy have they devised? For many years Apple Inc. is known for a great price strategy. As it is one of the best brand of computers they don’t want to compete with others in price because they will reduce their reputation that was really hard to won. One of the best and most profitable strategies that apple did was reducing the size of notebook. By doing it they had a successful year with 20% profit and 6% loss for their competitors so they pretty much enjoyed their success with 30% growth in sales than in the whole market. Another important thing that needs to be mentioned is that during holidays Apple discounts their MacBooks for 5-10% comparing with their competitors that had discounts for 50% and still Apple managed their price strategy very good. It seems obvious, Apple Inc. until now showed that they are a great team and are capable to manage a company the best way possible and bring back a lot of profit
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How can the corporation hold/increase your market share? Corporations can increase the market share in different ways. A creative company like Apple Inc. does it by producing different kinds of products each of them more innovative, interesting and attractive than the other. This way has proven to be very successful for Apple up until now and promises to increase the market share in the big steps it has started. The great example of that was in 2008 when Apple experienced the most successful year ever by selling a record number of iPhone and Apple TV. A principle of Apple is selling luxury technology; therefore compete on differentiation rather than price. This might make Apple take longer to the top of the market, but is a more stable way to it.
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Scenario Planning Processes for the following trends: 1.(F)luxury 2.Eco-Easy 3.Real-Time Reviews 4.Population Growth/Urbanism 5.Economic Growth 6.Catching-up is the new Laying Back
1. Trend: Future trend: (F)luxury The (f)luxury trend is described to imply that “luxury is/will be at flux”, meaning “luxury will lie in the eye of the beholder and everybody will choose themselves what luxury is”(10 Crucial Consumer Trends, 2009). 1. The decision to be taken based on the facing fact towards Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is currently being viewed as a luxury product company, how will the above mentioned trend affect this perception? The point is to work with the trend and direct the “fate” into the pace we want it to be; meaning: keep the Apple’ luxury perception’ as one for those who see it as such, and convince the other thinking as well. 2. Key factors influencing this decision Why not mass-produce and sell at low/cheap prices? –Simple, Apple is not cheap. Next to the good quality products Apple provides, it also has stabled a noble reputation, starting from the 1970’s and 80’s up until the present day. This Image must not only be preserved, but taken to an even higher level floating in its recent tendency. The challenge of this trend is high enough, considering the fact that it is depended on almost 7 billion opinions all over the World. What we need to know in order to stay on top of this matter is the public opinion, and what we need to do is shape it. 26
Being the number one technology-luxury company with magnificent products, of which some can be obtained by greater masses, as are the iPod and iTunes, is what would be viewed a success in this case. In the other hand, being viewed as overdone and not original anymore, because so many people have it already and having consumer’s buy the competition’s low-priced products would be the failure in this case. Basically: managing to stay on top of the trend and build the needed public opinion in the situation would be the success; whereas if we let the image of Apple turn into a cliché we would fail, in our reputation and share. What we know is that most public opinion is initially created by the media. Rarely do people stay resistant to news, fashion trends and their friends & families ideas and influences, therefore good cooperation with the media will be most crucial. 3. Driving forces influencing key factors A driving force is Post-modern society, where nothing is set or settled, everything is relative and rules change by the second, people try to be individual, original and up-lifted from the mainstream. They still share some preferences in fashion, technology, arts, etc. by interacting with each other all around the Globe, sharing thoughts, opinions and information. Something happening in Paris today and being posted on YouTube, can cause a trend rightaway in NYC, or anywhere else in the World- and vice versa, explaining the driving force of communication. The third force is the competition, which waits in the background, until it pops out with their technological answers to the iPod and iPhone, (ex. Google smart phone).
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4. Importance and Uncertainty ranking of key factors and their driving forces
Image
Public Opinion
Media
Post-Modernism
Communication Competition
5.1 Best Case Scenario It’s 2014 and the presence of Apple has increased by 35% in the global market, its products being considered trendy & luxurious, each in their rank from iPods, over iPhones up to iMacs. Even the virtual iTunes store, as convenient as it is, has high likeability all over the planet; all of this thanks to providing enough change & innovation and not letting the brand to turn into a cliché. People especially like Apple because it is some ‘piece of luxury’-lifestyle they easily can be part of, increasing their presence in that lifestyle by buying more and more Apple products. Not only the lower priced is in a tremendous sales up-shift, so is the expensive price category. People literally love the brand and the simplicity in use and design. Apple has cut itself a huge piece from the market share pie. 5.2 Worst Case Scenario It’s 2014 and Apple has reductions in sales, because people find it boring and overdone. Over the last couple of years Dell, Compaq and HP have come up with their versions of luxury products and are selling like mad, while Apple is the once too cocky brand that has closed some stores here and there.
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People have accepted the competition’s lower price products “luxurious enough”, while Apple could not lower prices because of its all time image. Apple is living on iTunes and is now taking out the survival card, and is trying to get into the game again with a whole new concept hopefully to be successful. Having followed the signposts better would have been a much better card.
5.3 In-Between Scenario It’s 2014, the (f)luxury trend foreseen in 2009 was not as intensive as predicted. It smoothly touched fashion and arts, but technology was too hard to be individualized. Apple has gone its pace from then and has launched some new products, and during all the time being careful for different signposts of various predicted trends. Sales have gone up in its former steep slope and Apple has opened more franchises all over the World. The brand perception is still luxurious and appealing, bringing Apple some steps closer to the Himalaya of technology.
6. Decision Evaluation for each Scenario The (f)luxury scenario decisions are positive in the Best- and In-between Case, but negative in the worst case. (F)luxury is not easy to evaluate, since the nature of this trend relies on perception and opinion of individuals; nevertheless: risk is high if the trend of (f)luxury is not taken seriously. In the opposite case, if taken seriously it can be a very welcome trend for Apple. Most important to end up in a positive position: Follow the signposts! 7. Indicators and Signposts for each Scenario Best Case:
Sales increase, more demand, people’s appearance with Apple products everywhere
Worst Case:
Sales decrease, competition coming up with new Apple-challenging products, people buying competition’s products more than before
In-Between Case:
(F)luxury doesn’t become a challenge for technology, sales proceed as predicted.
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2. Trend: Eco-easy According to apple in 2001 they began an Apple Recycling Program. By this program we achieved to collect over 90% of electronic equipments. Apple started this program for our benefit and protection of the environment. Apple is expected to succeed in all areas including being green Also; they are constantly responding people needs and wants. Step 1 Even that our company introduced Apple recycling program since 2001, we believe that it is still very important to expand and strengthen further our existing policies and programs, especially taking into consideration the environmental difficulties that our planet is facing. In this regard, Apple will not miss its opportunity to contribute for a greener planet. In order to make people react more to our recycling program we should install in apple products software a green apple program. Green Apple program will introduce that product is recycled, will make people aware for the importance of recycling, environmental friendly policies and will make them also part in
contributing in a greener planet. Step 2 By adding to our products this important program it doesn’t mean that it will cost a lot of money to us. So, in order to develop our ideas we as a company need to know that we will have profit from it. By recycling we will protect the environment so we will have an excellent image to our customers and the most important is that we will use our sold equipments again after recycling. According to that we don’t need to spend as much money as we did before. Recycling is not considering beneficial only for the earth but also creates a relation between businesses and its customers. The success/failure of this program will be determined by positively respond of customers toward Green Apple program and increasing rate of recycling equipments. Critical assumptions that might define the logic of these responses might be the high importance of Green Apple program
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that for any reason it looks more important than product itself, but this program will be in addition to the product. Step 3 They key factor that influence growing rate of recycling is desire of people for more green places or clean spaces around them. Certain Uncertain
Customer behavior Public opinion Also, support of political factors its certain since government itself introduces green policies in national level. Other important factor for us as a company is making and processing sustainable products without customer noticing after recycling. Political factors
Step 4 Most important factors Using recycling equipments Protecting the environment Rising self-awareness
Most uncertain factors Consumer Behavior Public Opinion Customer Reaction
Those are the most important and uncertain factors identified for our recycling program.
Step 5 Best case scenario: The growing rate of recycling toward our program, helping protect the environment, shipping old equipments for free to us, responding positively to our initiative and using the same equipments after recycling will definitely bring our company a lot of profit because, by recycling we will pay less for our production costs but also customers will pay less and will purchase more. So, this case will consider as a best case scenario. In between scenario: Because of the economic crises the importance of the recycling program or recycling policies will not have required importance and it will not stand out as in normal times but still the scenario will goes as it was planned. Customer’s responds are relatively positive but not as we were hoping them to be.
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Worst case scenario: As I said before because the economic crises people are losing their jobs, they are not so much interested in luxury products as our products are considered and they will not purchase our products so there will be no need for Green Apple Program or recycling. Step 6 When studying eco-easy trend in three different cases of scenarios I concluded that the risk of installing Green Apple Program in Apple products it is not high, actually is low. Rising self-awareness of people for recycling will be helpful for both of us, company and customers. Even in the worst case scenario we will not have loses but we will produce as much as we purchase and we will try to be more creative with our products in the future. Step 7 If we see that the number of recycling equipments is increasing then we know that we are achieving our goal step by step by people reactions. In contrast, if no one is reacting, sales will decrease and there will be no need for Green Apple Program. Finally, in between case scenario will not have a progress or retreat but it will stay as it is and customer’s responds will be relatively positive.
3. Trend: Real Time – Reviews
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Apple Inc. is considered as one of the most successful manufacturers of electronics and computer software in the business market. It is obvious that companies today face different trends while being part of the market. Successful companies such as Apple identify these trends that affect their performance, and try to move along with them in order to be as much productive as they can. While facing different trends companies are exposed to risk. That is why we do a scenario planning in order to assess risk, which refers the key decisions that we make. Among different trends that our company is facing and apparently will face in the future is Real time –Reviews trend. Trend Introduction and Decision Issue Real time- reviews are considered as a form of communication among people interested in a particular brand. They seem very similar to forums where people debate and inform each other about a particular brand. Reviews are very important since they involve people’s opinions, thoughts and preferences for a particular product. Actually a reviewer posts reviews for a particular brand and then peers try to follow up by creating discussions and conversations. These conversations have their importance because they gather consumers and other potential consumers who are interested in a particular brand, service or product. In our modern society there are a lot of opportunities that stimulate these kinds of activities. Online access on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedln, My Space, (YouTube might be considered, as well) enable people to discuss and share opinions, which makes the discussion available and viewable to all. Apart from these online ‘communication tools’ there are also other forms how people can share information. Decision In order to get the best possible feedback from people interested in our products, we have decided to create Real Time- Reviews that will contain the latest updates for our products and company, as well. These reviews will be posted and forums will be created within online cyberspaces, where people can be aware of our products. Our aim is to inform people about our products, new features and other upcoming future products. People that have access in these forums or discussions will be treated as real customers, meaning that they will receive enough information so they can purchase our brand. In addition to these reviews there will be also pictures, videos and other hints that will be available to everyone. 33
Key Factors that Influence the Decision In order to get as much opinions and thoughts about our company, our aim also will be opening such forums in the most visited online cyberspaces. This will help us identify our potential buyers. This will help us think of such questions as: what actually we should produce, and for whom we should produce? These parameters are the main factors why we’ve decided to come up with these reviews. If we are able to respond to the two questions mentioned, we can secure a better and successful performance of our company. In other words, organizing such reviews will help us determine what is right and wrong about our products. The information posted in these reviews will be enough to satisfy people as if they were asking for a product in an Apple store. Further, we will provide people with information and let them have access in these reviews as if they were Apple’s regular customers. However if we do not rely in these discussions and pay attentions to what people are demanding we might find ourselves in inconvenient situations.
The Driving Forces that Influence Key factors What we’ve considered as the main purpose of organizing such forums is that we face the phenomenon of globalization. People in different places of the world have access on these sites and can get any kind of information they want. This way we have an overall understanding how others perceive our company. Another important issue that we’ve considered while organizing real time – reviews is advertising. These discussions and forums are considered as a form of advertising by many companies. Since they save time and money, network communications such as Facebook, Twitter and My Space are used by lots of companies with the purpose of advertising their products or services. Another insight, which is very important and can be derived from these reviews, is consumer behavior. By being aware of what people think we get to understand how they perceive and behave toward our products. Also this will help us better decide about prices of our products. In other words, how do people behave toward these prices, are they buying our products or not? Key Factors and Driving Forces by Importance and Uncertainty We consider our products as part of a macro environment and that is why we came up with the real time reviews. Today the means of communication have been enormously improved and the world 34
has become smaller than we thought it will be. Therefore by offering such reviews and getting people from different places to have access on them, we have built a globalized company. Also this way we make the advertising process easier. Not only that we’ve saved time and money to do so, but also we are informing people about Apple’s products around the world. Thus these two factors: the improvement of means of communication and advertising might be considered as more predictable and certain than consumer behavior. We might face uncertainty when dealing with people’s opinions especially while predicting their behavior toward our products. An option that might help us understand the behavior of our customers might be to create some surveys within these reviews. The surveys that should be assigned to reviews will contain several questions about our products. This way we can decrease the level of uncertainty regarding our customer’s behavior. Evaluation of the Decision in Each Scenario There are three cases of scenarios to evaluate what we aim or decide: Best Case Scenario, Worst Case Scenario, and In-Between Scenario. Best Case Scenario: Since the communication among people nowadays has become sophisticated, the idea to initiate reviews for our company and its products is very useful. Apple gets a lot of feedback from these reviews, so as people get as much information as they can. Therefore creating as much reviews as we can, and making them reachable for people would guarantee us a lot of benefits. People who live in much more civilized and developed places are prone to attend these reviews and share opinions with others. However this is dependable also in company’s ability to appreciate these reviews and use them for its own productivity. An appropriate thing to do would be sharing with people anything about Apple’s products so people can share as much opinions as they can. Getting people’s attention to react and feel free to comment on anything they like or not would be the best case. Also the availability of such cyberspaces such as: Twitter, Facebook, My Space and other sites where a lot of forums and groups are formed, can enhance the whole process of this productivity. In addition to reviews people should be provided with pictures, videos and other hints that show the latest updates. Worst Case Scenario:
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We all know that Apple has reached a very successful position in the world of business technology. A part of this success is also result of Apple being able to understand its customers. However, being able to get people express their opinions and attend these forums sometimes might not be attainable. Such situations might be common in places that are not very civilized, where the level of education is low and people hesitate to follow such activities. Usually people are not very well informed for the existence of such cyberspaces or forums, and do not open themselves to such opportunities. Another factor might be also the luxurious image of Apple itself. People tend to buy less costing products instead of Apple products. This way they get less interested for Apple as a company and its features, as well. On the other side, the lack of company to post these reviews in the proper way might be a reason for failure of this decision. If we do not inform others about our features, updates, services, and any other kind of news we lose people’s interest. This way the risk to lower productivity is high. In-Between Scenario: A continuation of the current situation where there is not much productivity or less will correspond to this scenario. In other words keeping people interested and viewing these reviews as they were before is a way to keep the process move in a normal flow. What we as a company might consider as appropriate in this situation is to offer products that are attainable so people get more interested about them. The company should consider some changes that might make others see the prices of Apple products as more acceptable. However, this doesn’t mean that the company should change its ‘luxurious’ image. This might be done by giving people these opportunities not always but in particular cases. Considering all these, people will be able to share opinions more this time. Indicators and Signposts for Each Scenario Based on our planning and decisions that we’ve made for each scenario we can think of indicators and signposts for each scenario. This way we will be able to predict different outcomes from these three different scenario cases. Best Case Scenario: People are attending these forums and are part of these cyberspaces. They use Twitter, Facebook and My Space in order to communicate as much as possible and at the same time show their interest for Apple products. This tells us that the real time-reviews that are part of the plan, are productive and benefit the customer but the Apple, as well.
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Worst Case Scenario: People are showing less interest for Apple products and they are not willing to initiate such activities. Therefore, the demand for Apple products is decreasing which result with high loses. People switch Apple products to other products available in the market that have lower prices. In Between Scenario: The initiative to create such forums and invite people to participate in them, results to be not very productive. There should be more initiatives that would attract people more creatively to get interested in the product. However, Apple continuous to launch in the market innovative product features; always trying to reach the customer’s needs and wants. Also Apple luxurious image is still maintained.
4. Trend: Population Growth Today Apple’s industry is a large one, with a large impact. Since its founding in 1976, Apple has evolved in electronics. Starting with memorable products—the original Macintosh, the iMac, the iPod, it 37
has created a strong impact over the last three decades. We can also say that Apple has created the so called ‘self identification’ component for people. Thus, it has become a global company with 3,496 million dollars profit. However, the future can change since a lot of environmental factors will change. One of them is the urbanization process. Step 1: The focal issue or decision facing the enterprise Issue: Urbanism- People tending to move into urbanized areas. Where will urbanization lead us and what is its impact in our company? For the year 2050 the projection of population growth varies widely, from 7 to 11 billion people. Reasonably, the rural population will continue to move to urban areas. A lot of reasons help people to make this decision. First, in less developed countries, poverty, limited education and less work opportunities are present. In urban areas possibilities of finding jobs are higher, better education and better medical care. Decision: Maintaining a global image in up-coming urbanized areas With urbanism happening, people’s demands and preferences will rise, influencing different services and products. We would aim to maintain our position in up-coming urbanized areas. We will not be the only one out there in the market, so we should take in consideration the competition. Thus, we have decided to maintain our image by offering new product, services and also trying to maximize our customer’s satisfaction by listening to their needs and desires. Step 2: Key factors that influence this decision If the population continues to grow, it will be absorbed by big cities with an estimated of 5 billion on 2030. Therefore, demands of the people will rise. This would encourage our company to focus and try to satisfy customer’s needs. Being a part of urbanized areas, would make it easy for us to develop new strategies of being a successful company. However, since most of the population growth will take place in the developing countries, we should consider the competition, as mentioned before. We should develop a clear map to stay in current market and to maintain the image that we have created. On the other hand, what about the non-urbanized areas? We should consider the fact that some areas will not have direct access to our products and services. We should find a way to approach and develop a strategy in those areas. Perhaps, the best way to start is to research the economy of those areas. Another factor would be the demographic and political one. What are the tendencies for the population to grow or to move from non-urbanized areas to big cities? We should consider these factors too. Success would be considered staying on track with current changes and analyzing them. In which directions population have tendency to move? Clearly, a failure would occur if we can’t manage to stay on track with current changes.
Step 3: List the driving forces that influence these key factors.
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Some of the main driving forces include demography, but also we can apply here other analysis of education, nationality, ethnicity and religion. Other forces can be economic growth, political factors, technology and innovation, public opinion, consumer behavior and environmental concern. The most certain would be demography factor and for sure urbanization under it. Economy can be viewed as predictable from 4% to 5%. Uncertain would be technology, public opinion, political factors and environmental factor. The consumer behavior may also change over the time. Thus, we have to be careful analyzing all these forces that influence our decision. Step 4: Rank the key factors and driving forces by importance and by uncertainty All these factors have a specific role and importance and ranking them would help us see where we stand. With certainty and huge impact is demography. With high uncertainty and also with an impact would be technology and innovation. Economy would also be uncertain but not as technology along with political changes and they will have a high impact. Public opinion and consumer behavior remain uncertain and have an impact also. Step 5: Alternate futures that could impact the decision The three possible scenarios to be considered are: Best Case, In-between Case and the Worst Case Scenario.
Best Case Scenario: Urbanization includes a new wave of modern society, so it will open new doors of Apple’s success. However, we should consider a stabilized world population, with efficient use of resources. This provides us with a realistic view of sustainable development. The massive immigration of people from all around the world can be a great indicator of the Apple’s market share. Since the economy now is in its progression time, people will work more to improve the quality of their life and there will be lower living standards. Urbanized areas will have higher revenues and that would affect our company’s revenue. With revenue going higher, the Apple Company could consider expanding in some other places. On the other hand, Apple could consider of hiring people not only in US, but also in other places. The company should focus in the quality of the products and also the prices. By managing this, we would have a competitive advantage and we will build a strong relationship and loyalty with our consumers. Compared to now, in future if Apple increase quality, more companies, colleges, universities, will choose Apple over the others. Since technology always comes up with new developments, Apple would chose to launch new products. Opening new factories in those areas in which the unemployment rate is high would be a good thing to consider. By doing that, Apple would achieve to have a cheap labor and would increase productivity. However, Apple should also consider the education of the people, and its importance. In-between Case Scenario:
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What if urbanism would not increase as much as it is expected? This would give us an idea of how things may go in the following years. The urbanization process might go in the same direction with no huge increases. Apple will keep the same tempo of current market and people will continue to buy its products. People would continue to like Apple, like they do now, simply because Apple is known not only for its luxury products, but also for its services that offers. The services are very convenient even to those with lower incomes, especially students. We can see the preferences for Apple products everywhere we go, especially in a lot of movies and advertisements. Apple should also take in consideration achievements in technology, in order to be on track with them. To maintain its position, Apple could take advantage by advertising, not only in US but in other countries as well, since it is a global company. Analyzing the demographic and economic factors, would keep Apple in the right direction. With analysis, the company could find the changes in these factors and try to adapt to these new changes, by realizing in which areas to focus more. A further step for Apple would be to develop some changes, for example services, advancement in technology, in order to attract its customers. Apple would continue to bring new products and have success because of its image that has created over the time. Stay on track with competitor’s actions can also help the current situation. Worst Case Scenario: As mentioned early, future population growth will tend to be absorbed by big cities. As population grows, people will tend to emigrate from one place to another. If the population increases more than 11 billion, the resource consumption will increase. This would make it difficult for Apple to increase its productivity. We can assume that this would actually destroy the market share of Apple. Other factor to consider is that when this urbanization process will occur in different places, it will threaten the traditional characteristics of that place. There will be a variety of cultures, lifestyles, architecture, which actually threaten the image that Apple has created. Maybe people would switch from Apple to other companies. The consumers will substitute Apple for its low price competitors, since the competition would increase. Apple would have nothing new to offer and would have no new creative services for the customers. This would destroy the trustworthiness and will lead to the destruction of the market share. Hence, the company should take steps to not come to this situation, and this could be done only by analyzing thoroughly the changes. Step 6&7: Evaluation of the decision and signposts for each scenario By analyzing these scenarios, we can freely say that all of these three might happen. By developing these scenarios helped us to understand the uncertainties facing us, and also how might we respond to them. Best Case Signposts: Sale increases, higher revenues, demand increases, crowded cities and schools use Apple products, high employment rate. Worst Case Signposts:
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Limited resources, high prices, high unemployment rate and high competition. In-Between Case Signposts: Market share developing in a current pace, not a huge change in sales, no significant changes in population rate, employment rate.
5. Trend: Economic growth 41
During the last couple of years, the World faced an economic crises that had a globally effects. In 2008 when economic stability was low, Apple Inc. experienced one of the most successful years ever, with $7.9 billion revenue. These achieved results are thanked to iPhone and Apple TV sales. According to the head of Apple Inc., unsteadiness of economy in the world will not affect Apple that much, because of the huge number of customers that the company has, most talented people in the world and most creative and adorable products ever. Also, when Apple came out with record numbers of sales, it was a great progress not just for the company’s profit, but for the economy growth as well.
1. The decision to be taken based on the facing fact towards Apple Inc. Even though Apple Inc. is constantly introducing creative and simple products, it still needs to expand its productivity with bigger ideas. During this economy crises Apple was being stronger. In order to make people react and contribute in economic growth, a great opportunity for Apple would be adding holographic functions to its products. Such a feature will make people want and love that product. Providing the market with this revolutionary technology, long dreamed of and awaited, would not only solve Apple’s current economic threats, but make provisions for the future. 2. Key factors influencing this decision In order to not end up like many other companies and whole industries all over the World, by having immense losses in sales, resulting in losses of market share and labor force, Apple will do what it is known for, and produce holography-featured products. These will surely cost Apple more than any other product at the time, but as it had record sales from other products such as the iPhone, and the iPod and other $25 billion safely in the bank, the risk in producing it is reasonable. The brand identification and loyalty being pretty high, let’s Apple take higher risks, also Apple doesn’t follow regular economic schools. Another factor is the availableness of such highly advanced technology in the broad market, causing a revolution in mobile devices, as are laptops and cell phones. Giving people the opportunity to be with the beloved ones, even when they are far away, causing a revolution in society and sales. 3. Driving forces influencing key factors For the above mentioned factors (in bold font), their driving forces are respectively: for the losses in sales, market share and labor force the global financial recession is possible. It must be said, that its ending can only be roughly estimated, but certain is that purchasing power accelerates the process; therefore offering a break-thru product in this phase is a win-win instrument.
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The brand identification factor has evolved over years and only through the hard and creative work of Apple, they can rely on it. Launching luxury products for the mass-market is something nobody else has ever done in the technology industry. The availableness of highly advanced technology in the market is constantly relative. Technology changing at such fast speed, highly advanced technology of today, could be history tomorrow. Holography is not very developed, and R&D costs will be high, but Apple would surely know, that that feature would stay at the top for pretty long, compared to other technologies.
Losses Brand Identification Advanced Technology Global Financial Recession Purchasing Power Technology Changing
5.1 Best case scenario Its 2015 and Apple is the leading company in the market. The sales for Apple product which resemble comfort and luxury at the same time are increasing more and more. The plan for installing holographic functions in Apple product is implemented. The incorporation of such features as holographic functions has made a revolutionary invention in the world, raising at the same time the demand for such products. The company and R&D have invested a lot of money and the costs for providing such a function are high. In addition to high costs these product are sold at high prices, and people are still willing and able to buy them. The decision made resulted as productive for the company and economy growth. 43
5.2 Worst Case Scenario Its 2015 and Apple has lost its leading position in the market. In addition the trend that planned to integrate holographic functions and features in Apple devices has failed. The high costs that R&D invested in such features resulted with losses and the company has not managed to cover the costs. Competitors have managed to copy the techniques of installing holographic functions in their products. Doing this they have managed to sell their products at lower prices compared to Apple which sold them at higher prices. People are buying these products since they afford lower prices instead of higher prices. As conclusion, the breakthrough opportunity of installing holographic functions in Apple devices has resulted to be not productive and attractive, as well. Apple doesn’t manage to survive from economy crises and the growth opportunities are low. 5.3 In-Between Scenario Its 2015 and the plans that Apple has implemented aren’t as productive as they were predicted to be. The holographic functions in Apple’s devices are not highly demanded, after being introduced in the market. However, Apples sales of previous products and other new released products in the market continue to increase. People are still buying Apple products, still considering these products as high quality products. Apple continues to follow its main principle, which is innovation. New products and features are introduced. Also there have been done better analysis to signposts that lead the company facing different trends. Moreover, the company has managed to cope with economic growth and built a secure future. Signposts: For the best case scenario: Sale increases, competition isn’t developing strategies to approach us in producing this product, demand will increase, Holograph usage by businesses For the worst case scenario: Sale declines, competitors approach us, no interest/succes in holography (demand decrease), unemployment rate, decrease in market share, other innovations encounter. For In-Between case scenario: No drastic changes in sales, market share is in the same tempo, demand and revenue move in the ongoing pace.
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6. Trend: Catching-up is the new laying back Instead of planning ahead and inventing new products, wait for the competition to launch the innovative products and then copy them and add your brand-features to it, saving time and cost for the Research & Development department (R&D). 1. The decision to be taken based on the facing fact towards Apple Inc. The issue: Apple Inc. is an innovator, being the first in the new technology area, Apple’s R&D costs are very high to maintain the market share and collect revenue. This is mainly because technology products have very short life cycle, since the global technology sector is changing very fast. Competitors, be it Dell, Microsoft, or Chinese falsifying companies; wait for Apple’s new products to come out, and then copy the logic and sometimes even the design. Since they do not have to invest in R&D, their cost is significantly lower, so they can sell at much cheaper prices, taking Apple’s market share, and leaving it with losses. The decision to be made: Prohibiting the copying and falsification of Apple products, by programming highly-advanced protection codes into the software, while achieving this leave the competition behind and rule the market.
2. Key factors influencing this decision Reputation loss- the public opinion about the brand and its identity changes; having brand identity as major selling value, this might hurt the company deeply. Revenue declines- Instead of going the present pace, Apple would sell less, therefore lose markets and become smaller, instead of progressing forward. 3. Driving forces influencing key factors For the Reputation loss the driving forces are: copied Apple products, from unknown falsification companies, with the Apple design and logo are sold in the black market, and bought by consumers not knowing it is not original. Those products then mostly lack on software quality, and the consumers come to think that Apple has lost its quality. For the Revenue declines the driving forces are: the competitor’s technological answers to Apple’s innovative products have lower cost, because of R&D savings therefore lower prices. Rational behavior leads the consumer to buy the cheaper product, if it operates the same or similar functions; this might lead to market-share loss, after revenues declines; which is against Apple’s objectives of the leading the Technology market.
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For both of these key factors it is important to mention that Apple will never compete on prices, the brand and success are built on quality and luxury, therefore competing on price would mean the death of Apple as we know it. 4. Importance and Uncertainty ranking of key factors and their driving forces
Revenue Reputation Market share R&D Price-Competition
5. Best Case Scenario It’s 2015 and Apple products are the most demanded world-wide. Apple is still providing innovative high quality products incorporating futuristic technology. Whereas other competitors such as Dell, Microsoft and Hp lost their market share, waiting for Apple products to be launched, so they can bring their copied version of those products in the market. This has led for Apple to rule the market, while not decreasing its prices. Revenues are high, so is the market share which makes Apple a globally most used operating system and technological supplies. Worst Case Scenario It’s 2015, and Apple’s revenue didn’t cover the investment in R&D, because customers weren’t willing to pay high prices for Apple products. This is mainly because competitors like Dell, Microsoft, etc, offered products with similar functions at lower prices. Customer’s rational behavior is logical because Apple didn’t pay enough attention to software security, so other companies would not be able to produce copies of their original products. Thus, Apple served the whole package to its competitors on a plate.
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Revenues declined, so did market share leading Apple to close down departments and concentrate more in iTunes, which is considered the last hope. Apple’s only way to survive would have been price competing, which would have killed the brand and wouldn’t have covered the costs either. In Between Case: Its 2015, Apple sales have increased as foreseen and R&D costs are still high. Moreover, competitors have copied some functional or designing parts or concepts of Apple products. Since they never could copy the whole package, and lacked in quality, they couldn’t really compete with Apple products. Brand loyalty is still very high, so is revenue and demand, Apple is still ahead with new products and its major target is people who value quality. Apple is on the track of reaching the top of the market. 6. Decision Evaluation for each Scenario Best and In between case scenarios have positive outcomes, while the worst case scenario has a negative one, unless Apple considers finding a new revenue source. However, it is very uncertain if the coding- software will be as strong, protecting, and safe as planned to be. Although our current technological position and possibilities allow us to think we can be pretty sure to achieve it. 7. Indicators and Signposts for each Scenario Best Case Signposts: The struggling of competition in time to launch new products Significant increasing brand loyalty and brand image Increase in demand and revenue Worst Case Signposts: Competition launches similar, if not better products than Apples shortly after them, and at lower prices. Decreasing brand loyalty and customers complaints for prices and services Decrease in demand, revenue and market share. In Between Case Signposts: Similar technological competitor’s products are sold at a lower price but offered at a lower quality and features, as well. Brand loyalty increases in the current pace, so do demand, revenue and profits.
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Summary In conclusion, while doing this research we were able to understand how a strong company can function and have different strategies. We also discovered that a crucial factor for a company to stay alive is to stay up to date with ongoing and upcoming trends, as uncertain and important they might appear; and develop different scenarios for the impacts they might have. The most common signposts a company should keep an eye on are: its sales changes, as well as the competition sale changes; public opinion upon events and subjects; market analysis (consumer incomes, product prices, market segmentation etc); product development of competitors, demography changes, environmental changes and issues etc. Our suggestions imply that since Apple Inc is a global corporate, it is important to have a department specialized in trend watching and scenario planning& analyzing. To achieve most success in this direction, the inter-corporate relations between employees, manager and the directing board should be based on friendship, trust, loyalty and creativity. Apple Inc. does not rely that much on consumer focus groups and surveys of what they want to have; as much as on social ongoing trends. And after all, Apple Inc. is a trend setter itself.
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Appendix A R G J IR O R A MO S AJ “Hajdar Dushi” Street. Prishtinë, Kosovë 10000 Phone: (044)-541-579 email: [email protected] EDUCATION American University in Kosovo (AUK), Prishtinë Degree: Bachelor of Science in Applied Arts and Science Management Minor: Public Policy
Expected Graduation 2012 Concentration:
“Sami Frashëri” Gymnasium, Prishtinë
2004 – 2008
RELATED COURSEWORK
Marketing
Research Techniques
Managing Media Presentation
College Math for Business I,II
Communicating in Business
Written Argument
PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Willing to accept responsibility Good oral and written communication skills Self-disciplined and able to focus on task at hand Self –confident.
EXPERIENCE Internship at “TEB Bank”, Prishtinë
Jun- Aug 2009
Red-Cross Kosova volunteer, Prishtinë
Sep 2007
Participant in the Art Gallery Exhibition, Prishtinë SKILLS
April 2008
Computer:
Language:
Microsoft Word Excel PowerPoint
Albanian – Native. Fluent in English. Basic knowledge in German and Italian.
REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST 55
Vesa Batalli Qamil Hoxha, 6/4 Prishtinë,10000, Republic of Kosovo 049/ 692-991 [email protected]
EDUCATION American University of Kosovo (AUK) Sophomore
Sami Frashëri High School GPA: 5/5
September, 2008 – May, 2012 Prishtina, RKS
September, 2005– June, 2008 Prishtina, RKS
CERTIFICATES/ACTIVITIES
Participant Social Issues Conference
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April , 2007 Prishtina, RKS
I attended the conference organized by American School of Kosova, on: Social Issues I undertook a research on Social Issues and presented my analysis in the Conference I was awarded with a Certificate of Excellence due to my successful presentation
Participant English Centre Summer School
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I successfully completed the course: English Lessons
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I attended for 3 weeks teaching lessons at a High School in England
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I extended my knowledge by living and learning in England for a month
Participant
July – August, 2005 England, UK
January, 2004 - February, 2004
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Folk Dance School SHOTA
Switzerland , CH
I attended the Cultural Activity on introducing Albanian tradition in Switzerland
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY Case Administrator Insurance Company SIGURIA / Kosovo
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July, 2007 – August , 2007 Prishtina, RKS
I administered damaged claims for vehicles insurance, and checked if all the necessary documentation is provided from the claimant. I filed and registered the claims, and forwarded them to the relevant agent of the company. I also provided feedback to our customers in relation to the status of their claim.
Presenter of ‘Çka ka t’3’ TV Show KTV Kohavision Television/ Kosovo
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2006 Prishtina, RKS
On the instructions of the Editor I selected a topic that will be attractive and interesting for the youth. I drafted the concept of the show, and undertook the relevant research and interviews. I help also with cutting the recorded pieces and completing the final broadcast.
Volunteer SOS Kinderdorf Kosovo
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Helped raising money for orphanage children.
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I successfully managed to raise a considerable contribution from local businesses
Call Centre Agent
2006 - 2007 Prishtina, RKS
June, 2009 – August , 2009
57
IPKO / Kosovo
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Prishtina, RKS
I received and answered phone calls from clients with the purpose to respond and help in cases of eventual problems, different requests and client complains. I helped customers use their product and offered advice for technical problems. I also received and answered e-mails coming from clients for different issues that they inquire.
SKILLS
Highly skilled with Windows XP Software, including:
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Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Adobe Reader
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Powerpoint, Microsoft Office Project
LANGUAGES
Albanian Native Language
English Fluent
Spanish Fluent
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D O R I N A G R E ZD A “Ahmet Krasniqi” Street, no.23. Prishtinë, Kosovë 10000 Phone: (044)-620-309 email: [email protected]
EDUCATION American University in Kosovo (AUK), Prishtinë Degree: Bachelor of Science in Applied Arts and Science Minor: Public Policy “Sami Frashëri” Gymnasium, Prishtinë
Expected Graduation 2012 Concentration: Management 2004 – 2008
RELATED COURSEWORK
Marketing
Research Techniques
Managing Media Presentation
College Math for Business I,II
Communicating in Business
Written Argument
PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS Self motivated with a positive attitude and a strong sense of responsibility. Flexible and able to adapt to new situations. Problem solver and team player. EXPERIENCE “Dorina” cosmetic shop, cashier, Prishtinë
Jun- Aug 2006
Provided customer service. Calculated total payments received during business hours. Orphanage, volunteer, Prishtinë
July 2007
Visited and took care for children. Internship at “Ipko”, Telecommunication Company, finance accountant, Prishtinë Provided financial reports.
Jun- Sep 2009
SKILLS
Computer:
Language:
Microsoft Word Excel PowerPoint
Albanian – Native. Fluent in English. Basic knowledge in Spanish and Portuguese.
INTERESTS Photography Exhibition, Art Museum, Prishtinë Participated in local exhibitions with personal photographs.
May - Jun 2007
REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
59
References available upon Request
NERTILË LATIFI
Sofali 86 | 10000 Prishtinë | 049-448-886 | [email protected]
EDUCATION Bachelor of Applied Arts and Science, Undergraduate American University in Kosovo, Prishtinë
Expected May 2012
Related course work: Marketing, College Math for Business, Communicating in Business, Creative& Critical Thinking, Managing Media Presentations. Dean’s List, two semesters; GPA: 3.67/4.00 Sami Frashëri High School, Prishtinë May 2008 Activities: Raised money for the poor people of Krusha, Prizren; Organized art exhibition in the Youth Center Prishtina; Philosophy Club, Wall-News Paper.
SKILLS & ABILITIES Persuasive Communicator Experienced in creating and delivering multimedia PowerPoint Presentations. Leading team-work member, encouraging others in getting the work done Superior psychological skills in understanding peoples’ behavior and reasoning Excellent critical and analytical abilities Skilled in gathering and interpreting data Trilingual: Albanian-English-German
Sales Recently started selling cars on occasion, individually for family members, friends and friends of friends.
Communications Substitute translator for business seminars at University of Business and Technology, Prishtinë; Advertising Duplex Lounge Bar Prishtina.
EXPERIENCE Promoter Duplex Lounge Bar, Prishtinë
May,2008 to July,2008
Responsible for deciding advertising- positions, -demand of flyers and their distribution; Researching the market for competitors’ activities and bringing new ideas. All- round gastronomy worker Badi Rüti Bistro, Zürich, CH
July,2008 to August,2008
Flexible in jumping in to the variety of work having to be done: cashier, cook, supply ordering, domestic work, planning of special events, and recruiting newcomers.
References available upon request 60
Brand and Logo: Apple
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Organizational Chart and Leadership Structure
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Business Conduct Policy Due to the fact that Apple Inc.’s Business Conduct Policy File cannot be downloaded from the page, without special membership; therefore we have provided the URL, where that information is accessable: http://www.slideshare.net/finance11/apple-business-conduct-policy-updated-108. Business Process Diagrams: For the (F)luxury trend:
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For the Eco-Easy trend:
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For the Real-Time Review trend: TODAY THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION HAVE BEEN IMPROVED ENORMUSLY. THAT IS WHY APPLE HAS PROVIDED A NEW FORM OF SHARING INFORMATION
ARGJIRO RAMOSAJ WE AS A COMPANY FACE THE PHENOMENON OF GLOBALIZATION. OUR AIM IS TO INFORM PEPOPLE FROM DIFFERENT PLACES ABOUT APPLE AND ITS PRODUCTS
IN ORDER TO GET THE BEST POSSIBLE FEEDBACK FROM PEOPLE , WE HAVE DECIDED TO CREATE REAL TIME -REVIEWS.
APPLE INC. TREND: REAL TIME- REVIEWS OBJECTIVE: PROVIDE PEOPLE WITH THE LATEST APPLE’S UPDATES
REAL TIME-REVIEWS - WILL CONTAIN THE LATEST UPDATES FOR OUR PRODUCTS AND COMPANY. PEOPLE WILL BE TREATED AS REAL CUSTOMERS. THE REVIEWS WILL BE POSTED IN ONLINE CYBERSPACES, AND FORUMS WILL BE CREATED WITHIN THESE CYBERSPACES:
FACEBOOK
LINKED-IN
MY SPACE
TWITTER
FORUMS- PEOPLE WILL HAVE ACCES IN FORUMS OR DISCUSSIONS SO THEY CAN HAVE ENOUGH INFORMATION TO PURCHASE OUR PRODUCTS. FORUMS WILL HELP US IDENTIFY OUR POTENTIOAL BUYERS. ALSO BASED ON PEOPLE’S REQUESTS WE WILL BE ABLE TO DETERMINE: WHAT WE SHOULD PRODUCE, AND FOR WHOM WE SHOULD PRODUCE?
CONSUMERS
DISCUSSIONS- WILL BE VERY HELPFUL NOT ONLY BY INFORMING PEOPLE ABOUT APPLE , BUT ALSO BY MEETING:
POTENTIAL CONSUMERS
REAL TIME- REVIEWS HELP PEOPLE SHARE:
INFORMATION AND OPINIONS AMONG EACH OTHER
PICTURES- WILL GRAB PEOPLE’S ATTENTION.PICTURES OF PRODUCTS WILL BE POSTED WITH REVIEWS
FEEDBACK- THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN REVIEWS HELPS POPLE TO DECIDE TO BUY OUR PRODUCTS
VIDEOS - WITH THE LATEST FEATURES AND UPDATES WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWERS.
COSUMER BEHAVIOUR- WILL BE DETERMINED AFTER PEOPLE WILL HAVE ACCESS IN THESE SITES. BASED ON THEIR OPINIONS WE WILL BE ABLE TO DETERMINE WAT WE SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT PRODUCE.
WE WILL REACH
PRODUCTIVITY
IF ALL THESE STEPS WILL BE FOLLOWED WITH PROPER DECISIONS.
IF NOT, THEN A NEW TREND SHOULD BE IDENTIFIED, AND A NEW SCENARIO SHOULD BE PLANNED.
BEST CASE SCEBARIO- PEOPLE WILL COMMUNICATE USING THESE REVIEWS
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For the Population Growth trend: Population Growth Urbanism Apple’s Financial Results of fourth quarter 2009
Apple Store Locations
Net Profit of $1.67 billion
Company’s Revenue of $9.87 billion
Competition New Products and Services
Demands and preferences rise
Dorina Grezda Section 13 41 US States 25 in the United Kingdom 14 in Canada 7 in Japan 6 in Australia 3 in Switzerland 3 in Germany 2 in Italy 2 in France 1 in the People's Republic of China
Urbanization
Global Organization
Absorbed by big Cities Competitor Analysis
Demographic Factors Economic Factors
Economy Progression
Expand in other urbanized areas Higher Revenues
Increase Productivity Expand Employment
Profit and Success
Maintain its global image in up-coming urbanized areas
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Risk Analysis
67
Mergers and Acquisitions 1. Acquisitions Date
Company
Business
March 2, 1988
Network Innovations
Software
United States —
[7]
June 7, 1988
Orion Network Systems
Satellite communication systems
United States —
[8]
June 27, 1988
Styleware
Computer software
United States —
[9]
July 11, 1988
Nashoba Systems
Computer software
United States —
[10]
January 3, 1989
Coral Software
Computer software
United States —
[11]
Computer programming services
United States US$404,000,000
[12]
United States US$100,000,000
[13]
February 7, 1997 NeXT
Country
Value (USD)
References
September 2, 1997
Power Computing-Clone-Making Clone computers
January 8, 1999
Xemplar Education
Software
November 3, 1999
Raycer Graphics
Computer graphic chips
United States US$15,000,000
[15]
January 7, 2000
NetSelector
Internet software
United States —
[16]
April 11, 2000
Astarte-DVD Authoring Software Software
Germany
—
[17]
Internet service provider
United States —
[18]
Graphics software
United States —
[19]
Online info systems services
United States US$62,000,000
[20]
February 1, 2002 Nothing Real
Special effects software
United States US$15,000,000
[21]
April 4, 2002
Zayante
Software
United States US$13,000,000
[22]
June 11, 2002
Silicon Grail Corp-Chalice
Digital effects software
United States —
[23]
June 20, 2002
Propel Software
Software
United States —
[24]
July 1, 2002
Emagic
Music production software
Germany
[25]
2005
Fingerworks
Gesture recognition company
United States —
[26]
October 16, 2006 Silicon Color
Software
United States —
[27]
December 4, 2006
Proximity
Software
Australia
—
[28]
April 24, 2008
P.A. Semi
Semiconductors
United States US$268,000,000
[29]
December 6, 2009
Lala.com
Streaming Music
United States —
[30]
[note 1]
United Kingdom
US$4,926,000
[14]
[note 2]
May 11, 2001
bluebuzz
July 9, 2001
Spruce Technologies
December 31, 2001
PowerSchool
[note 3]
[note 4]
US$30,000,000
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Assumptions: Based on the research made and considering that our suggestions would be applied, we assume that: Apple Inc. will be market leader by 2020 This assumption is supported by the fact that society is more individualized, and has set its priorities and values upon the mixture of quality, creativity and simplicity in functionality and design. Having a large number of consumers worldwide identifying with Apple Inc. all other aims would be not enough for a prosperous and futuristic brand as is Apple Inc.
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