Strategy Management and Leadership at Apple Inc.

1. Apple Inc | Introduction:

The company Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets; media devices, mobile communication devices, personal computers, software, accessories, services, networking solutions, and various other third-party content and applications. The company owns the famous iPhone, iPad, iOS, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Apple Music, iBook Store, TV App stores, and Mac App Store. The company operates its operations by geography (Sec.Gov., 2017). The legendary founder Steve Jobs is the founder of the company and is still considered responsible for the strategic vision it has been following.

2.Success Measurement of Apple Inc

The measurement of success is different for different companies, different individuals, and different industries as the notion of what success means are different to everyone. However, the corporate success of a company usually contains some common measures. As per scholars, the success of an organisation is defined as the extent to which the company has achieved its corporate goals regarding its profitability, customer satisfaction, competitiveness and long-term sustainability. Here, we are going to measure the success of the firm Apple Inc by the measures of its profitability, market share, customer loyalty, satisfaction, and employee retention.

2.1 Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard is helpful in providing a company with the information about how to be innovative and competitive as far as the performance is concerned (Niven, 2010). The company uses five organisational performance indicators like; shareholder value, customer satisfaction, core competencies, market share, and employee commitment. The main elements are discussed in the chart.

Chart 1: Balanced Scorecard of Apple Inc

(Norton, 2005)

2.2 Market Share:

The Market Share of Apple Inc has always remained behind its rival Samsung in the global smartphone market. However, in its home country, it has been the leader. After the decline of the Nokia, Apple and Samsung have remained market leaders from 2012 onwards. Samsung has been the leading one with about 20% to 30% of the global market. In 2017, the reputation remained same; however, Apple has come closer to Samsung. In 2017, Apple Inc had about 19.2% of the worldwide Smartphone market with Samsung leading the market (Statista, 2018). Much of the growth of the Apple market share is attributed to the strong performance in the iPhone 6s, 6, 8, 8s and X. The US market share has improved as well with Samsung here leading as well with 64% share and Apple Inc behind with 34%. The company has improved by gaining 4% market share (Lovejoy, 2017). As per this measure, Apple can be considered successful. Samsung is the leading mobile company in the market with 64.2% profits in the market as compared to other mobile companies (Diliger, 2015).

2.3 Employees Satisfaction:

Another measure to know about the success of the company is its employee satisfaction. As of Quarter 3^rd, 2017, the Company Apple Inc had about 123,000 employees (Sec.Gov., 2017). Apple Inc Is considered as one of the challenging places to work. Even when you are surrounded by the best minds on the planet, there is nerve crunching pressure to perform at your best. Considering Apple as a stressful place is an understatement in itself. Still, the employees consider Apple as a very attractive workplace as well (Denning, 2012). The reviews on Glassdoor and Quora posts by former employees give outlook about the extreme employee satisfaction. The employees of Apple have been found to have liked the following things;

1. 1. Salary is reviewed as one of the main compensations. As per the website of Glassdoor, an average software engineer at Apple makes more than $100,000 a year.
   2. The mature work environment with older demographics
   3. Amazing discounts are another perk cited important in the eyes of employees
   4. Access to amazing minds is another reason
   5. The former employees appreciate the sense of teamwork and family culture
   6. Rewards in the form of “Beer”
   7. It gives the resume a heavyweight
   8. The commuting options available at Apple Inc are well received
   9. Excellent leadership
   10. Learning opportunities

(Kosoff, 2016)

As per this measure, Apple can be considered successful.

2.4 Financial Performance

2.4.1 Stock Performance:

(Sec.Gov., 2017)

Compared with last year, Apple Inc has improved its stock performance and stabilised it in this year 2017. The increase from $118 (the first quarter lowest) to $142 (fourth quarter lowest) shows how much value it has gained in a year.

Net Profit 5 yr:

(Sec.Gov., 2017, p. 21)

The five-year snapshot of the financial performance of the company shows that 2017 has been the best year so far in the last five years regarding net revenue. However, the net profits had been higher in 2015, but the company has regained its position from the decline in its net profits it faced in 2016 substantially. It is also evident from the stabilised Earnings per share of $9.2 in 2017. As per this measure, Apple can be considered successful.

2.5 Customer Satisfaction:

Another measure through which success can be measured is the customer satisfaction. The satisfaction of the customer of Apple can be witnessed by the fact that iPhone SE and seven have been the highest rated phones regarding their customer satisfaction level in the USA.  In a poll conducted by ACSI from 36,000 customers, it revealed iPhone SE as the most highly satisfied model with Samsung’s S6 Edge+ ranked as the second (Adam, 2017).  It shows the customer satisfaction level with the product and service offered by the company Apple Inc. As per this measure, Apple can be considered the successful company.

2.6 Customer loyalty and Retention:

Apple Inc has repeatedly reported that it enjoys a very loyal and satisfied customer base. The company experienced a very high switch rate in 2016 from Android to iPhone and expects it in future as well. Research surveys have found the satisfaction level of customers of Apple, always above 90%. These surveys also show that the loyalty of the customers of Apple Inc is almost twice higher than the next strongest brand (Rogers, Customer Loyalty and Retention: Key Driver for Apple, 2016). As per this measure, Apple can be considered a successful enterprise.

3.Reasons for Success

3.1 Engineering Abilities

Other research has found out the reasons for the success of Apple Inc. One of these has been the engineering abilities of the two founders giving them the edge over other designers. Wozniak has been into engineering from his childhood because his father was an engineer at Lockheed and appreciated his son playing with electronic parts. The other founder, Steve Jobs, even with having no formal educational background of engineering, was also exposed to the field by his interest in gadgets and electronics. A survey was conducted to look at the perceived reasons for the success of Apple Inc by the participants. The results were inclined towards considering this as a factor (Kubilay, 2015).

3.2 Business/Management Abilities

The same research also showed the business and management abilities of the founders as the key to its success as well. The study discusses that Steve Jobs was by instinct an entrepreneur. The broad, informed vision, excellent communication skills, motivating and inspiring people around him all made him a great leader. He knew how to choose the right people for a job. These management and business skills helped the founders in bringing success to the company. The results of the survey show the evidence of this perception (Kubilay, 2015).

3.3 Environment

The environment always plays a vital role in everyone’s life. The study also considers this as a factor in favour of the success of Apple Inc. The social environment of the world when Apple was founded was pretty much very disappointing. The society was on a whole of the view that elected governments are a part of a status quo which they cannot change and their votes do not count. The events like Pentagon Papers, Gulf of Tonkin incident dissolved the trust on governments. People thought they did not have any control on the system whatsoever. The emerging of the Apple Computers has been considered as a step, giving the control to the people to make their own decisions by giving them access to technology.

Similarly, the technical environment of the Santa Clara Valley, which was later known as the Silicon Valley is important as well. Many engineering and technical employees resided in this area sharing their ideas, knowledge, and achievements with others building a high technology awareness company.

The economic environment of the founders is considered another factor; they were originally not from very wealthy families, this forced them to make things simpler and affordable. They had to make a computer which was affordable for them to make their dream come true. The research considers the environment as a contributing factor in the success of Apple Inc.

3.4 Technical Conjuncture in time

The beginning of the era of 1970 was marked with the introduction of the microprocessors. The microprocessors are the whole CPU on one chip. Later on, the Japanese companies started making cheaper components which allowed the number of chips needed to build a computer to decline considerably. The size of the chips also decreased. These advancements in technology made it easy for the company Apple Inc to design power suppliers which would generate less heat and thus use of plastic cases for Apple II become possible. Thus, the supporting conjuncture of technical advancements which were needed to make a computer affordable was all available at the right time. The Survey found that the technical conjuncture was indeed one of the reasons highly ranked as the reason for Apple success (Kubilay, 2015).

3.5 Staying Ahead of the competition

One of the reasons that the company Apple Inc is considered most successful is its ability to stay ahead of the competitors. The competitors of Apple Inc fear this about Apple. The competitors of Apple Inc are working on products which are competitive in the current market, whereas, Apple works on developing the product which will be relevant two years ahead. The iPhone, which was presented and marketed this year, it is most likely that the company is working on it for past two years. And similarly, the company is currently working on the products which will be launched two years from now. It is one of the strongest reasons that Apple Inc is considered the trendsetter of the market. This strong point of Apple Inc is not less than a nightmare for the competitors who are always threatening to be kicked out of the market in the future if they didn’t keep up (Bajarin, 2012).

3.6 Doing things, it can do better

Even though the company Apple Inc is well known for inventing new things, it does not normally invent a product or category of new product which is new to the market. The first commercial PC was introduced by Apple through its Apple II, and Mac improved the mouse input and graphical user interface on the PC. However, Apple has been since then only recreating its existing products. The MP3 player was not invented by the Apple Inc; it was redesigned and improved by its reinvention from Apple. Similarly, the smartphone was also not invented by Apple Inc; it reinvented it by making it better. In the same way, the Tablet was also already introduced in the market; Apple only made it better. The goal of the company gives a view of this strategy as well. The goal of designing and making better products than others; the company does not make products which it cannot make better.

3.7 Great Customer and In-store experience

The vision behind Apple Inc to make things accessible to the general audience faced a major challenge. The challenge identified by Steve Jobs then by which Apple faced its most vocal critics when it entered the retail market in Tokyo. Technology, even with all its attractiveness comes with complexity. The customers usually need to have a helping hand understanding the use of technology. It went against the retail strategy of Apple Inc. For making technology accessible to a general audience, Apple Inc had to make it simple, easy to use and understand. Apple uses it to its advantage. The retail store’s salespersons know the Apple products very well. Whenever a person enters a store, it is greeted by asking “what would you like to do today? This simple question intrigues the heart of the technology user who wants to do different things with technology. Even when the salespersons could not handle a certain problem raised by the visitors, the Apple Geniuses are always approachable to offer the needed help. It is one of the reasons that half of the users buying Apple products are new buyers. The ease of using and understanding Apple products make it successful in the market.

3.8 Keeping Things Simple

One of the strengths of Apple Phones being such a huge success is its simplicity. The company has only one product; iPhone. It does not launch various models of the same iPhone, or iPad, Mac or iPad. It only makes one. It simplifies the decision-making process of the consumer. The more choices the consumers are exposed to, the more confused and tiresome their decision-making process becomes. The most of the consumers of smartphones are not tech savvy, who like complexity and abundant combinations of options available for them. The General majority of the consumers like less-complex phones with simplicity and ease of decision. One could think of having just one product as limiting to the success of the company. However, it is the reverse. Numerous consumer surveys have concluded that consumers like the offering of choice, however, they tend to like their choosing process to be less complex and complicated regarding the plethora of choices (Bajarin, 2012).

3.9 Innovating Distribution Models

While most of the companies in the current market would love to see a single digit growth rate for their company, Apple Inc revenue has been witnessing double-digit growth rate for a long time. While companies were struggling to sell their tablets, Apple Inc managed to make a success story out of its sales revenue from the tablet industry. The ability of Apple Inc to go against the market gravity and retain its dominant position seems incredible. There are many factors which entail the success of Apple, of which its current CEO has spoken of many times. It includes the use of innovative distribution models in different areas. The product is essentially a paramount thing. The company has recognised its difference in the distributing and the purchasing power. Like it has convinced China Unicom to go for post-pay, and it is working well for them at a time when everyone prefers prepay. Postpay is benefiting the customer in China as it provides a cheaper phone to the customer and the carrier is happy by locking a customer with it (Evans, 2012).

3.10 Great Product trumps Price

The CEO of Apple Inc has been quoted saying that great products trump everything including the price. The CEO showed how Apple Inc has remained successful in the market. It has always focused on providing the best product to the world. Price is just another complementary thing. The idea behind selling cheap products to make some money is not to build customer satisfaction. Apple works to develop a product which, when bought by its customers retain its joy of purchasing it and considers its product worth the price. The idea behind the great product is that people are always willing to buy the best product and not the cheapest one. It pushes Apple to invest in developing the best product it can for its customers (Evans, 2012).

4.Strategic Capabilities of Apple Inc

Value Chain Analysis

The value chain analysis of a company enables to analyse an organisation regarding its business activities better to identify the value creation process and underlying competitive edge (CGMA.org, 2013). The Value Chain Analysis of Apple Inc is presented as under;

4.1 Primary Activities:

4.1.1 Inbound Logistics:

• • The use and supervision of its OEM partners by Apple for ensuring the quality acquisition of raw material as per the standards
  • The reduction of the carbon footprint of the facilities by use of automatic systems for receiving such materials also aids in the space requirements of the facility

4.1.2 Operations:

• • Use of internal teams of designers for the development of new teams (Ive, 2015)
  • Use of the economies of scale in support of the OEM partners for increasing profitability

4.1.3 Outbound Logistics:

• • Apple uses economic packaging and stylish design to reduce its space, weights, and cost of shipment and disposition.
  • The infrastructure of shipping and delivery makes Apple capable enough to deliver directly to its customer from China, reducing costs.
  • The in-store experience of Apple Inc is maintained through its retail stores equipped with helpers like Apple Geniuses (Aaker, 2012).

4.1.4 Sales and Marketing:

• The company advertises via all forms of direct as well as indirect media (Greenspan, 2015).
• The retail stores of Apple are also used for promotional purpose with the incorporation of a strong brand image (Greenspan, 2015)
• The unveiling of new products is an effective marketing strategy, helping build interest in the market because of the secrecy and suspense (Verganti, 2010)

4.1.5 Services:

• • The providing of extended warranty in case of defects or damaged product aids in the building of positive goodwill for the company
  • The Apple Geniuses service provides one-on-one service for technical help to the consumers, including free consultation on the repairs.

4.2 Support Activities:

4.2.1 Administration:

• • The company is dedicated to being aligned with green business trends by using lesser energy for transport and production of its products.
  • The higher revenues and strong financial position of the company enables it to internally develop and expand (Rosoff, 2015)

4.2.2 Human Resources:

• • Selective hiring is used to attract high calibre talent (Lev-Ram, 2014)
  • The use of competitive and attractive compensation packages for retaining the employees (Lev-Ram, 2014)

4.2.3 Technology Development:

• • The company spends more than 5% of its net sales on investing in its Research and development expenditures.

(Sec.Gov., 2017)

• • The company has protected its patents for the technology, including innovative software and hardware (Ive, 2015).

4.2.4 Procurement:

• • The relationship of the company with its suppliers is positive. Apple has become the member of EICC to create better, and enforce the supplier code of conduct.

4.3 VRIN Framework

Capabilities	Valuable	Rare	Inimitable	Non-substitution	Competitive Consequence	Performance Implications
Brand Name	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	4	4
Apple Stores	Yes	Yes		No	3	3
Industrial Design	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	3	3
OEM Relationship	Yes	No	Yes	No	2	2
Bespoke Software and Hardware	Yes	No	No	No	3	3
Software Development Teams	Yes	No	No	Yes	2	2

(Benci, 2013)

Competitive Consequence	Performance Implications
1-Competitive Disadvantage	1-Below Average
2-Competitive Parity	2-Average
3-Short-term Competitive Edge	3-Average to Above Average
4-Long-Term Competitive Edge	4-Above Average

 

• • The VRIN analysis shows that the Apple Stores can be considered a short-term competitive advantage as the competitors can substitute it.
  • The relationship with the OEMs is not rare and is easily imitable and substitutable
  • The industrial design of Apple is also imitable
  • The software development teams are also not rare and can be imitated as well
  • The hardware and software are also easily substitutable by competitors with better products
  • The brand of Apple is worth billions which cannot be substituted replaced or imitated. The loyal customer base and goodwill gives it the competitive advantage which is long term as well.

5.Leadership Contribution

The founder of Apple Inc Steve Jobs is one of the founders who are widely regarded for giving the company, its essence, in the shape of its vision and is considered as an exceptional leader. He used an Autocratic leadership style. The employees working for him know that he frequently shouted at them and even demanded his terms on tiniest of things. The use of the Magnifying Menu bar in the operating system of Apple was an autocratic decision made by the founder himself. The engineers initiated the process by giving an idea in front of the committee who have democratically rejected the idea and not included it. However, Steve, after watching the Menu bar loved it and decided on including it in the operating system. Looking at the success that Apple Inc had in his years with the success of iPod, iPhone, and iPad it can be said that his leadership style worked for him.

Contrary to that, the current CEO of the firm Tim Cook is considered to have a quite contrasting leadership style. Tim Cook is way more democratic than Steve Jobs. The employees feel more involved in the decision-making process and consider Tim as being more capable of listening to the opinions of the staff. Furthermore, they are not often shouted at by Tim Cook as well. It certainly does not imply that any one of the leadership styles is better than the other. The success of the leadership style is what makes it important (Colliins.co.uk, 2017).

5.1 Blake and Mouton Managerial Skills Model:

The Blake and Mouton managerial style shows concern for production and concern for people on two opposite axes. Steve Jobs is considered as dictatorial by the Economist. The article showed that the success of Apple was because of the unusual combination of the strategic vision, technical smarts, design flair, and force of character (Dwyer, 2012). As per the article, Steve Jobs can be plotted between the ranks 5.5 and 9.1. His main concern has always been produced. However, he did this by inspiring people to change the world (The Economists, 2011). It made him “Push-or-Perish” manager. Tim Cook, on the other hand, is considered a team manager who values its products and employees equally (Lashinsky, 2015). It is considered as the partially country-club and team leader.

6.Business Competitive Strategy

6.1 Porter’s Generic Model of Five Forces

6.1.1 Rivalry Intensity: High

The intensity of the competition among rivals is high with the switching costs very low. Samsung has historically spent millions on advertising of their phone launches to get a competitive advantage (Williams, 2014). Apple, on the other hand, has a very loyal customer base. The high research is driven (Johnson, 2012) technology-focused strategy of apple gives it the competitive advantage. The short life cycle of its products also enables it to launch new products year after year.

6.1.2 The threat of New Entrants: Low

The threat of new entrants in the Smartphone market is relatively lower. The need for high capital investment experience and technical skills makes the barriers higher for entrance in this market (Johnson, 2012).

6.1.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers: Strong

The bargaining powers are strong because of the low switching costs for the buyers. Even though Apple has a strong customer retention base, there is a part of the customer who migrates to other companies because of price (Magretta, 2012)

6.1.4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Weak

Because of the high number of the suppliers present in the industry, the bargaining power of the suppliers is very weak (Johnson, 2012).

6.1.5 The threat of Substitutes: Low

There are various substitutes available in the market; however, the threat is lower because of the high quality of Apple and low quality of substitutes. Like the DSLR 5D Canon mark2 has lower quality than the iPhone (Harrison, 2015).

7.Environmental Analysis & Suggestions:

7.1. PEST Analysis

Political	Economical
·         About half and more of the revenues of the Apple Inc is generated by countries other than USA ·         Dependency on China for low-cost manufacturing ·         There is always a cost associated with finding other alternatives. ·         Any political bad relations between the US and countries on which Apple Inc has its operations can impact on the operations of Apple Inc	·         Market spends less on the products of Apple Inc as compared to its competitors’ products because Apple is expensive ·         The economic downturn in Europe and the decline of pound led decline in the sales revenue of Apple Inc from Europe ·         Any increase in the labour costs in China would drastically affect Apple Inc. ·         The lowering disposable income of the middle class can impact the market potential for Apple Products
Social	Technological
·         Ethical consideration of the Apple low-cost labour policy in China ·         Resentment shown by major recording stars on the marketing strategy of Apple Music ·         Higher consumer spending expected in the developing countries provide opportunity for Apple Inc in future ·         Backlash against the highly expensive consumer products	·         Google and Samsung have shown strong ability of duplicating the products of Apple. ·         New consumer products launched by Apple have limited market ·         The growing market of tablets and Smartphone is lowering the demand for Mac computers ·         The constant threat of growing cyber-criminal abilities can tarnish the reputation of Apple Inc products who are thought of as most secure (Lombardo, 2017)

 

7.2. Recommendations

The analysis of Apple Inc shows that there are many factors which can be considered as issues for the company and can become a threat in future. Apple has been noticed for facing problems in its retention of the employees. Usually, it is more done by the management itself after the burnout. The scalability, stability of different platforms, the diversity of the company and board are considered weaknesses which can be improved.

Then there are times when Apple products have come in restrained numbers; then there were times when products came in hot, then there were also times when products came out late (Ritchie, 2016). It can be attributed to the problems in forecasting of demand, component shortage, changes of last minute, issues in material, manufacturing problems, or due to lower yields. However, satisfaction level has always been higher regarding Apple Inc; it can always work on improving in weak areas to become better.

The Pest analysis shows the areas on which Apple Inc can work to make its products more attractive, competent, and secure. The developed countries should be targeted for future market share. The products should be made more secure. Alternatives other than China should be evaluated for manufacturing products to dilute dependency on Chinese labour market. The Apple Music marketing strategy should be reviewed to consider the complaints.

The analysis of the internal and external factors, and the broader analysis conducted earlier has showed that even though the company Apple Inc has made to tremendous growth, there have been some lacking as well. The company success is dependent on various internal and external factors. For instance, the low manufacturing costs in China, its reputation of being a secure device and an innovative trend setter calls for have the same strengths in the future as well. The high investment in the Research and Development and on its employees however shows that the company would be able to remain successful in future as well. The company moves two years ahead of its market. The product launched today would have been approved for development two years back. Furthermore, the company has seen many ups and downs in its time which makes it experienced for any sudden future difficulties. Thus, it can be said that with such commitment to innovation and reliance on the best employees, partners and suppliers will make it successful in future as well.

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