Morete, Aira Krisha A.

BSBA3.2A

Task Performance

I. Company Background
Current Performance
Now that Covid-19 is still actively spreading throughout the world a lot of
companies are need to stop and close their operations because of the virus. One of
them is Apple Inc. many of their retail stores are temporarily closed. But some of their
major offices and retail stores are reopened but should follow all the health and safety
protocols. Their employees are working from a distance to protect them and also their
customers. But they believe that their operations and financials will be sufficient.
According to Apple Inc. The sales of the majority of their products are increased like
Mac, iPad, Wearables, Home and Accessories, and services, but the sales of iPhone
decreased during 2020 compared to 2019. Their total net sales increases to 6%
equivalent to $14.3 billion during 2020 compared to 2019. Also, their operations and
total net sales of IPhone, Wearables, Home and Accessories, and services in other
countries including America, Europe, and the rest of Asia Pacific are increased. In Japan,
the result is flat in 2020 because the sales in 2019 in IPhone are low and because of
Wearables, Home and Accessories, and services sales of 2020, it became balance. And in
Greater China, the sales are decreased in 2020 compared to 2019.

Strategic Posture
Mission
Apple’s corporate mission is “to bring the best personal computing products and
support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons and
consumers in over 140 countries around the world.”
Vision
Apple Inc.’s corporate vision is “to make the best products on earth, and to leave the
world better than we found it.”
Objectives
“Our objective is to make great products and services that enrich people's lives
and to provide an unparalleled customer experience so that our users are highly
satisfied, loyal, and engaged. As we accomplish these objectives, strong financial results
follow.”

Policies
Business Conduct
The Business Conduct Policy provides the foundational guide for how we interact
with customers, with third parties, and with each other.
Anti-Corruption
Apple does not tolerate any form of corruption. Apple’s Anti-Corruption Policy
details our commitment to complying with anti-corruption laws
 Export and Sanctions
Apple is committed to compliance with applicable export and sanctions laws. All
employees are responsible for complying with these laws and reporting possible
violations.
Labor and Human Rights and Environmental Protection in the Supply Chain
Supplier Responsibility is a core value at Apple. We hold ourselves and our
suppliers to the highest standards to protect the people in our supply chain, and the
planet we all share. We uphold that commitment by setting out what is required of our
suppliers.
Antitrust and Competition
Apple is committed to conducting business in full compliance with competition
laws around the world.
Channel Member Code of Conduct
Apple sets out the legal and ethical standards required of businesses that
associate themselves with our brand through the resale or distribution of our products.

Human Rights
Apple treats everyone with respect and dignity — from our customers and
teams, to our business partners and people at every level of our supply chain.
Public Policy Advocacy
Apple engages in policy discussions where they matter to our business and
customers. This policy defines our position on corporate political contributions and
describes how Apple participates in public debate in the United States through direct
and indirect advocacy.

II. External Environment

The Porters Five Forces of Apple Inc. that discusses the competitive strength and
position in the external environment of their company are Competitive rivalry or
competition, Bargaining power of buyers or customers, Bargaining power of suppliers,
Threat of substitutes or substitution, and Threat of new entrants or new entry.

First is Competitive rivalry or competition of Apple Inc. having a strong force

because Apple is one of the best brands worldwide in terms of gadgets. Their
aggressiveness in producing new products and services makes them strong in the
market. Many customers buy their products because of the quality and service they get.
Their main competitors are Samsung and LG. They always innovate their products to
beat their competitors. They were also aggressive in terms of marketing their products.
Also one of their advantages is the difference of their products to others. We all know
that Apple Inc. has its different system (IOS). The difference of Apple Inc. products to
others is it performs well and the IOS version has a big impact on the whole product and
because of the low switching cost of Apple Inc. customers tend to switch to their
products because of the price, quality, different features, and functionality.
 Second is Bargaining Power of Apple's Customers/ Buyers have a strong force
since the cost of their products is low switching their customers easily switch to their
brands because Apple gives them satisfaction. And since Apple Inc. is a competitive
brand they give a lot of information to their customers because they want to inform
their buyers how good their product is and they want to get their customer trust.

Third, the reason for the weak force of bargaining power of suppliers is because
Apple Inc. has many accesses to suppliers around the world. Apple Inc. has no struggles
with their suppliers because they have a lot and this would make their production faster
and they would create a new version of the phone. This is the reason why Apple Inc. has
a new version every year because they have numerous suppliers; this would make the
company effective over a long period of time due to their strategic management and
bargaining power over their suppliers.

Fourth, the reason for the weak force of substitution in Apple Inc. is due to the
product's effectiveness. Apple products are improving the perversion of the devices.
Their production and upgrades are rapid and when there is a dilemma with their
product the manufacturers respond quickly to fix the issues. In a single device, it can do
many things like call through landlines, video chat or message, text, install applications,
camera, and many more. Because of the upgraded functions of the devices like the
camera, the customer doesn't have to buy a separate device to perform a certain task
because Apple devices can perform it.

Fifth is the Threat of New Entrants or New Entry is considered a moderate force
because it requires high capital to compete with other competitors. They need to have
high capital to develop and innovate their products to have a competitive advantage
over the new entrants like Samsung because it is also a large company with a potential
to compete with Apple Inc.

III. Internal Environment

Apple Inc. internal environment in terms of its resources is product resources
they innovate a new product of music including the iPod digital music player which
achieves a global share and known as the first portable digital music player. Partner with
that is ITunes music is a store where apple users can download their favorite music that
also receives a stable position in the market. Apple Inc. financial in innovating product
resources is stable. When it comes to physical resources Apple Inc. offices are all over
the world to make their sales increase. They were able to sell and innovate their
products. The important action they do is they invented thousands of patents including
Graphical user interface for their devices. It helps them to secure their products of
imitations and copyright. Apple capabilities are their human resources management;
they hire qualified professionals to help them to innovate their products. They can also
do research and development like launching new designs with the help of new
technology. They can also make an effective marketing strategy for their products.
 Apple competencies are they are capable to do the best products for their
customers and high-class specs that can make a huge impact on the global market. And
since their brand is very popular because of its reputation, many of their customers
become loyal. They just need to be consistent, reliable, and responsive to all of their
customers.
IV. Corporate Level Strategies
Growth
Apple Inc. directional strategy in growth strategy is Horizontal growth because
Apple Inc. continues to grow and expand its market in different countries. In fact, Apple
Inc. has a movement of market development that sells their products in a new market
and they introduce it in overseas market to achieve their intensive strategy. They also
have product development as their main intensive strategy. They want to develop new
products that can attract new customers and become profitable. They are also doing
research development as their process to innovate new products and make an
advantage to their competitors. And last is Market penetration that is also important to
the growth of Apple Inc. They are selling more products to the market to achieve good
sales. They add more authorize retail stores to get potential customers.
Stability
Apple Inc. direction strategy is the Pause/Proceed with Caution Strategy because
since the Covid-19 is spreading around the world Apple Inc. also affects that pandemic
that's why they decided to have temporarily closed their retails stores for the safety of
their employees and customers on spreading the virus. But after that, they decided to
reopen their major offices and retail stores to continue their operations. Their
employees are working remotely to protect them.
Retrenchment
Apple Inc. direction strategy turnaround strategy Apple Inc. released a new
iPhone SE with the target price of $285 from $270 that might help to reduce revenue
pressures come from the closures of their store due to the covid-19 outbreak. The
iPhone SE, according to Piper Sandler analyst Yung Kim, is a "great strategic move," as its
low price could help Apple compete better against lower-cost Chinese smartphones and
attract customers who are now spending less.
V. Analysis of Strategic Factors
Strength
Apple Inc. is known as the most trustworthy brand in the world when it comes to
developing advanced computers and smart technology devices. Apple Inc. proved that
they give their customers a good quality product that why they have millions of loyal
customers that always trust them. Apple Inc. receives the ranked 1 and most valuable
brand in 8th consecutive year by Interbrands with a brand value of $322 billion. With
the help of proficient research, they can improve their products to make their
customers satisfied with their needs and because of the new technology they able to
innovative products that can use of many people to make the world better. They also
expand their services like iCloud, Applecare, streaming services, AppleTV+, Apple news,
Apple card, and Apple arcade.
Weaknesses
 Apple Inc. has a lot of weaknesses in terms of the pricing of its products. Apple is
considered a luxury because of its premium prices. Not everyone can afford to buy apple
products. Since apple introduces a streaming service they need to compete with Disney,
Netflix and others that have good services in terms of streaming videos or movies.
Another is since Apple has a different operating system called IOS it is exclusive of Apple
users only. It is not compatible with the operating system such as Android devices. Also,
when it comes to tracking devices. They can track or revealed where the location of the
user is and if the users declined the tracking they cannot bring it back when their
devices it lost.
Opportunities
Apple Inc. continues to become a phenomenal brand in the world. The fast-
growing of their customers help them to get new opportunities to have new alliances.
They gain 92% of customers that buys their products because of the quality they get in
apple. They also hire newly qualified professionals that can help in innovating products
and for their research and development. They also expand their distribution network
and marketing and promotion that can help and benefit them to get high revenue and
sales. When apple produces a new product like the Apple Watch and Airpods it will
make a huge impact on their sales by 2022. Apple should also utilize their artificial
intelligence to have a strong market position and their profit will increase. They also
need to focus on artificial intelligence because it can also have an impact to the future
of Apple Inc.
Threat
Apple Inc. experiencing the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak worldwide. Their
operations affect their annual revenue due to supply chain uncertainties. The other
threat of Apple Inc. is the people who imitate their original products with the same
value. Possible that their potential customers will believe in the counterfeits. It can
reflect their image because the counterfeit has a low quality can result in bad reviews
and feedback to the company. Also, the competition between Apple Inc. to other brands
like Samsung still increasing because Samsung also produces products that they can use
to compete with Apple products. It also a threat to Apple Inc. that android captured
72.23% of the market share while Apple has only 24.55% in the global market. And since
Apple is highly dependent on China's manufacturing and supply chain the US
government imposed a higher tariff on imports from china it means the overall cost of
their products will increase too.

VI. Strategic Alternatives and Recommended Strategy

Growth
1. Since Apple Inc. is always producing new series of iPhone every year why can
they produce a new phone and personal computer that has high-quality specs
that can handle gaming performance? The advantage of this is they can compete
with other company that now releasing quality phone for gaming. They can
attract more customers especially customers that are fully engaged with gaming
phones and pc set up. It can also perform multiple tasks without experiencing
delays. The disadvantage is Apple Inc. need to prepare a lot of money for
 innovation and research and development. Since Apple Inc. will produce a new
product the possible outcome it this to the customers are it too pricy. 
2. Apple Inc. should create a team for developing new products. They can look for
qualified professionals and expand their operations with other countries that can
supply their materials need. The advantage of this is they can have a lot of
resources that will help them create a new product. The disadvantage is Apple
should pay a high tariff in every operation they will do.
3. Apple Inc. can look for potential investors that will help those innovating new
products that can sell in the market. Finance is the lifeblood of any business.
Make sure that you will spend money on the products that make money too. The
disadvantage you cannot assure that the new product that will release is going to
take off. 
Stability
1. Since the Covid-19 pandemic is spreading until now Apple should focus on
products that are needed during this time. They can offer a product with low
cost that is in demand right now to attract customers who are looking for
products that have a good quality yet it’s affordable. The advantage is Apple Inc.
can increase its market sales. The disadvantage is it can affect their brands like
customers thinks that its quality is not so good compare to other products.
2. Apple Inc. should focus on products that give a huge impact on their market
sales. And continue to pursue the opportunities that are coming that may
acquire assets for your company. The advantage is its market sales will become
stable or increase. The disadvantage is the opportunities can possible not be
successful it can affect your financial cost.
3. Apple Inc. should continue to develop patents for the security of their products
to avoid imitations. The advantage is Apple Inc. can protect their product
especially the reputation of their company. Also, customers are confident that
the product they purchase is authentic. The disadvantage is if they can imitate
the product possible that they can create one too that is similar to the original.
Retrenchment
1. Since Apple Inc. is also affected by the Covid-19 pandemic they need to adjust.
They need to quickly respond to situations. Make an action to stop the bleeding.
Apple Inc. should also recover instantly to the problems to be able to get back on
track. And avoid producing a lot of products to lessen the cost. The advantage is
they will avoid wasting resources and can reduce the cost. The disadvantage is
it's possible that they will release limited products but there is a higher demand
for their product.
2. Apple Inc. can sell assets to someone that has the potential in helping them in
their business strategy. The disadvantage is possible that the one who buys it can
make a lot of changes that will affect their brand reputation. 
3. Due to Covid-19 Apple Inc. can temporary lay off employees since every
operation they do is limited because they need to be healthy and safe from the
virus. The disadvantage is they can’t make more products because they are lack
of manpower and cannot supply customer’s needs. 
 The best strategy in Growth is Innovation of a new product line that can compete with
your competitors. In Stability is focus on the products that give a huge impact on their
market sales. And continue to pursue the opportunities that are coming that may acquire
assets for your company.  And for retrenchment is make an adjustment, quickly respond to
situations, make an action to stop the bleeding and recover instantly to the problems to be
able to get back on track. And avoid producing a lot of products to lessen the cost.

VII. Management Lessons Learned

Every section of this case is the application of Corporate Strategy. The strategies
mentioned in this case can be applied in businesses. The directional strategy: Growth,
Stability, and Retrenchment can be applied if the businesses are experiencing weak
forces. This strategy will help companies to maneuver the reputation of the company.
Apple Inc. performance is well effective because they can make the better performance
even though they also affected worldwide pandemic. They make strategies that will
make their customers satisfy, can innovate new products to compete with other
companies. Apples Inc. knows how to handle their sudden changes. Making an effective
and useful strategy can make your business grow, stable, and retrench.

VIII. Bibliography
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2020-2020-01-08
Apple.(n.d). Compliance Policies. Retrieved from
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Retrieved from http://panmore.com/apple-inc-generic-strategy-intensive-
growth-strategies
Akins, A. (2020, April 16). Apple’s iPhone SE ‘great strategic move’ amid Covid-19
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