Corporate structure strengths

Apple has a strong corporate culture that allows it to operate as a vertically integrated company. It is able to run the hardware business, service provider, software business and a retailer all at once thus allowing it to be in control of its supply chain, something that its competitors are unable to do (Jurevicious, 2016).

Corporate structure weaknesses

The change in management is a weakness on the side of Apple’s corporate structure. With the pace that Apple has to keep up with, a change in management results to changes that may hinder the projected growth for the company. Also, the new management has to come up with ideas that will promote the company’s growth and this may be quite a challenging task (Beattie, 2015).

Corporate culture strength

Apple inc’s corporate structure comprises of creative and highly innovative employees that are responsible for designing the products and offering the services that have pushed the company to the position it currently holds (Meyer, 2017). With such a corporate culture, the company is able to offer the customers what they want an ensuring that there is always a market from Apple products and services.

Corporate culture weakness

Apple Inc’s corporate culture places a lot of emphasis on creativity and innovation as a way of dominating the market. However, due to the specialization in similar products, the company’s corporate culture has a problem venturing into other areas. While they are good at improving existing products, the employees and management find it difficult to come up with new ideas for new products or services that could enable the company to enter new markets (Beattie, 2015).

Resources strength

Apple has the resources and capital to ensure that it maintains its dominance in the market. The company has amassed an average of 38 billion dollars in cash assets which provides it with the revenue needed for operations (Hellman, 2014). The company also has high advertising capabilities supported by an annual budget of 1.8 billion dollars for advertising as was the case in 2015 (Jurevicious, 2016). With such resources, Apple has the means to create high quality products and advertise to create awareness.

Resources weakness

With all the resources and capital at the company’s disposal, it has established a culture of offering high end products. While the emphasis is on offering the highest quality of products, most Apple products are very expensive and only attract wealthy customers. Apple products are expected to be of the highest quality (Smithson, 2017). While the company has the resources to achieve these expectations, the cost of offering this quality limits the type of market that Apple Inc can serve as only wealthy customers can afford the products the company sells.

Macro opportunities

With increase in popularity of the internet products, Apple Inc is in a position to benefit from the popularity of the internet industry. The company software and gadgets are well suited to take advantage of the growing demand for internet products. With its expertise in the development of software and manufacturing of devices such as smart phones and computer devices, Apple will greatly benefit from the macro trend through the demand generated with the increasing popularity of the internet and technological products (Bhasin, 2016).

Macro threats

While Apple inc is a dominant force in the internet and technology industry, the level of competition in the market is relatively high. The aggressive competition that exists in the internet and technology market is a threat for apple especially due to its inability to successfully venture into new markets. Although apple products tend to do well, they tend to be expensive and customers could source out the competition for more affordable prices. Also, the needs of the target market in the macro environment are constantly changing and this could be a threat as the company has difficulty in venturing into venturing into new markets (Smithson, 2017).

Industry opportunities

Apple Inc has a massive distribution network that allows the company to ensure that customers from across the globe have access to its products. The distribution network comprises of direct sales force, online stores and retail shops that ensure that customers have access to company products whenever they need it (Jurevicious, 2016). This is an opportunity in that, since other companies lack a supply network as good as Apple’s, the company will be able to deliver its products to the customers faster and be the first to meet their demands. While apple is in a strategic group of the internet and technology, it acts differently from others in the group and this makes it unique and is a strength as it gives a competitive advantage.

Industry threats

Risk of data breaches are a threat to Apple Inc in that they could result to loss of sales and customers. the company collects and stores information regarding customers which is later used when assessing demand and what the customer may want in the future. The information is however sensitive in that it entails customers’ addresses, credit cards, and other personal information that could be used to identify the customers. With the increasing number of data breaches, the information stored in the company act as a threat that could lead to great losses (Jurevicious, 2016).