Apple Company SWOT Analysis
The success of the apple company has been linked to its ability to use its strengths to overcome the threats and weaknesses in its business. SWOT analysis provides an insight into the strategic action of the business mainly to maximize its growth by the use of its current strength and opportunities. The SWOT analysis for the company is as follows:
Strengths
Strengths are those factors that provide the company with the ability to overwhelm its challenges and make of the available opportunities for its own advantage. It is internal, and they are particularly due to the condition present in the organization (Smithson, 2019).
The company strength includes high brand equity, effective and rapid production of innovative products, good leadership position, presence of functional product design and technology, high-profit margins and consumer focus (Smithson, 2019). Apple is among the strongest and most valuable brands in the world, therefore, the company has that capability to come up with a new product and sell well in the market just because of the good brand name that the company has (Sathappan, 2017). The premium pricing marketing strategy of the company also allows it to have good profit margins which makes it to be able to make good profit even if the company have low volume of sales (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). Presence of high profits margins enables the company to have an excellent budgetary allocation to allow it to invest more in design and technology to meet its customer and market needs (Smithson, 2019). The company also has generic competitive and intensive growth strategies that involves rapid innovation which places the company at a better level in terms of the recent and latest technologies that ensures better competitive advantage The company produces various types of innovative products such as the MacBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and the iwatch which thus provides the consumer with almost all the products they need. SWOT analysis indicates that the company strength is hard to compete with this promoting its leadership in the global industry environment.
Weaknesses
These are the internal factors acting as obstacles to the growth of the business. In the apple company, some of the weaknesses they face include dependency on few products, high selling prices, issues of incompatibility of its products with others, the dependence of sales on high-end market segments and limited distribution network (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). The premium marketing strategy which has been adopted by the company makes it dependent on high-end markets which prevent customers from low-income bracket from buying companies products. This markets segment represent the minority of individuals, and therefore it reduces the global market of the product (Smithson, 2019). The high pricing also limits the global market for the products to individuals from high-income brackets. The issues of incompatibility of its products with other products in the market make it an issue for the consumers before they purchase the product which is a weakness. SWOT analysis the pricing and distribution of the products limits the business.
Opportunities
It is an external factor and represents the opportunities that the company has in its business environment. The company has excellent opportunities which include the development of new product lines, higher sale volume based on the rising demand of its products, technological advancement, and expansion of its distribution network (Smithson, 2019). Expansion of the company distribution network will enable it to reach more customers in the global market and thus increase its market share. This SWOT analysis, therefore, calls for expansion of the distribution networks. The demand for company products, especially mobile phones places it in a better position to increase its sales volume through proper marketing (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). The company can also look into developing new products because of the current success in its products lines in the market, for example, the iwatch. Development of new products will support the growth of the company in the international market. Thus SWOT analysis shows the great opportunities that the company has despite the competition in the market.
Threats
It is an external factor that reduces the company’s financial performance. The most common threats faced by apple is the aggressive completion in the market; the rising cost of labor in various countries and imitation (Smithson, 2019). The market is faced with stiff competition from other brands such as Samsung, Huawei, HTC, Lenovo and other android phones. There is also other players in the market for example Windows phones, Java ME, Blackberry among others. The company MacBook also faces competition from other laptop brands such as Lenovo which have been able to develop good products which has met the expectations of the market (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). In the context of the SWOT analysis, the tough competition has limiting effects on the company; therefore, there is need to come up with ways to achieve and maintain a good competitive advantage (Smithson, 2019). There also issues of imitation of the design and other features of the products which therefore has a negative effect on product sales. The rising cost of labor that involves contract manufactures lower the profit margins of the company. The SWOT analysis from this indicates that the company could suffer in performance due to tough competition and imitation of the company products
References
Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of internal and external environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(6), 955-961.
Smithson, N. (2019, February 14). Apple Inc. SWOT Analysis & Recommendations. Retrieved May 11, 2019, from http://panmore.com/apple-inc-swot-analysis-recommendations
Sathappan, S. (2017). Strategic Management Analysis–Apple Watch.
