Case Study on Apple Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

On Apple - Case Study ExampleMike Markkula, Jr. have experienced the ups and downs of the organization due to emulous pressures and changes in the external environment. With the latest generated success from non-PC products, Jobs, currently the CEO is faced with the dilemma of evaluating Apples current performance in view of future prospects. The top dog that is to be responded to is Was Apples recent success just another temporary up in its up- and-down history, or had he finally established a sustainable strategy for the company? The case is hereby assessed by addressing the questions enumerated below. I. Current Situation A. Current Performance In the 1980s Apples competitive advantages focused on the following (1) possessed strong corporate position and image as a pioneer manufacturer and marketing of easy-to-use computer for a wide range of clientele (2) begun to exhibit excellence in product design and (4) launched a successful Initial Public Offering of their shares. However , during this period, Apple was inform to rely on proprietary designs that only Apply could produce (Yoffie & Slind, 2008, p. 2) in contrast to IBMs open system which enabled other computer producers to clone. The result of this on Apples financial performance during the 1980s was a drop in their market share by 6.2% in 1982 decreased net income from 1982 to 1984 by a significant 17%. The condition necessitated removal of Jobs as in charge of operations and eventually made him to decide leaving the position to Sculley, a previous CEO from Pepsi-Cola in 1983. The financial performance of Apple reflected an up-and-down history of financial success. The selected financial highlights presented in Exhibit 1 indicate increasing trends from 1981 to 1996 with a sharp decline in 1998. The upward trend likewise continued to be exemplified from 1998 onwards. The latest financial figures from the time Apple focused on non-PC products in 2001 attest to the increasing pattern, ending with net s ales of $24 billion in 2007 to $24.6 billion for the first to third quarters of 2008. Likewise, net income improved well from only $65 million in 2002 to almost double to $3.7 billion for the first three quarters of 2008 (Yoffie & Slind, 2008, p. 16). The composition of net revenues for Apple come from mac products and non-PC products with majority of revenues accounted for by the non-PC products (70%). From Exhibit 1b, it can be deduced that financial success was mostly attributable to the iPod, seconded by portables. Other fast moving products were desktops and other harmony products. Data from Exhibit 1c provides information that supports that more than 61% of net sales in the first three quarters of 2008 came from the U.S., followed by Europe (33%) and the remaining sales coming from Japan. Exhibit 2 indicated that the share prices for Apple rose sharply, starting in 2002 and more abruptly after 2006, consistent with the introduction of the iPhone in the market. On a global s cale, however, the financial figures indicate that worldwide PC share had actually been steady at an average of 2.5% since 1997 (Exhibit 3). Apples gross brim has bested other competitors, particularly Hewlett-Packard and Dell (35% in 2007) (Exhibit 5). Comparing their net income to those of its competitors, Apples net income of $3.5 billion in 2007 was only almost similar in amount to Dell ($2.9 billion). All other competitors topped the net income according to the following positions Microsoft ($14 billion), Hewlett-Packard ($7.3billion), and Intel ($7 billion). B. Strategic Posture During the governance of Sculley and just