1.0 Introduction
Apple
Inc. is a company that specializes in the designing, development and marketing
of the computer electronics, software internet services and also PCs. The company was established in 1976 by Steve
jobs, Steve wozniak and Ronald Wayne (Aljafari, 2016). Initially, Apple was involved in the selling
of the personal computer kit. Apple I
went on sale on the mid-1976 and was priced at $666.66. Apple II which was
invented by Wozniak was also introduced in 1977 at the first coast computer
Faire (Stanko, 2015). As 1970s was
coming to an end, Apple had hired human capital, specialized in the computer
designing and production. Therefore, the company introduced Apple III in 1980s
which was the plan to try and compete with IBM and Microsoft within the
business and corporate computing market.
In 1984, Steve Jobs was compelled to leave
Apple after the company registers a net loss of 17%. This is attributed to the fact that the
company had in the previous year introduced the Macintosh (Mac) which was sleek
and user friendly, nevertheless it recorded sales lagged. The estimated reason
for the sales lagged was due to the brand slow processing speed and
incompatible software. These
developments led to jobs being replaced by Jon Scully. Under John Scully
management the focus was on the improvement of the Mac design to be a leading brand
in the computer industry in desktop publishing and also the provision of a more
user friendly and alternative to consumers of the IBM compatible machines. In 1977 Steve jobs returned to Apple and
arranged for the Microsoft to invest $150 million (Johnson et al., 2012). His vision was to make the company’s product compatible
with Microsoft office, a move that was in agreement with the majority. Therefore, products such as the IMac were
introduced and it allowed the users to “plug and play” devices compatible with
window-based machines. The company become profitable and thrives under Steve
jobs leadership. Precisely, he managed to change the image to “hip” alternatives
to other products, a band that offers users the cutting edge and also a tightly
integrated user experience. In the turn
of the new millennium, there was widespread of the digital convergence of
computer and other user electronics and it made Job’s to be named the Fortune magazine‘s
“CEO of the decade” (Stanko, 2015).
Nevertheless, for Apple to continue to trend for its innovative products
in the market, the company needed to remain the leading brand I the demand
curve by designing and also markets new products that will facilitate capturing
of productivity, communication and entertainment prerequisite to satisfy its
very loyal customer base.
1.1 Vision
The vision of the company is found in the Apple Inc website “Apple is
committed to bringing the best personal computing
experience to students, educators, creative
professionals and consumers around the world through
its innovative hardware, software and
Internet offerings”(Apple, Inc., 2012).
1.2 Mission
The mission of the Apple
inc include the following: Apple is
deigning Macs to make it the best personal computers globally and also OS X,
iLife and other products. Apple has striven to be a leader in the digital music
revolution using its products such as ipods and iTunes online stores. Apple to prevent
the mobile phones with its revolutionary products such as iPhones and Apple
store and also to define the future of mobile media and computing devices (Apple, Inc., 2012).
1.3 Company values
Some
of the Apple Inc. values include:-
1. The
company believes in simple not the complex
2. The
company strives to own and control the fundamental technologies in the
production of its products
3. The
company is vibrant in the market that it can make significant contribution
1.4 Scope of the work
The consultation
team is tasked with improving on the marketing strategies and creation of the
affordable products targeting these markets. Prior to this consulting project,
there has been little effort made by the apple company to increase its market
share in the emerging markets. Apple Inc. has not implemented tailored strategies
that will balloon its presence in Africa and Asia smartphone market. The company has failed to notice this
opportunity where there has been substantial revenue growth which is the
reflection of the economic and population growth in Asia and Africa.
While the
Apple products are available globally, the company lacks presence both in the
Africa and Asia market which are the emerging markets. Most of the Apple
products are considered premium in these markets and only a small percentage of
the population can afford. In Africa the
leading operating system is the android for the smartphones and windows for
laptops and personal computers. A report
of the research published by the Statista Research department indicates by 2021,
Samsung was the leading brand with Africa’s smartphone market share of 32%. It
was followed by Huawei at 15% and Apple and Techno with 14.9% and 8.3% market
share respectively (Statista, 2021).
.
Figure 1 market share for phones vendor in Africa (Statista,
2021).
The report by the StatCounter GlobalStats
indicates that android is the leading operating system in Africa with 83.87%
while iOS has 14.16% (Statcounte GlobalStats, 2021).
Figure 2 mobile operating system market share
((Statcounte GlobalStats, 2021).
On the other hand, the report by the
StatCounter GlobalStats indicates that Samsung is the leading market vendor in
Asia with 25.23%, followed by Xiomi 18.06% and Apple phones comes at distance third
with 15.89% (Statcounte GlobalStats, 2022)..
Figure 3 Mobile vendor market share in Asia
(Statcounte GlobalStats, 2022).
The
report further indicates android operating system with a market share of 83.58%
while iOS has 15.89% of the total Asia market (Statcounter GlobalStats (2021).
The
expected outcomes include the following: the team to suggest the best marketing
strategies, suggestion to improve on the marketing budget and creation of
affordable products or subsidy of the available products in the market.
The consultation team consists of four members
is expected to conduct its research and submit a report within a period of 1
month. The period runs from 1st December to 31st December
in 2022.
2.0 Consulting team
The team is consist of the following members
To
begin with it is the marketing consultant. The work of the marketing consulting
is to create and implement the marketing strategies. Precisely, the consultant
is expected to create a detailed marketing plan, determine apple’s marketing
message in the target market and the identification of the appropriate
marketing mix in order to get the message out of the emerging markets. The
individual is also expected to be the part of the team that will help in
implementation of the marketing strategies.
They should monitor results of the marketing strategies and also twist
the campaigns as they are leaving to ensure that Apple gets the best results
from the marketing efforts.
The second team member is the financial
consultant. They are expected to develop
the financial plan to help Apple to achieve both their short-term and long-term
financial goals. Further, they should advice the team on the financial markets
and economic conditions through monitoring. They should advice on the
suitability of the investment opportunities and reach out to the new clients to
consolidate on their new partnership.
Finally, the financial consultant is responsible for analyzing how the
situation changes and financial status changes effects the potential consumer’s
financial plan and adjust such plans accordingly.
Third team member is the IT consultant. The personnel is expected to communicate with
the technical instructions in the understandable business terms and come up
with produce technical user manuals that may require exceptional interpersonal
and communicative ability. Since, the project targets to create affordable
products, the IT consultant should able to understand the Apple’s needs provide
the advice on the technology best practices.
Finally, the IT consultant is expected to monitor the success of the IT
solutions and produce detailed reports of the efficacy of the technology.
3.0 Analysis
and discoveries
3.1 Balance scoreboard
Fundamentally, the
performance financial-focused models of the performance management have been considered
to be inadequate. This is because they
report on the past performances without provision of the recommendations that
gives direction regarding future improvements.
Therefore, the balanced scoreboard is imperative since it operates as
organizational focal points for its efforts. Furthermore, it defines the
proprieties of the management, employees, financial supporters and the
customers. The technique approach focuses on the four key aspects: financial,
customers, internal process and people” (Chavan, 2009).
It can be noted that, evidence suggests that organizational employing balance
scoreboard on their operations have a higher performance compared to the
organizations with no strategies.
Apple, Inc. has made itself one of the most
profitable technology companies that focus on the designing and the sale of the
customer electronics and software products by using the balance scorecard to
innovate and elevate the overall performance of the company to new heights. Apple to ensure high penetration in the Asia
and Africa market will focus on these key factors under the balance scorecard:
customer satisfaction, employee commitment and alignment and the market share.
Initially, Apple was not focusing on the
customer satisfaction instead; their focus is on the products improvements to
have the unique product in the market. However, due to the dynamics of Africa
and Asia markets, it is vital Apple to change their tact. The embrace of the customer satisfaction
approach ensures that the company can address needs and the requirements of
these markets to the satisfaction. To provide the best customers experience,
Apple need to create affordable that cater for these markets economic
status. Through the Apple metric for
customer satisfaction using the Net promoter score (NPS), Apple should able to
understand what the customer in these markets requires and what changes is
needed to improve on the customer experience.
Precisely, Through Apple applying on the NPS questions, surveys and
open-ended follow-up questionnaires to ask the customers on their experiences
on the products and the possibility of referral insights prerequisite to make improvements.
The
second aspect under the balance scoreboard is the employee commitment and
alignment. The Apple’s administrators
have employed detailed workforce survey in each of the departments that runs
within a specific time. The polls are conducted regularly with randomly
selected employees. The survey questions
are imperative in understanding how well workers have master the philosophy of
the organization and whether or not they have been requested to deliver the
outcomes under the approach. The survey results are classified in terms of the
actual level of worker responses and also the average response pattern. Therefore, it will be vital to use these
responses to instruct workers to align themselves with the new strategies and
also to ascertain the performance of these strategies.
Finally, to penetrate the emerging markets
balance scorecard advocates for market share approach. The organization senior
management needs to reach a vital market share threshold in the emerging markets
not only for the apparent increase in the turnover and revenues but also to attract
and keep the talented human force especially the software developers within its
platform.
3.2 Ansoff Matrix
The
matrix was created in 1957, as the decision tools it is prerequisite for the
in-depth analysis of the company’s strategic decision with an objective of
ballooning its profitability and growth. For the Apple Company, it helps the
organization to determine its product and market strategy. The four strategy
illustrated are the market penetration, product development, market development
and diversification. The growth of the Apple’s market share in Asia and Africa
depends on both the existing products and the new products. Also, it depends on the existing markets and
new market.
For
the market penetration in Africa and Asia, in order for Apple to increase its
market share it’s lowering its price ranges of the certain products with the
aim of attracting new customers and create a larger customer base. The Company
encourages customers to buy certain accessories such as iPhone which is their star product
to increase sales. Furthermore, there is lots of customization on its star
products to attract more customers and increase its market share. Therefore, Apple engages in market penetration
strategy through effective application of the marketing strategy. An effective
marketing strategy not only reaches out to the wider audience but also right
audience.
Product development encompasses development of
the new products to sell in the existing market. New product development constantly is amongst
the core growth strategies persued by Apple.
Precisely, new products are introduced each year aiming replace those
that gradually becoming obsolete. The product development is geared towards
innovations that help in customization of the products that best serve the
target market.
Apple market development is associated with
finding new markets for its existing products. This agenda is aligned with
exploiting Asia and Africa that ha untapped potential. Precisely, Apple is
focusing on these emerging economies as attractive markets for long term
perspectives. The company appeals to the local culture and sentiment when
developing marketing strategies for these emerging markets. Therefore, to
develop its market in Africa and Asia, Apple is trying to sell its product to
professionals and individuals.
Diversification strategy involves the
development of the new products to sell to a new market. It is the riskiest marketing strategy with a
higher failure rate. The company is identifying the products that do not meet
the customer’s needs and bank on new products and services.
4.0 Recommendations
The consultation team
recommends the following: -
The company should employ pricing strategy as
its marketing strategy to increase its market share in the proposed market.
Also, to effectively, execute these marketing approach Apple should partner
with a local company in the respective companies and provide the best customer’s
experiences. From the Ansoff matrix, it
is clearly, iPhone are the company’s stars.
The local companies will facilitate sell of both the customized and
non-customized Apple products relatively cheaper compared to the original price
product. This is because the partner
company will import the products directly from the Apple manufacturers in their
local markets and distribute them to the local outlets to easily reach the
consumers. Furthermore, the partner company
should able to manufacture customized iPhones products. Notably, the
customization is one of the salient customers attracting feature (Bang et al.,
2015). It will allow the customers to easy access and use their mobile phones
for various purposes such as mobile banking and internet in their preferred
language of choice. Notably, in the
electronic markets an important factor to success is innovative (Cooper et al.,
2011). Therefore, it is vital for the
local customers to access products that meet their market demand. Apple’s
ability to increase its market share in the proposed markets depends on the new
products, the technology development and the quality and tailored-made designs.
Also, the employee commitment and alignment under the balance scorecard will
help to shape the focus for the employees. The Company should use this approach
to make a priority of all the employees to ensure it has realize its objective
of increasing the market share in Africa and Asia markets. Furthermore, for the Apple products to remain
competitive and increase its loyalist customer base, it is essential for the
company to improve on the existing product and invest heavily in the R&D to
expand on range of its offerings.
Secondly,
the consultation team recommends that Apple use the local media channels such
as radios, Tvs and even customer referrals.
The growing population and economies of the Asian and the Africans
should give Apple medium and long-term growth path. In the recent times, the economies of these continents
have been growing strongly. In this context, their middle class are growing and
becoming richer. These factors indicate a clear path to substantial revenue
growth for the company. Using a
promotion media that reaches wider audience ensures the market share continues
to growth. However, in the more
developed countries such as China and Japan more high-tech products have been
released such as the South Korea’s Samsung (Chen et al., 2021). Therefore, for
example, in South Korea on the TVs programs such as family shows advertising
the local product using local celebrates will give upper hand to local
high-tech products. With the media
influence the local market can choose other items instead of Apple products,
and this may hinder the company from expanding its market share within these
markets. Therefore, Apple need to create
a promotion strategy that reaches wider audience in the local market to compete
with local rivals. Based on the balance
scorecard analysis, top software products to develop the best products in the
market will make local people to choose Apple instead of the domestic
manufactured products.
5.0 Conclusions
The
report acknowledge that Apple have been increasing its market share in the
Asian and Africa market but with a slow pace. Notably, Apple, Inc. is amongst
the biggest electronics and Software Company globally in terms of the size of
revenues. This has been attributed to unique and high-tech products. However,
the company since it focuses on the provision of the premium products have
concentrated in the America and Europe market since there is high purchasing
power. However, other markets of the world have in the recent times indicates
the potential of enhancing their purchasing power. Also, these markets unlike
in Europe and America are also experiencing high population growth. Therefore,
the consultation team proposes that it is essential for Apple, Inc. to
acknowledge this investment opportunity and try to capitalize on it.
The
consultation team report indicates that IPhone are the stars product of Apple, therefore,
they should be a strategy of partnership with local companies to create
relatively cheaper and customized products targeting different regions. This strategy will be complimented with
employment of the promotion marketing strategy that reaches wider
products. In a nutshell, Asian and the
African Markets should define the future of the Apple’s market share and help
the company to become more profitable and competitive.
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