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

On Apple - Case Study Example â€Å"Mike† Markkula, Jr. have experienced the ups and downs of the organization due to competitive 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 Apple’s current performance in view of future prospects. The question that is to be responded to is: Was Apple’s recent success just another temporary â€Å"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 1980’s Apple’s 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 Pu blic Offering of their shares. However, during this period, Apple was reported to â€Å"rely on proprietary designs that only Apply could produce† (Yoffie & Slind, 2008, p. 2) in contrast to IBM’s â€Å"open† system which enabled other computer producers to clone. The result of this on Apple’s 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 foc used on non-PC products in 2001 attest to the increasing pattern, ending with net sales of $24 billion in 2007 to $24.6 billion for the first to third quarters of 2008. Likewise, net income improved considerably 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 Macintosh 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 music 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 abru ptly after 2006, consistent with the introduction of the iPhone in the market. On a global scale, however, the financial figures indicate that worldwide PC share had actually been steady at an average of 2.5% since 1997 (Exhibit 3). Apple’s gross margin has bested other competitors, particularly Hewlett-Packard and Dell (35% in 2007) (Exhibit 5). Comparing their net income to those of its competitors, Apple’s 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