Abstract
This analysis provides environmental scan for 2 companies that operate in 2 different industries. These companies are Southwest Airlines and Apple Inc. Both of these Companies have had their success in reacting quickly to the evolving business environments around them. The Apples main competency revolves around knack for innovation in technology whereas Southwest’s model is essentially comparatively simplistic in nature and in addition functions as low cost leader in the industry it belongs. Albeit the 2 Companies possess totally different strategies, every strategy is actually designed for the environment where they operate and furthermore is successful relative to their different environments.
Introduction
The success of any company is largely contributed by the decision that is taken by the strategic management. Various companies employ different strategic management models. Multinational Companies together with the other Companies need not be large. However, they can be small businesses, which operate in a number of countries at similar time. These companies set their objectives before inception and once they start functioning they formulate various strategies that ensure that they are on the right paths of achieving their set objectives.
However, achieving these goals is not something that is easy for these Companies. Therefore, strategy becomes ever fundamental when it is suspected or known that insufficient resources exist to achieve the set goals. A strategy is thus a high level plan aimed at achieving single or additional goals under the conditions of uncertainty. For that reason, strategy is about both attaining and maintaining a given position of advantage over the adversaries by successive exploitation of emergent or known possibilities instead of committing to any particular fixed plan that was designed at the inception.
Southwest Airlines strategies
This Company’s strategies are obvious in its mission statement that states that “dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit,” This mission statement is used by the Company in creating its value in the market and sustaining its competitive advantage. Albeit this Company has become most admired in airline industry, it will actually face new set of challenges as it continues to evolve. The Company has in fact surmounted incredible challenges, which no any other airline has achieved. Its history had been that of continued profitability since 1973 (Lauer 2010). This has been possible due to the concrete strategies that the Company formulates.
Southwest Airline’s internal environment
The Company posse a lot resource which it uses to support the business it undertakes. It operates 550 Boeing 737 Aircraft that is essentially tangible resource in 72 cities. Its employees are highly productive and are approximately 35,000. This is in fact one of its most crucial tangible resources.
The technology resource, which is its other tangible resource, is in addition very fundamental for effective customer service that is actually its capability for the marketing functional area (Lauer 2010). The Company teamed up with the IBM so as to introduce roughly two hundred and fifty checks in kiosks that are self-service in nature. The aim for this was technology expansion.
The Company’s internal weaknesses and strengths are the ones that have made it difference in dealing with its various issues. Southwest Airline has in addition employed strategies that exploit its internal strengths and on the other hand reducing its internal weaknesses.
Southwest Airline’s external environment
The Company’s strategies are influenced by its demographic factor. Aging population in U.S is an issue that is big. Older people are known by not preferring to travel through plane. These society members are very conservative that they prefer buses. Since the Company is extremely customer oriented, it provides quick movement and low costs (Lauer 2010).
The economic factor, which influences the Company, is the economic crisis that changes the perception of customers and value of money. Because of this challenge, the Company’s customers can be very price sensitive.
Apple Inc. strategies
The Company exemplifies Differentiation strategy. Its tactics might differentiate from a certain product to product and driven by a variety of products. However, the vast majority of its actions and various sub strategies it have are in real sense driven by a unique overriding strategy, which has become its hallmark. It can simply be interpreted as “simplifying the user experience.” This is the measurement guideline that the Company uses in verifying its strategic effectiveness. In fact, this measurement guideline is effective because the Company gets first-hand information from the users of its products (Lashinsky 2012). In addition to this strategy, this Company also utilizes the human resource strategy. The Company utilizes this imperative strategy with a view that human resource motivation is crucial to its success. Through the Company using these strategies, it creates its value in the entire market and in addition, sustains the competitive advantage it has over the other Companies.
Apple Inc. internal environment
Concerning the Company’s corporate structure, it has in fact been run by the programmers and engineers rather than the mangers. The Company also uses Matrix structure in its management. The top management of this Company hands out the strategic decisions to the project managers. These managers then formulate operational plan and afterwards coordinate their specific units to successfully implement it (Lashinsky 2012).
About the Company’s corporate culture, it prides itself on the innovative culture where open mindedness and free thinking is greatly encouraged. This goes hand in hand with the Company’s “think different campaign”. It is this campaign that has led to its increased popularity.
Apple Inc. external environment
E-Commerce expansion in business is one of its external factors, which hinder this Company. Therefore, the Company will have various adjustments made to the systems it possesses so that it will be in a position to keep up with e-commerce industry (Lashinsky 2012). Apple interacts with the external environment so as to achieve its goals.
In addition, the Company has several competitors around the world. Nevertheless, the Company’s strong brand name and value makes it to have competitive advantages from the competitors. Moreover, the Company has to keep analyzing the 5 porter forces and finds a better place in the market.
References
Lauer, C. (2010). Southwest Airlines. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood.
Lashinsky, A. (2012). Inside Apple: How America's most admired-and secretive-company really works. New York: Business Plus.
