The company is well known as Apple computer that engulfed the computer market for a long period making very strong moves and became the strongest company dealing with computers and the related. It was best known for its Macintosh personal computers and it enabled the company to thrive in the market. Despite the good profits that the organization had made prior to the 1980s, at this period the company was coming down at an alarming rate that is after the dismissal of the Jobs from being the CEO of the company. It made serious loses that enabled its competitors to rise and be felt in the market after they had been suppressed for a very long period of time. Even after loses that the company had made when Jobs was out of the company, its revival was still staged when Jobs came back in full swing and changed the organization for the better. It is upon this that the paper is going to closely endeavor in developing a SWOT analysis of the Apple Company.
Strengths
The Apple Company is well known for the serious strengths it possessed right from birth to the present times. Some of its strengths include; leadership. The company for a very long time had enjoyed strong leadership that helped it to succeed in the market. The significant contributions by the Jobs were indeed strength to the company because of his innovative and creative nature. Steve Jobs contributed much in the development of the Apple Company. It was openly seen when he was fired from the company in the year 1985 after the company had started realizing some loses, but that did not solve the problem and instead threw the company into serious problems afterwards. Despite all the turmoil in the leadership of the company, it again revived after the return of Steve jobs to the company and made it to rise once again. Among the able leadership of the company was Scullery who was recruited by jobs from Pepsi-Cola because of his marketing skills that later helped the organization.
The company also had a strong design of its gadgets that also enabled it to become very strong in the computer market. The computers with distinctive egg design, the plug in and play devices like printers among others showed how innovative and distinctive the company was. Innovation was also the strength of the company. For a very long time the company endeavored in looking for a solution to the size of the computer, and it finally arrived at the MacBook air and an iPad. The development of the iOS 7 was another big innovation among other innovations that the company had developed making it to still be on the lead. The quality of products from the Apple company were never doubtful, the company made high quality goods and that gave it an upper hand in determining the high prices to its products.
Weaknesses
The company had serious weaknesses in its operation that made it not to do as expected by many, some of the weaknesses that it had included; the high pricing. The company was notorious in setting very high prices to its commodities; this made companies like the IBM to out compete it at some time in its history. A good example is that one of the all-in-one computers that were introduced in 1998 that went for $1,299 that was so expensive at that time compared to the rest of the companies. The company also faced decreased market shares while operating due to some challenges that it had encountered making its competitors move above it. The changes in management was also another weakness that faced the organization, it was noted that after Steve jobs departure from the organization, it encountered loses only to revive when he came back. These among others were some of the weaknesses of the company that made it not to perform as expected.
Opportunities
Despite the weaknesses that the company encountered, it still had a number of opportunities that if it could seize, it had the chances to revive and thrive the market. Some of these opportunities to the company included; the high demand of the small computers including the iPad and the iPhones. Due to the changing word and technology, the company still had an opportunity to venture into these accessories that would enable the company to perform well. The growth of tablets and smartphones forms yet another opportunity, since the company had decided to move to mobile production, this became another area if well seized, could contribute to the growth of the company. The damages from patent infringement and the strong growth in the mobile advertising also for part of the opportunities that if seized by the company would enable it thrive once more.
Threats
Despite the strong position of the Apple Company, it had been faced with several threats that hindered it from penetrating the market as required. Some of these threats include; the rapid technological changes, if the company would not comply with the changes in the technology, it had the possibilities of being outworked by other companies. The price pressure also stood as a big threat to the company. Samsung among other companies produced similar or even better commodities and priced them lowly meaning that apple had to also comply or else it would not make any sales. The competitors were advancing unlike the past times making it a serious threat, all are going online and if the Apple remains where it was despite the innovation it had mad, it would find itself is a bad shape.
Analysis of the SWOT matrix
Having looked at the SWOT analysis of the company in detail, it is very important to analyze it using the matrix, we realized that the company had several strengths and opportunities. These are very important tin the development of the organization. One thing that was supposed to be done was to make sure that the opportunities and the strengths are matched within the organization in order to realize growth. The weaknesses and threats are also very important in that they help to show the organization where it is headed. With more weaknesses and threats, it means that the organization is doing badly. These weaknesses and treats need to be minimized and be changed to strengths and opportunities.
Developing a comparative advantage
Competitive advantage refers to the difference that exists between organizations. In order for an organization like the apple company to develop a competitive advantage, it means that, it has do distinct its products from those that come from other organizations. Product differentiation will help the organization to gain competitive advantage over the others. The other thing that the company has to do is to establish brand royalty. By ensuring that the products are good, the customers will always stick to them. Product patenting is also very important in developing a competitive advantage. It will also require a company to invest carefully so that it can outdo the other firms.
Establishing a strategic focus
After analyzing the SWOT analysis, the manager of the organization will always know which direction to go. In the case of Apple Company, after Steve Jobs was out of the company, it produced very many products but still the company was in a crisis, when he came back, he decided to do away with them and started developing them fresh. By this, he ensured that better quality was produced rather than the poor quality with quantity. It is from this that the organization started reviving once again.
