Apple Strategy
Magical Apple
Apple’s over-arching company strategy follows an innovative, mysterious and customer-centered strategy. One of the main reasons for Apple’s success has to do with their large commitment to satisfying customers while continuously innovating their products and design without creating a sense of “too much” or confusing their consumers through new operating systems. These goals, which create a unique and successful company, are achieved through the ways in which they use the five key strategic elements: arena, differentiators, vehicles, staging and pacing, and economic logic. The arenas in which Apple play have developed strategically alongside their products; inevitably, like most businesses, as Apple grew and their products developed, their target markets grew. After dominating the education and artistic markets, Apple found that they had very little in the business market and, thus, began to move into that sector (Thomke & Feinberg, 2012). Apple targets these consumers through direct sales but has also become very successful in selling their products through retail stores. These stores, which Apple decided to enter during the time in which many companies were beginning to move to direct sales, were just as innovative as their products. Through prime real estate and fantastically designed buildings, these stores were more than just stores, but rather an entire experience for people who walked in and the non-Apple customers who were lured in by the atmosphere (2012). The way in which Apple was able to enter these arenas so successfully was due to their differentiators. The beauty in Apple’s products is their simplicity, yet the vast power each product holds. Through eliminating unnecessary components of their products, Apple is able to zone in on the important, essential features and make them as powerful and capable as possible. Furthermore, the depth in which the Apple team scrutinizes and contemplates each detail of each product allows
Apple’s over-arching company strategy follows an innovative, mysterious and customer-centered strategy. One of the main reasons for Apple’s success has to do with their large commitment to satisfying customers while continuously innovating their products and design without creating a sense of “too much” or confusing their consumers through new operating systems. These goals, which create a unique and successful company, are achieved through the ways in which they use the five key strategic elements: arena, differentiators, vehicles, staging and pacing, and economic logic. The arenas in which Apple play have developed strategically alongside their products; inevitably, like most businesses, as Apple grew and their products developed, their target markets grew. After dominating the education and artistic markets, Apple found that they had very little in the business market and, thus, began to move into that sector (Thomke & Feinberg, 2012). Apple targets these consumers through direct sales but has also become very successful in selling their products through retail stores. These stores, which Apple decided to enter during the time in which many companies were beginning to move to direct sales, were just as innovative as their products. Through prime real estate and fantastically designed buildings, these stores were more than just stores, but rather an entire experience for people who walked in and the non-Apple customers who were lured in by the atmosphere (2012). The way in which Apple was able to enter these arenas so successfully was due to their differentiators. The beauty in Apple’s products is their simplicity, yet the vast power each product holds. Through eliminating unnecessary components of their products, Apple is able to zone in on the important, essential features and make them as powerful and capable as possible. Furthermore, the depth in which the Apple team scrutinizes and contemplates each detail of each product allows
Cited: Gross, D. (2014). Before the iWatch there was… CNN. Tech. Isaacson, W. (2012). The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs. Harvard business review, 90(4), 92-102. Thomke, S., & Feinberg, B. (2009). Design thinking and innovation at apple. Harvard Busyness School, 1-12. Wakabayashi, D. (2014). Tim Cook 's Vision for 'His ' Apple Begins to Emerge. The Wall Street Journal.