Apple Case: The Evolution Of Industry Structure Over Time Essay

1. What is the evolution of the industry building over time and its implication for strategic positioning?PC buyers locoweed be classified in to home,small- and medium-sized business (SMB),corporate, education, and government. Home consumers represented the biggest segment, accounting for nearly half of the worldwide shipments. Evolution Though the first technical computing machine (UNIVAC) was released in 1951 the credit of mass grocery storeization of computers should be given to apple-I computer in 1976. Though it was released targeting common man, majority of the apple users used it for commercialized and educational purpose. Due to inconsistence performance and ironware issues this was not a wide success. Four years later IBM with MS Dos revolutionized the concept of own(prenominal) computer. Due to its consistence performance, user friendly GUI and more significantly affordable price made IBM pc a huge add up in market. IBM Open source evolution of IBM clonesToo many market players threesome to price war, constitute principalorchard apple tree restricted itself to its MAC ecosystem, there by following specialism. Post steve jobs exit from Apple, Sculley well-tried to move Apple into mainstream cost leadership. It failed Amelio proclaimed that Apple would return to its premium-price differentiation. 2. What is nature of sustainable free-enterp mounting(a) advantage?CA rests on the notion that cheap labor is ubiquitous and natural resources are not necessary for a good economy.Competitive advantage occurs when an organization acquires or develops an attribute or combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. These attributes can include addition to natural resources, such as high grade ores or flash power, or access to highly trained and skilled personnel tender resources. New technologies such as robotics and information technology either to be included as a blow up of the intersection, or to assist res ervation it. Information technology has become such a prominent part of the modern business world that it can also contribute to competitive advantage by outperforming competitors with regard to internet presence.From the very beginning, i.e. Adam smiths Wealth of Nations, the central problem of information transmittal, leading to the rise of middle-men in the marketplace, has been a significant impediment in reaching competitive advantage. By using the internet as the middle-man, the purveyor of information to the final consumer, businesses can gain a competitive advantage through creation of an effective website, which in the past required extensive effort finding the right middle-man and cultivating the relationship. (This is a generic question so answered it from wiki)3. What performance was obtained over the different leadership styles? Steve Jobs setup the company, Autocratic,innovative.He paired up with Woznivik in 1976 and founded Apple. His mission is to express an eas y-to-use computer to market, which lead to APPLE-II in 1978. He grew it to a 1 billion sales in less than three years. BY 1980, Apple exchange 100K computes. Between 1981 86 net come fallen by 62% , steve jobs was fired Steve Jobs Part II Reshaped Apple. $150 one thousand thousand to invest on a 5 year plan to develop core products. halt Apple license sales to the clones for new mac OS. Introduced website to open curb sales. He want to recover IBMs imagem retained Pixar chief executive slipr position. Launched multi-million clam marketing campaigns such as Think Different Sculley He pushed the Mac into new markets (mainly in desktop publishing and education). The main centre is on proprietary software like Aldus Pagemaker and peripherals such as laser printers.He evolved apple as a customer friendly systems thats sightly plug and play. Analysts noted that this approach made Apples customers honor their Macs. He tried to move Apple into mainstream by becoming a low cost producer of computers. During his tenure Mac classic was introduced at $999 to compete head-to-head with low priced IBM clones. He tried to forge an bail with IBM to develop a develop a new OS. He tried to develop a new chipset in collaboration with Novell and Intel to run on Mac OS. His main ambition is to bring a hit product every 6 to 12 months and capture the whole PC market. Inspite ofall these efforts Apples gross margin dropped to 34% which is an all-time low which lead to replacement of Sculley with Michael Spindler. Spindler era Cuts 16% of work force. Globalisation lead to 45% of sales outside US. JV with IBM to develop new OS failed leading to $69 million loss. Which lead to Amelio as chief executive officerAmelio era stomach to Premium-price differentiation. Macintosh sales still fallen which lead to recruitment of Steve jobs as the interim CEO. Timeline AppleYear Event +ve -ve1976 Apple computer started Jobs and Wozniaks technology and Markkulas financing abilities NA 1978 Apple II released $1 billion in sales, Apple becomes industry leader 1980 IPO launched exchange 100,000 Apple IIs, Era of fast growth for Apple 1981 IBM enters PC market IBMs open approach, horizontal and vertical integration, Apples refusal to license hardware Apples closed approach. Apples net income sink 62% between 1981 and 1984 1984 McIntosh is launched ease of use, good industrial design, technical culture Macs slow processor speed, lack of compatibility caused limited sales Jobs fired, Scully comes in 1985-1993 1990 Apples complete desktop solution Apples focus on desktop publishing and education, plug and play, unique chips, harrow drives, monitors. IBM narrows the gap in ease of use Design versus compatibility Love for Macs vindicatory putting up with IBM machines Apples premium price dodge Premium Macs sold for as much as $10,000, Gross cabbage hovered at 50% IBM compatibles lowered costs Apple tries to move into cost leadership with Mac Class ic Moving to cost leadership from differentiation Joint venture for new OS and multimedia applications Working towards reservation Macs compatible, joint project with Intel Dropped gross margin to 34% 1993 Michael Spindler replaced Sculley 1993-1997 Spindler & Amelio years lift trend, Apple lost momentum, Apple and IBM parted ways $69 million loss Cost cutting1996 Amelio appointed as the new CEO 1.6 bn loss1997 NeXT is bought by Apple Jobs takes over as CEO in September 1997 Microsofts investment of $150 million in Apple Five year commitment to develop MS office products for Mac 15 product lines slashed to 4 Operational qualification through improved distribution systems, direct sales, focus on innovation, change magnitude R&D Mac and Apples digital Hub schemeShift to Intel CPUs With Intel inside Mac also became a machine that could natively run a Windows OS along with Windows applications * Operating ashes Mac OS based on UNIX with ugrades at greater re lative frequency than what Microsoft does * Application Building programs on iLife suite iPhoto, iTunes, iWeb. Web browser Safari, and iwork productiveness applications * Distribution The Apple retail experience. Retail division 280 stores in 10 countries. Partnership with Best Buy Worlds largest electronic retail merchant