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Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT REPORT OF APPLE, INC.

Strategic management report of Apple, Inc.
Xu Ruiqing
FTDipFM10
Kaplan Higher Education Academic
February 6th 2013

Table of Contents Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT REPORT OF APPLE, INC. 1 Table of Contents 2 1. Introduction 3 2. SWOT 4 2.1 Strengths 4 2.2 Weakness 4 2.3 Opportunities 4 2.4 Threats 5 3. External analysis (general environment) 5 3.1 Politics/legal 5 3.2 Economic conditions 5 3.3 Social forces 6 3.4 Technological factors 7 3.5 Environmental factors 8 4. External analysis (competitive environment) 8 4.1 Intensity of rivalry among competitors 8 4.2 The threat of new entrants 8 4.3 The threat of substitutes 9 4.4 Suppliers 9 4.5 Customers 10 5. Internal environment analysis 10 5.1 Resource types 10 5.2 Firms capabilities 11 6. Conclusion 11 7. Recommendations 12 Reference 13

1. Introduction Apple incorporated was first established as a computer company by Steve Jobs in 1976, but in 2001, Apple broke the barrier with iPod, eventually becoming the dominant market leader in music players. In following, Apple joined the phone industry in 2007 with the iPhone, which has gained a huge success and been developed to the 6th generation today. Nowadays, Apple has developed several of products such as Apple TV, MacBook, iTunes, etc. However, after Steve Jobs, the ex-CEO of Apple, passed away, the stock price of Apple once made new lows. The incumbent CEO Tim Cook took the charge of Apple and eave the situation by iPhone5 in October 2012. In fact, losing Jobs is a great regret to Apple. After a year of his death, compare with the harmonious working environment before, internally at Apple has grown some incongruous voice and some important people such as the father of system IOS Cott Forstall, vice president John

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