Porter’s Five Forces
It goes without saying that the core strategies of Apple Inc. are partially determined by the necessity to address the business environment’s external forces. Identified as Porter’s Five Forces, they may reduce the company’s profitability, revenues, market share, and general business development potential if left without particular attention. They are competitive rivalry, the bargaining power of both suppliers and customers, and the threats of substitution and new entrants in the market. In the case of Apple Inc., the strongest forces that mostly impact the company are competition and the bargaining power of customers. In the present day, the technology market is characterized by a highly aggressive competitive environment in which multinational corporations, such as Apple Inc., Samsung, Honor, and many others, apply innovations, intensive advertising, imitation, and service options to attract customers. Their rivalry is complicated by low product differentiation and low switching cost. In other words, customers may easily prefer other brands to Apple Inc. on the basis of their products’ functionality, affordability, and network externalities. In this case, Apple Inc. is forced to monitor consumers’ needs and exceed their expectations in relation to quality, service, and buyer experience in order to stay competitive and develop in the future.
At the same time, other forces, including the bargaining power of suppliers, new entrants, and the threat of substitution, are moderate to weak. The global representation of Apple Inc. provides access to multiple suppliers, which may be easily changed in the case of substantial disagreement. At the same time, while similar products and substitutes are available in the market, they cannot replace Apple Inc.’s original products due to limited features. Finally, the level of the company’s development allows it to pay less attention to the threat of new entrants, as the market of international corporations requires substantial investments and expenditures for brand development.
Leadership
As the company forms its strategies in order to address external forces, it is its leadership styles and model that ensure these strategies’ successful application. In Apple Inc., performance is based on the transformational model, while managers execute both transformational and democratic leadership. On the one hand, decision-making is impacted by the opinions and feedback of teams’ experts on the basis of communication between them. On the other hand, leaders pay particular attention to employees’ needs, demands, and capabilities aiming to empower them, motivate, and release their potential through personal and professional development. In addition, leadership in Apple Inc. is characterized by deep expertise in decision-making, immersion in the smallest details, and a willingness to cooperate (Podolny & Hansen, 2020). In other words, performance is based on expertise, experience, and collaboration.
In the case of Apple Inc., these leadership styles provide multiple competitive advantages as the company’s performance presupposes the highest quality, excellence in service, and rapid innovations that may be provided only by experienced, skilled, and qualified experts. That is why Apple Inc.’s management cooperation between them for the generation of new ideas and the improvement of existing projects and pay attention to their need to ensure retention. In general, leadership plays a crucial role for the company’s performance as efficient leaders determine its outcomes by articulation missions and goals and motivating subordinates (El Toufaili, 2018). Having skills, experience, and charisma to impact others, effective leaders nevertheless respect employees’ values, beliefs, professional characteristics, and individual peculiarities. At the same time, efficient leadership derives from a leader’s personal characteristics, such as responsibility, charisma, self-confidence, creativity, transparency, inspiration, and other inner values; and knowledge, skills, and expertise, such as communication skills, emotional intelligence, and cultural competence.
Recommendations
On the basis of the current review, it is possible to state that the leadership model and styles applied by Apple Inc. contribute to the company’s growth and development as they ensure the rapid process of innovations and the generation of new ideas by talented and qualified experts for continuous growth and development. At the same time, the company may consider addressing people with excellent reputation and charisma, especially for the presentation of its products and services. While the leadership style of Steve Jobs would be defined as autocratic, his personality substantially contributed to brand awareness. In turn, Tim Cook ensures the development of the company by giving its experts the freedom to create, innovate, and communicate, however, the brand requires strong presentation that may be provided by charismatic specialists. In addition, it will ensure that the company has an additional competitive advantage for the attraction of new customers and the retention of loyal ones.
Moreover, in order to guarantee development within the framework of excellence, innovation, and quality as the company’s operational needs, Apple Inc. should consider more competitive advantages to surpass its rivals, especially in the global market. For it, the corporation should constantly monitor customers’ needs, expectations, behavior, and habits in relation to cultural peculiarities as well to adapt both products and advertising campaigns. In addition, Apple Inc. should pay particular attention to the emotional intelligence and cultural competence of its employees by organizing specific training for professional development. In addition, these competencies allow employees to communicate more efficiently in a diverse inner environment (“Inclusion & diversity,” n.d.). Moreover, the focus on inclusion, diversion, and equality will positively contribute to the company’s brand loyalty.
References
El Toufaili, B. (2018). The influence of subjective factors on the development of the transformational style of leadership. Revista de Management Comparat International, 19(2), 124-135.
Inclusion & diversity. (n.d.). Apple. Web.
Podolny, J. M., & Hansen, M. T. (2020). How Apple is organized for innovation. Harvard Business Review. Web.