Assignment:
Questions of Case Study:
1. Which of Porter's four competitive strategies does Apple engage in? Explain.
2. What do you think are the three most important factors in Apple's past success? Justify your answer.
3. Steve Jobs passed away in October 2011. Until his death, he had been the heart and soul of Apple's innovation. Today, 35,000 Apple employees continue onward in his absence. A huge question for many investors is whether the company can be successful without him. The current stock price would seem to indicate that the market does not. What do you think? What role did Jobs play? How can Apple respond to his loss? Would you be willing to invest in Apple without his leadership? Why or why not?
4. Microsoft took an early lead in the development of skate devices (like the iPad), and it had the world's leading operating system and applications for more than 20 years. Provide five reasons why Microsoft has not been able to achieve the same success that Apple has. Most industry analyst would agree that the skills and abilities of Microsoft's 88,000 employees are as good, on average, as Apple's.
5. Considering your answers to the four questions above, if you had a spare $5,000 in your portfolio and wanted to buy an equity stock with it, would you buy AAPL (Apple)? Why or why not?