Problem:
You are a senior manager of a computer company that competes with Apple, Inc. (Apple). You read a case study about Apple and determined that doing a SWOT analysis of Apple may help you with your own strategies.
1. Perform a SWOT analysis by identifying at least five factors each for the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For each strategic factor that you include, make sure that you also include an explanation of why that factor is important and why you selected and positioned that factor in that category. For example, if you include a factor as Strength, make sure you explain why you think it is strength.
2. After reviewing the SWOT analysis of Apple, propose strategies to take advantage of their vulnerabilities to help increase your company's market share. Remember, a strategy is not just an idea of "what" to do; it is a plan of "how" to do it. A strategy must describe "how" you are going to implement the idea, what potential ramifications (pros and cons) may result from your strategic implementation and what feedback mechanisms you will use to evaluate the success or failure of your strategic implementation.
Objectives:
- Identify examples of good and bad business practices in the use of strategy design components.
- Apply critical thinking skills to analyze business situations.