Case Study : The Apple of Your i
1. Which of Porter's four competitive strategies does Apple engage in? Explain.
2. Steve Jobs passed away in October 2011. Until his death, he had been the heart and soul of Apple's innovation. Today, 80,000 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?
3. Microsoft took an early lead in the development of slate 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 analysts would agree that the skills and abilities of Microsoft's 102,000 employees are as good, on average, as Apple's.
4. Until June 2012, PixelSense was called Surface. At that time, Microsoft repurposed the name to use on its tablet devices. Surface was changed to PixelSense. What conclusions do you draw from these naming decisions?