Apple Incorporation Company - Strategic Marketing Management - Case Study Example

Strategic Marketing Management Name: Student Number: Unit Coordinator: Institution: Word Count: September 28th, 2013 Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary………………………………………………………………….3 2. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..4 3. Body…………………………………………………………………………………...5 i. Product Life Cycle…………………………………………………………….5 ii. New Market Entry……………………………………………………………..9 iii. Follower Strategies for the New Market Entry………………………………11 iv. Growth Strategies…………………………………………………………….13 v. Mature and Declining Market Strategies……………………………………..15 vi. New Economy Markets……………………………………………………....17 vii. Organisational Structures…………………………………………………….18 viii. Marketing Plans - SWOT Analysis…………………………………………..18 ix. Marketing Metrics and Marketing Audit……………………………………..19 x. Marketing Audit……………………………………………………………...19 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...19 5. References…………………………………………………………………………...21 Executive Summary This is an assessment document that concentrates on analyzing the various marketing strategies that are employed in developing, introducing, growing, maturing, and declining Apple Inc.’s products. In particular, the assessment concentrates on Apple iPhone 4 products in defining the various marketing strategies in it. It begins with a brief introduction that gives general background information on the Apple Incorporation Company. Within the introduction, it mentions the various positions that the Apple Inc. Company occupies in the international market and some of its products, and more particular iPhone series Smartphone. Some few companies that actively compete with Apple Inc. Company, such as Motorola and Samsung Electronics are also mentioned. Within the body of the assessment document, subjects such as product life cycle, new market entry strategies, Follower Market Strategies, Growth Strategies, Shakeout Stages, Mature Stages, and Declining Stages of the market are defined and discussed in relation to iPhone 4 and Samsung Electronics’ product Samsung Galaxy S 4G respectively. These two products are used to establish a competition between the two companies in order to develop a framework of comparison in regard to differential marketing strategies. Towards the end of the body, Apple’s entry into New Economy Markets, its possible Marketing Plans, Metrics and Audits are discussed. At the end of the body, marketing audit is discussed in relation to its role in profitability analysis. The assessment concludes that application of proper marketing strategies is essential in ensuring that all processes that Apple Inc. Company undertakes, from the innovation stage of its products up to the final distribution to the end consumers, become a success and help in maintaining a good customer base. Strategic Marketing Management Introduction Apple Inc., formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc. is an American International Company whose headquarter is located in Cupertino in California. Apple, Inc. Company takes part in developing, designing and selling of personal computers, computer electronics and computer software. The best hardware products from Apple, Inc. that are universally known are the iPod music player, the iPad tablet computer, the iPhone Smartphone, and the Mac line of computers. The software that this company produces include OS X, the Safari web browser, the iLife and iWork productivity and creativity suits, the iTunes media browser, and the iOS operating systems. Apple Inc. Company is the world’s 2nd largest company of information technology in terms of revenue after Samsung Electronics and the 3rd largest mobile phone producer after Samsung and Nokia in the whole world. This particular assessment concentrates on Apple, Inc.’s iPhone 4 product. IPhone 4 Tech Specs indicate that it comes in two main colors, white and black, has a 512MB of DRAM, has a height of 115.2 mm, 58.6 mm in width, 9.3mm in depth, and 137 grams in weight. The product has an A4 chip, has a Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology, 802.11 b/g/n WI-Fi (2.4GHz only), a digital compass, a Retina Display, an iSight Camera of 960*640 megapixels, video recording capabilities, a face time camera enabling video and audio calling, a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery of up to 6 hours internet 2G and 3G use, and Audio Playback in addition to TV and Video Airplay support features. Apple’s iPhone 4 was released in the market on June 7th of the year 2010, and particularly marketed by Apple as Face Time, meaning its video calling capabilities is its core marketing feature (Gsmarena, n.d). Body Product Life Cycle This refers to the period through which a product is developed, brought to the market for sale, and finally removed from the market (Östlin, Sundin & Björkman, 2009). In other words, a product life cycle generates an idea of the period between introductions of a product to its withdrawal from the market. As such, before a product is brought to the market, it has to be researched and developed (Stark, 2011). In the event that the product idea is found to be viable and potentially beneficial, the product will be manufactured, marketed and rolled out in the market. With the assumption that the product becomes a success story in the market, its manufacture or production will grow until that time that the product becomes extensively available in the market. In the long run, the demand for this particular product will go down or decline and thus becomes obsolete (Östlin, Sundin & Björkman, 2009). There are four distinct but not utterly-predictable stages that each and every product goes through from the time it is introduced to the time it is withdrawn from the market. These stages include the introduction stage, shakeout stage, mature and declining stages as indicated in the image below. http://manifestedmarketing.com/2012/03/29/apple-an-introduction-to-marketing-strateg/ Product Life Cycles http://ericgonzalez.wordpress.com/2007/08/ As a product moves through these stages, the strategies used in its pricing, packaging, promotion, and distribution are re-evaluated and if possible changed to enable its durability (prolong its existence or life) in the market. Introduction stage of a product life cycle involves releasing the product on to the market. At this time, sales are very low and the cost of this particular product is high, thus, no profits are realized. Similarly, there is little to no competition at this stage and as such, demand must be created via heavy promotional activities (Stark, 2011). Contrarily, the growth stage of a product is the level where the sale of a product, its revenues and profits start to grow as the product becomes additionally popular in the market. The product finally and increasingly gains acceptance among final consumers, the mobile industry, and the public in general. At this stage, product innovations are introduced in order to create a positive image of the product and moderates the presence of strong competitors who will be making efforts to copy or rather improve on the product, and finally present their own products as alternatives or replacement for the original product. Such activities are normally done to maintain the growth in regard to sales and ensure that interest or profit in the product does not stagnate, therefore maintaining the growth stage. The Maturity stage of a product falls between when a product is no longer in its growth stage, but not yet at the stage of decline. At this time, the sales of the product is said to reach their peak. This stage is characterized by an increase in the total number of competitors in the market and a corresponding reduction in profit growth as a proportion of sales made. In order to compensate for the level of saturation that is experienced at this stage, the product development strategies many a time involve making new market entries, mainly via exports. It may also be advantageous to increase the company’s effort to satisfy the available or already existing customers in order to maintain the customer base. Similarly, a reduction of expenditures committed to marketing and production are often experienced at this stage. Finally, the declining stage involves a sharp increase in competition based on product pricing and profits, in addition to sales, undergo a general decline. At this level of a product life cycle, marketers of industrial products often opt to discontinue the production of a product or even introduce a substitute product that renders the former version of it obsolete. The declining stage is characterised with manufactures typically scaling back their marketing and production expenses in order to save on costs, and resources or raw materials are usually shifted to the production of products that are new, and still under development stages. For industries that rely more on technologies that are rapidly changing, such as mobile phone industries, the decline of the product usually proceeds at a faster rate than expected, with newer technological advances intermittently driving products that are existent out of the market. The shakeout stage of a product life cycle falls between growth and maturity. At this stage, a declining rate of growth is experienced and products that are competing to become winnowed from the market since there is intense competition, declining sales, and a rise in quality standards. In light of the above mentioned decisions, it is evident that iPhone 4 has reached a declining stage. This is particularly because Apple, Inc. has shifted the use of its resources to producing other products such as iPhone 4s that was released into the market in October, 2011. Other phones, specifically iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s/5c were released into the market in September, 2012 and September, 2013 (this month) respectively. This indicates that iPhone 4 has become obsolete, though still existent in the market, is no longer produced as there are substitute products in the market. iPhone Release Dates iPhone 1st gen. June, 2007 iPhone 3G July, 2008 iPhone 3GS June, 2009 iPhone 4 June, 2010 iPhone 4s October, 2011 iPhone 5 September, 2012 iPhone 5s/5c September, 2013 http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobile-phone/3436742/iphone-6-release-date/ New Market Entry New Market Entry entails taking the current products of Apple, Inc., in this case iPhone 4, and offering it in a new market irrespective of whether it is a new distribution channel, a new geographic area, or even a new market segment (Lee & Lieberman, 2010). In light of the previous analysis, it is evident that iPhone 4 has reached a declining stage in regard to the various levels of a PLC (Product Life Cycle). While entering new markets, consideration is normally given to four scenarios that include a company following a request from customers for support in a new market, growth saturation level is already attained in the current market of operation, identification of a large scale opportunity in relation to the schematic direction of product growth, and entry of competitors into a market and a global presence (re-positioning) is a solution (Sood, James & Tellis, 2009). Production of substitute products by other companies that compete with Apple Inc. such Samsung and Nokia, in regard to phone production, is reason enough that can authenticate entry into new markets (Lee & Lieberman, 2010). Since Samsung’s product such as Samsung Galaxy S 4G is a strong competing product that is similar to Apple’s iPhone Design patent D593087, and is capable of confusing customers, then Apple Inc. should venture into producing new product lines (Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd; Billington, Lee & Tang, 2012). The phrase “product line” when used within the context of Apple, Inc., refers to a group of products that are associated by function, by distribution channel, by price range, or by consumer group and is produced by Apple, Inc. iPhone 4 could be experiencing a decline in demand since the thrilling experience that customers associated with its launch into the market is already exhausted and they desire to have new experiences (Sood, James & Tellis, 2009). Similarly, competition could be stiff since Samsung has produced products that have similar designs and functions to iPhone 4, thus attracting the customer base that Apple Inc. has, particularly because the end users are not able to tell the difference between Samsung products and Apple, Inc.’s products (Lee & Lieberman, 2010). The best solution to overcome this is shifting and concentrating the use of resources to producing other better, sleek and characteristic design products in the same product line such as iPhone 4s, and iPhone 5, 5c/5s that the company has done to maintain their customer base. Since iPhone 4 comes makes use of Apple’s A4 chip or processor and iOS 4 (operating system), an improvement of the same as illustrated in the features that iPhone 4s possesses (A 5 processor) is reason enough to discontinue its production and concentrate in producing iPnone 4S, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S (Lee & Lieberman, 2010). Its role as an entry level free Smartphone is therefore substituted with iPhone 4S to minimise competition, maintain growth, and improve profit margins (Sood, James & Tellis, 2009). Contrarily, the use of price or cost reduction strategies as a mode of entering new markets is also a possible solution to alleviating the stiff competition that Apple faces from Samsung (Lee & Griffith, 2012). Since the pricing of Samsung’s product such as Samsung Galaxy S 4G, is almost similar to the pricing that Apple offers for its iPhone 4, it becomes difficult for existing customers of Apple, Inc. to tell the difference between these two products as they rate them to have similar features and functions due to their similar pricing (Lee & Griffith, 2012). Using a differential pricing strategy, specifically a lower price offer as compared to what Samsung offers, is therefore a possible way of attracting customers that cannot afford the original cost of this product (Baker, Marn & Zawada, 2010). Similarly, because iPhone 4 is becoming obsolete, lowering its price would help increase its demand as customers will buy it in bulk or even in large numbers as it is affordable (Lee & Griffith, 2012). Follower Strategies for the New Market Entry A market follower is a company that does not make an effort to be the best amongst the best. This type of corporation faces low risks because they play a strategy, which can be commonly referred to as “play it safe”, and involves the use, and or improvement upon the schemes, tactics or strategies that have worked well for other competitors (Huang, Chou & Lee, 2010). In business terms, this tactic is usually referred to as “leap-frogging.” Instead of exhausting all its resources and efforts in trying to attain the “top dog” position, a market follower makes use of time-tested tactics to retain its existing customers and apply strategies that are borrowed to win against their new and old competitors. Apple Inc. can allow Samsung Electronics to lead the way in innovating new product lines then it improves on them after they release their products to the market. It therefore evades undertaking any market research activities that are aims at establishing the product idea in the market. A market follower can capitalize on the success of market leaders or pioneers (Huang, Chou & Lee, 2010). If the particular product idea worked well for Samsung Electronics in developing a product, there is a probability that it will work well for Apple Incorporation, while acting as a follower (Huang, Chou & Lee, 2010). For instance, if Samsung Electronics offers a Smartphone that uses an Android OS, v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) and a Chipset Exynos 5 Octa 5410 for Samsung 19500 Galaxy S4, which was released in the market on April, 2013, Apple Inc. can make use of these features to develop an iPhone 5S that uses A5 chip and an iOS7, the latest version of operating system, to compete with Samsung. Otherwise, using their original iPhone 4 would lead to more losses making the business not to recover. As such, the technology that Apple Inc. incorporates in their products in the new market become wholly dependent on the technologies that Samsung has used in their latest product and the reception that end users have given the product (Huang, Chou & Lee, 2010). If it is accepted, they copy and slightly improve on their product. Otherwise, a dissatisfaction that arises from the new market would mean Samsung’s product is not meeting the expectations of the customers and Apple Inc. has to major on these weaknesses to win customers to their side. A market follower can similarly reduce risks while using this strategy (Belz & Schmidt‐Riediger, 2010). Since the idea of being a market pioneer does not come without risks, a market follower enjoys the strategy of maintaining a reserved or cautious investment. Apple Inc. can let Samsung Electronics lead the market of innovating phones and study the response they receive from the market. Samsung Electronics may work exhaustively to be the best of the best in the mobile technology industry but still loose repeat customers, or even worse miss opportunities for referrals. As such, Apple Inc. can only focus on products that are already tested by Samsung and are working to avoid repeating the costly mistakes that Samsung may risk facing due to a blind investment, thus still live to grow and develop its base of customers (Sankaran & Selvarasu, 2011). In this context, if Samsung Electronics innovates a Samsung Galaxy s4, its features and price are still unique in the market. Apple would wait and analyse how customers respond to Samsung Electronics’ new product in the market (Belz & Schmidt‐Riediger, 2010). In the event that Samsung experiences any losses in regard to raw materials or production costs in releasing this market to the market, or even fails to attract enough customers because the product does not meet their (end consumers) desire, Apple Inc. would avoid producing or releasing such a product in the same market and developing that which the customers desire. As such, Apple Inc. would have avoided a risk or loss that it would have incurred as a market pioneer. Growth Strategies Samsung Electronics is rated above Apple as earlier identified and as such, adopting a leapfrog attack strategy is a good scheme to overcome their competition (Manzini, Baek & Zhong, F. (2010). By adopting a leapfrog strategy in marketing, Apple has the ability to surpass Samsung who is their superior competitor. The company in-turn gets an extraordinary growth, management position and profit (Manzini, Baek & Zhong, F. (2010). Apple can bud new technologies after seeing what Samsung offers by making use of creative and exceptional engineering skills to revolve and advance Samsung Galaxy S 4G’s features and technology into current ones (a tempting outcome ) that will swoop all the customers of Samsung to their side. By adopting the leapfrog strategy of a market follower, Apple Inc. will maintain its growth, existing customers and profit margins, in addition to attracting new customers that are loyal to Samsung Electronics (Manzini, Baek & Zhong, F. (2010). The benefit of adopting this kind of strategy is that Apple’s products would be of a better quality as they represent improved or advanced technologies of Samsung Electronics’ products. In fact, the outcome would be a product that offers a superior performance in the mass market as compared to Samsung Galaxy S 4G. Similarly, Apple Incorporation would avoid extra costs needed for innovation because imitation has the capacity to be equally effective and profitable as compared to innovation (Kotler, 2011). Risks are therefore reduced as investments in product tanks are reduced and only tested techniques are employed in the development of iPhone phones. A good example that illustrates Samsung taking advantage of Apple Inc.’s product is the Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. lawsuit where Samsung was accused of copying an Apple, Inc. design in developing their phone. In fact, Samsung made some improvements on the product to entice customers and confuse them in telling the difference between their product and Apple’s. Secondly, a flank attack strategy would be beneficial if applied in the case of Apple’s iPhone 4 products. A flanking strategy is a form of indirect marketing scheme directed at capturing market segments that are not served well by Samsung Electronics (Kim, Mauborgne, Hunter, Marks & Mortensen, 2009; Kotler, 2011). As such, Apple will have to allocate most of its resources to the segments that are being attacked by Samsung, and therefore dilute Samsung’s marketing efforts or even loose them to Apple Inc. In order to succeed in adopting this strategy, Apple Inc. has to make use of different approaches from Samsung in entering their markets, undertake right timing in delivering their products, and target specific populations, individuals or organisations for their products. For instance, Apple Inc. can sell iPhone 4 to customers that cannot afford Samsung’s Galaxy S 4G. This implies that Apple has to carefully choose issues to address such as pricing, quality and customer satisfaction. As such, Apple’s iPhone 4, together with other products produced in the same line, would amount to a differentiated brand and price that appears to be much more appealing to a larger market segment of probable clients whose needs are not met by the existing product offers of Samsung (Kim et al., 2009). Mature and Declining Market Strategies A mature market is one that has attained a state of balance (Park & Lee, 2012). At this stage, there is little or no innovation, in addition to significant growth. This implies that growth in this market has stopped and it is functioning without innovation or change. The vital objective that needs to be achieved in a mature market is to maintain the loyalty of customers that already exist for Apple Inc in order to maintain a meaningful competitive advantage that will help make certain the continuous or unrelenting satisfaction and loyalty of those clients (Park & Lee, 2012). As such, the financial success of Apple’s products during the mature life cycle stage depends primarily on the ability of the firm to attain and sustain a lower delivered cost or some form of supposed quality of product or customer service pre-eminence. Investments of the company at this stage are therefore maintained between ranges from low to moderate. Appe Inc. can passively defend mature products such as iPhone 4 while using the majority of revenues produced by this item to develop and uncompromisingly market iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C that still have more potentials for growth (Tonoyan, Strohmeyer, Habib & Perlitz, 2010). However much this strategy may appear short-sighted, it is imperative to note that not all markets reach maturity at the same time, thus an aging brand such as iPhone 4 may experience a revival (Tonoyan et al., 2010). To enhance survival in a mature market, Apple Inc. could make a choice to expand their markets or increase their penetration (Beiling & Yan, 2012; Muga & Santamaria, 2010). Increasing market penetration is a strategy that could help improve the awareness or popularity of Apple’s products in the market (Beiling & Yan, 2012). Since end consumers confuse Apple’s products with Samsung Electronics’ products due to their similarity (competition), Apple Inc. can avert this by undertaking thorough promotional activities (advertising and many more) physically and online or even lowering their prices relative to Samsung’s to gain their customers and attract non-users of Apple’s products, which at the same time convinces existing customers to use more of Apple’s product (Muga & Santamaria, 2010). Expanding Apple’s Market would involve offering a product to a wider market segment of a market that already exists or into a new psychographic, geographic or demographic market (Beiling & Yan, 2012). For instance, Apple may introduce iPhone 5 to their existing customer base, at a lower price than iPhone 4 in order to attract customers that were not able to afford it originally. As such, their market would be expanded. In fact, this is a strategy that Apple Inc. has already used because iPhone 5 is cheaper than iPhone 4, which is the centre of focus. Declining Markets are those in which advances in technology, desires, changing client demographics, lifestyles, and development of product substitutes have led to a reduced demand for a particular product (Bumgardner, Buehlmann, Schuler & Crissey, 2011). Whenever products reach the stage of declining, organizational managers face a vital question of whether to dissociate from (divest) or shut down (liquidate) their businesses. Unfortunately, corporations every now and then support declining products for such a long time at the expense of current possible profitability and the hard-line pursuit of future beneficiaries. As a result, limited to medium investments take place at this stage (Peasnell, Talib & Young, 2011). Of important note however, is that an appropriate strategy of marketing can produce substantial profits and sales in a market that is declining. Making use of a profitable survivor strategy can be applied in the context of Apple’s iPhone products to enable survival (Lien & Klein, 2012). After penetrating the new market as a follower, Apple Inc. can invest enough resources to increase its share position and establish itself as the industry pioneer for the rest of the market’s decline process (Lien & Klein, 2012). This will encourage competitors such as Motorola that appear weak as compared to them leave the market and lessen competition (Lien & Klein, 2012). Contrarily, the Niche Strategy if used in the context of Apple Inc. would involve ensuring that one or more market segments that are substantial either remains as stable pockets of demand for Apple’s iPhone products or even decay at a slow pace (Weinstein, 2013). This strategy is a viable strategy to employ in securing the existence of Apple’s iPhone products in the market because even competitors that appear smaller can, in certain occasions, employ this strategy (Bamford, Dean & McDougall, 2009). For instance, Apple Inc. can decide to maintain its middle income earner’s base to ensure survival as other competitors strive to win the interest of high income earners in a market segment. This would give Apple Inc. a competing edge above its competitors because its target market is sustainable and larger in comparison to the rich segment of the society. New Economy Markets This refers to new industries, including biotechnology or the use of Internet, and are characterised by progressive technology and high rates of growth (Arnold & Quelch, 2012). In the context of Apple Inc., the large number of internet applications can be used as an advantage to improving its growth (Lundvall, 2009). Apple can make use of online advertising techniques, or other use of online marketing stores, to advertise and sell their products. By placing their products online, customers are given an opportunity for easy access of product details and ease of window shopping prior to effecting purchases (Lundvall, 2009). They therefore save time and money that would otherwise have been used to facilitate travelling to distant stores (Atkinson & Andes, 2010). As such, the company has adopted a variable change in how its serves its customers as products are available online (Perkowski, 2011). Organisation Structures Apple can make use of product management structure to enhance its survival in the market since it is a product that is under discussion in this context (Tyagi & Sawhney, 2010). In employing product management, Apple Inc. can decentralise all its decision making processes, while increasing the level of product speciality at the same time. Product managers are in charge of obtaining support from other functional departments in the firm that include market management functional areas (top management) and medium or middle level departments, which they have no control over. As such, product managers concentrate in ensuring correct product pricing, product design and branding, and proper packaging to attract clients. Marketing Plans- SWOT Analysis SWOT refers to Strengths, Weknesses, Opportunities and Strengths of iPhones respectively (Junfeng & Li, 2011; Friesner, 2011). The Strengths of Apple iPhone 4 include the sleek device design, availability of Apple store (Itunes) applications, access to combined functions in a single device, resistance to computer viruses and the reputation for value for range of products that the company has created, which entice customers. Its Weaknesses include the choice of a distribution line to only AT&T and its expensive pricing. Contrarily, Opportunities and Threats include expanding to other companies to gain clients, and future hardware upgrades, plus the Blackberry Storm, target for competition and that it is not affordable due to current market trends respectively. Marketing Metrics and Marketing Audit Since Apple Inc. has a SMART objective to continuously have the best products in the market, producing iPhone 6 after iphone 4, 4S, 5, 5c, and 5s would help improve its market share and profitability as they would be advancing the technology that their customers desire (Farris, Bendle, Pfeifer & Reibstein, 2010). With a variety of products to choose from in Apple’s product line, there will be a large customer base and satisfaction that the company will attain in the mobile market. Customers enjoy new technologies and are easily maintained with a continued thrill in new product developments (Zahay & Griffin, 2010). Marketing Audit Strategy Audit involves assessing the strategic plans of Apple Inc. Plans can be assessed for viability, effectiveness and durability in relation to profits achieved in the company (Solcansky & Simberova, 2010). If more profits are earned, the strategy is viable and remains employed, otherwise a new strategy is developed (Best, 2013). Contrarily, an environment audit is necessary in assessing the current market trends in line with pricing, promotional activities, distribution channels (place), and products. The company therefore alters its product prices in comparison to other similar products from competitors in the same market in order to gain a pricing advantage in enticing clients and maintaining a customer base (Cassell & Giroux, 2011; Ting, 2011). Conclusion In light of the above mentioned references, it is obvious that Apple Incorporation employs almost all marketing strategies and principles including Identifying a target market, analysing the various market characteristics, and incorporating them in their daily marketing strategies. As such, a marketing strategy affects all processes in developing a product from the stage of development, introduction into the market, its growth, maturity and final decline. To maintain the profitability of a product in a market and maintenance of a customer base, it is imperative that proper market audit is done in order to completely satisfy the various desires that customers may be interested in. References Gsmarena. (n.d). Apple iPhone 4. 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Retrieved from http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-YXSG201106010.htm Apple inc. V. Samsung electronics co., ltd., no. 12-cv-00630-lhk (psg) (n.d. cal. June 5, 2012). Read More