Running head: APPLE INC.’S STRATEGIC AUDIT 1 Apple’s Strategic Audit Name: Institution: Date:

APPLE INC.’S STRATEGIC AUDIT 2 Apple Inc.’s Strategic Audit 4 Introduction to the Organization 4 History of the Company – Past and Current Strategies 4 Current Status and Impact of Globalization 6 Industry Overview: Industry and the Competitors 7 Broad environmental Analysis 9 Political segment 10 Economic segment 12 Sociocultural segment 13 Technological Forces Affecting the Industry 15 Ecological/Environment Factor Affecting the Industry 17 Legal Segment 18 Industry Environmental Analysis 20 Strategic Group(s) and competitors 20 Intensity of Rivalry among Existing Competitors 22 Threat of New Competitors Entering the Industry 24 Threat of substitute products or services 26 Bargaining power of buyers 29 Bargaining power of suppliers 31 Potential Profitability of the Industry 31 Critical Success Factors for the Industry 32 Internal Environmental Analysis 35 Apple Inc.’s Mission 35 Apple Inc.’s Vision 35 Core values and operating guidelines 36 Apple’s core competencies 38 Apple’s Control System and Measurement 39 Current Financial Position 39 Compared Competitors 40 Organizational Goals 42 Current Organizational Level and Business Unit Strategies & Organization –Level Analysis 43 Strategy Alignment with Goals 43 Organization’s Strategies Compared to Competitors 44 Organization’s Strategies Analysis 44 Financial strategy 45 HR functional strategy 45 Marketing 45 Finance 45 Operations 46 Purchasing 46 Information Systems 46

APPLE INC.’S STRATEGIC AUDIT 3 Alignment of Functional Strategies 46 Previous & Current Impact Improvement/Change Initiatives 47 Comparison of Improvement Initiatives with Other Organizations 48 SWOT analysis and Gap analysis 48 Strategic Gap Analysis 51 TWOS Analysis 51 Suggested Strategies and Advantages/Disadvantages of Each 52 Future of Organization & Conclusion 52 Critical Success Factors: 52 Profitability and survival: 52

APPLE INC.’S STRATEGIC AUDIT 4 Apple Inc.’s Strategic Audit Apple, Inc. is a company that offers a wide range of products in the mobile communication industry. The key business of the company is to design, to manufacture and to market a wide range of products including the portable digital music players, personal computers, media devices, mobile communication and services such as third-party digital content and applications, accessories, related software, networking solutions, and services. In specific, the products that the company deals with are the iPad, Apple TV, iPod, Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, while services include the iOS, TvOS, iCloud, service and support offerings, watchOS, Apple Pay and accessories ( Apple Inc., 2016). The digital content and applications that the company deals are sold through its professional software application such as, Mac App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks store, TV App Store, Apple Music, ad App store. Through this online platform, the company sells its products globally.