Two Parts:
A) Show a Porter’s Five Forces model for the industry (i.e., the industry that Apple competes in). (Value: 5/10 points)
What do you think is the Core Competence (what the company does best) of Apple? Show this as a graphic and also then provide detailed written text that describes each of the forces and quantify/qualify the strength/weakness of each force. Think about our discussion on FedEx.
B) Answer these questions (Value: 5/10 points):
1) What is Apple’s strategy? What were Apple’s competitive advantages in the computer business (and also in its other businesses)?
2) Why has Apple had so much difficulty in the PC industry over time?
3) How sustainable is Apple’s competitive position with MP3 players? With smartphones?
Points to Consider:
Analysis – Go deeper with your analyses by discussing the “so what” or overall importance/implications of a force, power, threat, etc. Do not just restate case history/facts without giving key importance by saying specifically what it means, its relevance, its impact, etc. When you are writing, play devil’s advocate with yourself by asking yourself what the follow up question(s) is to your statement(s) and then address those in your writing as needed. Avoid logic leaps without any explanations. Make sure that you detail why each force is a high, medium or low. For example, it is not enough to just say that the threat of new entrants is low because of “distribution network” of The Coca-Cola Company. You would need to articulate why/how distribution is can provide a competitive advantage warding off new entrants.
Formatting – Use section headings for Five Forces, etc. Use various formatting tools such as bold, bullets, italics, etc. This will help you avoid using just one long paragraph.
Graphic – Your Five Forces analysis should have one simple Five Forces graphic with top level points included on the graphic with a more detailed narrative/analysis thereafter in the write-up that complements the graphic.
Punctuation – Make sure that you use proper punctuation, including with prepositional phrases.
Margins – Use normal margins (1″ all around, or 1″ on left and right and 0.5″ on top and bottom).
Name on Document – Place your name on each page of the document, in case the pages become separated for some reason.
Page Numbering – Place “Page [x] of [y]” at the bottom of each page so that I know how many pages you are submitting in case something gets detached.
Segues from One Section to Another – Use better transitions as needed, in some papers, there were no transitions.
Decimal Points & Commas – Use these with large numbers as well as dollar signs. For example, instead of saying 3500 employees, say 3,500 employees. Instead of saying that profit was 414, say that it was $414.00.
Stapling – Please make sure that you staple all of your pages in your submission, not bind, not leave pages loose or fold edges to keep together.
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