International Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

International Business - Essay Example The operating systems under the software segment include Mac OS and other productivity and utility applications like I-work, Quick time player, and logic studio among others (Apple, 2013b). Apple is considered as one of the best software firms in terms of creativity and innovation. The company mainly distributes its services and product through retailers, whole sellers and exclusive Apple owned stores. Hewlett Packard, Dell, Google and Blackberry are the direct competitors of the company (NASDAQ, 2012). The current business environment is extremely volatile and changing. In order to thrive and survive in this competitive environment, companies will have to monitor and analyses the external as well as internal environment conditions before taking any business decision. Company philosophy Apple runs on the philosophy of creativity and premium (Simoes, 2001). Even though other companies are trying to cut down costs in order to increase sales and volume growth, Apple continues to price p roducts in the premium category. The company has established a loyal base of customers. Design and technology have always been the pillars of success for Apple. The other major marketing philosophy surrounding Apple is empathy, focus and Impute. Together, they provide a breakthrough competitive advantage to the company with respect to customer preference and market knowledge (Ghodeswar, 2008). Empathy concerns with understanding the exact needs to the customers (Witcher and Chau, 2010). The company has successfully embedded this philosophy with extensive research and evaluating the future trends and demands of the ever evolving customer. The second philosophy is focusing on only what is important and is necessary and removing all unimportant things from the activity plan. This increases the employee efficiency and overall productivity. The third philosophy is imputing which means that public and consumer form an opinion about the company. Thus, Apple makes sure that the image of the company is clean and balanced. External environment analysis PEST analysis will be helpful in evaluating the external environment of Apple. Political More than 50 percent of revenue of Apple comes from international markets. Thus, any change in the political scenario in the major international market will be crucial in overall growth of the organization. Economical The global economic crisis has impacted the company in an adverse way. With the high inflation rate and rising unemployment, consumers have shifted to saving mode. This has impacted the overall business of Apple, as most of its products are categorized as luxury and premium range. Fluctuating values of US dollars have also impacted the organization. Social The two major factors which have always been the forefront of Apple were designing and creativity. With the increasing disposable income, people are more attracted towards creative gadgets and technology (Beri, 2007). Apple has understood this market sentiment and cont inues to design innovative and user-friendly technology for the masses. Technological Apple throws in a large chunk of its revenue into product development and research phases. The sole purpose of this is to come out with new and innovative technology which provides competitive advantage to Apple. Opportunities and challenges An understanding of the current opportunities and