Porters Five Forces Analysed The External Environment Industry Marketing Essay

Porters Five Forces Analysed The External Environment Industry Marketing Essay Among the different choices, Apple has chosen the differentiation focus strategy in the broad industry. The invention and development of products by Apple are its highly unique attributes, with devices such as the iPhone, iPod and iPad where the use touch screen and other interfaces to operate the products. Apple spends billions of dollars every year on RD (Research and Development) to develop and promote its products in order to achieve superior quality over competitors products. Apple slogan is Think Different, which drives them to innovate and provide high quality regarding their products. Apples markets are global, but they are focusing on active markets such as America, the EU and some Asian countries. However, Apple focuses on a market segment where customers clearly feel that Apple provides value for its customers. In addition, Apple had a positive growth rate during the economic crisis of 2007-2009 (Business week, 2010). Apples premium price strategy and its success have beco me a significant barrier to competitors such as Nokia, Motorola, HTC and the E-book by Sony. Porters Five Forces Analysis Porters Five Forces analysed the external environment of the industry in order to give a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses within the organisation. These analyses give the company the ability to identify the opportunities and threats from external factors (Harrison, 2003). These forces include: Threat of new entrants For each of its product lines, Apple, like any other company, faces rigorous competition. This high-tech industry requires continual research and development (RD). This sector is difficult for new companies to enter because new entrants must spend a large amount of capital on RD and on the advertising and promotion of their brand. There are some dominant producers in this sector such as Apple, Microsoft, Dell and Sony, who share the majority of the market. Apple should be aware of new entrants because they may come up with surprisingly better technology or a better product. However, these new entrants are less of a threat because it is difficult to enter and penetrate the market in a limited time (Harrison, 2003). Power of the supplier Porters second force states that the bargaining power of suppliers imposes a threat to any company. It also includes, the availability of substitute suppliers which is an important factor in determining the power of the supplier. Suppliers are known as third parties in this industry, and they are classified in two groups. The first group makes the major parts for the products. This group is not strong because of the availability and easy of replacing the items they make, such as batteries, wire connections, screens and other internal components. In contrast, the second group provides accurate parts and important programmes such as flash-memory and DRAM. This group is strong because of their specialized and advanced products, as well as the lack of alternative products (Nistor, 2010). There are some suppliers who dominate the market; for example, Intel, Microsoft and Sony. So, it is important for Apple to have a good relationship with its suppliers. Power of the buyer The buyers bargaining power is very high in the industry because competitors offer a wide range of similar products with competitive prices. The Apple Corporation faces a moderate threat from buyers because they have a lot of products that consumers can choose from. In addition, the threat of buyers comes from their demand for new features in Apple products. However, there are a large number of companies that offer similar products and there is quite a big differentiation in price and performance. Therefore, loyalty is often shown towards a specific brand because there are not many differences in the quality and price between brands (Nistor, 2010). Buyers are often more sensitive to brand rather than price. Apples customers are individuals, education departments, enterprises, governments and creative customers. So, the variety of consumers and their needs has a direct impact on Apples future strategies. Threat of substitutes The technological environment is changing fast every day. There are not many substitutes in this industry because of the high-tech features. However, alternatives are always available from competitors. If some other company such as BlackBerry, Google, Samsung or Microsoft come up with new technology or the same kind of phone at a lower price or with more features at the same price, then this is a problem for Apple (O Grady, 2009). Customers usually tend to look to the latest technology instead of traditional methods. Apple has the ability and efficiently to design and develop its own hardware and application software to become unique and distinct from its competitors. Competitive rivalry The competition in this industry is very high, almost in all areas of business, because of the continuing requirement to provide new products all the time. Competitive prices, new products, design innovations and technology are the main factors that Apple has to compete with other international companies on, such as IBM, HP, Acer and Dell. The consumers choices also differ; some prefer to save some cash rather purchase high performance specification technology and some prefer the newest technology. So, the result is that companies implement different strategies; for example, low-cost and best-cost strategies. Some manufacturers offer products at the lowest price in an attempt to cut their costs by ignoring everything except some basic features. Some other companies in the middle price range, such as Dell and HP, focus on attracting customers by offering varying prices. And the top of the range companies, like Apple, gain customers through their high quality products, features and inn ovative design, which makes their products popular all over the world (O Grady, 2009). APPENDICES: Porters Generic Strategy model: Porters Five Forces model:

Term Essays -- essays research papers

Dreams   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Every ninety minutes of every night we’re asleep, a dream unfolds. The short dreams at the beginning of the night are usually no more exciting that the idle thoughts that randomly pop into our heads when we’re awake. But as the night progresses, the length of each dream increases (the last dream can be up to twenty minutes long), the body responds more intensely (increased heartbeat, respiration, muscle twitching), and the dreams become deeper.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dreams are sometimes said to be ordinary sequences of images that are experienced by the mind during sleep. For thousands of years they were regarded as divine visitations or predictions. Dreams were not really scientifically studied until the 19th century. Today they are still being studied to learn more about man’s nature. Dreaming is a natural ability- we all dream every night. Every one dreams when sleeping at least three to four times every night. The problem however is remembering the dream. But there is a way to remembering dreams. It is believed that dreams are remembered more accurately immediately after awakening during the night rather than in the morning. Remembering dreams takes time, effort, and patience. Researchers discovered that people who tend to forget their dreams show a greater amount of rapid eye movement, which is associated with greater amounts of activity in the dream. However, when these people did remember the content of their dreams, it wa...

The Role of Women in Perfume and the Assault

The Role of Women in Perfume and The Assault In most cases, women are portrayed either as mother, lovers or people that fulfill men’s sexual needs. Both Perfume by Patrick Suskind and The Assault by Harry Mulisch is no exception. However, the reader might notice that in both novels women are portrayed in a flat, two-dimensional way and yet, paradoxically, have a significant symbolic value. The women of these novels seem to project the protagonists’ needs for these kinds of love and without them the novel would not exist. Therefore, they are not important for who they are, but rather for what they represent- the maternal and sexual love for men. In The Assault, Anton’s mother barely appears in the novel and yet we can notice how her subtly strong character had left a mark on Anton’s life. Her importance lays in what she represents in his childhood memory- a strong woman who is the core of the family. â€Å" †¦ She had a cavity in her tooth that could not be treated just then; to relieve the pain she had found a leftover clove in the kitchen to put on the sore spot, just as her mother and grandmother used to do. She sat up straight, but her husband across the table was bent over, reading a book. † (Mulish,10) Though this is a little detail that Mulisch had added, it characterizes her by inferring that she was strong. A contributing factor could be the setting of the novel. They were in time of war and the circumstances force her to be strong. We can also see a contrast between the mother and the father, the father was bending while she was sitting straight up. This infers that she was the more dominant figure. Therefore, even though Anton had lost both parents. The reader notices that Anton later on seeks Truus and Saskia to replace her, but does not search for anyone to replace his father. Truus who is also barely appears in the novel is a proof of how Anton never fully recovered of losing his mother. She was present in a time where he needed her affection. However, she is like a bridge to Anton between maternal and sexual love. â€Å"He touched her fingers; she took hold of his hand and pulled him close. On the cot she embraced him with one arm and with her other hand pressed his head against her breast. She smelled of sweat but also of something sweetish that he couldn’t identify. Perhaps it was perfume. † (Mulish, 32). Though she represents security and love like his mother did to him. The word choice by Mulisch insinuates Anton’s sexual awakening. The fact that they are on a ‘cot’ or a bed highlights the intimacy. She embraced him like a mother would embrace her child, however the focus on her ‘breasts’ arouses sexual feelings in Anton which he will realize later on in his life. Moreover, in the absence of light and presence of complete darkness, Anton cannot use his sight that is where the tactile and olfactory sense becomes heightened. This causes the scene to be more intense in the reader’s head. Saskia who is Anton’s first wife is also a two dimensional character in the book that is only present as Anton’s image of Truss. When Anton grows up he realizes that Truus was more than a mother figure to him. â€Å"There was nothing wrong with Saskia’s looking like the idea of Truus. Truus had under these circumstances, aroused an image in his mind to which Saskia seemed to respond, and that was fine, for it was not Truus’s image, but his own, and where it came from was unimportant†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Mulish, 131) The use of the word ‘aroused’ has a sexual connotation which came from the fact he felt intimacy in the dark and as a young boy, though unconsciously this intimacy aroused something inside him. Truus became like a fantasy of love that he perused. Saskia represents that love that he needed. Moreover, the addition of ‘under the circumstances’ insinuates that at the previous moment Anton needed certain affection which was in a form of a mother. However, now he needs it in a non-platonic form. This is where it shows that Anton never wholly recovered from losing his mother. As Sigmund Freud’s theory suggests, a man unconsciously marries a mother figure. Therefore, since Truus seemed to represent a mother figure and Saskia is his image of Truus, the mother figure in this novel is linked with romantic interest. Due to all the events that had happened to Anton, the woman he encounters in the dark (Truus) embodies his need for courageous, maternal and erotic love. This makes the two dimensional character Saskia, a symbol for his erotic desire. Anton in this passage is trying to reassure himself that where Saskia’s image came from is ‘unimportant’, however later on the readers realize that it actually does matter to him as they get divorced. Similarly to The Assault, the women in Perfume are portrayed very superficially and like Sasika, they represent erotic love. Although Grenouille seems uninterested in sex, there are many sexual parallels. In passages where Grenouille smells the women, Suskind describes it very sexually. â€Å"†¦ he (Grenouille) tore off her dress, and the stream of scent became a flood that inundated him its fragrance. He thrust his face to her skin and wept his flared nostrils across her, from belly to breast, to neck, over her face and hair.. †¦ down her genitals, to her thighs and white legs. † (Suskind, 45). Suskind uses imagery to form an image the reader’s mind. Like Mulisch did in the scene where Anton meets Truus, Suskind highlights the olfactory sense rather than others. This makes us smell the women and almost feel Grenouille’s sensation. He describes the power of the scent as a flood of water that moves towards Grenouille and floods him. He is completely taken over by it as if it were sexual feelings. However, he has no interest in the girl herself, but rather what she possesses. Here is where he parallels to Anton, who is not interested in whom Truus was but in what she represents to him. Stripping the females from their scent degrades them and reveals how Grenouille, like Anton, extracts what he needs of the woman and forgets about her as a whole. The remains of the females, which are their individualities, are forgotten like dead flower petals. â€Å"They lay on the surface for a moment, like eyes facing instant death, and lost all the color the moment the spatula pushed them down into the warm, oily embrace. †¦And it was not that the dead blossoms continued to give off scent there in the oil – no, the oil itself had appropriated the scent of the blossoms. † (Suskind, 181). This is the processes that Grenouille uses to steal scents from girls. Therefore, the blossoms here are a metaphor for the girls. This insinuates that they are only important for their scent which pleases Grenouille. The rest of the girl, which is her personality and her individuality all lies insignificantly on the surface ‘like eyes facing instant death’. Suskind continues to say how the blossoms had lost their color the moment Grenouille pushed the spatula. Sine color is what makes them beautiful it is insinuated that when Grenouille steals their scents, they are no longer beautiful for their inner selves. This makes Grenouille selfish. Anton and him extract what they need from the women and forget about her a whole. They do this to replace love that they were deprived of in their childhood. Like Anton Grenouille is deprived of his mother’s love and losing her has had a crucial impact on him. Since there is a thin line between different kinds of love, Grenouille, who is missing maternal love projects his needs in a sexual way. HE steals the essence of women for his own personal pleasure. â€Å"They lay on the surface for a moment, like eyes facing instant death, and lost all the color the moment the spatula pushed them down into the warm, oily embrace. And it was not that the dead blossoms continued to give off scent there in the oil – no, the oil itself had appropriated the scent of the blossoms. †(Suskind, 181) The use of specific time emphasizes the extent of Grenouille’s love- with the scent. Smell is always a strong sense that people associate with people they care for. It is intimate. Therefore it seems like non-platonic love. Moreover, the fact that Suskind writ es that Grenouille is not in love with the girl, but the scent emphasizes how Grenouille, like Anton uses women to project his needs. In conclusion, both Mulisch and Suskind do not show any effort in making the reader know the female characters deeply. Some women even remain unnamed for the whole novel! However, their presence is extremely crucial for the protagonists. Women are a projection of men’s needs. Some people may be offended when noticing such aspects of the portrayal of women in these two novels. There are two interpretations to why the authors portrayed the women that way. They could be either critiquing society for objectifying women or this portrayal reflects the authors’ own opinions

Enola Gay Display at the Smithsonian essays

Enola Gay Display at the Smithsonian essays America is in the midst of a culture war, and one of the latest skirmishes occurred between the houses and hedgerows surrounding the Smithsonian Museum. On one side were the members of a growing numbers of acedemians and cultural theorists who believe that American should not be honored as a country which has been a continued source of peace, and leadership in the world. History should be taught in a context, and that context needs to challenge individuals to think on a larger social scale of how our actions may adversely affect others. The opposing forces are those who have fought, and sometimes given the ultimate sacrifice to earn the countries place of responsibility as the leader of the free world, and only remaining superpower. These men and women look back at America's actions and remember the issues and limitations of the day. This group has a living memory of historical events, and is opposed to reinterpreting them in light of 21st century political cynicism, or academic enlighten. One group believes that if the military forces were downsized, and moneys spent on nation building and international charity projects, that the world would become a safer, more peaceful place. The other legion understands that some men and organizations in the world have set their desires on dominating others and loose no sleep at night over trampling civil and human rights in order to gain their objectives. This group understands that a strong military, as well as a will to use it, is an important building block which has created the peace and prosperity which America and the entire world now enjoy. This cultural war cannot always be identified in terms of liberal or conservative, because individuals from either group may launch salvos from either front. The war cannot be called one of educated vs. uneducated or public sector politicians vs. private sector business interests. ...

The resistivity of Constantan Essays

The resistivity of Constantan Essays The resistivity of Constantan Paper The resistivity of Constantan Paper The resistance of a piece of wire is dependant on its length, cross-sectional area and the type of metal the wire is made of. The resistance of a given wire can be calculated using the following equation: R = ? L / A where: L = Length (m) A = cross-sectional area (mi ) ? = resistivity of the metal By rearranging the equation the resistivity of the metal can be calculated: ? = R A / L The resistivity differs depending on the metal however it is constant at room temperature for each metal. This means that two pieces of wire made of the same metal and at room temperature should give the same result when calculating resistivity regardless of its length and cross-sectional area. The following equation can be used to calculate the resistance of a wire: R = V / I where: V = volts I = amps R = resistance When rearranged it can be compared with the equation of a straight line graph: V = R I y = m x (where m = the gradient) This means a graph plotted with volts against amps, the gradient of the graph will equal the resistance of the wire and from this the resistivity can be calculated. Constantan was chosen as unlike most metals, its resistivity does not change when the temperature is raised so the results will not be affected by the wire heating up. Method and apparatus Take two lengths of constantan wire, one 34 SWG (standard wire gage) and the second 30 SWG. Measure the diameter of each wire using a micrometer and then measure their lengths in metres. Set up the apparatus as shown in fig. 1 using the 30 SWG wire first and ensuring the power pack is on direct current. Using the rheostat alter the number of volts running through the circuit until approximately 3 amps is reached. Note the voltage and ensure the scale of volts used does not exceed this as the wire will get too hot. Use the rheostat to change the voltage to the first on your scale and note the amps. Repeat this until six readings have been taken. Set up the apparatus with the 34 SWG wire and repeat experiment. Plot a graph for each wire and calculate the resistivity of the constantan, both wires should give the same result. In the interest of safety all electrical appliances should be regularly checked. It is also important that the wire is not handled while in use in the experiment as it may heat up. To ensure little error the crocodile clips should be at the very end of the wire as the length is a factor in the calculation. If the wire curls onto itself and is touching at any point then this will affect the results as it will shorten the length of the wire the current must travel through. Apparatus: Ruler Voltmeter Micrometer Wires Rheostat Crocodile clips Power pack Amp meter Fig. 1 Results 30 SWG 34 SWG Volts i 0. 1 Amps i 0. 01 Volts i 0. 1 Amps i Discussion The resistivity of the two wires should have given the same result as they were both made from constantan, however the wires gave two different results. The 30 S. W. G. wire gave a result of 5. 49 x 10 ? m whereas the 34 S. W. G. wire gave a result of 4. 62 x 10 ? m. Although both wires gave a relatively close result to the expected value of 5. 49 x 10 ? m when tested, it does suggest some error was made. It was noted that all the experimenters present found they calculated a lower value for the 30 S. W. G. wire than that of the 34 S. W. G. wire. This may mean that the properties of the two wires differ slightly, perhaps because of a difference in the company that produced it or a different batch. The equipment used was limited as to how accurate the readings could be with the accuracy being i 0. 01 for the ammeter and only i 0. 1 for the voltmeter. This may have affected the results and could account for why the graph for the 34 S. W. G. wire did not form a straight line and so a line of best fit had to be drawn. The graph for the 30 S. W. G. did form a straight line as expected so perhaps there was less error in the testing on this wire. If the experiment was to be repeated, a more accurate voltmeter and ammeter should ideally be used. It may also be beneficial to use wires that come from the same batch and company to ensure this is not a factor affecting the results. Bibliography Kaye and Laby (1995) Physical and Chemical Constants 16th Ed : Longman Carol Slack Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

Levendary Cafe case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Levendary Cafe - Case Study Example However, the failure of this company and other companies in the Chinese market is not due to poor management. The failure has primarily resulted from failure to carry out a concise and thorough research. For example, Pretzel Time was unsuccessful in the market as a result of ignorance of proper sitting arrangements. This company overlooked the need to study and adapt decent decor. Hence, the tile dà ©cor they used in its establishment was for a bathroom. The failure by the designer of this company made it lose many potential customers. In addition, the other element which needs to be noted concerning entry into the market revolves around the VP’s decision to select many locations across the country. One can easily assume that VP’s objective for the entry was to ensure that the businesses succeed even during their first year of operations. The assumption is null, since your objective seems to have been to come up with a reliable market niche. From this, the business would have been expanded further. It seems that Chen’s choice of locations depended on their prices. Therefore, he wanted to reduce costs at all levels, so as to come attain his desired goal of achieving a successful business. It is also important to note that the plans to enter the Chinese market were poorly implemented. The poor implementation of the plans is depicted by how this company took long to realize its need to adopt GAAPs for accounting purposes of revenue collected. The VP considered this step to be so expensive. 1. The company needs to close down Chinese-like restaurants and to replace them with those restaurants that assume an American concept. This decision will be effective since competitors such as McDonalds and KFC have remained in foreign markets and still have a good customer base. 2. The headquarters, under your leadership, can embrace a mixed concept aspect. The aspect needs immediate change of the services offered so that at least two menus are served in

Leadership in management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Leadership in management - Essay Example Opposed to this trait theory of leadership, evolved a system of understanding called the behavioural theories of leadership. Behavioural theories of leadership are based upon the idea that great leaders are made, not born. Rooted in behaviourism, this leadership theory focuses on the actions of leaders, not on mental qualities or internal states. According to this theory, people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. According to behaviourism, behaviour can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states. Behavioral theories of leadership do not seek inborn traits or capabilities. Rather, they look at what leaders actually do. If success can be defined in terms of describable actions, then it should be relatively easy for other people to act in the same way. This is easier to teach and learn then to adopt the more ephemeral traits or capabilities. Thus , Behavioral leadership is a big leap from Trait Theory, in that it assumes that leadership capability can be learned, rather than being inherent. This opens the floodgates to leadership development, as opposed to simple psychometric assessment that sorts those with leadership potential from those who will never have the chance. A behavioral theory is relatively easy to develop, as you simply assess both leadership success and the actions of leaders. With a large enough study, you can then correlate statistically significant behaviors with success.