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How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth


This case accompanies a collection of business press articles and two video clips. Registered Premium Educators at hbsp.harvard.edu also have access to a teaching note and lecture slides. While the case and articles are assigned as pre-reading, the video clips and lecture slides can be shown in the classroom by the instructor.

Authors :: W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Oh Young Koo

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Growth strategy, Innovation, Organizational culture, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth" written by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Oh Young Koo includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Slides Clips facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Innovation, Organizational culture and Strategy & Execution.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Slides Clips, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Slides Clips operates in.

According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.




SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix


SWOT analysis of How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Slides Clips
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Slides Clips




Strengths How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Slides Clips in How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -

Strong track record of project management

– Slides Clips is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field

– Slides Clips is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Slides Clips in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Slides Clips are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

Organizational Resilience of Slides Clips

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Slides Clips does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Slides Clips in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Learning organization

- Slides Clips is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Slides Clips is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

High brand equity

– Slides Clips has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Slides Clips to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Innovation driven organization

– Slides Clips is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry

– How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Slides Clips to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Slides Clips to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Slides Clips digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Slides Clips has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.

Analytics focus

– Slides Clips is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Oh Young Koo can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Slides Clips is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.






Weaknesses How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth are -

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Slides Clips has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth HBR case study mentions - Slides Clips takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Slides Clips supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Slides Clips vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Need for greater diversity

– Slides Clips has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Slides Clips has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth, in the dynamic environment Slides Clips has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Slides Clips has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Slides Clips 's lucrative customers.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Slides Clips is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Slides Clips is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Slides Clips has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Slides Clips needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.




Opportunities How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth are -

Loyalty marketing

– Slides Clips has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Slides Clips is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Slides Clips to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Slides Clips to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Slides Clips has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Slides Clips to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Slides Clips can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Slides Clips operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.

Manufacturing automation

– Slides Clips can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Slides Clips to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Slides Clips to increase its market reach. Slides Clips will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Slides Clips can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Slides Clips in the consumer business. Now Slides Clips can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Slides Clips can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Strategy & Execution segment.

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Slides Clips to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Slides Clips can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.




Threats How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Slides Clips has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Slides Clips needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Slides Clips is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

New competition

– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Slides Clips in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Slides Clips with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth, Slides Clips may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .

Increasing wage structure of Slides Clips

– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Slides Clips.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Slides Clips high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.

Backlash against dominant players

– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Slides Clips business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Slides Clips can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Slides Clips demand

– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.

High level of anxiety and lack of motivation

– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Slides Clips needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Regulatory challenges

– Slides Clips needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Strategy & Execution industry regulations.

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Slides Clips.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth Template, Example


Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants. We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –

First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.

Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.

Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of How Apple's Corporate Strategy Drove High Growth is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Slides Clips needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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