Economic Paper Example

Economic Paper Example Economic Paper â€" Case Study Example > Running head: APPLE COMPANY 11th April Introduction Apple Incorporation is an American based firm that embarks on designing, production as well as selling of quality consumer electronics, personal computers as well as software. Being headquartered in California, the company which was founded by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak enjoys a competitive edge mostly due to its quality brands that are highly demanded in local and international markets. Some of the major brands that are significantly demanded include iPod media player, iPad tablet computer, iTunes media browser, iPhone smartphone and Mac computers among others. Globally, Apple Company is in the second position in the information technology in terms of revenue generation with Samsung electronics taking the first position. As the result of the company strategy to diversify its product portfolio, it has many competitors including Samsung Company, Microsoft, HP AND Acer among others. Firm and Industry structure Apple is faced with stiff competition from well established firms in an industry that is costly to enter. In this regard, the company is not able to entirely control the price in the market. On one hand, Apple operates in an oligopoly market structure. One of the major aspects of an oligopoly market structure is that it is under the control of small number of competitors. Being referred to as the oligopolists, firms in an oligopoly market structure are well established and have a strong influence in the market due to the fact that there are barriers to entry due to the high costs. The company oligopoly market structure falls in the Smartphone’s operating systems that includes Windows phone a product of Microsoft, Apple’s iOS and Android a brand produced by Google (Gil and William, 1999). On the other hand, Apple experiences a monopolistic competition as far as branded computers are concerned. In monopolistic market structure, there are many competitors. Major companies that com pete with Macbook and iMac, key Apple branded computers includes Dell, Acer, Toshiba and Asus. Nevertheless, Apple is more of an oligopoly firm rather than a monopolistic firm. One of the major aspects that make Apple to enjoy high revenue is due to the production of quality brands that meet immediate needs of the consumers globally. Strong brand loyalty in the international market has made the company to differentiate itself from the competitors. Additionally, the company has wide range of products that are highly demanded thus resulting to high sales and sustainable profitability. Recommendation As the result of the stiff competition in the information technology industry especially in the US market, my view is that Apple should come up with products that are of high quality but lower prices and introduce them in the developing economies. Based on the increased demand of computers and mobile especially in African market, Apple should utilize such an opportunity and produce brands that will suits the need of this market which is characterized by low incomes but many opportunities. To make the company more successful, I would also suggest that Apple should acquire more firms in the information technology industry in order to improve its marketing strategies as well as capital base. This will not only increase the company revenue through expanding market segment, but also it will make the company to have more funds to undertake more innovations. References Gil, A and William L. (1999). On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple. New York: Macmillan Publishers.