Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 35

Strategic Management - Essay Example Marketing, customer service and customer relationship management, human resource management, and operations are the largest competencies of the firm associated with the value chain that allows Apple to make such a positive impression with desired customer target segments across the world. This report conducts a critical evaluation of Apple using three distinct models: Porter’s Generic Strategies, the McKinsey 7-S Framework and Johnson’s Culture Web as a means of understanding what drives considerable market success from the perspective of strategic management competency and the achievement of competitive advantage. The Generic Strategies model is illustrative of how a firm is able to attain competitive advantages in its established markets. As shown by the model, there are three strategies available to firms, including cost leadership, differentiation, or a focus strategy. When a company is pursuing the most viable method to achieve competitive advantage, the firm selects which strategy is achievable and feasible based on tangible resources, internal human capital, market conditions, procurement capabilities and operational capacity (Allen, Helms, Takeda and White 2007; Miller 1992). A business can significantly improve its performance by selecting one of these generic strategies which will underpin the corporate level strategy development and its business-level strategies that will better serve the business for competitive advantage. If a firm is unable to decide on one of these three generic strategies, it poses a risk of being stuck in the middle, which succeeds in confusing important custo mer segments and creates an uncertain market-based identity for the company (Bordean, Borza, Nistor and Mitra 2010). Apple, in its pursuit of achieving competitive advantage, has adopted a differentiation strategy that emphasises product uniqueness when targeting a broader mass market internationally. Apple has worked diligently in positioning its business