SWOT Analysis of External and Internal Factors of Apple

Conduct a SWOT Analysis for the product, company, and brand "Apple needs to increase its market share for iPhone 7"

SWOT Analysis

a. Strengths and Weaknesses (Internal)

- Strengths

- Weaknesses

b. Opportunities and Threats (External)

- Opportunities

- Threats

c. SWOT Table

A. Strength and Weaknesses (Internal)

Using the following 16 internal factors, list all of the company strengths you can think of for each category. Then review the same list of 16 internal factors and develop a list of company weaknesses (Identify at least five of them for your project).

Internal Factors

The following categories of internal factors are commonly used to generate a list of specific company strengths and weaknesses. This list is to be used to stimulate your thinking about internal strengths and weaknesses.

1. Management leadership/capabilities.

2. Organization structure and management systems

3. Facilities, equipment, and materials.

4. Technical skills and expertise.

5. Dedication, morale, and motivation of employees.

6. Capacity to meet demand—production capacity, including excess available for growing demand.

7. Marketing effectiveness/efficiency—advertising, personal selling, public relations, products/services, prices, distribution, marketing research and planning, customer service, warranties, sales support, sales promotion, etc.

8. Ability to deliver what the market wants.

9. Ability to deliver in a timely manner.

10. Image and reputation as perceived by customers and within the industry.

11. Customer (and potential customer) perception—likes, dislikes, and perceptions of service, quality, etc.

12. Financial performance—sales, market share, customer satisfaction/loyalty, and profits.
13. Financial situation—availability of capital, internal funding, financial stability, etc.

14. Cost of operations—high cost vs. low cost, rising costs, costs compared to competition (manufacturing, distribution, etc.)

15. Geographic location(s).

16. Other relevant competencies/resources that translate into strengths that have not been mentioned. Also, any weaknesses we have missed related to a lack of competencies and/or resources that are needed in the future.

- Strengths

- Weaknesses

B. Opportunities and Threats (External)

Review the following categories of external environmental trend factors and list the trends or issues that are relevant to the Apple Inc. and its industry. Then translate each factor identified into a specific opportunity and/or threat statement. That is, what are the implications of each environmental trend or issue outside the company in terms of specific opportunities and/or threats?

External Environmental Trend Factors

1. Mergers and acquisitions—(e.g., among customers, potential customers, suppliers, competitors, and/or within the industry).

2. Competitive trends—specific competitive strategies and programs, or recent changes such as lower prices or new products.

3. Economic trends—forces and changes in the economy such as inflation, interest rates, recession.

4. Technological trends—new technological innovations.

5. Technical requirements—within the industry.

6. Legal trends—government regulations and policies.

7. New products/services—on the market.

- Opportunities

- Threats

C. SWOT Table
(based on the discussion of strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) stating the facts based on your research, then summarize the findings in a SWOT table.

Note: Your conducted research to identify Apple Inc. strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis should be 6-7 pages and a SWOT Table.

Provide References.