an analysis of Apple Analyze the company
from the perspective of the Competitor Analysis, Internal Analysis, Brand Equity, . Propose a plan for the next five years with
appropriate monitoring in place.
Tip: Make explicit use of the theory found in “Reinvent Your Business Before It’s Too Late”, “When Marketing Is Strategy”, Predicting Your Competitor’s Reaction.the body of the paper should “tell the story”, Your Strategy Needs a Strategy, of your analysis and recommendations. You would include a short introduction of the company first (the more familiar the company the shorter the introduction can be – Ford needs little introduction, but something like the Yacht Club of Belle Isle would need a little more description).
Then consider an internal analysis, mainly the company’s internal strengths / resources and internal weaknesses.
After that, your external analysis should consider the market in terms of size, growth, and submarkets.
Think of the benefits a customer is buying when they buy your product or a competing product. For example, a fragrance makes a person smell nice, which brings a positive response from others, which makes the wearer feel good about herself / himself, which gives him / her better confidence. The customer isn’t just buying fragrance – s/he’s buying self confidence.
Then think of the market size in terms of annual sales, submarkets, numbers of customers, and trends. If we’re selling furniture, Millennials will have very different buying habits than Gen X or Boomers.
Consider the competition. What is being bought now? Who and how strong are the competitors? Are new competitors coming / are some fading? (This and other parts of the external analysis are feeding the Opportunities and Threats part of your SWOT analysis.)
You needn’t include a complete PESTEL analysis. Focus on the parts of PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal) in the external environment that you expect may have a positive or negative impact on the company (opportunities and threats).
You also can do a CDSTEP analysis in lieu of PESTEL – whichever you think fits best is fine.
After you have done your internal and external analyses, you should be well-prepared to set appropriate strategic marketing goals, e.g., increasing market share in Indiana by 25% by the end of 2030. Be sure your goals are SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-sensitive).
Finally, you can set strategies for using your strengths to achieve the goals you have set for your company. A good strategy should include intermediate goals and a monitoring system so that you can make course corrections. For example, if you want to increase market share in Indiana by 25% by the end of 2025, where should you be by the end of 2027? What could cause you to miss a target (e.g., competitive retaliation)? What will you do about it?
Your analysis should be thorough, but the body of your paper should include only the most relevant items – the rest can go into appendices. A good structure is shown below:
Table of contents (be sure to paginate your report!)
Executive Summary (one page outlining the highlights of what is to come – the Executive Summary should whet the reader’s appetite for reading the rest of the report)
Body of the report (10 double-spaced pages)
Company and industry introduction
External market analysis
Size of market and submarkets (number of participants and dollar value)
Customer and competitor analysis
Most relevant elements of PESTEL analysis (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, legal)
Opportunities and threats in the environment that are important for the company
Internal analysis
Company strengths and resources
Company weaknesses and challenges
Strategic marketing goals (keeping in mind the SWOT analysis you just did)
Strategies for goal achievement
Key parts of implementation plan
Benchmarks / monitoring / contingency plans
Appendices (no limit)
