Investment in IT has given the Apple Company a competitive advantage in terms of better performance delivery, creation of superior products, and real time customer relationship management. As part of the business intelligence at the Apple Company, the investment in research and development of the latest technology in the āApple labā has improved the performance of the company. For instance, the current data warehousing solution at the company has made it easy to increase the current market share since real time analysis enables the Apple Company to micromanage the profiles of customers.
The company has invested heavily analytical and smart technology to create the iPhone brand. As a result, the company has been able to double its sales, thus, improving the Appleās financial position. The mix of basic, applied, and engineering research has been appropriate in creation of the integrated iTune product (Smithson 157).
How DSS Can Serve the Various Levels of Management at the Apple
The use of Crystal Report System, which is a DSS, can allow the Apple Company to gain a business edge over its peers through solving its existing system problems by driving a faster informed decision-making process. It is also an affordable and intuitive solution that the company can use to leverage reports, dashboards, presentations and analytics to gain a competitive advantage. The DSS may be used by the management at the Apple in requirement analysis, design, implementation, verification, maintenance, and testing of different level of technological implementation projects (Smithson 161). The computer-based decision support system will ensure quick access to information and decision-making.
How Porterās Competitive Forces Model and the Value Chain Model Supports the Organization
Threat to market entry
It is difficult for any aspiring PC company to enter into the industry in the US market and manage to break even easily. The Appleās technology initiatives are well established and would easily enjoy economies of scale to the disadvantage of a new entrant.
Threat of substitutes
In the global PC industry, loyalty to a brand plays an important role in customer behaviour towards products. The Apple Company has managed to use technology in creating products that cannot be substituted such as the iPhone brand and the ITune online music service to gain a competitive edge.
Power of suppliers
Suppliers in the global PC industry have more power since they may instigate market demand and supply variances due to difference in price tags for different PC products. However, the Apple Company has endeavoured to use its deep reservoirs as a strategy for balancing the supply forces in the fragile global PC market through āinsourcingā of different technological development and applications.
Power of buyers
Appleās performance in the US and global PC industry depends highly on the power of the PC users. Apple has developed a unique market niche for the technology gauchos and early adopters of latest personal computer technologies across the globe. Currently, the iPad, iPhone, and iTune products have a cult like following among the young adult global market segment.
Rivalry
There are several PC companies operating in the same industry with virtually all of them dealing in a variety of PC products and services. For instance, Samsung provides the biggest competition to its similar use of technology in production of different products. To counter this, the Apple Company has heavily in invested in technological development in its smart PC products line to gain competitive advantage over Samsung.
Works Cited
Smithson, Samuel. āAnalysing information systems evaluation: another look at an old problem.ā European Journal of Information Systems, 7.3 (2008): 158-174. Print.