Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as a technological brand and manufacturing products like Mac and iPhone. Today, it is one of the leading brands when it comes to its marketing strategies. With its goods being very popular and highly attractive, over the last few years Apple products have created a remarkable reputation all over the world. The organization’s focus on customer satisfaction has helped in maintaining its customer base and assisted in strengthening its position in this competitive market. Value, Rarity, Inimitability, Non-substitutability, and Exploitability (VRINE) model is one of the methods that can be used by the organization to improve its production.
Value
With the high level of competition in the market, Apple has majorly focused on research and innovation to ensure that its products are of great value. It is tasked with competing with tech giants in the industry such as Lenovo, HP, and Dell in computing. When it comes to smartphones Samsung and Sony have a firm market. Due to this rapid competition, the organization has majorly maintained the reputation of an innovative company while maintaining customer satisfaction as this is the driving factor towards innovation (Pratap, 2021). Furthermore, according to Newton (2021), Apple has created a vast international distribution network that enables it reach its customers internationally. Therefore, value is an aspect that has largely been considered by Apple to attract more consumers.
Rarity
With universal markets Apple is able to maintain long term competitive advantage because of strategically placed distributors and sellers and rarity of similar products. Apple with this worldwide market, has confidence in its products since they are rare and most important very hard to imitate, which gives Apple products a major competitive strength. Additionally, the institution has a high level of renovation due to technological advancement.
With this in place, every now and then customer demands are incorporated in newly manufactured products which are occasionally hybrid of the last product. Customer satisfaction is achieved from both manufacturing and delivery of the products which is a major step in any business. Correspondingly, Apple has been able to synchronize artificial intelligence capabilities in their products, which assists in convenience in usage of the products and also aids in efficient services.
Inimitability
The target group for Apple goods mainly consists of the millennials. Typically, these are a massive target group for the market of its products since they are typically attracted to technology and are getting influx of money to pay for these products. Apple accessories come with an added advantage of ease of downloading music for the generation that is much indulged in entertainment. iTunes store allows people to upload and download tunes using their electronics. Thus company has guaranteed inimitability of its products to attract the potential customers and limit competition from other companies with similar products.
Non-substitutability
With a strong and experienced workforce, there will be less production cost and efficient work flow as the gap between entry periods of new employees will not be felt. Any company which offers competitive employee compensation packages is bound to retain their employees (Lockamy, 2017). Additionally, Apple’s human resources department is tasked with encouraging innovation and employee satisfaction, which has enabled Apple to surpass many of its competitors (Balsalobre-Fernández et al., 2017). Having talked about employees, individuals cannot forget about the management which focuses on the plans of the company. The leaders and directors have ensured that workers are tasked with fair responsibilities and can access required resources to ensure that production is smooth.
Exploitability
Apple has an increased diversity in the company’s product mix which is a strategic effort towards encouraging user satisfaction. After one good, the user will feel the need to get another accessory from the same company as there is user satisfaction in their electronics. The company has surpassed many obstacles on the way to try and attain its competitive advantage and market share. It has been difficult for new entrants in the business to compete with Apple as it has established a recognized brand that attracts many customers globally (Jurevicius, 2021). Thus, exploitability is an aspect that people can analyze when focusing on the Apple’s performance.
References
Balsalobre-Fernández, C., Agopyan, H. and Morin, J., (2017). The Validity and Reliability of an iPhone App for Measuring Running Mechanics. Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 33(3), pp.222-226.
Jurevicius, O., (2021). Apple SWOT analysis (5 Key Strengths in 2020) – SM Insight. SM Insight. Web.
Lockamy, A., (2017). An examination of external risk factors in Apple Inc.’s supply chain. Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, 18(3), pp.177-188.
Newton, V., (2021). Apple Inc. VRIO Analysis – Core Competencies & Competitive Advantages – Rancord Society. Rancord Society. Web.
Pratap, A., (2021). Apple Resources and Capabilities. Web.