Case Study With Discussion: Options for Growth in a Competitive EcosystemApple
Observers often consider the competitive ecosystem of the smartphone and mobile electronics industry to be a red ocean industry. Many rivals engage in direct competition with each other with increasingly less room to differentiate one product from the others. In such industries consumers often have the power to drive prices down as rival firms have few other ways to compete. Increased competition leads to thinner profit margins as rivals drop prices further and further.
Yet even in these conditions some innovative companies find a strategy to exploit opportunities for growth that rivals cannot easily imitate. For example in the airline industry Southwest Airlines and Virgin Airlines have found room to grow even in the fiercely competitive red ocean ecosystem of the airlines industry. This week you examine a case study of Apple Inc. which both established a blue ocean space in the smartphone industry and has found room to grow in what is becoming an increasingly global and competitive space.
The essence of the five-force competitive analysis is to examine whether one might find it attractive or not to compete in a given industry and where specifically there might be dominant positions within an industry and to identify the forces that shape the potential to make money in an industry given a particular competitive position. That is how will you win? (How will you create unique value?)
To prepare for this Discussion:
The five forces that shape competitive elements in an industry.Copyright 2014 by Laureate Education.
By Day 3 post:
Your response to these prompts should be polished researched and well documented.
General Guidance: Your original post due by Day 3 will typically be approximately 1 single-spaced page in length (cut and pasted into the Discussion) as a general expectation/estimate.