Review of Apple's Marketing Strategy and its Effectiveness (Essay Sample)

A Review of Apple’s Marketing Strategy and its Effectiveness
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Project objectives and overall research approach PAGEREF _Toc417330350 \h 3Justification for choosing the Topic PAGEREF _Toc417330351 \h 3Justification for Choosing the Organization PAGEREF _Toc417330352 \h 3Objectives PAGEREF _Toc417330353 \h 4Research Questions PAGEREF _Toc417330354 \h 5Hypothesis PAGEREF _Toc417330355 \h 5Research Approach PAGEREF _Toc417330356 \h 5Information gathering and accounting / business techniques PAGEREF _Toc417330357 \h 6Sources of Information PAGEREF _Toc417330358 \h 6Data Collection Methods PAGEREF _Toc417330359 \h 7Limitations of Gathering Data PAGEREF _Toc417330360 \h 7Inappropriateness of Data PAGEREF _Toc417330361 \h 7Outdated Information PAGEREF _Toc417330362 \h 8Ethical Issues PAGEREF _Toc417330363 \h 9Solutions for the Ethical Issues PAGEREF _Toc417330364 \h 9Techniques and Models used PAGEREF _Toc417330365 \h 10Limitations PAGEREF _Toc417330366 \h 12Results, analysis, conclusions and recommendations PAGEREF _Toc417330367 \h 13Description of Research Findings and Limitations PAGEREF _Toc417330368 \h 13Limitations PAGEREF _Toc417330369 \h 15Findings PAGEREF _Toc417330370 \h 16Exclusivity Technique PAGEREF _Toc417330371 \h 16The Limited Supply Strategy PAGEREF _Toc417330372 \h 18Analysis and Evaluation PAGEREF _Toc417330373 \h 24Conclusions PAGEREF _Toc417330374 \h 26Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc417330375 \h 27Meeting Research Objectives and Answering Study Questions PAGEREF _Toc417330376 \h 27References PAGEREF _Toc417330377 \h 28Appendices PAGEREF _Toc417330378 \h 32Appendix 1 PAGEREF _Toc417330379 \h 32Appendix 2 PAGEREF _Toc417330380 \h 33
Project objectives and overall research approach
Justification for choosing the Topic
Marketing strategy is an important topic in today’s business. One reason for this is globalization of business in many sectors. Globalization has increased competition in most parts of the world and has placed a bigger marketing burden on companies (Grosse 2003). Firms must improve their marketing strategies in order to reach a wider audience. This entails the increase of resources and efforts towards marketing (Anastasia 2005). Enhanced technology also raises the bar for marketing strategists, and every business tries to use the latest forms possible. In order for any company to succeed on the global platform, it must have a sound marketing strategy. It must understand its clients on a global platform as well as the many competitors that come with a bigger market platform.
Focusing this paper on marketing strategies helps provide more research on an important topic, which will be of significant assistance for globalized companies. Competition is stiff on the global platform, and companies must learn marketing mix strategies in order for them to survive. Moreover, the global platform is highly varied with different countries or regions having their own tastes and preferences (Grosse 2003). Companies must understand the various markets all over the world and try to position their products accordingly. Moreover, businesses must also know their competition in the global scene, and how best to counter it through strategic marketing. It is for this reason that this research focuses on marketing strategy and its effectiveness.
Justification for Choosing the Organization
Apple is one of the largest technology companies in the world today, so it is a major global player (IDC 2015). This means that it has to access a large market with strong competitors who have a lot of capital and a good brand name, like Samsung (See Figure 1 below). Apple has been increasing its market share over the years due to its perfect marketing strategy and product adoption plans. The firm’s marketing strategy has made it possible for Apple to become a global brand over the recent past, especially through its iPhone series. Apple introduces new products to the market on a frequent basis, and the success of its new iPhones makes it ideal to study the firm’s marketing strategies. It is only through perfect marketing strategies that a company is capable of increasing sales on a global platform (Imam, Zadeh & Dubey 2011).
(Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Company Brand values; source: Thomas 2011; adopted by researcher, 2015)
Apple Inc. has been able to take up many markets due to its marketing strategy. For instance, the firm was able to sell more iPhones in the United States of America, than any other Smartphone seller in the world (Lunden 2015). It has also improved its sales on the global platform, and has become a force in the Smartphone sector. There are high chances that Apple could become a leading Smartphone manufacturer in the world later on. Such an eventuality is a good sign that Apple’s marketing strategies are effective to a significant extent. It is for this reason that Apple became an ideal organization for discussion in this paper.
Objectives
The major objective of this paper is to determine the marketing strategy used by Apple and its effectiveness. In addition to this objective, the following are the specific aims of this paper:
* To establish the various marketing mix options adopted by Apple Inc
* To determine the effectiveness of each marketing option used by Apple
* To evaluate the iPhones’ market performance against Samsung’s Galaxy series
* To prove that marketing strategies improve market performance for products
Research Questions
The following four research questions are expected to be addressed in this paper:
1 What is the marketing strategy used by Apple Inc.?
2 Is the marketing strategy effective enough?
3 How do Apple’s iPhone series perform against Samsung’s Galaxy series?
4 Do marketing strategies improve market performance
Hypothesis
If a company applies a marketing strategy to introduce its products to potential customers, there are high chances of increasing unit sales.
Research Approach
This research will be a mixture of quantitative as well as qualitative research. Quantitative research will be based on measurable data such as the number of items sold and profits made, in monetary value as well as percentages. As its name suggests, quantitative research is based on quantifiable data (Alzheimer Europe 2009). This study will rely on such data to express the gains and losses made by the organization depending on its marketing strategies. The research will focus on the objectives as well as questions to get to the desired conclusion and provide recommendations, as well. In addition, all the information collected in the subsequent sections, will be connected with the research hypothesis. This paper will aim at establishing whether the hypothesis stands or not. In any case the hypothesis stands then the main objective of this research would have been achieved.
The study also uses qualitative research as another approach, which will be in combination with quantitative research. Qualitative research is based on qualitative data, which is majorly descriptive (Alzheimer Europe 2009). A pragmatic approach to research enhances findings and reliability of a given research paper. The study gets to test its hypothesis based on a comprehensive research method. A pragmatic research approach will increase this paper’s argument and make it possible to meet all of its objectives.
It is also worth noting that this paper will not use a primary survey, but secondary research approach. The latter usually relies upon work carried out by other researchers. It is reliable enough as it focuses on different research topics and papers, to draw arguments from a wide selection (Smith 2008). This method will make the paper flexible enough and enhance its ability to meet its objectives as well as test its hypothesis. Furthermore, due to lack of enough time to carry out a primary survey, secondary research becomes the ideal option. It will be possible to carry out a research on the project topic within a short period, and come out with the right conclusions and recommendations. All literature works used in this study are appreciated through correct referencing to enhance the quality of this study.
Information gathering and accounting / business techniques
Sources of Information
This paper uses sources of information from company websites, literature works such as books and journals, and other important and credible online materials. The books and journals contain important academic information while the company websites provide direct information on certain facts regarding Apple Inc. As it is a secondary research, only secondary data will be used for findings. The use of a broad range of sources will enhance this study’s credibility, by providing enough foundation for arguments on a wide range of factors. All te information acquired from different sources shall be well-referenced to avoid plagiarism and give this study credibility.
Data Collection Methods
As this is a secondary survey, it will be based on secondary data, which has been collected for another purpose (Parab 2013). Secondary data collection involves getting information from online sources such as books, journals and websites. Information will include statistical data and reports from the stated sources. The reason for using secondary data collection methods is majorly for the sake of saving time and costs that would have been taken to carry out a primary survey. After all, there are many sources of secondary information that are related to this research’s aims.
The secondary data is usually reused, but in a different way from the initially intended aim (Parab 2013). Internal sources used in this study will be based o...