Analyzing The Future States And Adapting To Ensure The Success Of Apple In The Next Decade

Possible future states of Apple in next 10 years

In various parts of the world companies are facing many types of challenges. Most of these challenges are hard to resist and needs appropriate planning to measure its impact. The changing nature of business has also impacted the performance of the firms and at the same time it has also made companies to think about their future states. Predicting the future can be based on several factors that intrinsic and extrinsic in nature (Tan, Low & Luong, 2014). Apple is one of the largest firms in the IT sector and is facing many type challenges especially due to the increased competition in the industry. In the years to come this company is also going to experience huge amount of changes. The three possible states in which company could change is political, economic and technological terms. This report highlights all these three possible state changes in the coming ten years. It also evaluates the ways in which they will adapt these changes. In the last part of the report, the bench mark measures and mile stones that Apple can adopt for ensuring easy adaptability of the changes have been highlighted.

The primary aim of this report is find out the three future states namely political, economic and technological states of the Apple in the coming 10 years. This report also discuss about the ways in which company can adapt changes as well as milestones and measures they could take to get adapted to these three future states.

Apple is a multinational technology firm that deals in the business of designing, developing and selling of consumer electronics, online services and computer software. Their major product line includes smartphones, Iphones, ipads, tablets and many other consumer electronic items (Gershon, 2013). Some of its software is IOS operating system, safari web browser, iwork and ilife productivity and creativity suites. It also has professional applications like Logic Pro, Cut Pro, Xcode etc. Its services include IOS app store, Apple music as well as iCloud.

With such a wide variety of product and services, company need to evaluate the market, industry and changing demands in the market. In the coming 10 years there are three possible ways in which company could change.

Economic

There is an immense change in the business environment in various parts of the world. These economic changes in their parent national have been a challenge for them. The American economy has seen a slow growth in itself. This has force the government of America to rethink about their policies related to employment (Fadell, 2011). In this environment in the coming 10 years Apple has focused towards their sales and marketing in new markets like India. This would help the company to increase its revenue. They have also focused towards making cost cuts in the coming 10 years so that they could make new kinds of investments. Most of these investments are going to be in the innovation and research department. In the coming five years Apple is going to invest an amount of $350 Billion in the US. This is going to impact on the job creation. Presently Apple has created more than 2 million jobs in the US and it expects to generate more in the coming years. In the coming years they are planning to invest $5 billion in the advanced manufacturing fund. This is expected to generate 20000 jobs in the coming five years. Planned capital expenditure in US will aim to generate a profit of $75 billion through direct contribution. In the next few financial years they are estimated to spend a sum of $55 Billion with US manufacturers and suppliers (Sanchirico, 2014). They are going to invest an amount of $10 billion in the expansion of their data centres all across the US. Apart from this they are also planning to invest their money in opening a manufacturing unit in countries with low manufacturing cost like India. This will not only help the company in managing their demand and supply balance but at the same time it is going to grab new opportunities in the market.

Economic

Political

The political condition and environment of US has changed and this has affected the policy making of the organisations. Trump’s government has made changes in the Visa rules for the employees that are coming from different nations (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). The new policies made by the government are not allowing the US based companies to invest in other parts of the world. This is a matter of challenge for the manufacturing units of Apple in other parts of the world. Apple has been one of the prime companies that are selling its products in the other parts of the world. The government decisions regarding the trade rules has created a situation for the company where they might have to rely on their supply chain management to fulfil the demands of the people in the years to come. In the coming decade company is focusing on strengthening their supply chain management so that the political impact cannot be seen on their future demands (Gandomi & Haider, 2015).

Technological

Being a technology giant, Apple is facing the challenges from many local and international players. From the past few years company has failed to make any significant changes in their technology use. According to Tim Cook, they are planning to change the breed of technology. That would help them in bringing the change in technology from the base. Apple is going to focus on AI, 3D touch, motion co-processor, Touch ID, Augmented reality, AR mode in Maps, Retina display. All these technologies are highly crucial for the organisation as it will upgrade the quality of the devices and at the same time it fulfils the user expectations (Flewallen, Johnson, Burch, Fjeldsted, Beus & Sriram, 2012). In the years to come they are going to focus on development of innovative technology. They have also kept social dynamics in the mind especially the changing policies regarding the environment. They have also invested in the technology that is going to change the society. Augmented reality is one of the major technology on which Apple is focusing. Their executive team has a plan to change the materials that are using in the technology as well as the design of their products. In the coming decade company is planning to invest in packaging and product energy efficiency. This would help them in doing environment efficient business. It is the demand of the market and will help the organisation in building its image (Lashinsky, 2012). Since all their competitors are fighting for grabbing the large market that is coming up in the world. The development of new towns and economic corridors are at peak and hence new customers are emerging and demands for the technology that are unique and provide them with solutions that they need. These technology developments could help Apple in this regards.

Political

From above mentioned stanzas, it can be clearly seen that there are various future states in which the company Apple Inc. needs to work in order to attain a reputable consistent position in ten years from now. Economic, political and technological are the three major factors in which the company needs to work in order to attain sustainable success in the market (Han & Sun, 2012). Further, below mentioned are the steps that are needed by the management of Apple to implement in order to be successful. Further the adaptations that the company need to make are discussed below:

Economic

Apart from expanding the scope of business in different parts of the world, the company Apple also aims to strengthen their position in US. In ten years from now the company aims to earn the profit of $75 billion through direct contribution. So, for that purpose, the company needs to invest in different sectors of the economy of US so that people do purchase the shares of the company. Further Apple also needs to invest in attaining resources that can help the organization in increasing its productivity as well (Flood, 2016). In this way, the company can easily hire more people in the organization as well. US is main area of focus for the company Apple, in response to which they should initiate activities that align the interest of customers in the products of the company (Mann, 2018). So, the company need to diversify the product concept so that customers get attracted towards the company maintain their loyalty as well. Further, in order to expand the scope of business in other parts of world like India, the company need to eliminate the level of competition. Samsung is the biggest competitor of Apple so they need to adopt promotion strategies that show the specifications of the products served by the company. Also, the management need to identify and target the right customers in the markets then only they can succeed in the target market. Further, the company also need to introduce a new product line in order to target more customer segments in the market and earn optimum revenue as well (Gassmann, Schuhmacher, von Zedtwitz, & Reepmeyer, 2018).

Political

The political conditions of the country United States are highly fluctuating as the entrance of Donald Trump in the politics has changed the face of government of the society. So, it is expected that in ten years from now the country will face more political fluctuations from now. So, the company needs to be prepared to that and adopt changes according. The above mentioned political factors states that Trump government will make it difficult for Apple to survive and earn profit in the US market (Xu, Frankwick, & Ramirez, 2016). In response to which, it is important for the company to maintain good relations with the governmental bodies of the country. Further, it should be noted that if Apple will make US as the main area of focus they definitely changes in US government will directly affect the profits of the company. So, apart from US, the company should focus on managing their relations with government and employees of other nations as well. The company should initiate good employee relations; this will help the organization to manage their position irrespective of the governmental changes. If the employees of the company stand with the organization then the government cannot make any strict actions against their people (Bloch, 2011).

Technological

Technological

This is the third future state in which the company Apple could find themselves working in ten years from now. So this can be regarded as the most important state for the organization because the company currently works in the field of technology only. In order to be successful in future as well, the company needs to adapt new and innovative technology like artificial intelligence, 3D touch, augmented reality etc. Apple is one of the best company in the field of information technology that provides iOS software in its cell phones. So, in order to maintain that competence the company need to upgrade it so as to satisfy the customers in the market as well.

Thus, the above mentioned are the ways that the company Apple need to adapt in order maintain a sustainable image in ten years from now.

This section of the report provides the milestones or measures that company has taken so as to adapt as per the changing environment. These measures and milestones help the firm in achieving the set goals on time. There are several tools that can assist any firm in improving the performance of Apple (Fogliasso & Williams, 2014). The milestones and the benchmark measures for each adaptation have been provided in the table:

Economical

For the development of milestones and benchmark measures for Apple, a systematic process is essential in this regards. Since the economic environment has changed considerably in world hence adaptation will need proper planning.

Time Frame	Benchmarks and objectives	Setting Milestones	Result analysis
3 Years	To adapt changes and face the turmoil that is happening in the stable markets like Europe and America. They aim to invest in new areas and emerging economies so as to improve the cash base of the company as it will help them in their long term plan.	By 2021, they aim to set of their centres in almost all the parts of the world so that they can gain the best of profits from their business. The developing nations can be one of the best platforms for this.	The results can be evaluated on the basis of their financial data that will be generated from the other economies apart from the ones in which company is already doing healthier business.
5 years	To change according to growth of American Economy and helping the American economy with the financial support. The benchmark they want to set is that they want to invest the highest amount of money in America in past few decades (Graber & Dunaway, 2017).	By the end of 2023, Apple aims to invest $350 billion alone in US.	The results could be evaluated by the help of data that will be gained by the government of America. The first and the most basic result that they want to achieve from it is that they want to increase the capacity of their plants.
10 years	To increase the workforce base by providing huge amount of jobs to the people of US and hence to find support from the US government.	By 2028, they want to become one of the companies with largest workforce base. Alone in the coming years they want to provide jobs to 20000 people in US.	The result analysis could be done by the US bureau of labour statistics. Result analysis can also be done with the analysing the data of internal workforce that are directly employed within the organisation (Bergvall-Kareborn & Howcroft, 2013).

Political

Time Frame	Benchmarks and objectives	Setting Milestones	Result analysis
3 years	To focus on developing policies that may not hamper the Apple’s business in the years to come. In this regards they want to help the government of US in the talent generation and creation by providing opportunity to the people to invest in the new areas (Newsroom, 2018).	By 2021, they want to increase their treasury by 3% so that its investments plans for future are not at stake. They aim to develop new research units in America so that new people could be trained.	Result analysis can be done by checking the stats related to the employment within the country and the policies they have made for acquiring of talents from US.
10 years	To build the business in a manner that follows the global environment norms. They facilitate the world with 100 % renewable energy.	In the next 10 years they aim to build more recycling robots such as Daisy that helps in disassembly of parts. By 2028, they plan to mould the industry in such a manner that their material use is lot safer for the people.	Innovation is the key they have understood that can change their present scenario. Their annual report can be the best tool for analysing this. Along with this there progress report in the coming years will provide the details about their success (Kovach, 2017).

Technology

Time Frame	Benchmarks and objectives	Setting Milestones	Result analysis
3 years	To promote innovation that acts as a breed for the technologies that future devices of Apple will poses. They want to become the leader in the innovative technology so that they can provide their users with best of experience.	They are taking use of the Trojan Horse Strategy so that by the end of 2021, Apple would be able to take changes in their basic technology.	The results could be evaluated based on the progress report of the company in the coming years. Their new product line could be the measure so as to check whether they have actually achieved it or not.
5 years	To build new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, AR mode in Maps, 3D touch, Touch ID, Retina display, motion co-processor, Augmented reality. The devices of Apple need to work on these technologies so that they can gain competitive advantage over the rivals (Foolish, 2017).	By 2023, they want to make serious changes in the design and technology that they are using in their current devices of Apple.	Increasing consumer base can be one of the prime ways to analyse the result. There are many people that are coming to the Apple in search of products that is game changing. In the last few years many have lost faith in Apple as their premium pricing does not provides customers with any additional benefits.
10 Years	To bring the technology that works on renewable energy sources. It also aims to invest in green technologies so that they can transform their business by making environment friendly business.	By 2028, most of their devices would work on AI that support environment. This is necessary for the image building of the organisation in the years to come.	Their sustainability report can be a tool for evaluating the impact of technology on the society they operate in. CSR planning can help the company in bringing changes in their technology as per the requirements of their stakeholders (Environment, 2018).

Conclusion

From the above based report, it can be concluded that Apple is one of the biggest technological firm in America. The business environment for the company is changing and hence company will also have to change their ways of doing business. There are three trends on which company will focus in the coming years. The trends are Political, economic and technological. Changes in the business environment based on these three trends needs to be evaluated more closely. Apple aims to invest a lot of money in US so as to help the US’s economy at the same time generating huge amount of employment. Apple also seeks help from the government of US in their future expansion plans. They are going to make many new investments in the innovation so that they stay ahead of their competitors. The strategy that they are following for technology up gradation is Trojan horse where they are changing the entire breed of technology. They had to set many bench marks and Milestones so as to achieve their goals.

Adaption Needed for Successful Future State

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