Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Strategic planning is the proccess of creating and maintaining a fit between the company's objectives and resources and the evolving market opportunities.
Competitive advantage consists of a set of unique features of a company and its products that are perceived by the target market as significant and superior to the competition.

When Apple entered the phone company, it became the biggest competitor to Motorola, Nokia and Samsun companies. Apple became the sole competitor against all these companies but was still ahead of each company.  Apple's products were so advanced in 2007 that it swept the market. When the first Apple iPhone was revealed, it came out with many advanced features that no phone has had so far. Of course when the phone was first unveiled it had internal and external problems that needed to be ffixed. The company did their job in making sure they innovated their product so they will not lose their customers.

Apple has a set back in their product line, limited diversification. With them only having their phone products out, it became easier for other phone companies to come along and make similar devices. Apple needed to think of a way to make sure they were always ahead of anyone. Their next idea was to come out with a new product that was better than their previous product and their competitors. Apple's strategy was to build a contract with one phone company so when they would reveal new products they would gain new consumers from other companies. The key idea that Apple has created is to meet consumer wants at all times.

The success of Apple has been growing tremendously. They advertise their products via billboards and media. Their consumers as well as consumers from other companies are easily grasped by the technology Apple provides. They have provided a product/service differentation competitive advantage, making sure that their consumers are gaining the products of Apple at an affordable price and is something that their competitiors do not have.

Behind the famous Apple products is its founder Steve Jobs. Steve founded Apple in 1976. It started out to just create a computer for people but it went on to become something greater. In 1976 Steve Jobs and his companion Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I. In the following year Jobs and Wozniak refined their first design and created the Apple II. The Apple II was the first personal computer to have a keyboard and color graphics as well. Within two years of the personal computer being out sales skyrocketed to $200 million. In 1984 jobs introduced yet another computer to the word, the Apple Macintosh. Of course the price of the Macintosh was quite pricey for the market. He then stated that the Macintosh would be a business computer. The Macintosh had no memory or hard drive so it could not be used as a business computer. Jobs was faced with serious trouble. In 1985 Jobs sold his Apple stock shares and resigned from his company.
In 1997 Steve was back in Apple to help his company become healthy in sales. In 2001, Steve came out with the first iPod. As time went on he began to introduce more products to the world such as iTunes, iPhone and the iPad. With all the products Steve has released, Apple has made billions of dollars thanks to its founder.

Apples mission is to satisfy the needs of their costumers by innovating their products.