External Environmental Analysis Of Apple

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Apple states in their Form K-10 Report (2017, p.1) they are “committed to bringing the best user experience to its customers through innovative hardware, software and services.” In an Industry where profit margins are low, technologies are constantly evolving and competition is high it is essential that Apple continues to offer innovative and simple products that increases customer experience (Heracleous, 2013) so to maintain a competitive advantage. A variety of tools have been used to evaluate Apple’s external and internal environment, including the PESTEL (Appendix 1), Porter’s Five Forces Analysis (Appendix 2), SWOT (Appendix 3). It is envisaged that the information derived from these tools and the associated analysis will support Apple’s CEO to make strategic decisions that addresses the challenges ahead in the short term, ensuring Apple can be competitive in the long term (Rothaermal, 2017). External Environmental Analysis PESTEL: Apple has a significant presence in the Asian markets in terms of contracted suppliers and through high magnitude of sales. This leaves Apple susceptible to significant political and economic risk both internationally and within the United States. As global economies adjust to political influence, threats of civil unrest and natural global disasters Apple will be affected by exchange rates, unemployment, supply shortages which impact on production costs, and ultimately a downturn in sales (Khan et al. 2015). At the same time Apple