Essay About High Performance And Delivery Of Content

1. General and Industry Environments
Pick up from the case only specific examples to include under general environment and
Porter Five Forces
Regarding the general external environment, Apple must consider the political/legal,
economic and global, sociocultural and demographic, and technological forces that
might affect the ability of the firm to get its product to market and sustain sales.
Demographic: Certainly the demographics had changed. Baby-boomers were getting
older, while the youngest generation was much more “wired”.
Sociocultural: Customers were growing increasingly sophisticated. They knew what they
wanted and didnt want to pay a lot for it, but could be seduced by a “sexy” design.
Increasing globalization meant borders didnt matter so much any more – American
products did not have any particular edge. As long as products were high performance
and high service, the customer didnt know or care where they came from.
Technological: Technology, especially the growth of the Internet, had created new
opportunities for delivery of content and for promotion. Companies like Intel and
Samsung were making many advances in memory and display technology. The pace
and direction of change required considerable monitoring and possibly risk-taking.
Political-Legal: Political-legal issues, especially the issues around copyrights, monitoring
of content distribution (digital rights management), environmental waste, and the
possibility of global trade monopolies. U.S. regulators from Federal Trade Commission,
Securities and Exchange Commission continued scrutiny of trade and stockholder
issues.
General Observation:
Based on the external environmental factor analysis, the consumer electronics business