Marketing strategy help essay : Apple & Sony

Apple Inc

Apple’s success story is inspiring, amusing and commendable; it was cofounded by Steve Woznaik and Steve jobs in the 1970s. With every passing century Apple brought something innovative in the market. Before 2001, the year of the Ipod launch, the company was going through some critical time. Sales had fallen to under $6 million and operating income of $522 million turned into a loss of $344 million. Sale in USA and Europe had fallen by 30% and in Japan it was more than 50%. The company needed radical remedy to come out of this precarious situation. The top team of Apple realised that the consumer market has a lot of potential and it is vastly untapped. Apple considered consumer electronics like video cameras, digital cameras, DVD players and MP3 players; after thoroughly analysing its options it chose MP3 Player. Subsequently, in the year 2001 Apple introduced IPod and since then the winning streak has continued. Apple has always been able to identify the opportunity present in the market and has manufactured a product which always exceeded customer expectations. Apple’s unique characteristic is that it doesn’t not capture market share rather it creates a market of its own.

Sony

Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of consumer electronics; the company was founded in Japan by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in the year 1946. Sony has many established products to its credit such as Bravio, Viao, Tablet, HandyCam, Cyber-shot, Walkman, Xplod, Sony hi-fi, Memory stick and Play station etc. Sony gives utmost importance to quality, unparalleled standards of service and customer satisfaction.

Unfortunately, Sony has not been able to cope with competition and is lagging far behind. The management of the company has been aggressively trying to bring the company back to its original state via a series of reorganisation programmes. Business analysts opine that the reason behind Sony’s ailing health is its tradition bound mentality. The silo culture prevalent in the company prevents its employees to communicate and cooperate with each other. In today’s competitive world, it is necessary for business organisations to work as one whole unit. Even after the introduction of radical reforms, the company has not been able to solve its problems.

Evaluation of Apple’s Performance

Apple’s streak of success gives rise to one question, how can every Apple product be so successful. Some give the credit to Steve Jobs’ genius where as others believe the reason to be the company’s marketing strategy. However, the true reason is the company’s ability to devise viable strategies and implement them successfully. The last decade has been particularly profitable for Apple; the company posted a net profit of $8.8 billion for the third quarter of 2012 which is $1.5 billion more than last year. Since 2001 the company has only seen rise in its income. (AppleInc, 2012) Apple faced the same set of problems which were faced by other companies like recession and decrease in consumer spending; it was the strategic management of Apple which kept the company afloat during uncertain times.

 Having a great product is just not enough; there are numerous other factors which have to be taken care of.  Apple has always marked its product at a premium price; this is a pricing strategy known as Price skimming. This strategy helps the company in placing its product higher than its competitors since customers often link value of the product with its price. (Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2009) The company has been extremely successful in positioning its products; the brand value is extremely strong. Apple has been able to market its product as superior and customer’s support made the notion stronger.

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