Strategic Audit of Apple, Inc.

Option #1 of the Portfolio Project, due in Week 8 of the class, consists of a strategic audit of Apple, Inc. The purposes of this audit are to:

describe the company’s recent past and current operating context,
analyze the current operating context using strategic management tools, and
develop strategy recommendations to gain a competitive advantage.
The topic development throughout the class is shown below.

Milestone/ Portfolio

Week Due

Topics

#1

2

Current Operating Context: Past corporate performance indexes, strategic posture

#2

4

Revised Current Operating Context, SWOT Analysis Part 1: Corporate governance, external environment opportunities and threats

#3

6

Revised SWOT Analysis Part 1, SWOT Analysis Part 2: Internal environment strengths and weaknesses

#4: Final Portfolio Paper

8

Revised SWOT Analysis Part 1 and 2, Strategic Factor Analysis, Alternatives and Recommendations

This week, you finish development of the Portfolio Project. This paper consists of two parts:

Revisions to (a) the current operating context from Week 2; (b) revisions to the company’s corporate governance and external environment threats and opportunities from Week 4, and (c) revisions to the internal environment strengths and weaknesses from Week 6 based on instructor feedback.
Two new sections about analyzing strategic factors and developing strategic alternatives and strategy recommendations.
Your paper should include the following elements, written in APA style.

Title page
Introduction
Current Operating Context
Past corporate performance indexes
Strategic posture
Current mission
Current objectives
Current strategies
Current strategic policies
Corporate Governance
Board of Directors
Top Management
External Environment Opportunities and Threats
Natural Environment
Societal Environment
Task Environment (Industry Factors)
Internal Environment Strengths and Weaknesses
Corporate Structure
Corporate Culture
Corporate Resources
Marketing
Finance
Research and Development
Operations and Logistics
Human Resources
Information Technology
Analysis of Strategic Factors
Situational Analysis – Strategic Factors from SWOT
Review of Mission and Objectives
Strategic Alternatives and Recommended Strategy
Strategic Alternatives
Recommended Strategy
Conclusion
References
Appendix A: Strategic Audit Worksheet
Please update both your narrative and your Appendix A by responding to the Analysis of Strategic Factors and Strategic Alternatives and Recommended Strategy questions shown in Appendix 1.A, p. 38 of your text. Use your responses to complete the content areas for this week’s assignment, which include both the appendix entries and narrative in the body of the paper. You will perform research to find the answers to these questions. Respond to as many of these questions as possible so that you obtain a complete picture of company operations.

The analysis that you develop as part of the final Portfolio Project should indicate both your ability to think critically as well as your skill in applying the strategic management concepts you learned about in the class. This analysis should reflect your assessment of how the impacts of the internal and external factors relevant to the organization should be reflected in current strategic management approaches. This means reviewing the overall competitive situation of the company and defining a path forward to maintain a competitive advantage.

Your paper should:

Be 8 to 10 pages in length, not including the required title and reference pages and appendix.
Be formatted according to APA style. The CSU Global Writing Center offers resources on how to format your assignment (Links to an external site.) and cite sources (Links to an external site.) in APA style.
Include at least ten scholarly articles, peer-reviewed articles, or other professional sources listed in Appendix 13.A. The CSU Global Library is a good place to find these resources.
Include a title page, section headers, introduction, conclusion, reference page, and appendix.
Use summary headings to indicate the topic areas. Do not repeat the questions from Appendix 1.A in the class text.
Follow Figure 13-1 in the class text for your Appendix A using the appropriate rows for each week’s submission. For each week, you should include the rows based on the topics covered, and the columns should include Analysis with positive and negative factors as well as any summary comments you might want to make.

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