Business Houses to Focus on E-Business Digital Activities

Question: Introducing whats the research is about, i.e. the implemented E-BUSINESS (Case Study/ies). Managerial reasons (Rationale/ Motivation) for the decision to introduce and implement E-BUSINESS. How management exploited opportunities introduced by E-BUSINESS. Answer: Introduction This paper will discuss the case of the company named, Apple. It will focus on the e-business of this company. Prior to that, the history of the evaluation of this company will be analyzed. The e-business is now very much important to every organization. With the rise of new technology, a company can manage its customers, vendors and shareholders easily over the internet. The advantage of this is that, an entrepreneur can manage or can have access to international market.This also helps to expand business overseas, without setting its business unit in that particular region. E-business allows an organization to develop and deliver improved strategies. Through this technology, the business can communicate directly with the customers; operations; inside the organization, i.e. with employees (Veit et al. 2014). Moreover, this way is faster and the entrepreneurs can send time-sensitive information with whom they communicate. Similarly, by introducing and implementing e-business the firm can also obtain quick response from its shareholders and it can easily overview the market condition and requirement of its customers or shareholders (Galliers and Leidner 2014). By this way, the management can make use of the opportunities provided by E-business and make improvement of its strategies. It helps the companies to become more competitive. In this paper, design, development and implementation of Apple Inc. will be discussed. In addition to this, the implementation of E-business strategy and its impact will be evaluated. E-Business Analysis Evaluation In this paper, Apple Inc. has been chosen for the analysis. Apple changes in its business development strategy continuously over the years. After introducing e-commerce, it achieved record breaking revenue. It is believed that the e-business is the foundation of the success of Apple. This company is converting into large e-commerce business house. The new products were launched at the online store of Apple; and the history can be discussed according to its changes over time. Apple has first launched its products iBooks; iMovie in its online store in the year of 2000. Through e-business, the Apple has mastered the act of product visualization. Steve Jobs and his team were ahead in this completion, as they first introduced the video of their products as a part of their advertisement strategy. This approach of this company was impressive and created huge brand value of its products. However, after this many changes have undergone over the years. So it was necessary for the company to pu t more effort to make its product innovative to the consumers. Hence, they focus on e-commerce and implemented strategies in order to remain competitive in the market. Apple has expanded its in-app mobile ad (iAd) to about seventy countries. This helps to advertise to millions of people and earn money from advertising. In this app, business can be promoted. Through iAd, the retailer can target the customers, who have viewed a product but decide not to buy, by displaying an Ad into that persons device. Though there are competitors in the market, but it has been found that users spend 87% of their time on connected devices within apps (Kotter 2013). It has also launched its own mobile payment service, named Apple Pay. Online payment is the most common activity. However, it requires a secured and reliable platform, where credit cards information can be stored. Apple Pay provides this opportunity. According to CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, Apple Pay is the largest mobile payment system in the world (Business Insider, 2014). Buyers can pay from Apple Pay using their phones if the retailer has installed the required terminal. Leading Apps like Uber; Target etc also works with Apple Pay. The introduction of Apple Pay is the biggest step towards becoming a giant e-commerce enterprise. Moreover, this firm has installed iBeacons into many retail stores. iBeacons allows the users to restrict or distribute the content within a certain area (Montgomerie and Roscoe 2013). This technology provides a device management platform to the user within a building.Apple has also entered the television market. In 2015, it has issued Apple TV, which merges the experience of television and e-commerce. Through this innovation, the shopping experience has been brought to the big screen. Figure 1: Revenue generation business strategy for Apple Inc Source: (Apple and Procurement 2016) The above diagram shows the ways the company Apple Inc generates its revenue from products through the e commerce Apple has produced majority of mobile traffic to ecommerce sites. Moreover, iTunes; software segment of this enterprises creates its own e-commerce business without affecting other companies ecosystem. This company keeps the information up-to-date in their website. In addition to this, the e-procurement professionals gather and access information regarding the potential members of the supply chain. Apples suppliers information database helps the procurement officials to qualify its supplier (Apple and Procurement 2016). Through e-procurement, the suppliers or the other members of the supply chain are contacted and scope of opportunities is explained to them (Apple's Procurement Strategy 2013). The suppliers are also given equal chance to participate in the procurement process. Apple was initially old-fashioned in terms of using media for advertisement. However, in recent times, this business house gives advertisement online and those ads are quite well with rich banner in the website . This attempt of firm has created brand values. The firm was focused on advertising something that consumers will absorb easily. Therefore, through e-marketing, Apple developed its e-business. Four agencies like- Kettle; Area 17; Huge and AKQA helped Apple in designing online advertisement (Thomas 2012). Apple has chosen some innovative e-marketing strategies. For example, the Apple apps award users points who predict about the next match while watching UEFA Champion Leagues. Another example is that, Apple also promoted its iPhone 5C in a video laden page Tumblr. Apple is continuously developing its digital marketing strategy. Apple do not have its own Facebook or Twitter page, they have taken advantages of social media sponsorship. In this way, famous personalities are paid to post on their own social media profile, regarding the newly launched product of Apple. When people see that the person they admire posting or using that brand, they follow the trend. The post will be shared or re-twitted by the fans and will reach millions of people. Therefore, in spite of having no profile in the social media, Apple has successfully utilized this media for e marketing and promoted its products. Apple has maintained relationship with its customers via different blogs and social media to create brand loyalty. Hence, its e-business strategy helped to sustain in the market over the past few years. It must be noted that, growth of iPhones and iPads are declining as there are strong competitors in the market. However, the company is still leading because of its e-commerce via iTunes, iBooks and app stores. Apple is also focusing on building mobile retail marketing infrastructure in the US market. Therefore, a further improvement in the e-business is expected in near future. Implementation of E-business strategy and its Impact The e-business strategies adopted by Apple have helped the company to facilitate their development of business worldwide. It further helped the company to reach out to a wider consumer base and advertise their products or services more efficiently and effectively. The concept of e-business has become a very important factor in everyday business, as it has contributed to the profitability factor of businesses (Cavusgil et al. 2014). The figure below shows the e marketing plan for Apple Inc. The company is seen to take into all the aspects when considering sales through the online channel. Figure 2: E marketing Plan for Apple Inc (Source Turban et al. 2015) The e-business strategy is cost effective and helps the company to gain a competitive advantage in the potential or the target market. E-business plays a major role in the dissemination of information. The company has been able to open its portal with the help of e-business. It helped the company to move to the international trade with minimum cost and maximum efficiency. It is because it has reached a wider audience and therefore, it is recognized worldwide. It helped the company to manage and handle the management of supply chain effectively (Turban et al. 2015). It ensured better coordination between the retailers and the wholesalers of Apple Inc. The strategy has provided opportunity to the customers to buy the products online without any hassle. This improved the sales and productivity of the company. Figure 3: Online Marketing Trends for Apple Inc (Source Civi 2013) The strategy has helped the company to speed up their process of online orders and payments, as it is very quick and easily accessible. The strategy also helped to maintain a harmonious relationship between the customers and the customer care representatives. The customers receive the highest level of satisfaction by maintaining a good relationship with the company via the e-business strategy. The strategies assured accuracy and the company became internationally recognized because of their implementation (Civi 2013). The customers relied heavily on the products of the company, as they could have a direct communication with the managers and representatives of the company because of the e-business strategy. They can order products online even from a different country. For example, a customer in India can order an iPhone in the United States of America through the e-business strategy. This adds to the value of the company at the international level along with the increase in sales and profits of the company (Amit and Zott 2012). The vital disadvantage that adds to the characteristics of e-business strategy implemented by the company is the security factor. The websites are not properly secured and have very high chances of being hacked (Bbc.co.uk 2014). This might result in loss of valuable information from the internet or the company website and this can have a negative impact on the potential customers. Maintaining good security and learning about the security measures requires a lot of time and this is a disadvantage of the e-business strategy. The company needs to appoint experts to learn about the various security measures including encryption and digital signature (JovarauskienÄ— and PilinkienÄ— 2015). It is because if they do not respond appropriately, the company can suffer a huge loss. It may lose its potential customers in both the domestic and the international market. Therefore, the company needs to adopt certain measures to reduce the risk factor in its strategy of e-busine ss to gain high returns on investment. Conclusion The digital activities have become common in todays world. Hence, it is necessary for the business houses to focus on e-business. Through e-business practices, the company can reach its client or shareholders quickly. Apart from this, it can also promote its product by giving advertisement or my sharing latest information about the upcoming product. From the above discussion it has been noticed that the Apple Inc. has developing innovative strategies to develop its e-business over the years.This enterprise has successfully implemented most of its business strategies. It must be mentioned that this firm gives importance to technological advances that is mostly retail-oriented. This paper has also discussed the limitations of e-business due to competitive advantage and globalization. It has also discussed the overall impact of the e-business strategies adopted by Apple. It can be concluded that the e-business is the key weapon behind Apples success and sustainability. References Apple's Procurement Strategy. 2013. [online] Spend Matters. 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