Corporate Business Strategy

Introduction

This post will evaluate the views of Alstyne, Parker, and Choudary (2016), Collins and Rukstad (2008), and Porter (1996) with regards to business strategy. Special reference will be paid to Apple and its strategy to win in the mobile telephone industry.

Theory

Alstyne, Parker, and Choudary (2016) start by acknowledging the different positions in the mobile phone industry different companies have been holding. At one time, Nokia and its peers had more than 90% while after a few years, Apple took over with more than 90%. Alstyne et al. explain that with the development of Apple came the concept of platforms in the form of Apps. The transformation that has been experienced has been an advancement from pipelines to platforms. The move has been threefold; resources to resource orchestration, internal optimization to external interaction, and from a customer focus to an ecosystem value. Platforms have been the next frontier of investments leading to massive interaction between consumers and suppliers. As such, it has been easy to develop value.

Potter (1996) evaluated the concept of strategy and started by establishing that strategy rests in engaging in unique activities. It is an issue of creating a unique and valuable position, which in itself involves unique activities. Strategy is basically being unique and different. As such, Potter (1996) acknowledges that there several origins of strategic positions, which include, variety based positioning and access based positioning. To drive competitive advantage and sustainability, fit is often used as a driver (Potter, 1996). Collins and Rukstad (2008) emphasize that a majority of the executives do not have an idea of what strategy is, yet they are very critical in bringing innovations to the market. A successful strategy statement calls for a strategy that aligns behavior and goes further to create a guiding light for the same behavior it is advocating. Collins and Rukstad explain that a good strategy has the following three components; objective, scope, and advantage.

Apple has been able to sustain itself since it has found new ways of doing things. Heracleous (2013) called it the Quantum strategy. Apple started its incredible journey by developing high end mobile phones and computers. It has maintained the trend of developing high end products which are unique and different through strategic leadership and innovation as discussed by Heracleous and Papachroni (2016). Further, Apple has been providing a platform for other parties such as developers, who have continued to churn out more value for the users of Apple phones.

Conclusion

Strategy, as it has been demonstrated is the capability of doing activities differently. The concept of strategy should be explained by the company’s executives and even the organization.

References

Alstyne, M. V., Parker, G. G., & Choudary, S. P. (2016). Pipelines, platforms, and the new rules of strategy. Harvard Business Review, 94(4), 54–62.

Collis, D. J., & Rukstad, M. G. (2008). Can you say what your strategy is? Harvard Business Review, 86(4), 82–90.

Heracleous, L. (2013). Quantum strategy at apple inc. Organizational Dynamics, 42(2), 92-99.

Heracleous, L. T., & Papachroni, A. (2016). Strategic leadership and innovation at Apple Inc. SAGE Publications Limited.

 Porter, M. E. (1996). What is strategy? Harvard Business Review, 74(6), 61–78.