Case study: Apple Inc. in 2020

By: David B. Yoffie, Daniel Fisher

After a decade as CEO, Tim Cook is facing one of the biggest strategic transitions of his tenure. While Apple had performed spectacularly well under Cook, Apple's core business was maturing. Sales of...

 

(1) Read the case more than once. Figure out and explain the issues.
 

(2) You do not need to conduct outside research for the case analysis because all the information you need to analyze the case has already been provided.
 

(3) Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the business's current situation and alternatives. In other words, make sure you consider the key external and internal factors affecting the business (do not leave any critical variables out of the analysis).
 

(4) Identify the best alternatives available to the business using case data, logical reasoning, and creative thinking.
 

(5) Define and explain the course of action that you think the business's managers should follow. (Your conclusions should fit logically with your analysis of the situation).
 

(6) Show how the business may implement your strategic suggestions.
In many cases, there is a great deal of financial information provided and students often fail to consider this information in their analyses. Please note that this information has been provided for very specific reasons and should be considered. Any analyses that do not address the issues raised by this information will be penalized 20%. Please note that using the financial information must (1) be done in an appropriate manner, and (2) provide some value-added to the analysis. Simply repeating information presented in the financial statements is inappropriate.  Remember that all strategic decisions have 'bottom-line' implications