Read the case below and answer the questions that follow:

Apple

When most firms were struggling in $2008,$ apple increased its revenue from $$24\mathrm{.}0$ billion to $$32\mathrm{.}4$ billion in $2008,$ up to $$3\mathrm{.}5$ prior year$-$wonderfully impressive in a global slump. Fortunate Magazine rated Apple as their number one most admired Company in the World in terms of their management and performance. Number One of millions of companies around the world. In the global recession, technology purchases were deemed disposable or discretionary for most businesses and individuals. New orders for business and consumer tech products plummeted, and technology firms shed workers rapidly. This led to massive layoffs in the computer industry and related industries. The meltdown permeated all the way down the supply chain to chip maker, hard drive makers, software vendors peripheral makers and other segments. Hewlett$-$parchard recently cut $2400600$ employees and Dell laid off $8,900$ employees.

Microsoft recently cut its travel budget by $20$ percent and laid off $5000$ employees.

Amid recession and faltering rivals, Apple is doing great. Brisks sales of : pad,$11..$one, and laptops are yielding higher and higher revenues and profits every quarter. Legen. y CEO Steve Jobs and his colleagues are implementing a great strategic plan. Apple has no manufacturing plants but does have retail stores. Apple continues to amaze the world with its new, innovative products, being one of the best examples of a first mover firm in developing new products. Apple has loyal customers and has about $$25\mathrm{.}6$ billion in cash on their balance sheet to along with the zero long$-$term debt. Based in Cupertino, California, Apple has not cut prices of computers much at all during the recession, even as competitors have slashed prices dramatically.

On June $9,2009,$ Apple did however lower the price of its entry$-$level iPhone by $50$ percent to $$99$ and rolled out a next$-$generation model named iPhone $3$GS which is faster than existing models and can capture videos. Apple by mid Magazine rated $-2009$ had sold over $20$ million iPhones and reported in July $2009$ that the company was unable to supply enough iPhones and Macintosh computers to meet demand. Apple sold $5\mathrm{.}2$ million iPhones in the quarter ending that

month, more than $7$ times what it sold the same quarter the prior year. Shipments of Macintosh computers that quarter were up $4$ percent to $2\mathrm{.}6$ million. For the first $7$ months of $2009,$ Apple's stock rose $80$ percent compared to the Nasdaq Composite being up $25$ percent. Apple has aggressive new plans to design its own computer chips in order $(1)$ obtain better chips for its unique products, and $(2)$ share fewer details about its technology with external chip manufacturers.

Questions

a$.$ Identify Apple's biggest strength that allowed it to flourish even during the recession.

$(20$ marks$)$

b$.$ Draw this strength with other strategic decision of the company that propelled the company business successes.

$(10$ marks$)$