Introduction
- Using digital media is common in marketing.
- Strategies for problem-solving may be created.
- Advanced data collection and audience search.
- Competitive advantage and target content.
- Recruitment, adaptive environment, and assessment.
Digital Media in Problem-Solving
- Convenient and in-demand digital platforms
- A variety of procedures to perform (Figure 1).
- Free access to different user communities.
- Low costs and numerous valuable data.
- Solving problems through efficient strategies.
Advanced Data Collection
- Data from different platforms (Figure 2).
- Information from the target audience (Confos & Davis, 2016).
- Determining major preferences and interests.
- Marketing algorithms are adjusted to users.
Engaging the Target Audience
- Solving the issue of the lack of customers.
- A close interaction mode (Du Plessis, 2017)
- Building a feedback system among clients.
- Avoiding low demand and profits.
- Involving new client segments successfully.
Gaining Competitive Advantage
- Growing profits due to client recognition (Omidi, Dal Zotto, Norouzi, & Valero-Pastor, 2020).
- Expanding the share of customers (Figure 3).
- Overcoming a competitive barrier successfully.
- Developing a unique marketing strategy.
Creating Solution-Based
Content
- Complex algorithms of engagement (Figure 4).
- A cluster approach to using media (Barry & Gironda, 2018).
- Analyzing competitors’ activities and products.
- Developing unique and in-demand services.
Hiring Professional Staff
- An advanced system of recruitment.
- Facilitating the hiring process (Baglione, Tucci, & Woock, 2020).
- A wide range of applicants (Figure 5).
- Using modern recruitment tools and surveys.
Adaptive Marketing Environment
- Promoting wide choices and close interaction.
- An adaptive environment helps maintain sustainable sales (Dwivedi et al., 2020).
- Finding ways to reorganize the work process.
- Introducing relevant strategies to develop.
- Maintaining changes through digital control.
Simplified Estimation
Algorithms
- Numerous evaluation ratings (Figure 6).
- Predicting real market changes (Madhani & Rajguru, 2020).
- Involving accurate and detailed analytical tools.
- Introducing changes based on assessments.
Conclusion
- Applying digital media is beneficial.
- Using strategies helps in problem-solving.
- Achieving market recognition and growth.
- Engaging customers and effective hiring.
- Collecting data and utilizing estimation tools.
References
Baglione, S., Tucci, L., & Woock, P. (2020). Invasive job hiring practices and social media data usage knowledge on job intentions. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 9(1), 235-252.
Barnhart, B. (2019). Data collection [Image]. Web.
Barry, J. M., & Gironda, J. T. (2018). Developing social selling influence: An archetypal examination of content strategies and influence tactics. Journal of Selling, 18(1), 47-69.
BrainCandy. (2017). E-commerce strategies [Image]. Web.
Confos, N., & Davis, T. (2016). Young consumer-brand relationship building potential using digital marketing. European Journal of Marketing, 50(11), 1993-2017.
Crawford, C. (2020). Social media analytics [Image]. Web.
Dienst, P. (2017). Digital media recruitment [Image]. Web.
Du Plessis, C. (2017). The role of content marketing in social media content communities. South African Journal of Information Management, 19(1), 1-7.
Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J.,… Kumar, V. (2020). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 102168.
Hollingsworth, S. (2019). Benefits of social media [Image]. Web.
Madhani, J. V., & Rajyaguru, K. H. (2020). Impact analysis of digital marketing: An Indian perspective. Jurnal Manajemen dan Kewirausahaan (Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship), 22(2), 161-164.
Minardi, M. (2018). Solution-based content [Image]. Web.
Omidi, A., Dal Zotto, C., Norouzi, E., & Valero-Pastor, J. M. (2020). Media innovation strategies for sustaining competitive advantage: Evidence from music download stores in Iran. Sustainability, 12(6), 2381.
Apple Inc. Under The New Executive Tim Cook
Apple Inc. has been holding one of the most significant portions of the IT market for years due to the innovative vision of its founder, Steve Jobs. Although he passed away, the firm was able to keep its top position in several markets, outperforming most competitors. Since 2007, the mission and goals of the company have shifted from computer-oriented to mobile devices and the Internet of Things (Dess et al. 2019). Apple Inc. prides itself on being adaptable to the changing market landscape, and its efforts and strategy revolve around the future of mobile media and computing devices (Rowland 2019). The company, now under the new CEO Tim Cook, continues to introduce top-quality products for its customers across the globe.
The value of Apple Inc. lies not only in innovative technologies but in the ability to deliver them to its customer base in an ergonomic and smart design. Dudovsky (2019) states that “outsourcing of manufacturing to locations with lower costs of resources is the primary source of value for Apple operations.” Dess et al. (2019, 695) state that “by 2015, Apple’s value had more than doubled”. Tim Cook reassures the company’s investors that their vision includes many opportunities ahead (Dess et al. 2019). The company excels at using its current products and an expansive customer base as a starting point for new products, such as Apple Pay and Apple Watch.
Innovation and design are the main advantages of Apple Inc. There is a rising issue with changes in the market of smartphones, which is the most profitable market for Apple Inc., as it becomes dependent on replacements instead of upgrades (Dess et al. 2019). Moreover, there are other markets related to these devices that took a portion of the consumer base (Dess et al. 2019). However, Apple Inc. was able to create a uniquely loyal customer base by making the devices and services it provides a luxury. The current disadvantage is possible to overcome through meaningful, innovative technologies, and the advantages the company has are sustainable.
The firm’s resources lie in the part of manufacturers and fabricating facilities that are located in regions where operating costs are the least oppressive, such as China. Dudovsky (2019) states that “Apple Inc. exercises an immense bargaining power in dealing with its suppliers, and as a result, the company is able to secure cost advantage in the purchase of resources.” Since the company has its unique, highly protected operating system that links the majority of Apple’s devices, it is resistant to imitations and bootleggers. The organization of the firm allows Apple to use its resources to its full advantage.
Steve Jobs, who played a vital role in the success of Apple Inc., passed away on October 5, 2011. Many investors had concerns regarding the future of the firm, which was reflected by a significant 24% drop in stock price following Jobs’ death (Dess et al. 2019). The company has been struggling with several markets since then, due to the slowdown of innovations. While Apple Inc. continues to dominate several markets, such as the digital music sales market, in 2013, Samsung took first place in worldwide smartphone sales, and Google became the most widespread smartphone operational system (Dess et al. 2019). It shows that there is an issue with the pacing of new product development and delivery.
The new CEO of Apple Inc. has his vision that he attempts to implement, however, in my opinion, he struggles to imitate the past visionary’s approach instead of applying his own. Therefore, I recommend that the company should separate its efforts in the race for innovative technologies from its current products, which are getting forcibly obsolete. Optimization of the company’s past products that are still widely used could retain a significant portion of customers who cannot afford Apple’s new vital products but can benefit from smaller upgrades and implementations.
References
Dess, Gregory, McNamara, Gerry, and Eisner, Alan. 2016. Strategic Management: Text and Cases. 8th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Education.
Dubovsky, John. 2019. “Apple Value Chain Analysis.” Research Methodology. Web.
Rowland, Christine. 2019. “Apple Inc.’s Mission Statement and Vision Statement.” Panmure Institute. Web.
Supply Chain Management: Issues And Challenges
Supply chain management
Supply Chain Management is the method through which a business brings together all the elements to get its product into the market. It implies the management of a product flow in the production chain. it starts with the purchase of raw materials and ends up with the release of the end product. The ability to manage this process effectively requires efficient integration of all stakeholders such as manufacturers, suppliers, warehouses, and retailers. The chief goal of supply chain management is to ensure that the product is delivered to the right customer at the right time and place as well as at minimum costs.
The components of supply chain management
Every management process is a system with certain steps and components. According to Levi, S, Kaminsky, & Shankar (2007), the components of supply chain management are procurement, production, distribution, and sales.
Procurement means the purchase of raw materials needed to manufacture a product. That’s why every company negotiates contracts with suppliers and builds long-term partnerships to ensure continuous sourcing of raw materials.
Production is a multi-stage process when the product is being manufactured. Distribution includes product delivery from the plant to the warehouses, where it is stocked to be sold to consumers. Sales are activities when the product is being sold at a pre-determined price.
Issues and challenges of today’s supply chain
According to Levi, S et al. (2007) all issues, and challenges can be categorized into three levels: strategic, tactical, and operational. The same applies to the supply chain which is facing a wide variety of issues nowadays.
For instance, issues at the strategic level have a great scope and impact the company in the long term. When the company is determined to set up a new plant to increase production output is a good example here. Many factors have to be taken into consideration, such as costs incurred, delivery time, and the shelf life of the product itself. Another problem here is the choice of the suppliers. The relationships between a supplier and a manufacturer should be both optimal and advantageous. Globalization has a big impact on the way companies build strategic relationships now. Firstly, global-level operation challenges companies to improve performance and communicate more efficiently with partners around the globe. Also, the location of manufacturing facilities around the world creates a need to develop a new strategy for the supply chain management.
Tactical level issues include decisions made in a mid-term scope such as production output, effective inventory management, transportation of a product. It should be noted that efficient inventory management is crucial in today’s fast-moving world, as it involves extra costs to maintain the product which becomes outdated quickly. Therefore, inventories need to be carefully calculated and maintained.
Operational level issues include daily activities which affect the company’s functioning, such as balancing a timely delivery of the end product to the customer and a supply of raw materials. daily activity management such as the ratio between workload and quantity to be produced is challenging for companies who want to be profitable.
Conclusion
To sum up, supply chain management is crucial for every company to organize efficiently. Today’s challenges of the globalised economy, which impose new rules on supply chain management, should be considered. The introduced strategies discussed above will allow companies to be very precise with their requirements.
Reference
Levi, S, Kaminsky P & Shankar R 2007, Introduction to Supply Chain Management, Designing and Managing the Supply Chain: Concepts, Strategies and Case Studies, McGraw Hill, New York.