Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar

Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

Canterbury Institute of Management (CIM)

MBIS401-Information Systems and Strategy Assessment
AT1- Individual Case Study Analysis
A Global Perspective on the Apple App Store Ecosystem
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/apple-app-store-study-2020.pdf

Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar

Student I’d: CIM 7627

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

Executive Summary:

This essay looks at the problems with organising the environment of the Apple App

Store, focusing on missing data, incorrectly measuring the platform's size and the need

for more profound knowledge of how developers act. To properly deal with these

problems, it suggests using technology like cloud computing, the blockchain system,

training methods, and big data analytics.

Apple's politics, culture, organisational structure, and surroundings are all looked at in

great depth to see how they affect the acceptance of new technology. The structured

structure of Apple's organisation could speed up decision-making but slow down new

ideas. Politics in the company could help or hurt the development process, depending

on how well the stakeholders are aligned. Even though Apple's culture of creativity

makes it hard to be private and perfect, it's an excellent place to develop new ideas.

The outside world is also very competitive and moves quickly, so market trends and

changes in the law need to be carefully thought through. The Porter Five Forces

framework looks at the competition environment and shows Apple's pros and cons in

the App Store community.

In conclusion, Apple can keep being the leader in the digital world, meet the changing

needs of its international developer and customer base, and make the App Store

environment even better by being open to new ideas and solving these issues.

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

Table of Contents
Executive Summary:........................................................................................................ 2
Introduction:..................................................................................................................... 4
Identification of Organizational Issues:.............................................................................4
Technological Solutions:...................................................................................................5
Apple’s Organization Business Model:.............................................................................5
Organizational Structure:................................................................................................. 6
Politics:.............................................................................................................................6
Culture:.............................................................................................................................6
Environment:.................................................................................................................... 6
Apple’s primary activities:.................................................................................................7
Supporting activities:........................................................................................................7
Apple's current information systems:...............................................................................8
Impact of organisational structure, politics, culture, and environment:.............................8
Organizational Structure:................................................................................................. 8
Politics:.............................................................................................................................8
Culture:.............................................................................................................................9
Environment:.................................................................................................................... 9
Value Chain Analysis of Apple:.........................................................................................9
Porter's Five Forces model:........................................................................................... 10
Competitive Rivalry within the Industry:..........................................................................11
Competitive Advantages of the Apple App Store:...........................................................11
Weaknesses in Comparison with Competitors:..............................................................11
Operational Excellence Achievements:..........................................................................12
Areas for Improvement/Weaknesses:............................................................................12
Recommendations:........................................................................................................ 13
Conclusion:.................................................................................................................... 14
References:....................................................................................................................15

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

Introduction:

The global technology corporation Apple Inc. is based in Cupertino, California, United

States. On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne created it.

Apple is well-known for its software, services, and inventiveness in the consumer device

industry. Apple Watch, Apple TV, Mac computers, iPads, and iPhones are some of its

best-selling items. The paper's main topic is the organisational problems that occur in

the Apple App Store environment. These problems include needing more data, not

knowing how big the ecosystem is, and not knowing enough about how coders act. This

article also examines how Apple's culture, politics, organisational structure, and

surroundings impact its capacity to use new technologies.

Identification of Organizational Issues:

Lack of comprehensive data: The company's current information method can't give

specific details about the App Store environment. This includes being unable to

accurately track and measure the number and types of sales inside and outside the App

Store (Global, 2021).

Underestimation of ecosystem size: Because the company only looks at direct

revenue signs, it might need to understand how big the App Store community is. It's

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

hard to know how the App Store has affected small businesses and the worldwide

economy.

Limited insights into developer behavior: The group sometimes needs help figuring

out what small developers, particularly those getting less than one million dollars a year,

like and how they act because they need to collect and analyse data well enough.

Technological Solutions:

Big Data Analytics: Using advanced big data analytics technologies, the company can

gather, process, and look at vast amounts of data from many sources, such as app

sales, developer income, and user habits (Zahid et al., 2021).

Machine Learning Algorithms: Machine learning systems may support with trend

forecast, pattern gratitude, and user and creator segmentation created on behaviour

and preferences.

Blockchain Technology: Tracking app transactions, particularly those that occur

outside of the App Store, may be made more transparent and secure using blockchain

technology. Ensuring correct sales and commission tracking helps reduce the risk of

underestimating and losing money (Heller et al., 2020).

Apple’s Organization Business Model:

The mainstay of Apple's business strategy is developing and marketing hardware

products like Macs, iPhones, and iPads, which are supported by a robust ecosystem of

services like the App Store. Through the App Store, developers may distribute their

programmes to Apple's user base and make money from in-app purchases, direct app

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Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

sales, and advertising, among other sources. In addition to giving developers resources

and assistance to make app creation and distribution easier, Apple receives a

commission from some transactions within the App Store (Podolny & Hansen, 2020).

Organizational Structure:

Apple's organizational structure is renowned for its distinct authority and decision-

making hierarchies. The business is organized into functional divisions under the

leadership of top executives who answer to Tim Cook, the CEO, including hardware

engineering, software development, marketing, and sales. Teams in the services section

probably concentrate on platform development, developer relations, and App Store

management (Joel M. Podolny, 2020).

Politics:

Apple's views on security, privacy, and ecosystem control often influence its political

decisions. The business has come under political fire regarding its application store

policies—particularly those about developer treatment and compensation rates. Apple

has also engaged in judicial and regulatory antitrust and technological rights disputes

with governments, rival companies, and other parties (Global, 2022).

Culture:

Apple cultivates an innovative, excellent, and detail-oriented culture often known as the

"Apple way." The organization prioritizes user experience, design aesthetics, and

smooth product and service integration. Regarding product development and launches,

secrecy and confidentiality are highly valued.

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

Environment:

Apple works in a highly competitive, fast-paced industry where customer tastes

constantly shift and technology advances quickly. The tech industry's participants

compete with corporations, such as digital platforms, software developers, and other

smartphone makers. Sustainability, energy from renewable sources, and lowering

Apple's carbon footprint across its operations and supply chain are the main focuses of

the company's environmental activities (Joel M. Podolny, 2020).

Apple’s primary activities:

Apple's primary focus is maintaining and managing its App Store platform, which is the

backbone of its ecosystem. The organization closely monitors the Platform

Management, guaranteeing its seamless operation, robust infrastructure, and

compliance with strict security and regulatory requirements. At the same time, Apple

fosters creativity and quality among developers worldwide by offering a wealth of tools,

resources, and instructional programmes as part of its broad Developer Support. Apple

uses monetization strategies essential to its operations to coordinate different income

sources, including in-app purchases, paid downloads, and advertising while maintaining

user experience and developer profitability (Sinha & Pathak, 2023).

Supporting activities:

Apple participates in several supporting initiatives to uphold the standards of quality,

safety, and equity within the App Store ecosystem and to guarantee adherence to legal

and regulatory obligations. First, to provide a safe and dependable platform for

developers and users, Apple creates policies and implements them, setting rules for app

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

submissions, content, and user privacy. The company also studies many market studies

to keep up with new technologies, market trends, and user tastes (Global, 2022).

Apple's current information systems:

One of the many things that Apple's current information systems do is support the App

Store's extensive network. These systems are part of an intense environment. The App

Store community, a central delivery hub, lets more than a billion people worldwide

access millions of apps. Apple has set up many high-tech tools to handle the

complicated aspects of app sharing, sales, and making money in this environment.

Multiple levels of information systems make up the App Store's structure. Apple uses a

comprehensive platform to make it easy for developers and users to do business with

each other (Hu, Tang, Zhang, & Jiang, 2020).

Impact of organisational structure, politics, culture, and environment:

If Plan to implement an innovative system

Organizational Structure:

Apple has a structured organisational structure, which means that decisions are made

from the top down, and there are clear lines of power. This might make it easier to use a

new method. Because decisions are usually made in one place, it might take less time

to approve and start using the new system (Raftopoulos & Morley, 2020).

Politics:

Power struggles and disagreements between departments affect Apple's internal politics

could help or hurt the acceptance of the new method. Adopting and carrying out the

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

suggested changes is easier if the interests of key partners from different areas are

aligned. However, delays and issues could be caused by influential people or groups

against the changes because they see them as a threat (Podolny & Hansen, 2020).

Culture:

Apple's creative and high-quality culture might make it easy to bring in new

technologies. Workers may be more receptive to the novel system since they are used

to pushing limits and adopting new technology. However, there can be drawbacks to the

culture of secrecy and the tremendous emphasis on product excellence.

Environment:

Apple works in a constantly changing and competitive business, and technology is

improving. Innovation may be needed because of changes in the outside world, such as

market trends, customer tastes, and rules. These changes could also affect the new

system's direction. Apple also has customers from all over the world, so when putting

the new system into place, it needs to be carefully thought out in terms of cultural

differences and regional differences (Global, 2021).

Value Chain Analysis of Apple:

You can break down Apple's value chain into a few main tasks that help make, sell, and

support the company's goods and services. Development and research, design,

production, sales and marketing, and customer service and support are some of these

things. Information systems are vital to improving and streamlining all of these tasks,

which adds much value to Apple's entire business.

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

To begin, Apple depends on information systems a lot in its R&D to collect data, analyze

it, and allow teams to work together. Apple uses advanced data systems to learn about

market trends, customer tastes, and new technologies. This information helps the

company decide what new products to make. Collaborative platforms also make it

easier for R&D teams in different places to talk to each other and share information,

which speeds up the development process (Jin et al., 2022).

Porter's Five Forces model:

Threat of New Entrants:

Over the years, Apple has built an excellent reputation and a vast community. Many

things make it hard to get into, like the need for money, network effects, and Apple's

strict rules for app makers (Khalid & Viktoria, 2023).

Bargaining Power of Buyers:

Customers of the Apple App Store, including both app users and makers, are significant.

Apple has a lot of buying power because many people are loyal to their devices.

However, the makers may have few other options because Apple products are so

popular with customers.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers:

Regarding the App Store, the leading providers are coders and content creators.

Individual makers may have little negotiating power, but they make the App Store

environment more diverse and exciting.

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 Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

Threat of Substitutes:

Because the App Store is so important to the iOS environment, it's not threatened by

other apps. There are other sites like Google Play Store for Android devices, but the

iOS environment has its features and ways of doing things (Global, 2021).

Competitive Rivalry within the Industry:

Other app stores, like Google Play Store, Amazon Appstore, and Huawei App Gallery,

give Apple a run for its money. The battle gets more brutal as these sites try to get

coders and users (Zahid et al., 2021).

Competitive Advantages of the Apple App Store:

 Strong name recall and sticking with the brand.

 Developers have access to well-known tools, resources, and help systems.

 Built-in support for several local payment ways and a global base for marketing.

 Integration with Apple's physical goods makes the user experience smooth (Global,

2022).

Weaknesses in Comparison with Competitors:

 High fee rates and strict rules might put off some coders.

 Oversight by regulators and judicial challenges to app shop laws and fees.

 Developers only have a few options for how to make money from their apps.

 Antitrust moves or rules may make it harder for Apple to control the App Store

environment (Global, 2021).

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

Operational Excellence Achievements:

Robust Ecosystem Growth: Over time, Apple has grown the App Store ecosystem,

increasing billings and sales. Ecosystem growth demonstrates good management and

tactics to meet changing user and market needs.

Adaptation to Market Trends: Apple adapted quickly to market developments,

especially during COVID-19. Apple adjusted its methods to accommodate the growing

use of applications for remote work, study, and entertainment, leading to ecosystem

growth (Joel M. Podolny, 2020).

Support for Small Businesses: Apple supports small developers and businesses in

the ecosystem with the App Store Small Business Program. Apple helps small

developers succeed by lowering commission rates, providing resources and instruction,

and boosting the ecosystem.

Developer Tools and Support: Apple's developer tools, resources, and support

programs demonstrate its commitment to ecosystem innovation and developer

empowerment. Apple has increased its position as a developer platform by enabling app

development and delivery, boosting the value of the App Store (Di Luozzo, Schiraldi, &

Marino).

Areas for Improvement/Weaknesses:

Commission Structure: Developers who apply for the App Store Small Business

Administration Program can get lower commission rates. However, lawmakers and

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 Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

more prominent developers have criticized Apple's standard commission system

(Global, 2021).

Monopoly Concerns: Apple has been criticized and sued because it controls the App

Store environment and has been accused of acting in a way that hurts competition.

Monopolistic practices might be less likely if these worries are handled and the world

becomes more open and competitive.

Transparency and Communication:

Community members might believe and work together more if the App Store's rules,

regulations, and decision-making processes were more open and transparent (Jin et

al., 2022).

Diversification of Revenue Sources: Even though the App Store community has

grown a lot, there may be ways to make more money besides selling apps and getting

paid fees.

Recommendations:

 Get along better with writers by offering them more unique training, help, and ways to

meet other software engineers.

 Look into ways to make money besides app sales and fees, like ads, special features,

or paid services.

 Make things more precise by telling developers and users exactly how the App Store

makes decisions and what its rules and guidelines are.

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 Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

 Concerns have been raised about Apple's control over the App Store. It would help if

you said that Apple is moving in a manner that hurts competition.

 Give more money to studies and development to make new tools, programs, and

services.

 Improve the supply line to save money, work better, and have less impact on the world

(Heller et al., 2020).

Conclusion:

In short, the study looked at several organizational problems in Apple's App Store

ecosystem, such as problems with the completeness of data, an incorrect assessment

of the ecosystem's size, and a need for more information about how developers act.

People have devised technological solutions, such as big data analytics, machine

learning algorithms, blockchain technology, and cloud computing. It also discusses how

organizational structure, politics, culture, and surroundings can affect the

implementation of new systems, and suggestions for improving things have been given.

Apple can keep being a leader in the tech industry and enhance its App Store

environment by tackling these problems and being open to new ideas.

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

References:
Di Luozzo, S., Schiraldi, M., & Marino, M. Human excellence maturity model: leveraging

human resource management to achieve operational excellence. International

Journal of Business Excellence.

Global. (2021). A Global Perspective on the. Analysis Group. Retrieved from

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/apple-app-store-study-2020.pdf

Global. (2022, 12 08). Across the globe, Apple and its teams find new ways to give.

NewsRoom. Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/12/across-

the-globe-apple-and-its-teams-find-new-ways-to-give/

Heller, S., Joshi, N. K., Chen, J., Rajotte, E. G., Mullin, C., & Biddinger, D. J. (2020).

Pollinator exposure to systemic insecticides and fungicides applied in the

previous fall and pre-bloom period in apple orchards. Environmental Pollution,

265, 114589.

Hu, Z., Tang, J., Zhang, P., & Jiang, J. (2020). Deep learning for the identification of

bruised apples by fusing 3D deep features for apple grading systems.

Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 145, 106922.

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Student Name: Patel Nishant Harshadkumar
Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

Joel M. Podolny. (2020, 11). How Apple Is Organized for Innovation. Harvard Business

Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2020/11/how-apple-is-organized-for-

innovation

Jin, S., Li, W., Cao, Y., Jones, G., Chen, J., Li, Z., . . . Frewer, L. J. (2022). Identifying

barriers to sustainable apple production: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of

environmental management, 302, 114082.

Khalid, M. A., & Viktoria, D. V. (2023). Strategic Marketing Plan for Apple Inc. Network

Intelligence Studies, 61-74.

Podolny, J. M., & Hansen, M. T. (2020). How Apple is organized for innovation. Harvard

Business Review, 98(6), 86-95.

Raftopoulos, M., & Morley, J. (2020). Ecocide in the Amazon: the contested politics of

environmental rights in Brazil. The International Journal of Human Rights, 24(10),

1616-1641.

Sinha, L., & Pathak, H. (2023). Economics & marketing of custard apple: A micro level

induce from Kanker district, Chhattisgarh. Literacy, 68, 76.40.

Zahid, A., Mahmud, M. S., He, L., Heinemann, P., Choi, D., & Schupp, J. (2021).

Technological advancements towards developing a robotic pruner for apple trees:

A review. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 189, 106383.

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Student I’d: CIM 7627 Words:2210

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