Introduction
The origin of Apple can be traced to Cupertino where three friends, Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak, undertook a venture. They worked hard to develop a successful company that would be known worldwide. Apple is highly recognized in the product market because of its technology. I even became a green company with the company management ordering only environmental friendly products.
Reasons why Apple is Popular in China
Apple gained its fame due to its technological novelties. Technological innovation and advancement are essential goals for a company to be competitive in the market. International expansion is also very significant because there is availability of market in foreign countries that Apple has not reached.
Apple can also take advantage of current consumers whose major focus is technology, hence providing ready market for devices like iPhones (Kahney 2008, par. 15). Apple has a huge chain of stores in various countries; however, its clients are used to order the products via Internet.
A friendly website that Apple has enables it to reach many customers online. Many traditional schools prefer using Apple because Apple Company convinces them that it produces the best computers to be used in businesses and schools. There is an increase in demand for green products.
Thus, Apple is advised to produce goods that are environmentally free to enable it to compete effectively in the market. Consumers may also change their consuming habits by getting extra money to buy Apple.
Apple is a self-reliant company due to Steve Jobs. This fact has enabled Apple to have various chances to make strategic alliances with other companies in technology industry. Another reason why Apple is highly recognized is its high quality and wonderful brand loyalty. This expels more markets and increases on its number of consumers.
The financial position of Apple makes it successful. Apple is believed to be profitable in its sales, and assets. One of Apple’s greatest economic benefits is that the company succeeded to set free from dividends. This gives it an opportunity to re-invest its finances into economic structures (Duhigg & Barboza 2012).
Some of Apple’s financial strategies are to invest its funds on research and development, giving the company high opportunities to use current technology. Apple’s marketing plans are usually successful as they attract a lot of consumers; moreover, it managed to develop a unique style of marketing and advertising.
Apple has low amount of debts which enables it to allocate its funds for other uses. Research and development make it very competitive in terms of technology. The brand, Apple, has created a great image that speaks for itself, guaranteeing its customers a high quality product. The enterprise can keep its secrets, thus making it difficult for other companies to copy.
Reasons Google Failure in China
Google has failed in China because of the following reasons:
Access Speeds
Many Chinese have shifted from the use of Google to Baidu because they find it hard to connect the first one. Google provides services in English speaking market. There is need for Google to review its strategies to attract more customers (Thopmpson 2006).
International firms should understand that China has the biggest number of Internet users, so they should avail services, processes and products that target Chinese market.
Certificate of ICP
Apple launched the certificate of ICP in 2003 so that it could help the firm in the protection of property rights regarding its manufactured products and pornography. In 2005, it became compulsory for all websites in China to have ICP certificate (Martin 2006).
Google started operating illegally in 2005 because it did not have an ICP certificate. This explains why Google.com was closed Many Internet users opted not to use Google because they felt it was not worth accessing.
The Choice of Domain Names
Chinese found it difficult to pronounce the word Google as well as spell it. They needed to remember this word every time they had to use the Internet to search for something. This forced Chinese to look for an alternative.
Incapability of the organization to take control of Sensitive Content
As noted by Thopmpson (2006), a good search engine is expected to restrict users from accessing some online content that is deemed unfit for the public, such as pornography. However, Google has failed in this duty as it is unable to restrict some online content especially in China.
The major reason why Google failed in China is because its users could access pornography images even when the default setting was off (Tong 2011). The government decided to block this website because it found out that it was the main source for accessing pornography content.
Adaptation of Businesses in foreign countries
The values of Apple company are not well defined; therefore, I propose that the company should set values with respect to its community, environment, and the globe to meet the expectations of consumers. If these values are set, there will be an increase in the demand for Apple products, hence increasing on their sales.
There is need for Apple to make some improvements in their management. Although Steve Jobs was a great leader of Apple, Inc., the company is subjected to various weaknesses, for instance, to their returns on equity, investment and assets.
Cultural Adaptation
Marketers and managers should be informed about variations in cultures and their influence on decision-making process at organizational and individual level. Cultural differences depend on religion, tradition and customs.
For instance, companies of consumer goods should make adjustments depending on the target market where the business is to be established (Xiaohua ). For instance, companies like Procter & Gamble, and Uniliver use similar detergent but with different names for better adaptation. Such companies adapt products by identifying market characteristics, company characteristics and product characteristics.
Adaptation to local tastes
Managers and marketers should be able to identify local tastes of their consumers. A good example is dairy products of the companies that have to adapt to home consumption. For instance, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are low consumers of dairy products.
Mangers are advised first to identify local tastes of consumers before establishing businesses in foreign countries. They should be able to identify the demand for those goods because every business aims at minimizing losses and optimizing profit.
The company should also be in a position to abide by the laws and regulations of the foreign company. For instance, if you want to start any business in China, you should be informed about the laws and regulations, such as insurance law, labor law, intellectual property law, etc.
The provisional regulations on value added tax by company law, contract law and provisional regulations on consumption tax. Managers should visit local authorities to attain business licenses (Smith 2009).
A company may adapt to laws of a foreign company by helping the host country in reforming the security sector, strengthening and developing the rule of law. Companies should be in a position to consult host companies on the effects of their security arrangements with the local communities.
Managers of various businesses should also consider language literacy of nationals in the foreign countries before starting their businesses.
For instance, Google failed in China because it is an English oriented company that did not managed to become Chinese friendly; for example, Chinese could neither spell nor pronounce the word itself. Language policy is a very important aspect that should be considered in order to attain the targeted market.
Conclusion
Apple is recognized worldwide because of high levels of technology and innovation used. Google introduced in China failed because of various reasons explained in the essay. However, managers intending to run businesses in foreign country should adapt to the local tastes, laws and regulations, and culture.
Reference List
Duhigg, C & Barboza, D. 2012, ‘In China, human costs are built into an iPad’, The New York Times, pp.1-14. Web.
Kahney, L. 2008, Three reasons why Apple will survive without Steve Jobs. Web.
Martin, KE. 2006, Google Inc. in China: Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, Case BRI-1004, Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. Web.
Smith, H. 2009, Doing business globally: Herbert Smith international trade and investment group. Web.
Thopmpson, C. 2006, ‘Google’s China Problem (And China’s Google Problem)‘, The New York Times. Web.
Tong, Z. 2011, 4 reasons why Google has FAILED to dominate the Chinese search market. Web.
Xiaohua, L. 2004, ‘Determinations of cultural adaptation in Chinese-U.S. joint ventures’, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 35 – 47.