Apple versus Alphabet

Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt speaks at a company event. (Bloomberg)

Hey everyone, todays post will be dealing with Chapter 2 in the textbook titled, "Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage" by Jay Barney.

The title of Chapter 2 is "Firm performance and Competitive Advantage" and I could think of no better company for me to talk bout than Apple. When you think of Competitive Advantage in the consumer tech industry everyone thinks of Apple. Apple has been on top of the tech world since 2007 when thy released their first iPhone. They always had a competitive advantage in that they released products, maybe not before anyone but, way better than the previous models. They have been on a solid track for some time.

Not so fast Apple! says the new Parent company for Google named Alphabet. In an article on investors.com Michele Chandler wrote, "Alphabet closed the week with a market cap near $523.6 billion, to Apple’s $538.3 billion, though Alphabet got within $7 billion of the lead during the week." This is the first time in many years that Apple has had a serious rival. This intense competition means that Apple is losing some of its economic value to Alphabet.

Many people think Apple is innovating at a much slower pace than during the Steve Jobs days but in reality Apple isn't moving slower, keeping up with there pace of a new phone per year, the other companies are just innovating faster. If Apple wants to hold off any rivals to be the most valuable company in the world then they must find their competitive advantage again and increase their economic value as compared to its competition.

Source: http://www.investors.com/news/technology/alphabet-topples-apple-becomes-the-biggest-company-on-wall-street/