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Coursework Header Sheet

174138-4

Course

BUSI1330: Value Chain Management

Course School/Level

BU/UG

Coursework

Coursework 2

Assessment Weight

50.00%

Tutor

Y Lin

Submission Deadline

23/03/2011

Coursework is receipted on the understanding that it is the student's own work and that it has
not, in whole or part, been presented elsewhere for assessment. Where material has been used
from other sources it has been properly acknowledged in accordance with the University's
Regulations regarding Cheating and Plagiarism.

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Tutor's comments

Galib Akash

Grade Awarded___________ For Office Use Only__________

Moderation required: yes/no Tutor______________________

Final Grade_________
Date _______________

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Name of Company
Apple
Name/Description of product
Iphone 4.
Iphone 4 is the latest multimedia phone released by the computing giants
Apple.Unarguably it changed the world of telecom with its great set of features and
compatibility factors.
Key attributes and features
Iphone 4 features Facetime, Retina display, HD video recording, dynamic multitasking
utility and a 5 mega-pixels camera.FaceTime feature allows Iphone 4 users to video chat
with each other using the front camera of the phone in WiFi accessible regions.Retina
Display makes the iPhone 4 screen have a higher screen resolution. HD Video recording
allows iPhone 4 users to record videos in high definition. The 5 mega-pixel camera allows
users to record better quality videos and take high definition pictures.
iPhone 4 also introduces a whole new way of multitasking. With the help of this feature
the user can use third party applications and switch application in ease without hampering
the performance of the first application and this also helps in consuming battery charge.
Research Undertaken
The main purpose for undertaking the research is to obtain to two segments of data which
are the following: Firstly does Apple provide the expected value in terms of merchandise
and service to Iphone 4 consumers and furthermore whether Apple is able to maintain and
provide proper feedback to the consumer needs and requirements.
Stone (1954) classifies consumer value attributes of a shopper. The model consists of the
following:

Price
Quality
Variety of the merchandise
Store service as well as after sales facilities
Relationship with Store personnel quick sale of merchandise
Appearance and availability.

Keeping these attributes in mind a questionnaire was set up consisting of 12 questions.

The questionnaire was presented to 50 random people in a river cruise event in
Westminster Pier. This helped in gaining knowledge from a wide variety of people thus
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allowing a way to analyse the individual perception of people toward the value and service
of Iphone 4.

The Original Questionnaire

Iphone 4
Do you think it is the ultimate smartphone?!

1. Are you...?
Male
Female
2. What is your age?
16-20
21-28
29-35
Over 35
3. Are you aware of the new Iphone 4 in the market?
Yes
No
4. Are you a user of the Iphone 4?
Yes
No
5. What kind of people do you think use the iphone 4?
Curious
Tech savvy
Trendy
Ambitious
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Others.....please specify
6. What is your occupation?
Professional
Student
Corporate User
Retired
7. In UK, the cheapest pay as you go price of the 16 GB Iphone 4 is 510
(plus 10 top-up for sim), do you believe this to be a value for your
money?
Yes
No
8. How much would you be willing to spend on a smartphone?
250-300
300- 400
400-480
over 480
9. What benefits are sought by the Iphone 4 users?
Quality
Style
Speed
Innovation
Service
Convenience
Economy
10. Are the stores attractive and useful?
Yes
No
11. Are all the vast variety of accessories and the phone itself available at the
Apple stores?
Yes
No
12. Are the store personnel helpful and do they interact with the consumers?
Yes
No

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Post Research Review

The survey gave out a wide variety of results suggesting that the research done was
successful but a different technique could be used to get a better result. By using the
website surveymonkey.com, the survey could be have been circulated at social networking
sites to get a greater variety of results.
The concluding results are:
1.
We can see from the chart that the interviewers were more females than males though this
was completely random and this probably did not have any major effect on the other
question answers since the numbers were quite close.

Chart 1

Value Title

Untitled 1

male

female

2.

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Chart 2

20
15
10
5
16-20

3.

0
29-35

Are you aware of the product Iphone 4

50.0

37.5

25.0

12.5

Yes

No

100% of the survey takers knew about the presence of Iphone 4 in the market. This
shows the outstanding media power of Apple. This also provides evidence of the highly
successful and innovative advertisement of Apple in underground stations, social networks
etc.
4.
Are you a user of Iphone 4

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Chart 5

38%
62%

Yes

No

From the survey takers who finished the questionnaire, 62% of them were using the
Iphone. These readings demonstrate that there is a high and usual demand for the
product. The features within Iphone( whether it is the speed, style or innovativeness)
promote the level of success.
However, analyzing the readings, It was seen that 38% of the people did not use the
Iphone 4 may be because of the high price of the product.

5.

Chart 7
11

Curious

Trendy

Others

From the readings it can be assumed that most of the Iphone users are young and
independent as they buy the Iphone to be either in the trendy side of the society or to be
tech-savvy. Also a large amount of the users were probably first time smartphone users
who bought the Iphone 4 out of curiosity.

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6.

Chart 8

10%

29%

19%

42%

Professional
Retired

Students

Corporate users

Readings suggest that most of the users were usually students which is surprising
keeping in mind the high price of the product. Students tend to buy the phone because of
its attractive applications and the Ipod feature. Professional also buy the phone since they
are able to use useful applications as well as some of them may be tech-savvy. Corporate
smartphone users avoid the Iphone and opt for a blackberry since it is more economic with
better email facilities. Retired people were the least users of Iphone 4 most probably due
to the fact the older people prefer buttons than touch screen.

7.

Chart 11
Yes
No

20

40

Although the many of the survey takers were Iphone users but still most of the people
thought Iphone is expensive and not a complete value of their money. This may be
because of the new releases of high quality smart-phones by rivals such as HTC, Google
and Samsung at cheaper prices.

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8.

Chart 12
20
15
10
5
0

250-300

300-400

400-480

0ver 480

After analyzing the results produced from the questionnaire, it seemed that the price of
Iphone seems to exceed the amount most of the UK population would averagely wish to
pay which is between 400-480 for a high performance smartphone.
Thus it can be said that even though consumers value the product for its advantages but
now cheaper alternatives are regularly entering the market and this could be a issue of
concern for Apple.

9.
Most of the people thought people bought the Iphone 4 because of the innovative
technology it brings about. Also people go for this product because of the after sales
service Apple provides. Many find the design attractive while other think the 3G network
and A4 processor of the product is very alluring. However as previously discussed, people
donot find Iphone as economic and convenient.

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Chart 13

10% 2%

18%

22%

12%

14%
22%

Quality
Innovation
Economy

Speed
Service

Style
Convinience

10.

Chart 14
50

Yes

Untitled 1

No

Almost all the users find the stores attractive and useful. Some of them hinted that they
really like the way Apple designed the stores and put on sample products on display for
consumer to use on. This has been useful marketing strategy put on by Apple.

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Chart 15
50.0
37.5
25.0
12.5
0

Yes No

11. Everyone agreed on the fact that Apple has good availability of Iphone 4 and its vast
variety of accessories such as cases ( economic as well as branded ones), headphones,
application store within the store. The consumers of Iphone are very much satisfied on this
issue.
12.

Chart 16

24%

76%

Yes

No

Although most of the people in the survey suggested that they found the store personnel
useful but a small percentage of the people said that the staff seemed to be a bit
pressurizing on the consumers to subscribe additional facilities like insurance and mobileme.
Conclusion drawn from the survey
Although only a small amount of individuals are focused on this survey but it still could be
assumed that the aspect of price seemed to be an important factor for the value of
product.
Reading from the survey suggested that price could lead to fall of sales since cheaper
alternatives are always released in the market.
Moreover, due to the fact that the Iphone is assumed as a luxury good and not a
necessity, the price is crucial factor which is able to portray the position of sales of the
product. Currently, it seems that Iphone have valued themselves more than that of which
the standard consumers are willing to pay, regardless of their current state in the market.

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Are basic consumer requirements noticed by Apple ?

The IPhone could be described as a combination of Apples popular iPod music player and
a smartphone designed to surf the Web. Its features a 3.5-inch, touch sensitive screen
that consumers are able to use to make calls, navigate their music collection, and write
messages on a virtual QWERTY keyboard (Wingfield and Yuan, 2007) The iPhone targets
consumers who need to store information and communicate or people who want
entertainment on the go. Apples target segments consist of professionals, students,
corporate users, entrepreneurs, and health care workers. Currently, the market for high-end
phones like the Apple iPhone is small. However Apple notices its customers requirements
ever since they launched the first Iphone. The Iphone 4 has brought some major changes
after it look in to the reviews put on by the consumers about the Iphone 3 GS. Some of the
improvements include: 1. Multitasking is one the long awaited features which allow users to
run many applications as as time without diminishing the performances of any of the
individual. 2. Apple created a new display technology called retina display. This makes the
pixels even smaller so that individual pixels cannot be distinguished by naked eye thus
creating more crispy and clean images. 3. Facetime has been introduced to the Apple users,
allowing a more realistic type of video-calling. 4. Apple introduced the Iphone 4 in a whole
new design which is incredibly slim and used high-tech glasses(which are actually used in
helicopters) to make it scratch resistant and extremely durable.
Is customer value considered in product presentation?
Iphone 4 incorporates the outstanding ethical policies of Apple. Keeping in mind of the
consumers conscience about planet Earth Iphone 4 uses variety of features to minimize any
harmful effect it might have on nature. Some of them include:
PVC- free handset, headphones and Usb cable.
Mercury free LCD display
Bromine free circuit boards.
The glass does not even traces of arsenic in it.
The packaging is done attractively but as minimal as required and most of the paperboard
used is from recycled paper.
The power adapter supplied is made keeping in mind of consuming energy.
Does Apple have any mechanism to measure customer satisfaction?
Apple respects customers reviews and complains in the highest regard. They are able to
measure customer satisfaction since they keep a close contact with their customers. This
was seen in the survey as well where majority agreed that Iphone users get excellent after
care services. The Apple online team answers questions, provides service assistants and
even has online help forums to allow customers to post their reviews. Apple also provide
telephone support for the customers and supplies customer with software development kits f
the consumer requires it.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fred Luthans, 1998, Organizational Behavior, 8th edition, McGraw-Hill Publications
Delbert I. Hawkins, 1994, Consumer Behaviour-Implications for marketing strategy,
2nd Edition, Mcgraw-Hill Publications.
http://www.shmula.com/
http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html

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