Reason for Apple Being the Most Valued Company by Market Capitalization and the Process by which innovation and Strategy work for Apply
The report gives an overview of the students in the organizational creativity and innovation of Apple. The put forwards four questions that describe the various aspects of Apple like the reasons that make it the most valued company in the overseas market and the methodology by which strategy and innovation work for Apple. The report also describes the innovation approach that Apple has adopted for identifying the needs of the customers and the reasons for having a competitive advantage in the market. There is also discussion about the how the ideas for innovative products by the people of Apple are encouraged or discouraged by Apple. Lastly, the report also describes the impact of Steve Jobs on Apple and his views on the process and innovation.
In the year 2012 on March 15, a day before the launch of iPad, the share prices of Apple reached US$600 for the first time thereby signaling massive financial strength and increased growth prospects that were three times than the competitors, making it a valuable public traded company of the world. However, since its emergence Apple became a leading integrator and designer of computer hardware and software (Gawer & Cusumano, 2014). At the same time, the company transformed the music, mobile telephone, retail industries and computer through its new business models, innovative stores and sleek products. Further, the introduction of the iPad led to the transformation and acceleration of the publishing business that enabled Apple stores to generate the highest revenue in the retail sector.
Presently, in terms of market capitalization Apple became the most valued company as it reached the top $800 billion mark. The shares of the company have also gained by 33%. Moreover, the company with its innovative and unique applications has achieved a download score of 25 million only in a matter of nine months. The innovations of the company is also consistent since a person who used apple II in the year 1978 can find only little differences in terms of technology in handling an Iphone even after three decades.
I believe that the success of Apple was not only depended on innate market timing sense but also clever strategic moves. It however generated from the in depth commitment in understanding how people used their computing devices.
The company deeply intertwines innovation, development and execution with the constant influence of Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. In this context, one can draw in the example of Mac that was not just a mere computing device but focused on the manner on how people intended working with a computing device (Davila, Epstein & Shelton, 2012). In other words, Apple possessed a vision that was so strong that it was able to retain its fan base during the tumultuous time of 1985. This is how innovation and strategy works at Apple.
Identification of the Innovation Approach Apple has used for Identification of Customer Needs
The company adopts two innovative approaches for successfully identifying the needs of the customers. One approach involves the platform strategy of Apple and the other involves the integration of customer experiences into the design and development processes of Apple. The Platform strategy has led to greater expectations amongst its followers and creation of a marketing magic (Rong et al., 2013). The strategy involves predicting not only what the producers think about the requirements of the new initial release of products but at the same time predict the happenings. Based on this analysis the company then designs a product as a platform that has a design and architecture that can accommodate the production and development of products envisioned. Therefore, the platform strategy proves to be advantageous to not only the company but also its suppliers and customers (El-Hachem & Haarslev, 2012). The benefits that the customers experience from the use of this platform strategy helps them in acquiring products that are not only stable but also reliable thereby requiring less service, maintenance and less repair to the first time users. Due to the commonality of the design elements and user interfaces, the repeat customers face lesser hurdles in terms of training.
Moreover, Apple also insisted on the integration of the customer experience in the development and designing process (Klaus, 2014). Further, Apple has also designed beautiful products keeping in mind the needs of the customers. In this context, one can draw in the example of iPod whose design remained powerfully connected to the pristine white color thus relating to the polymer finish that completed it look.
Apple stays ahead of competition since they have access to the new technology years or months ahead of their rivals. This therefore, enables the company in releasing groundbreaking products for which duplication is impossible (Coville & Brown, 2016). In this context, if one considers the introduction of the iPhone then it was impossible for duplicators to find the original capacitive touch screen that the iPhone possessed. The company also has access to aluminum machining technology used for making Apple laptops. Moreover, Apple has certain trade secrets that allows them make lighter laptops that has unsurpassed strengths.
Thus, Apple is simple crushing its rivals through design superiority. Moreover, the in depth experience of Steve Jobs in mass production of hardware has enabled Apple in creating an exclusive supply chain with the help of advanced technology (Gawer, 2014). The products of Apple seem to be futuristic, as the company believes in sending back future technology for present use.
Reasons that Helped Apple Stay Ahead of Competition
Apple employees are more productive since unlike other companies they follow a non-egalitarian method of selection which implies selecting for a handful of roles that are critical to the business that ensures enables them to be more productive and constantly come with ideas for innovation (Teece, 2012). The team of employees working at Apple also possesses the idea of realizing the vision of the company whenever it plans to expand its product lines. Apple people feel that they have to fall in love with a product if they had to master the apparent complexity of any Apple product. Moreover, Apple people focused on the needs and wants of the people to figure out the methods of achieving it. They have a design target and therefore work on necessary engineering to achieve it.
In Apple, Employees exhibits higher level of motivation since the managers does not use emotional pressure or fear for motivating employees. This helps Apple stores in producing greater sales per square foot compared to any retailer (Montgomerie & Roscoe, 2013). Further, the motivation received from the company help the employees in using the right motives for creating higher levels of customer experience. In addition to this, Apple also had a charismatic CEO in the form of Steve Jobs who always made sure in helping to elevate the spirit of the employees and prevented inertia from setting in amongst the employees.
Steve jobs and Apple became an interchangeable this is because discussion on the company instantly brings in the man and his influence (Myrick et al., 2013). However, the personal contribution of Steve Jobs includes:
- Laying the Apple Foundation:
Steve Jobs made sure that he build amazing teams, which are a primary component of success at an entrepreneurial level, and whenever perfectly done this become the component for grand economic success.
- Ensuring Building buyers
Under Steve Jobs there were nearly 47,000 employees working on a full basis. This ensured contribution in building many products at a particular point in time.
- Enabled Rippling Out
Steve Jobs did something that most entrepreneurs only dream to achieve. This goal was creating something that not only touched many people but putting them to work indirectly or directly. He thus created an empire by ensuring work to many people.
There are however, seven principles that Steve Jobs followed for achieving breakthrough success in his company and ensure its radical transformation. These are as follows:
- Steve Jobs believed in doing what he loved since passion provides the platform for innovation.
- Initiating a vision as it will help the innovation materialize and reach its final destination.
- Steve Jobs used his experience as his inspiration for his ideas
- Concentrating on the innovation and making sure that the products are cleaner, simpler and user friendly
- Steve Jobs considered customer experience in his innovation.
- Steve Jobs mastered the art of message delivery through years and hours of practice.
- Lastly, Steve Jobs believed in selling dreams more than his products.
Conclusion:
The report concludes by discussing the impact of Steve Jobs on apple and his personal contribution to the organization. There is also discussion about Steve jobs on the view of process and innovation. The role of Apple people in coming up with innovative products and the impact of Apple culture is also mentioned in the report. There also elaboration on the identification of innovation approach that Apple uses for identifying customer needs amd what have driven them to stay ahead of competition. Further, the report also discusses what makes Apple the most valued company in terms of market capitalization and the process through which innovation and strategy work for Apple.
References:
Coville, A., & Brown, P. B. (2016). Relevance: The power to change minds and behavior and stay ahead of the competition. Routledge.
Davila, T., Epstein, M., & Shelton, R. (2012). Making innovation work: How to manage it, measure it, and profit from it. FT press.
El-Hachem, J., & Haarslev, V. (2012, April). A user and NLP-assisted strategic workflow for a social semantic OWL 2-based knowledge platform. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Semantic Analysis in Social Media (pp. 37-45). Association for Computational Linguistics.
Gawer, A. (2014). Bridging differing perspectives on technological platforms: Toward an integrative framework. Research Policy, 43(7), 1239-1249.
Gawer, A., & Cusumano, M. A. (2014). Industry platforms and ecosystem innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(3), 417-433.
Klaus, P. (2014). Measuring customer experience: How to develop and execute the most profitable customer experience strategies. Springer.
Montgomerie, J., & Roscoe, S. (2013, December). Owning the consumer—Getting to the core of the Apple business model. In Accounting Forum (Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 290-299). Elsevier.
Myrick, J. G., Willoughby, J. F., Noar, S. M., & Brown, J. (2013). Reactions of young adults to the death of Apple CEO Steve Jobs: Implications for cancer communication. Communication Research Reports, 30(2), 115-126.
Rong, K., Lin, Y., Shi, Y., & Yu, J. (2013). Linking business ecosystem lifecycle with platform strategy: a triple view of technology, application and organisation. International journal of technology management, 62(1), 75-94.
Teece, D. J. (2012). Dynamic capabilities: Routines versus entrepreneurial action. Journal of Management Studies, 49(8), 1395-1401.
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