Organization's Innovative Culture (Apple Inc.)
Achievement of success for any company is attained by the level of innovative products and services it produces. This is achieved by relentless investment in the research and development department. Innovation increases the number of customers and also the loyalty of the customers. Apple Company is well renowned for its innovation and continuous unveiling of innovative products and services.
Organization
Different from majority of the other organizations and companies, Apple Inc. does not have a published vision statement. However, the organization's vision statement is conveyed to the public by its leaders. This is completely dissimilar from any other company. However, this can be deemed to be radical and avant-garde, meaning that the vision of the company is changing at all times which might be perceived as a significant aspect as the global technological world today keeps changing. The mission statement of Apple Inc. states that "Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad" (Apple Inc. website). The business strategies of the company are indeed aligned to the mission of the company. This can be seen by the constant innovation of products almost every year. For instance, Apple recently unveiled its latest smartphone iPhone 5S and is in the preparation of unveiling iPhone 6 in the forthcoming. The company has also involved itself with iCloud, which is yet another innovative product (Zylla-Woellner, 2010).
Resource and Competencies
The main organizational competency of Apple Inc. is an experienced set of management who steer the organization to success. The decision-making authority is centralized around the executive team which helps in the designing of the products of the team and the decision making of the company. The company has a central executive committee which has great cooperation and works tirelessly in the designing of the products of the company and makes the major decisions that are needed for the company (O'Grady, 2009). The decision-making authority is centralized around the executive team which helps in the designing of the products of the team and the decision making of the company. The company is organized on the basis of projects and also geography. For example, it can be structured to be an iPhone marketing project in India. Innovation and an experienced top level management are the core competencies of the company. These two help in the creation and designing of the software and hardware of the company which are the main driving forces of Apple Inc. The level of innovation from Apple is distinct from any other companies as their products stand out from the rest. For example, iPod and iTunes are products from Apple which have not been able to be replicated (Sadler, 1996). Forces such as top level management, innovation and global positioning are factors which are of great significance for Apple in the current moment (Arneson, 2011).
Approach
Apple Inc. applies both vertical integration and outsourcing of materials as their corporate level strategies. Apple does not procure materials for the manufacture of its products by itself. They acquire such materials from all over the world and from various companies. For example, the chipsets used are obtained from Europe while uncommon metals are obtained from Africa. This is done to ensure that the resources needed are not specifically-based so as to ensure that the cost becomes cheaper and more so makes the products all the more unique. The main operation that Apple does is it ensures complete control of its design. For example, uncommon metals are obtained from parts of Africa and Asia, the chipsets acquired from Europe and electric circuits from Korea and Japan. One of the main reasons why Apple does not manage control of these processes is to decrease the costs of the company. Procuring resources from different companies and in different regions reduces the specificity of the products and therefore there is no required huge investment. In addition, the risk in procuring materials and resources from different suppliers is minimal due to the increase in technological improvements. More so, customers do not distinguish the products being offered by Apple simply by its components, but by the distinctiveness in the design and easy use of the software produced (Schmitz, 2005).
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