Managing The Business - Case Study Example

APPLE By Student’s Name Course + Course Name Professor’s Name University Name City, State Date Apple Background Information Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne and Steve Jobs are the infamous brains behind one of the largest information technology and mobile phone Maker Company in the world. Apple Inc. has its headquarters in Cupertino, California. As one of the multinational corporations in the United States of America, it specialises in designing, developing and selling online services, consumer electronics, personal computers and all ranges of computer software. Apple’s success in the technology and electronic industry is undeniably attributed to the way it markets its products and furthers the business strategies that are employed by the respective management. This has remarkably been rewarded by its worldwide revenue that skyrocketed to $182 billion for the year ended October 2014 (Wang, & John, 2011). Driving Forces behind Apple’s Phenomenal Success The phenomenal success of the Apple Company is to a higher extent attributed to the fact that Apple Inc. concentrates its revenue in industries that are experiencing high growth. In the world today, iPhone and iPad industries generate huge incomes for the company. The two have been experiencing a faster growth rate thus resulted to higher market values and returns.Further,the company has put a greater emphasis on high end markets which is contrary to what is done by its competitors in the market. As a result, it has been able to dominate the market. On the other hand, Apple has skilfully sequenced and timed out on when and how to launch its new products on the market (Kaeppel, 2013). HadiPhone, one of the products of Apple Inc. been launched into the market, it could have been outshined by QWERTY keyboards which were common during Blackberry era, that had revolutionised the market. Instead, the same product was launched in the mobile phone industry at a time when innovation was not impressed. Therefore, launching it during such a time captured a lot of interest from the media and therefore was able to draw a huge consumer base. In attempts to go mainstream, the Apple Company concentrated on high end market segments and adopted a pricing tool that is appealing to the many consumers. As a result, an ever increasing demand for the products has been created that has transformed to higher profit margins being realised by the company. Furthermore, the company is in possession of retail store that usually experience huge lines once it launches new product in the market (Butje, 2012). In attempts to adopt one of the most efficient distribution strategies, the company has moved the majority of its sales online thus being able to access markets where it is not regarded as a common brand. On the other hand, Apple’s journey to success and command of the market is attributed to a strategy to completely differentiate its products and also huge emphasis on customer services. At the dawn of digital consumerism, thecompany moved majority of its sales online through the Apple store where it was able to virtually reach out on all consumers worldwide. Prior to its entry into the mobile phone and electronics industry, Apple’s technological advancements and innovative ideas did not exist in the industry. Therefore the company took advantage of it to make its initial launches of iPhone, iPad, iOS that had touch optimization features and Granted. This was well received in the market as the products went viral with the company making maximum sales (Silverstein, 2011). In attempts to optimize the distribution of its products, the company had to revamp its system of distribution to national chain by opening their own retail stores. Therefore customers had a rare opportunity to experiment and learn more about new products launched by the company. It can be ascertained that Apple global success has greatly been contributed to by its decision to majorlyfocus on developed markets. Such markets offered a huge purchasing power for the Apple products such as iPhone and iPad that are being launched (McGrath, 2010). How Apple has achieved Global Success Apple has also been able to command the market globally as a result of its consumer advertising strategy. This can be attributed to the fact that they can make the consumers of their products believe nearly everything .Consumers are made to believe beyond doubt that Apple products are distinguishable and unique in the market. Companies which lost Market Share after Apple’s Entry The very competitive mobile phone and electronics industry that was initially dominated by companies such as Samsung electronics, Hewlett Packard (HP), Dell and Microsoft has now been taken by storm by Apple through its innovative and product differentiation strategies. The strategies employed by Apple have resulted in remarkable increase in the number of iPhones and iPads sold worldwide to consumers. The company recently launched iPhone 6, which has taken the market by storm. Steve Jobs is regarded to as an unconventional leader that any other company would love to have as its Chief Executive Officer. His managerial skills were not book oriented as he brought into practise his unique ability to visualise and mobilise staff, customers and potential investors towards the same lane of success (Kirsch, 2011). The Management Style of Steve Jobs Apple’s worldwide success is greatly attributed to Jobs undying desire to foster greatness. As such, he made each and every move that aimed at making his employees comfortable and better at workplace. Furthermore, he went a notch higher by highly differentiating Apple products thus distinguishing the company from external competitions. Besides this, passion is termed as one of the critical pillar and component of success towards any set goal or objective. Jobs adopted the same approach during his tenure by primarily urging his staff to do what they love most. As a manager, he had unshakable belief that one was able to do great work if and only when he or she loved the task at hand. In addition, Jobs will ever remain in history books as one of the legendary visionary leader of all time. He had a vision of achieving Apple’s worldwide success and as such put each and every measure in place to ensure the same vision and approach trickled down to employees. The ‘’Think Different’’ slogan that was adopted by Apple coincided with the mentality of Steve Jobs when it came to hiring new employees. As a result, he not only employed highly qualified personnel to join his company but also those who were highly talented and had exceptional skills in their respective job description (Riggs, 2010). In his quest to perfect all operations, Steve took control of each and every aspect responsible for the day to day running of the business. He did this in a very unique way such that he even had control on small aspects such as the kind of food that was served and even how the company bus was designed. All this approaches aimed at portraying Apple’s unique image in the market. He is unarguably one of the legendary managers that steered Apple at the helm mobile phone and electronics industry and as such any individual would like to work for Steve Jobs. His love for product design made him occasionally to leave the CEO hat by the door side and collaborate with his staff in designing new products. Therefore; one felt motivated to give his or her best for there was free sharing of ideas and opinions. Steve Jobs was known to everyone a being passionate about building products. Thereforein order to work with him, one required full understanding of the parameters and the goals that was aimed at. Coupled with proper use of technology and polishing up, world-class products were launched into the market as a result of all this (Beiske, 2012). The Culture at Apple Passion for new products that had no end to challenges is highly attributed to Apples work culture. They basically subscribed to the work ethic of ‘’Work Hard Play Hard’ ’Nearly all employees had to work in an environment that was challenging and at the same time creative.Furtheremore,according to Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple, innovation is deeply embedded in Apple’s culture and therefore he has adopted a different management style. This is attributed to the firm beliefs that there are no limits and more importantly a strong desire to make most of the very best mobile phone and electronics products in the world. Despite there being many imitators of the products produced by Apple, the innovation culture cannot be copied at all cost by its competitors. The company’s success is highly credited to this, thus drawing boundaries with its competitors. Not only is Apple a popular brand but also a multi-national corporation. Therefore as a result, it bears a huge social responsibility. Being socially responsible is critical to the way the company carries out its business (Davidson, 2013). This necessitated formulation of suppliers Code of Conduct that covered a number of areas such as commitment by the management, environment, labour and human rights and finally health and safety .In addition to this, the company is keeping a close eye on the performance of its affiliated suppliers in a move to ensure maximum social responsibility. Some of the measures that have been put in place to ensure a socially responsible company include: Extension of the compliance programs that are being monitored. Expansion of its initiative to train its workers on their rights and protection in conjunction with the laws provided locally. Distancing itself from highering underage workers. Although Apple is perceived as being a responsible corporation, there have been violations where it hired underage workers, foreign workers who were being hired at a point were asked to pay excess recruitment fees and coaching its workers as to how they respond to questions asked by auditors. Why Apple has lost its cool and failed to defend its market position Tim Cook stepped in as the CEO of Apple on 24th August 2014 to continue from where Steve Jobs had left to steer Apple to another level.Urpon his appointment, Tim Cook made a number of major changes to the executive team of the company. He reshuffled a number of Apple executive and re-assigned duties in attempts to spur efficiency in duty performance. Unlike his predecessor, the tenure of Cook has been coupled with increased charity donations. In addition, he has spent a considerable part of his time building a culture that was primarily aimed at doing away with those who had disagreeable personalities. However, his short stint at the helm of Apple has seen the company marginally loose the grim of the initially conquered market. The adoption of a different management style by the new CEO of Apple is therefore responsible for its woes (Giachetti, 2013). As per the moment, the company is alarmingly losing the grip of the market that it was initially in full control. This has can be attributed to innovative capabilities adopted by its key competitors such as Samsung electronics and LG .The two have strategically adopted Apple’s earlier strategies therefore triggering a cut-throat competition. On the other hand, the current trend has plunged the company into the nightmare of losing the market command of its traditional products of iPhones and ipads.This can be ascertained from the latest statistics available where the volume of smartphone shipment slumped to 27% up from 47% from the year before. This has been the case because the emerging Android operating system has dramatically captured a record 85% of the market share at the expense of brands from Apple iOS and BlackBerry. It can clearly be ascertained that Apple is slipping away in as long as it remain the market leader, the annual volume of its sales are comparably below that of Samsung and LG. Apple has found it rough to retain its earlier position as a result of the mixed fortunes of a declining tablet market that was initially considered as being stable. Its market share in tablet market steadily dropped to 26.9% during the second quarter in 2014 as compared to when it used to be 60% in 2012. Astonishingly, this is a peculiar case for the entire Apple fraternity for it has been a market leader in iPhone and tablet market segment coupled with a huge inflow of cash and even sterling performance at the stock exchange market (Gibson, 2011). Furthermore, the earlier market trend of market leadership was highly attributed to the innovative strategy by Apple during the era when innovation was practically low in the mobile phone industry. Why Android has toppled iOS However, in the attempts to counter the cut-throat competition posed by Android, On the other end, if the current market trends and statistics is anything to go by, Android has eventually toppled iOS at the top of mobile phone industry. Awhopping 85% market share by Android at the expense of iOS possess more questions than answers. However, the current trend brought forth by market forces is shocking because at one point Apple was a market leader in mobile phone industries, far off from its competitors. On the other hand, the cut-throat competition posed by Android, whose gadgets had an incorporated near-field communication technology specifically for mobile payments platform. Why Apple Launched the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus The said technology gave Android phones an upper hand in the market and as a result, Apple introduced iPhone 6 and 6 plus that employed the same wonder technology. In addition, the company in attempts to catch up with its competitors was compelled by economic forces to venture into wearable computing market. This was characterised by the launch of Apple smartwatch. The new iPhone models had a mobile payment platform. The move was positively received in the market because there were pre-orders that exceeded the supply that was available. As a result, more than 10 million units of iPhone 6 series were sold during the first three days upon being launched in the market. Apple had to make a retaliatory move for it was firstly losing the share of smartphone market to its rival companies that had adapted to making and producing phones with comparatively larger display. As such, the new models of iPhone 6 and 6 plus incorporated a larger display of 4.7 and 5.5 inch display respectively. Apple was playing Catch-up (Syed, 2010). The launch of iPhone6, iPhone 6 plus and Apple smart watch was primarily a move by Apple Inc. to catch up with the Android smartphones that had taken the market by storm. However, the strategy to some extend yielded results because a number of Android owners who had a vast experience with larger display phones bought the new model of iPhone that had a comparatively larger display of 5.5 inch, therefore joining the Apple’s iPhone flagship model. The CEO of a large multinational company such as Apple that has been enjoying a good market reputation can either make or break it when it comes to developing new products. Therefore as the CEO, there will be an urgent need to align the portfolio of products with strategic priorities that may serve positively with the company’s market perception. In addition with the already set trend of innovation at the company, the creation of an innovation pace that is sustainable will most likely have a positive impact of the company’s products that may be launched and furthermore increasing the capacity of the products that are launched (John, 2014). In attempts to gain a competitive advantage in the market, reduction of the costs that have to be incurred in developing new products by improving the resources that are allocated will most likely make it appealing. This is because the product will be affordable to all market segments as opposed to the high-end market concentration that has been the case (Dziri, 2013). Apple’s good reputation had at an earlier stage drawn a huge base of investors and shareholders. However, the turbulent economic forces coupled with stiff competition resulted to Apple battling it out and ending up as a market follower. However, the likelihood of displacing Samsung and LG at the apex of mobile phone industry is high going by the current strategies that have been put in place by Apple. The indicators are positive going by the current performance of iPhone 6 ,iPhone 6 plus and Apple smart watch .Its market share is marginally increasing as a result of this and the chances are high of Apple regaining the mobile phone industry market leadership (Meyer, 2012). A number of technology companies dealing with software, semiconductors, electronics and internet are widely available competing for world technological supremacy. Companies such as Samsung Electronics, Toshiba, LG electronics, Google, Dell, and Intel together with Apple Inc. are the major players in electronic and computer services. However, the broad job description at Samsung Electronics together with ambient work environment is most likely to attract any fresh entrant in the technology industry. It not only has a huge revenue base but also a comparatively wide employee base and as such, one will die to be part of South Korea’s technological giant (Fields, T, 2014). Works Cited Beiske, B, 2012, Innovation in High-Technology Companies, California, John Wiley & Sons. Butje, M, 2012, Product Marketing for Technology Companies, New York, John Wiley & Sons. Davidson, G, 2013, Acquisition and Mergers of High-Technology Companies, New York, John Wiley &Sons. Dziri, R, 2013, Avoiding Strategic Drifts in a Hypercompetitive Market, New York, John Wiley &Sons. Fields, T, 2014, Mobile &Social Game Design, California: John Wiley & Sons. Giachetti, C, 2013, Competitive Dynamics in the Mobile Phone Industry, California: John Wiley &Sons. Gibson, D, 2011, Technology and Global Markets, New York, John Wiley &Sons. Hirriyappa, B, 201, Corporate Strategy: Managing The Business, New York, John Wiley & Sons. John, W, 2014, Encyclopaedia of Business Analytics and Optimization, New York: John Wiley & Sons. Kaeppel,J, 2013, Seasonal Stock Market Trends: The Definitive Guide to Clender-Based Market Trading, California, John Wiley & Sons. Kirsch, C, 2011, Advising High-technology Companies, New York, Austin& Frogmen. Kumar, 2013, Nokia: Channels of Distributions, California, John Wiley &Sons McGrath, M, 2010, Product Strategy for High Technology Companies, New York, Oxford University Press. Meyer, G, 2012, Path Dependence in Two-Sided Markets, New York, John Wiley &Sons. Riggs, H, 2010, Managing high-technology Companies, New York, Books on Demand. Silverstein, B, 2011, Internet Marketing for Information Technology Companies, California: Books on Demand. Syed, M, 2010, Smart phones, New York, John Wiley &Sons. Truss, C & Kelliher, C, 2010, Strategic Human Resource Management, New York, John Wiley &Sons. Wang, G & John, W, 2011,Able Trend: Identifying and Analyzing Market Trends for Trading Success. New York, John Wiley & Sons. Read More