Strategic Analysis
Lonnie Ivery American Public University
Introduction
When the leadership of Apple changed from the visionary leader and founder Steve Jobs to Tim Cook many people viewed the transition with skepticism because of the big shoes that Tim was expected to fit in. The competition was high especially in the smart phones and watches market where the rate of innovation from the other competing companies is also high. The creativity of firms like Sam Sung had threatened to wipe out the legacy of Apple as the leading producer of smart devices.
The Apple stocks had begun declining, and the sales volume for the Apple products had gone down in the global market. It was the innovative and creative nature of the company that Tim
…show more content…
Receiving the leadership mantle from the founder was not a meant feat by Tim Cook. He was taking over from the individual who had created the company with a vision and the missions that it aimed to pursue towards a defined end. This meant organizing and managing the different elements of the big business organizations towards the goals that formed its foundation. Tim used the effective management and leadership principles to steer this group, and he made employees believe in the potential of the firm and its leadership. He has been able to maintain the original creative and innovative culture of Apple that made it stand out as one of the leading global brands in technology (Lashinsky, …show more content…
A good management body learns from the mistakes of the past, the competition and uses the feedback to bounce back and take the lead. This is the tactic that Tim Cook when he released the iPhone 6 series, the Apple watch and the Apple pay to stay ahead of the competition.
Organizational Structure of Apple
Organizational structure is the most crucial element for the success of any business. This is because of the way it facilitates and supports the management system of the organization. It is through the structure that specialization and differentiation are attained. For effective management of the employees, different firms employ different structures for the organization that is unique to its operation and the organization culture.
The CEO is at the center of the structure, and he coordinates the activities of all the other functions to ensure that the goals of the firm are reached. Its organizational structure majorly contributes the successful innovation culture of Apple. It has also created the business and market growth opportunities for the
It is quite obvious from the case that Apple is facing many obstacles. It has way more competitors today than it had two or three decades back. Part of it has to with the highly globalized environment that companies are operating in these days. Another major obstacle is the technological environment which is rapidly changing compared to the one that Apple experienced when it first emerged on the global scene. But the most important of it all seems to be a mental thing. It appears that Apple, over a period of time, developed a rigid mental model that related success of Apple with sheer innovation. This same mental model has lead to demise of many companies in the past, Xerox Corporation being the prime example of that.
One of the major challenges facing Apple was to get the appropriate replacement of the company’s visionary Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Jobs who died on October 2011. The CEO was responsible for turning Apple into what it is today. Apple is in this case challenged to purse the strategies employed by Steve, that propelled the company to new heights, and which saw the company become a
Both Bolman & Deal’s frame of organization and Morgan’s Metaphors provided a number of insights into the nature of organizations and structure. Most of these theories can be applied separately or jointly to examine organization as well as to diagnose problems that guide managers into a better understanding of their organization. Therefore, the main purpose of this analysis aims to make sense of Apple Inc. as an organization and to identify its
Technology change has naturally been a major factor in Apple's success. The company played a major role in the shift to a mobile computing society, by developing the personal technology devices that would
Apple Inc. started off as a small computer company and rose to prominence over the following years. They faced great challenges and obstacles to evolve and become one of the top notch corporations today. Having a great CEO, Steve Jobs, is credited for the success of Apple. Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple was able to innovate industry changing technology.
Steve Jobs is the CEO at Apple. Jobs founded Apple in 1976, and the company has developed into a major force within the electronics industry. Much of the success of the company has been due to the leadership of Steve Jobs. He has the personal attributes which are needed in order to be a successful leader, for example he is smart, communicative and is a great co-ordinator. However, there are limitations to Jobs leadership at Apple with factors such as shareholders, corporate governance, corporate social
Apple is a software company that manufactures phones, computers, iPad and software’s, Apple was founded by Steven Paul Jobs, Ronald Gerald Wayne, and Stephen G. Wozniak on April 1, 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, CA. It was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. in January 1977, and was renamed as Apple Inc. in January 2007, Apple became the first U.S. company to be valued at over 700 billion dollars. Apple’s first products was Apple I personal computer kit and which was manufactured in July 1976, Apple has changed its logo 3 times, Apple used to be the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization and it had an estimated value of 530 billion dollars as of February 2016. The CEO of Apple is Tim Cook, Tim Cook had been working for IBM for 12 years and then in 1994 he became a chief operating officer at Intelligent Electronics, and in 1997 The Compaq Computer Corporation hired Cook as vice president of corporate materials. Tim Cook joined Apple in 1998 which was before they had developed iMac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod. When Cook started working for apple he was responsible for managing all sales and operations for the company worldwide. In 2011, Tim Cook was named Apple 's new CEO, he took over the position for former CEO and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
However, they may face the limitation on the firms’ development. Apple is based on a hybrid hierarchical structure (mixed with other organizational structures (Meyer, 2015). Meyer (2015) depicts that companies’ main framework is based on innovation and the leadership of Steve Jobs but for that type of leadership only works if the structure allows it to do so. Due to leadership change to Tim Cook, there are some changes made in the organizational structure in order to suit the market and its demands (Meyer, 2015). Despite the leadership change in Apple Inc. it may well enhance Apple’s capabilities will grow rapidly in creative and design (Meyer, 2015).
In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple as an advisory and with the purposes of reshaping the product line. The changes made by Jobs resulted in increased sales and $309 million in profits. Job changed the mindset of Apples management and development team. He encourage them to have the “think different” management style that promotes the development of products that are ahead of the technology and design curve, and a creative retail strategy. It is this strategy that would eventually make Apple the best-selling company in the PC industry.
Throughout history there have been many successful companies as well as companies that have been a debacle. The success of the company has to do with the management and how it executes its strategy. If the management is ineffective, the company will most likely fail; however, if the company has good management it is more likely to prosper. There are many responsibilities that a manager must complete, chief among them are the four functions of management are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (PowerPoint). In order for the company to be successful the management must fulfill all four functions. In some case not all four functions are met to expectation, with the results that the company to be not as successful as it could be if they
In 1996, Apple was losing money and had very little market share when it purchased former owner Steve Jobs' software company, NeXT. In 1997, Jobs become CEO of Apple and began restructuring the product line, placing greater emphasis on style and the use of proprietary operating systems, rather than systems it licensed from other designers. The transformation to focus on quality and innovation led to a return to prosperity. In 2011, Apple was the third most valuable company in America and its product spread widely in more than 100 countries.
Organizational structure is a formal relationship between management and the employees. It is a way to motivate the employees and get them to working. It is also away to get employees to follow the company goals, and work together as a team. To make an organization work they need to have an organized structure to be able to run the company. The mission
Apple is an American based multinational technology corporation headquartered In Cupertino, California. The company is best known for manufacturing, designing personal computers, consumer software products, and electronics. The company currently employs approximately 110,000 employees worldwide (Fiegerman,2016). The company was established by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. In 2007, the name changed from Apple Computer Company to Apple Inc. co-founder, Steve Jobs as the CEO. Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple became one of the most powerful companies in the world of technology and innovation. Tim Cook is the current CEO and his leadership style is different. Jobs was a visionary leader. Cook focuses
Tim Cook is the most important executive and the CEO of Apple. Before being named CEO in August 2011 he was in charge of a large portion of the companies planning and daily operations, His direction and supervision anticipated an essential spike in deals for Apple 's Macintosh division and delivered a significant arrange in the revamping of key supplier affiliations, guaranteeing adaptability in light of a clearly interest for business center.
Apple has achieved more success under the leadership of Steve Jobs than under the leadership of current chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook due to differences of management style, research and development and Apple’s profitability as a result of these differences in management.