Apple Inc Management Style Changes And Innovation

Changes Made in Apple Inc Management Style

Two key changes in Apple Inc

There were many changes made in the Apple Inc. from time to time. The first major change came up when the Steve jobs became the CEO of the company. This is because he brought many changes in the working process especially in terms of giving leverage to employees to think beyond unthinkable (Al-Laham & Huth, 2011). He gave free hand to everyone to not to think about costing or any other limitation just focus on innovation. This helped the company in the development of many new products that are disruptive. This was a change that helped Apple in becoming the leader in many technology industries. Things were kept highly secret so that information about the new product development do not actually comes out. Such things could give competitive edge to other rivals.  Another important change in the management style was noticed when Tim Cook became the CEO. He focused on team work and transparency within the workplace. He made himself very much approachable to everyone. This helped Apple in encouraging collaborative environment at the workplace.

The company is properly managed. This is evident from the fact that the growth rate of the company is always on the higher side and at the same time they are also bringing new kinds of products for their customers at regular intervals (Payne, 2017). But in the last few years it was seen that there was decrement in the sale of the IPhones. This was due to the reason that the company was not able to bring some trademark changes in their product and at the same time its product prices are increasing at much faster speed.

Senior management’s role in recent changes

Recently Apple has gone through many recent changes. In these changes role of senior management becomes very important. The recent change that can be noticed in Apple was related to collaborative work. In this the role of the senior management becomes very important. This is because they had to provide a workplace environment that is friendly and supports the interest of employees (Krapfl & Kruja, 2015). The transition was not seamless; this is because previously individual performance was given higher priority. Inside Apple individual tasks was assigned to the experts with a particular deadline. This was done to maintain the secrecy in the overall project. Teamwork was promoted so as to bring transparency in the business process. From the side of employees it was not very much opposed hence it was not so problematic from the perspective of the management. Top leadership prepared employees by the initiatives like the CEO was himself available for the workers whenever they needed him. Employees are given opportunities to share their ideas at larger platforms and they could directly reach to CEO for their problems in their project. Such changes lower the chances of failure and at the same time it ensures that organisations goals can be achieved on time. It actually fastened the speed of production so as to meet the requirements of the market. In the increasing demand for the quality products, making such changes was highly beneficial.

Senior management’s role in recent changes

Management’s decision on its use of spokesperson and vendors 

Apple used many other firms as a supplier and vendor for its raw materials and end products respectively. Apple was always leader in terms of innovation. Millions of consumers across the globe purchase its products at premium prices. It is because their product represented luxury and class. In order to meet the requirements of their base customers they have used third party companies as a vendor. These vendors ensure constant supply of raw materials for meeting their market demand.

Decisions are taken within the organisation in consideration of all the spokesperson and vendors. This is also necessary for the company as they do not make each and every part on their own. There are many suppliers from different parts of the world and there are certain service vendors. Apple is only accountable for bringing together those dissimilar parts into one final product (Vlcek, 2017).

Apple wants to focus on research and development hence management’s decision to use vendors is highly valuable especially when it comes to maintaining quality. It also fastens the way of production and brings down the cost of production. T hese decisions help the company in meeting the production demand. Fulfilling demands has direct effect on the image of the firm (Faas, 2011).

Innovative idea that has impact on both employee and customers

Apple has millions of customers as well as huge numbers of employees working under its brand name. An idea that could be beneficial for both Customers and employees is to bring cost effective production at the workplace. It is important that company cuts down its cost in terms of use of inventory and the supply chain management. If the company opens its manufacturing units in countries like India which is a cheaper manufacturing market and can focus on supply chain then the overall cost of production could come down (Liang, 2016). This will benefit both employees and customers. This is because of the fact that new set of employees can come to the business process having a different kind of idea. This will bring diversity to the workforce at the same time ensures that more healthy organisational culture gets developed at the workplace. Company should also reduce the number of vendors and focus on manufacturing of some major parts on their own. This will motivate their employees as their opportunities within the organisation also increases.

On the side of customers it will benefit them as the overall cost of productions come down. This will help the company in lowering the prices of products which might increase the sale of the products. The decrease in the product prices must be done checking the fact that its premium brand image is maintained due to the high prices of the product. People feel that its price makes it luxury. There must not be compromise with the quality as their loyal customers do not have problem in spending money (Lashinsky, 2015). At the same time their customers wants to ensure that actual value is delivered with the product for which they have paid for.

Management’s decision on its use of spokesperson and vendors

I will look for investing in setting up the manufacturing unit in India. First of all I will have a discussion with all the stakeholders of the firms so that their view point about this can be discussed. Then I will arrange the investors that could help in the investment process. Equity approach can be used for this process.

Apple’s ability to adapt according to customer’s need and market environment

Apple being such a big company has huge amount of resources. With the quality resources that it has this company is capable of adapting changes as per the need of the consumers. This can be understood by the fact that from the year of its establishments they have faced many challenges and it has overcome them with the help of effective strategies (Ng, Kee & Brannan, 2011). This company has a research and development team that is capable of meeting the requirements of the market. Global market environment is changing at much faster speed than before and Apple has an effective marketing team that helps them in predicting the future market requirements.

Use of open communication channels can be beneficial for the company as it would help them in understanding the requirements of the customers. It will be beneficial in the case of primary research as company could directly interact with their potential and loyal customers (Sharma & Grant, 2011). This would also help the company in understanding the market need and make changes accordingly and hence increase the adaptability of the firm.

Conclusion: 

From the above based report it can be concluded that changes are important in any industry. Apple has implemented many key changes in their management style. The recent change was done in which company has transformed its way of working as they focused towards collaborative working. The role of the leader became highly significant as in this case they provide people with platform that can help them in working as a team. They increased the reach of employees as they could directly interact with CEO. Company takes use of spokesperson as well as vendors in the process of decision making. Apple can shift its manufacturing units in new countries with cheaper cost of production and this could benefit both employees and customers. Apple can easily adapt with the changing environment and customer needs with the help of resources it has.

In across the world, changes are necessary especially when it comes to management style being used within the organisation. Apple Inc. being one of the leaders in technology industry has made changes in the management style. It is the role of the management to take decisions. This must be based on their impact on the decision making (Froud, Johal, Leaver & Williams, 2012). Innovative idea needs to be implemented so that it can have positive impact on the customers and employees. It is also crucial that the decisions are made understanding its capability to adapt to the changing requirements of the customers and the market environment. This report highlights the two key changes in the management style from the start of the organisation. It also explains role of management in preparing the company for the changes. Evaluation regarding management’s decisions on its use of spokesperson and vendors has been made. At last the way in which idea is implemented has been described.

Reference:

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Froud, J., Johal, S., Leaver, A., & Williams, K. (2012). Apple business model. Manchester: CRESC Working Paper, (111), 1-29.

Krapfl, J. E., & Kruja, B. (2015). Leadership and culture. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 35(1-2), 28-43.

Lashinsky, A. (2015) Apple’s Tim Cook leads different. Retrieved from: https://fortune.com/2015/03/26/tim-cook/

Liang, G. (2016). The “Fox–Apple” Partnership in the Global Value Chain: How Did Foreign Direct Investment and Contract Manufacturing Reshape the Landscape of the Electronics Industry?. In Uncovering value added in trade: New approaches to analyzing global value chains (pp. 141-166).

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Vlcek, W. (2017). Multinational Corporations and the Digital Economy. In Offshore Finance and Global Governance (pp. 43-70). Palgrave Macmillan, London.