Biz301 Organizational Creativity And Innovation Assessment Answers

Answer:

Introduction 

The term innovation can be defined as an idea or product that has been designed for the first time by an organization. Innovation also refers to the application of better solutions that has the potential to meet new requirements of the market. Innovation takes place through the provision of the most effective products, services, processes, business model as well as technologies. Apple is an organization which has been widely known for its innovative ideas and products all over the world. The company from its initial days has always concentrated on satisfying its consumers through innovative products instead of other aspects of consumer satisfaction lie lower price range (Thomke & Feinberg, 2012). In this report analysis of innovation and strategy of the company, identification of its innovative approach, analysis of the role of the employees in the success of the company and role of Steve jobs will be performed.

Innovation and strategy at Apple 

Apple has gained the popularity not only on the basis of its innovative products but also on the basis of its strategies. The company has used strategically approach along with innovation in order to capture the attention of the consumers and create an effective consumer base. From the beginning, the strategy of Apple was to gain the attention of the consumers by following a unique track which is completely different from its competitors (Ghazawneh & Henfridsson, 2013).  While the competitors of the organization was focused on enhancing the market value by producing affordable electronic devices for the larger mass o people, Apple decided to create its own reorganization by creating high quality innovative product which are costlier than the products offered by its competitors. The target consumer of the company was the upper middle class and the elite population. Another strategy implemented by the company in order to gain competitive advantage is to include innovation. The product offered to the consumers by Apple like the iPods, iMac and others has unique features that are not available to the consumers from any other brands. Besides that apple involved strategies to understand the specific needs of the consumers. Instead of making the product superficially attractive, the company manufactures products that are superficially unique, innovative and attractive and internally highly efficient, user-friendly and are of high quality. Thus the company uses innovation and strategy side by side in order to be o ne of the best companies across the world.

Apple’s innovation approach as a competitive advantage 

Unlike its competitors, the management of Apple, from its initial days has always concentrated on the quality of its products rather than the quantity. The goal of Apple as a manufacturer was to diminish the complexity of the product which in turn will enhance the value of the products to the target consumers. Another innovative approach taken by the management of Apple in order to understand the needs of the consumers are their ability to go beyond the superficial trends and gets the essence of the consumer experience. Apple had understood that the specific need of the consumer involve innovative and high quality products which will be fast and long-lasting from inside while appealing from outside. In order to meet the requirement of the consumers, the company concentrated on designing products that are not just eye candy but is extremely efficient from inside as well. For instance, the iMac was not only about candy colored computers. It was the first computer that does not needs a fan, is relay quite, posses the best sound system, wakes up in just 15 seconds and had a superfine display (Toma & Marinescu, 2013). Another example of simplified yet stylish innovation of the company is the iPod. Thus, Apple, unlike its competitors demonstrated innovation both while designing the model of their product as well as the efficiency of the same which enhanced its ability to meet all the requirements of the consumers. Moreover, the sturdy and high class materials used by the company with stable and reliable designs mean products that require less repair, maintenance, and service.  All these innovate strategies has helped the organization to enhance its consumer base and loyalty over a period of time.

People, culture and innovation

The employees of the organization as well as the culture of the same play a major role when it comes to the success of the organization. According to researchers, innovation is possible in an organization that has an employee friendly environment and work friendly culture. The organization posses a corporate culture that enables human resources to supports several strategic objectives. For instance, the cultural traits of Apple are directly aligned with the drive for innovation which  is one of the chief factors that determines business competiveness in the online services, information technologies and consumer electronics industry (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). One of the chief reasons behind the enhancement of the cultural characteristics of the company is efficient leadership provided by the former CEO Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. The leaders consider the employees as the family member of the organization and they are incorporated during any crucial decision making of the organization. The following are the main characteristics of Apple’s corporate culture:

1. Top-notch excellence
2. Creativity
3. Innovation
4. Secrecy
5. Moderate combativeness

Steve Jobs and Apple’s Success 

The contribution of Steve Jobs the co-founder and former CEO of Apple is immense when it comes to the success of the company. From the initial days of the company, the designing sense of Steve jobs was redefined and confident.  Surprisingly, Hobs did not have any formal engineering degree or training. However, his immense knowledge, talent and skills used to astonish his coworkers who already posses the formal degree. Not only that, Jobs personal qualities like effective leadership skills as well as enough temperament along with dictatorial, have always reflects demands that arose from a distinct vision of the meaning of the organization. The excellent vision of the mentioned individual helped the company to select a completely discrete path in order to achieve success in the industry. it is Jobs’ own ideas of what constitutes design perfection, but in other areas, superior operations are the result. The excellent management skill of Jobs had ensured an effective work friendly culture within the organization which supports employee empowerment. Due to an efficient organizational culture, innovative ideas used to get encouraged (Thomke & Feinberg, 2012).

Due to the efficient leadership of Steve jobs along with his far sightedness and innovative ideas, the management has been able to launch product with the stipulated deadline. It is the idea of Jobs to offers consumers with innovative products that are innovative, attractive, efficient and are of high quality at the same time. Product concepts and early prototypes are never shown in public. He also focused on creating an effective bonding with the consumer by keeping the commitment of the company and through after services. Steve Jobs is considered to be the individual whose high level of commitment had resulted in the success which the organization is enjoying till date.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the chief reason behind the success of Apple is its unique innovation and effective strategies. Not only that the employee friendly organizational culture of Apple also plays a major role in developing its innovative ideas. Finally, it can be said that Steve Jobs had constructed a strong pillar on which the success of the organization is dependant till date.   

Reference List

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Ghazawneh, A., & Henfridsson, O. (2013). Balancing platform control and external contribution in third?party development: the boundary resources model. Information Systems Journal, 23(2), 173-192.

Thomke, S. H., & Feinberg, B. (2012). Design thinking and innovation at Apple. President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Toma, S. G., & Marinescu, P. (2013). Steve Jobs and modern leadership. Manager, (17), 260.