APPLE INC.

Apple Inc.

ABSTRACT

The paper is based on the study of Apple Inc. Apple has come a long way since its 1976 founding, evolving from a pair of electronics-minded friends trying to sell printed circuit boards at their local amateur computer club to a 14,800-employee company with more than $14 billion in sales and an internationally recognized product line. Steve Jobs laid Apple's success down to its ability to lead by expressing its visions through its products exciting you and making you proud to own one of its products. So before deriving at Apple's impact on the tech industry, it is imperative for this essay to identify and analyse the strategies that have led the organisation to its leadership position within the industry. The methodology used in this study is based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Moreover, five of the employees of Apple will be interviewed and survey questionnaires will be distributed among fifty of their loyal customers.

Applr Inc.

DESCRIPTION

Introduction

Apple has come a long way since its 1976 founding, evolving from a pair of electronics-minded friends trying to sell printed circuit boards at their local amateur computer club to a 14,800-employee company with more than $14 billion in sales and an internationally recognized product line (Farivar, 2006). Founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the company will be initially called Apple Computer Incorporation, but dropped the name for Apple Incorporation, in 2007 when it decided to move into mobile devices like the IPod and IPhone and later the I Pad. Today Apple is the most valuable brand in the world market and its value expected to keep rising (Andrews, 2012). The company's success is attributed to a number of factors such as; its late leader Steve Jobs, its strong corporate culture, smart marketing and effective communication. However, Steve Jobs laid Apple's success down to its ability to lead by expressing its visions through its products exciting you and making you proud to own one of its products (Griffin and Moorhead, 2008). So before deriving at Apple's impact on the tech industry, it is imperative for this essay to identify and analyse the strategies that have led the organisation to its leadership position within the industry.

Organisational culture and marketing

Apple's organisational culture is one based on Mcgregor's theory Y approach that states that employees are self-motivated and do not need managers to force them to do work. This approach has contributed to the company's success, as the work force is flexible, adaptable and is allowed to make some important decisions in the company, which makes the inception and completion of projects much faster. It has helped keep the staff motivated; feel valued and eliminated corporate red tape (Shane and Travglione, 2005, pp. 89-290). Apple also changed the traditional organisational hierarchy from tall to flat and this essentially improved the channels of communication. Furthermore the introduction of a casual dress code for the employees when other companies had an official dress code that resembled parochial school uniform. All these factors will be effective in the ...