Apple’s Culture of Risk-Taking and Attention to Detail

Discuss about the Innovation And Risk-Taking At Apple.

Apple is listed as one of the organizations that tops in the world of innovation as a business culture. Christian (2015) notes that culture of an organization directs and has the power to reward particular traits and behaviors in line with organizational values. The company is widely considered as an innovative company whose innovative strategies includes new products and new business models. They are always trying something new and innovative for themselves. The company si always producing new and innovative forms of software, programs and technologies for the users in the market. They not only focus on the business model but also tends to produce innovative and beautiful products. Among the most common products from Apple that have proved innovation at Apple and which have stunned the technology market include, the iPhone, iPad tablets, music artifacts such as iPod, and the famous App Store (Thomke & Feinberg, 2012).

Innovation and risk-taking at Apple is a culture that was started by the founders and has been continued by the Apple management team. The company is risking their work on a regular basis to identify better scope for their product development and identify new technologies. They are creating new scope for the company to please the customers. However at times the risks do become risky in real. Apple was accused by the researchers for taking immense risk with the security user data. They were also accused for not maintaining proper test and verification system, thsu iyt cannot be verified as they chose not to share the data. Steve Jobs had immense contribution to Apple’s success. The continuous innovation culture at Apple is drawn from the co-founders (Heisler, 2016, May 04). Thus they were not readily accepted by the researchers as their way of approach was completely wrong. 

Apple products come in sleek and customized designs that set the competition platform to a whole new level. The innovation and design excellence attributed to the products of Apple is a result of competence and focus on detail by Apple employees. During product design, employees are very keen on creating products that capture and align with customer desires. This is seen in different products designed to satisfy customers’ preferences and capture attention while using. For example, Apple designs icons on their various mobile phones in shapes that are appealing and captivating to the eyes. Such strategies are highly acceptable in the society that are keener about brandings and popularity. The show off tendency of every individual actually brands the company and increases it reputation in the market. The implementation of Apple icons in their phone actually states that they are Apple product which is a brand of the brands.  (Heisler, 2016).  

Customized and Sleekly Designed Products That Meet Daily Needs of Work

The Apple’s pencil as an add-on accessory for the iPad Pro is designed in such a way that it ensures smooth operation on the iPad interface, extremely responsive, and having the right weight. The pencil offers a better user handling ability great for writing, illustrating, drawing and even designing. The pencil is considered the best stylus in the market. Attention to detail is highly exhibited in the weight distribution in the Apple pencil. The pencil is designed in a way that in whichever resting position it is placed, the word “pencil” is always facing up.

Apple is characterized by an array of customized and sleekly designed products that meet the daily needs of work (Moreland, 2012). The design of the products is simple as had been the desire of Steve Job’s design sensibility. The design of Apple products is customized to the desires of the customers as noted by Cordell Ratzlaff, the brain behind the Mac OS X operating system; “We did the design first. We focused on what we thought people would need and want and how they would interact with their computer….”

Apple products are also considered highly interactive. They are made on a platform that enables a medium of interaction between the product and the user. As noted by Thomke & Feinberg referencing Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, who was the driving force behind the iPod’s development, the focus is always on unnoticeable small details that take the adaptability and the interaction with the products a notch higher (Heisler, 2016, May 04).

Apple products come in all manner of unique fashion. For instance, Thomke and Feinberg identify that Apple products such as the iPad, iPod, iPhones, and the Mac computers all come in sleek appearance that plunges into the fashion of the current times. The concentration in the design of the products is attention to details and uniqueness that competitors have failed to match (Christian, 2015).

Also as noted by Thomke & Feinberg, Apple uses clever and strategic moves in market timing. Market timing refers to the practice of buying and trading securities based on the market trends, economic trends, corporate information and other associated market factors. Apple employs this strategy in which it analyses and understands the customers’ needs in terms of usability of a certain product and their desire to have better products out of the existing one. In so doing, it has a better understanding of the market demands and develops products with features that satisfy such customer demands (Lashinsky, 2011, May 9).

Clever and Strategic Moves in Market Timing

Apple is considered one brutal and unforgiving organization where accountability is highly valued. The employees at Apple are at task to account for their every move, achievements and failures. Accountability is highly valued and strictly enforced. Decisions are swiftly made and communications aligned and articulated from the top management (Lashinsky, 2011). For instance, on the eve of iPhone launch in 2008, MobileMe was also incorporated which was to provide an email system for synchronization in a phone. This did not go well as clients claimed of lost emails tarnishing MobileMe as a dud. This made top management headed by Steve Jobs to disband the MobileMe team.

Stressing on teamwork rather than individual work is the working spirit and culture at Apple. Apple capitalizes on the team collaboration and individual strengths in their daily operations taking into consideration that the team effort is greater than the sum of individual efforts. Apple uses team building, diverse workshops, retreats among other tactics to encourage team participation and collaboration. A classic example is the collaboration of technology that that is keeping the business process in track and on time. The use of cloud computing is helping the teams to further collaborate and provide better opportunity for the company to give their best output. (Eigen, 2016).

Apple is considered very aggressive when it comes to strategic orientation of its products and services. The marketing strategies of Apple and its products are considered far-reaching and that which competitors can barely match. The successes of Apple in the innovation market is attributed to its strategies in marketing and pricing of its products and services (Meyer, 2017). The opening of new markets has been one strategy that has had a great impact on Apple and its achievement. For instance, opening a new market in India for the iPhone has resulted in an increase in sales volume giving the company a 400 percent sales increase and in profits (Lashinsky, 2011, May 9). 

According to Tetzeli (2016), Apple’s stability is based on maintaining the status quo rather than always changing practices and tactics. Apple has a foundation of always making what the customers love to their preference by always improving and making that item better fit for the customers. This move has made Apple products very unique in usability, for example, the very first iPhone and the current have features that are usable even by customers who used the first version of iPhone. It is the mentality of viewing an old idea in a new way that informs this move thus creating beauty out a product that would otherwise be considered complacent. Apple’s stability is also anchored on the ability of the organization to take risks of doing innovative things. As it is known that Apple is famous for producing latest and innovative technology every time it launches a new product in the market. Apple has blown the technological market over and over with the introduction of products into the market that even its own customers had not imagined the possibility of such products being in the market (Center for Work Life. 2013).

References

Thomke, S. & Feinberg, B. (2012). Design Thinking, and Innovation at Apple. Think Different. Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=36789

Christian, R. (2015). Innovation and Organizational Culture. Retrieved May 24, 2018 from https://timkastelle.org/blog/2015/02/innovation-and-organizational-culture/

Center for Work Life. (2013). Intelligence Outcomes for Success “The leadership Qualities of Steve Jobs.” Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://www.centerforworklife.com/the-leadership-qualities-of-steve-jobs/

Lashinsky, A. (2011, May 9). How Apple Works: Inside the World’s Biggest Startup. Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://fortune.com/2011/05/09/inside-apple/

Moreland, J. (2012, July 30). Steve Jobs, Apple, And The Importance Of Company Culture. Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://www.fastcompany.com/1792485/steve-jobs-apple-and-importance-company-culture

Heisler, Y. (2016, May 04). 5 examples of Apple’s insane attention to detail. Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://bgr.com/2016/05/04/apple-attention-to-detail-designs-hardware-software/

Tetzeli, R. (2016, August 30). Tim Cook On Apple’s Future: Everything Can Change Except Values. Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://www.fastcompany.com/3042435/steves-legacy-tim-looks-ahead

Eigen, D. (2016, October 26). Team Orientation in a Businesses Culture. Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/team-orientation-businesses-culture-48497.html

Meyer, P. (2017, January 29). Apple’s Generic Strategy & Intensive Growth Strategies. Retrieved May 24, 2018, from https://panmore.com/apple-inc-generic-strategy-intensive-growth-strategies

BCG, (2014). Innovations in 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2018 from: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2014/innovation-in-2014.aspx