CASE STUDY 1
Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple
Mayank Singh Mudgal
Ph11B0005
8th February 2015
Introduction
This is the first case study report for the course ED5317: Strategies for Managing Innovation that is based on the Harvard Business School case titled ‘Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple’. The report consists of the following question:
• What is Apple's business?
• Why has Apple been so successful?
• What is innovation at Apple? What is the (a) role of the product, and (b) role of their leadership in their success?
• What is Apple's weakness?
• How can organizations emulate Design Thinking?
• What is the role of the CEO? Compare Steve Jobs with another successful CEO.
• If IIT is run the Apple way,
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It has been the major factor behind their success and can be seen as their business strategy.
Why has Apple been so successful?
The company’s can be attributed to several reasons. Primary reason for their success would be their motto of simplicity. They have kept products simple and elegant apart from their marvelous functionalities. In order to simply a product, they have never compromised on the capabilities of the machine.
Secondly, it has always wanted to be close to people, understand what their needs are and build a product that meets their needs. Apple has always wanted to build products that people would fall in ‘love’ with. IPod was conceived out of love for music inside the company. Eventually the world fell in love with the product.
Another aspect of their success is their approach to product designing. In Apple, product design always precedes engineering. They envisage their product, engineer one way to the goal, and start from scratch if anything does not seem right. They have always tried to make products which are easy to use and does everything better than a similar product in the market. This approach has worked pretty well so
Overall in the past few years Apple has become more and more successful through preparing for the growth of E-Business for today’s society. The company has taken in and analysed competitors behaviour in order to remain market leaders and stay at the forefront of high end products such as IPhone and there IMacs range. Apple have tried to create a unique feel for their products when compared with Microsoft they have been trying to play catch up with Apple in all the same categories they both operate in. Apple use very different marketing techniques compared to Microsoft which has made Apple the number one brand in the world.
Apple’s goal is mainly on generating creative ideas that focus on products that are different and those that will lead to sales and customer brand loyalty.
One key element of Apple’s strategy in computers, personal media players, tablet computers, and smart phones is product innovation, diversification and development. Over the years Apple has been very successful in integrating software and hardware in new developing products. Despite the struggling economy in recent years, Apple has been able to grow their market share and stay ahead of the game.
Since 1976 Apple’s innovation has helped the company become a market leader in computer and mobile electronics. Through this time the company has faced a number of challenges either it be an internal power struggles or criticism from the media for certain aspects of their business model. This report covers five different issues that the company is facing or may face in the future.
Apple Inc manufactures both hardware and software uniquely with methods of their own. Apple’s computer operating system is highly secured and is not subject to viruses and hackers and the products are designed to be concerned about the consumers’ style life. Apple is successful with their marketing is this is because of Apple build strong name and image in the market. Apple’s products are different as mentioned and it has a lot of unique features. This is another method of Apple doing marketing.
Much of the company’s success has been attributed to its superior customer service, along with low process and a broad selection of products.
The business has been profitable and has been able to gain a large market share because of those strengths.
Last but not least, the third reason why apple has been so successful is brand loyalty. Apple has a cult following not only because of their attractive aesthetic design and packaging with bright colors or hype marketing, but because they are customer focused. Apple does not just sell products, they also sell beliefs which creates loyalty with the consumers despite their pricing. Apple’s investments in its stores and customer support makes the customers experience easier which customer love and very beneficial to Apple.
Apple has prospered internally and it is necessary to consider both strengths and weaknesses. Apple has lots of strengths, the major of them being it’s impressive brand reputation, Apple managed to position the brand as “premium products” for “elite” people. Customers are loyal and tend to stay in Apple’s ecosystem. Apple’s self-reinforcing ecosystem, it has a diverse ecosystem which integrates various hardware and software products into one large interactive space. Status of top innovator, Apple is perceived as the leading innovator and its products are highly anticipated. Apple’s very strong financial performance, high profit margins and very high liquidity. It’s network of retail stores, high-quality customer service helps to create advanced user experience. A powerful marketing strategy, Apple’s team masterly uses various marketing techniques to create a hype for their products and to strengthen the brand.
The company not only designs but they manufacture, market mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, portable digital music players. Apple technology has impacted so many businesses and individuals as a whole. Apple’s technology has always been a step ahead of their competitors. I have an iPhone and it seems like every year a new iPhone is produced with more features and capabilities.
We believe that our existence is based on creation of the great products with constant focus on innovations. Our faith is rooted in the simplicity and therefore we focus only on the few individual projects that are important and meaningful to us and also to our customers. We honour the perfection and effective collaboration which are guiding us to succeed.
By creating so many different methods of awareness and accessories for the ipod and its users, apple is successful in marketing and selling its ipod series to the masses, me being a satisfied one among them.
This paper aims to highlight and discuss the major challenges and opportunities which Apple Inc. faces while bringing innovation in the four primary areas of its business operations; including product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, and organizational innovation. The major focus of the paper is towards discussing the combination of all these processes which this organization follows and the major challenges which it faces in the course of its innovation or change strategies. The paper concludes by summarizing the importance of innovation for Apple Inc. in the light of the whole discussion.
In return, they have a strong financial backing, brand reputation, strong marketing and advertising teams. Apple plans to take these strengths and prosper off of them. Taking the amount of brand awareness they have built along with their benefit of retail stores the company can plan to use their strong marketing and advertising teams to launch a new product.
2. Powerful brand image associated with quality and superior hardware design: Apple continues to innovate in the area of hardware design. Some innovations are:their own A-series chips for iDevices: Where others use general purpose ARM based integrated circuit chips to drive their devices, each A-series chip is designed specifically for the devices it is to power, designed explicitly to meet Apple’s specific requirements; the unibody design for the laptops: provides a lighter, stronger case for the MacBooks; the multi-touch track pad on the laptops: was new & innovative; the magnetic charger connection on the MacBooks; all the iDevices: the build quality is surpassed by no other; The newest iPhone 5 is regarded as a gold standard in terms of its durability as well as the iOS. In each of these examples, hardware design – aesthetics aside – is always of high quality, and uses the latest technology that is ready.