SMBP_CS7

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Strategy Development and the Implementation at Apple Inc.

Strategy Development and the Implementation at Apple Inc.

Like any other business, corporations undergo four stages in their life- the startup, growth, maturity, and renewal or the decline stage. At the startup, business owners spend time trying to find new markets by engaging different people on their products and services besides putting new ideas into place. In this stage, the organizational structure and culture are not fully developed. At the growth stage, a business has established customers who can identify the product. At the maturity level, the business has its initial employees accumulated experience and is making profits. At the renewal or decline stage, the business is making severe losses and has to tackle appropriate cations to plow back profits (Jirásek & Bílek., 2018). Businesses can expand their lifespans by constantly developing their product characteristics to address emerging customer needs. It is usually at the maturity stage that businesses can implement product changes and development. Apple Inc. is in the maturity stage because it has an established market base in different parts of the world. In addition, it has accumulated adequate experience to face different market trends through the years.

To attain its goals, a business should embrace unique strategy implementation. A comprehensive literature review merges with the idea that strategy implementation is how companies turn their theoretical company plans into action (Oztemel & Gursev., 2020). For a business strategy to succeed, top management should lead strategy implementation. In addition, the management must ensure that appropriate embedding of the strategy implementation among employees occurs. The management leading by example demonstrates to other employees that the strategy is necessary (Jensen et al., 2019). For an effective strategy implementation, top leadership must define the persons responsible for specific actions. Personnel identification should be defined through the clear establishment of job descriptions. The business must also ask itself the time required to implement the strategy. There must be a specific period to implement each action. Equally, managers should examine how different sections and employees interact to propel the strategy implementation.

When implementing a new strategy, businesses should assess the strategy-culture compatibility. Organizational culture is the collective beliefs, opinions, employee conduct, and perception towards a given topic, and it is a by-product of prolonged business interactions (Elsbach & Stigliani., 2018). Most of the time, strategies follow the culture. Organizational culture defines how employees reason, meaning that even those designing the strategy have their unconscious brains under the control of culture. The purpose of strategies is to embed its culture in its employees and market or to increase personal accountability. Apple Inc. equally has its strategy influenced by culture. For example, the company has accumulated a culture of innovativeness among its employees, which explains why any new product it launches undergoes different improvements. Any strategy not geared towards encouraging creativity and innovation in the company would face high levels of resistance.

Six Sigma is a unique process through which businesses use statistical data analysis to eliminate or reduce defects or errors in their process. Companies in the manufacturing industry usually use the six Sigma concept. In other fields, it is considered the method that gives businesses tools to improve their capabilities, human capital, and operational processes (Singh & Rathi., 2018). Six Sigma has several benefits to organizations. First, reducing defects ensures that the resources are maximized; for example, Apple Inc. incorporating six Sigma in its global chain values will ensure it can identify the specific plants contributing to the minor income. In addition, it improves human resource morale by identifying alternative means of archiving work targets. Six Sigma also helps improve product quality and the chances of the business remaining relevant in the market. Lastly, it helps determine the appropriate resource maximization organizational culture, which leads to cutting cost productions in the future. All these advances lead to an increase in the total profits made by a given organization.

References

Elsbach, K. D., & Stigliani, I. (2018). Design thinking and organizational culture: A review and framework for future research.  Journal of Management,  44(6), 2274-2306. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206317744252

Jensen, U. T., Andersen, L. B., Bro, L. L., Bøllingtoft, A., Eriksen, T. L. M., Holten, A. L., ... & Würtz, A. (2019). Conceptualizing and measuring transformational and transactional leadership.  Administration & Society,  51(1), 3-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399716667157

Jirásek, M., & Bílek, J. (2018). The organizational life cycle: review and future agenda.  Quality Innovation Prosperity,  22(3), 01-18. https://doi.org/10.12776/qip.v22i3.1177

Oztemel, E., & Gursev, S. (2020). Literature review of Industry 4.0 and related technologies.  Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing,  31(1), 127-182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-018-1433-8

Singh, M., & Rathi, R. (2018). A structured review of Lean Six Sigma in various industrial sectors.  International Journal of Lean Six Sigma. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLSS-03-2018-0018