Processes and Sources of Innovation in Apple and CFL - Case Study Example

2 Case Studies and Assignment Questions Table of Contents Assignment Question 2 Processes and Sources of Innovation 2 Case study 1 3 Question 1 3 Question 2 3 Question 3 4 Question 5 5 Question 8 5 Case Study 2 6 Question 1 6 Question 2 6 Question 3 7 (a) Peter 7 (b) CFL 7 Reference 8 Assignment Question Processes and Sources of Innovation The company mainly relies on the market trend and the demand for new products in the market. The company has a field team within the marketing department that is charged with spearheading research about the products in the market (Turner, 2007). To make innovations, the company always tries to modify its products with a view of ensuring that the products satisfy the clients and improves their performance. The ease of using and handling of the equipment made by the company is also a source of innovation. Before a new product is launched some procedures are usually followed. The research team first presents its recommendations and findings to the manager. The manager will then study the report before handing it to the technical department for implementation. The technical department is charged with coming up with innovative ideas during the implementation process. As a leader, the major priority will be the development of new techniques and ideas to innovate products. This will be made possible by due dedication to research and ensuring that the products are quite unique and cannot be imitated easy or completely by other organizations. According to Burrows (2004), the main importance of intellectual property in the business is protection against infringement and imitations by other organization. This is especially when a new product is innovated. Without the intellectual property, fraudsters may take advantage and distribute them or imitate the products. To some extent, they may claim to be the real owners. This may result to losses for the company. Case study 1 Question 1 Apple was founded in 1978 as a company dealing with computers and other innovative electronic devices. Over the years, the company has grown and it is ranked among the most successful and profitable company in the world. Its products are distributed worldwide. The main reasons behind the success of the company lie mainly with the management. The management under the leadership of the co founder, Steve Job, ensured that discipline is maintained at al time. This encouraged the trust and the relationship between its customers. Innovation was also a key strategy that has led to the success of Apple. The management is dedicated and comes up with new innovative strategies that ensure the products are of the best quality (Turner, 2007). The company has highly trained and qualified professionals whose main work is to identify new trends and come up with new techniques. The purpose of innovation is to satisfy the customers. This has helped the company maintain its popularity with the customers and hence its success. When it comes to decision making, the management analyses each situation carefully to ensure that the decision made is the right one. This is evident by the fact that the CEO once said that it is better to say no to one thousand decisions and adopt one right decision. Question 2 When it comes to innovation, Apple has an approach of using simple design methods. An aspect of technology that can be used to simplify modern tasks is usually identified. It is then determined how it can be integrated to the technology. The main aim of the innovations is usually to simplify the tasks that individuals perform by use of technology. These innovations are usually made by qualified engineers in the company. The packaging of the company’s products is very unique from other companies. This feature has made it very difficult and to some extent impossible to imitate the products made by Apple. The simplicity of the design has made the products made by apple to be quite unique. This simplicity is what has made the products difficult for most companies to imitate. The building blocks used are simple yet complicated to any organization that may y to imitate. The simplicity therefore makes the products difficult to imitate. The innovation is also dependant on the needs of the customers. The approach that is also used is that of making improvements from one model to another. An example being the ipod which was developed to its modern form based on the improvements from the previous versions which we original (Burrows, 2004.) Question 3 If Apple was to run my organization, a lot of changes would definitely be made. The marketing strategies would completely change. This is because Apple prefers dealing with clients directly through its networks. This direct interaction will also ensure that the customers are constantly in touch with the organization. The fact that Apple has three strategies whenever a new invention is made will also ensure that it saves a lot on time and cost. New innovations will also be made and the company will definitely improve its market share and strategies. The discipline and the implementation of new ideas will also improve for the company. However the main changes will occur at the management level and also the sales and marketing department of the Company. The whole operation processes for the company is also likely to change. New projects will also be initiated with the aim of increasing sales and customer satisfaction. However despite all these, some obstacles and challenges might be encountered. The current staff may not be able to quickly adapt to the processes that will be brought about by this change. Therefore implementing some business ideas may take time. Unless there would be an overhaul of the entire staff then there would be a challenge in the process. The cost implications may also present a challenge. This is mainly because the marketing strategies by Apple might be expensive compared to the current strategies. This alone will see the company overstretching its financial resources to adapt to the new policies. However the working conditions will generally improve. Since Apple is a multinational company, working in the company will be easier and more privileged. This is because the clients will have more confidence with the company and thus it will be easier working with clients. Question 5 Innovation at Apple involves coming up with simple but yet useful ideas that creates an impact on the advancement of technology and also enhances the performance of individuals. Apple aims at ensuring that individuals benefits from technology through inventing devices that were originally inaccessible to them, an example being the individual use of the computers. This was a fact that was originally not possible but through innovations individuals can easily process their work by the use of computers. Innovations at Apple are also about satisfying the needs of consumers and enabling them perform their duties with ease at a lower cost. Access to certain technological devices that is useful to individuals is also a process of innovation at Apple. An example being the ipod which enable individuals aces thousands of music that they like at a very low cost. This innovative means have all en successful compared to the applications that have been developed by Apple over the years and they have all been quite successful and adopted all over the world. Apple has also won various recognitions from allover the world for its outstanding innovations. The success of Apple is also evident by the fact that it is ranked among the best and most profitable organizations in the world. Question 8 If Jobs left the company tomorrow there would be some impacts. This is because he has been an innovator himself and has steered the company to great heights. This is evident when he had left the company in the late 1980s. Lashinsky (2008) notes that although the company continued to perform based on the foundation that he had set, some changes were evident. The company also experienced some difficulties during his absence and some of the guest to come up with new inventions did not beard fruits. Several projects flopped and inventions took a lot of time to be realized. Although he managed to turn things around and has built a strong foundation, there would be a lot of changes if he left the company today. It is also obvious that the company may recruit a highly educated manager to replace him but this may not produce the desirable results. Comparing his level of education and that of the one time manager who was a PhD holder it was still difficult to each the standards that had been set by Jobs (Lashinsky, 2008). Case Study 2 Question 1 The main reason that caused the lack succession plan at lakard was CFL. He only believed in himself and did not se if any other person would be able to run the company. He also did not have faith in outsiders at the management level of the company. The constant disagreements on how the company should be run between him and his son made the issue of succession difficult. Peter his son had a different way and style of management and therefore his father was not in his favor. He thought that his son may introduce change that he did not like. The family issues were also affecting CFL. This is because every time there was an internal issue in the family his wife supported Peter and this made him feel that he was isolated and thus preferred working with his terms only. Question 2 CFL could manage this by critically analyzing what the future holds for the Company. He should have first considered the fact that he will not be there forever in the company. This should then be followed by the analysis of the events that took place when he was always for treatment following the accident he had. If the style of management of Peter Did not lead to the collapse or any loses for the company then he should try and have faith in him. This could prove difficult but he should only do it for the sake of the company. He should also consult widely with Peter and find out why he thought some issues should be handled in a certain way and not the other. He should also express his views freely with Peter to ensue that they respect each others views and also each of them is comfortable with the management of the company. When all these are achieved, then he should make a succession plan (Levy, 2007). Question 3 (a) Peter Since CFL does not agree with the management ideas, I would ensure that all the actions done are mainly for the god of the company. Efforts will be made to convince CFL to get in touch with the reality that the company may collapse. This is due to the fact that the workforce was migrating and also the important business associates were decline in terms of business. Wining the support of the employees will also be a key issue in convincing CFL to relocate (McWilliams, 1997). (b) CFL Critically analyze the market trend and the position of the company. If the market rends suggests that the business will collapse if it maintained the old practices, and then there will be need to either take the offer from the Italian investors or adopt new means of operations (McWilliams, 1997). However if the market trend suggests that the business will still perform well despite the challenges then there will be no reason to make major changes. However regardless of the outcome the succession plan will be in consideration. Reference Turner, D. (2007.), “The Secret of Apple Design,” Technology Review, May Burrows, P, (2004.) “The Seed of Apple’s Innovation,” Business Week, Lashinsky, A. (2008) “The Genius behind Steve Jobs,” Fortune. Levy, S. (2007), The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness (New York: Simon & Shuster Paperbacks. Bernars-Lee, T. ( 1999) Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor (New York: Tim Bernars-Lee, Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor McWilliams, G., (1997) “Whirlwind on the Web,” BusinessWeek, Read More