Innovative Company Apple Field Of Engineering Visionary Founder - Term Paper Example

Engineering Innovations at Apple Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Executive summary 2 Engineering Innovations at Apple 4 Introduction 4 Recent Innovative Achievements of the Company 5 Innovative Product Credited to the Company 8 Aspects of diffusion and entrepreneurship 10 Organizational cross cultural awareness policies 11 How a senior engineer functions as an innovator in the company 12 Factors that hinders and facilitates innovations in the organization 13 Recommendations and conclusion 14 Conclusion 15 References 16 Executive summary Apple is a multinational company in the field of electronic and software engineering. The company is highly innovative and it has been able to produce various innovative products that meet demands of the customers. The recent innovative products that the company developed include the iphone, iPod, ipad and both computer hardware and software. However, the iphone is the most innovative products that the company is widely known for. Millions of iphone handsets have been sold worldwide due to their splendid features. On the other hand, the diffusion of innovations of the company together with its entreprenual abilities has played an essential role in popularizing the innovations of the company as well as its public image. The company has cross cultural awareness policies which plays an important role in valuing diversity within the organization. The diverse nature of the workforce of the organization has greatly contributed towards greater levels of innovativeness. The organizational culture of the company also promotes innovations. The senior engineer of the company is also supposed to be innovative by identifying the gaps in the market and solving it through developing innovative products. The senior engineers of the company therefore play an essential role in promoting innovations. The laws and regulations have however, affected the innovativeness of the company in some instances. It is recommended that the company puts in place measures that will ensure it continues to attract and retain innovative employees. This is will ensure that it continues to produce novel products. Measures should also be put in place to protect the innovations of the company. The company has a bright future due to its innovative products and workforce. Engineering Innovations at Apple Introduction Apple is a multinational company that deals with electronic and software engineering. The company was established in 1976 by three entrepreneurs. Initially, the company mainly dealt with computer hardware and software although it has currently diversified its products and it also manufactures mobile phones. Apple is located in Cupertino California where it coordinates its operations in different regions. The success of the company is largely attributed to innovations and creativity. It is through innovations and creativity that the company has been able to come up with new products and services which has increased its competitive advantage (Lüsted, 2012). The company is the largest in the information technology sector in term of revenue generation. The company has been able to achieve a lot of growth and development due to the profitability that it enjoys. In terms of market capitalization, the company is the largest publicly traded corporation. The company has about 72, 800 permanent employees and 3,300 temporary employees throughout the world. The employees of the company are usually encouraged to be innovative for the purposes of enabling the company to meet its goals and objectives. The company has 408 retails stores in different countries throughout the world. This is due to the high demand for the products of the company. The good leadership in the company is responsible for the success that it has enjoyed. On the other hand, the company has also been faced with difficult times but the innovative nature of the products has enabled it to perform well in the market. Apple has also been criticized in the past due to the working conditions of the employees. The organizational culture of the company is important in ensuring that the company remains creative and innovative which has contributed to the success of the company. Apple is credited for coming up with some of the new products in the market due to its innovative and creative nature (Thomke, 2009). The advancement in technology has also played an essential role in ensuring that the company is able to develop new products. The company has also bee n able to capitalize on the modern technology for the purposes of developing its products. The globalization concepts have played an important role in ensuring that its products are distributed worldwide. Steve Jobs who was one of the founders of the company died in 2011 and the company continues to enjoy remarkable progress. The paper thus discusses the concepts of engineering innovations relation to Apple Inc. Recent Innovative Achievements of the Company The company has been able to make innovative achievements in the recent past which has also played an essential role in increasing the competitiveness of the organization. In 2001, the company introduced iPod music digital player. The product has since become a market leader in portable music which played an essential role in enhancing the profitability of the company together with its brand image. The product has also found other applications in sports which have seen the company partner with other companies like Nike. The Apple TV was introduced by the company in the year 2007 and the product was a major achievement due to its unique features. The Apple TV has a set top video device and it is a high definition television. The television has a 160GB hard drive for storage and it also has a HDMI output (Varian, 2007). This recent innovation enhanced the experience of the television viewers and it also played an essential role in improving the image of the company. The device also eliminates the need for a hard drive. The product was a major achievement for the company due to the changes that it brought about in the market. This product was both innovative and creative due to its unique features. The introduction of the iphone in the market is also a recent achievement of the company and it played an essential role in revolutionizing the mobile phone industry. The iphone has many unique features as compared to the other phones which is beneficial to the user. The product was not only useful to the users but it was also affordable. The low cost of the product enabled more users to own the device and hence increasing the use of the device for various purposes. The device supports the 3G networking which increases the ability of the users to access the internet at a faster rate. The device also has video capabilities and voice recording. This important feature enables the users to carry out different functions using the mobile device. The high resolution camera of the device was an important achievement for the company which also improved on the capabilities of the product (Dedrick, 2009). The introduction of the iphone saw the competitors of the company introducing similar products. The new innovative products also lead to changes in the production of mobile phones as the old devices were replaced by the new iphones. This revolution in the mobile phone industry is thus a major achievement of the company. The company has also made achievements in the software market. The company develops its own operating system that runs on Macs. OSX is also an operating system that was developed by the organization. The software of the company is usually used in the computers that have been developed by the organization. A range of server software is also developed by the company which is a major development in the information technology industry. The provision of the online services that are compatible with the icloud is also a recent achievement for the company. This achievement is important in enhancing the experience of the users. The company also made an important achievement in the development of the computer hardware. The computers that have been developed by the company are effective in terms of speed and efficiency. This has been made possible through the operating system of the company. Apple is also a provider of icloud which is the fourth generation of offline services. Through the use of icloud, the storage of data has been improved (Satariano, 2011). This is because the users are able to store a high amount of data. Apple has thus made major contributions in the information technology industry by improving on the customer experience. The introduction of the ipad which is a media tablet is also an innovative achievement of the company. The device offers multi-touch interactions with the users and hence enhancing their experience. Through the use of this innovative product, the users are able to read newspaper, play video games and also watch movies. This is also considering that the device is portable and hence convenience to the users. Access to the Apple store and web browsing is also enabled through the use of the device and hence a major innovative achievement (Malliaris, 2011). The device also has cameras both in at the front and in the back. This plays is ensures that the users can take photographs easily and coincidently even when they are browsing or performing other activities. The innovative achievement therefore indicates that the level of creativity in the company is high and hence the development of creative devices that suits the demands of the customers in the market. Apple has thus made important innovative achievements that have led to the revolution of the information technology industry. This has seen the increase in competition and the competitors have tried developing similar products in order to compete with the company. Innovative Product Credited to the Company The iphone is the most innovative product that is associated with the company. It is a convergence of the internet enabled Smartphone and iPod. The company released the first generation of iphone in the year 2007. The company was involved in the modification of the iphone for the purposes of ensuring that it meets the demands of the customers. The iphone has a qual band, GSM and EDGE. The iphone is quite an innovative product of the company and it played an essential role in boosting the image of the company. Safari and Mail are some of the features that are supported by the iphone and they are unique. The iphone has a web based and dashboard apps which makes the product quite innovative and unique. Google maps and weather are among the apps that are found in the iphone (Furfie, 2010). This enables the users to use the iphone for different purposes like finding directions when travelling. This is quite innovative as it eliminates the need of the local travelers from using the GPS for finding directions and locations of the places that they are travelling in. On the other hand, the technology used in the iphone is quite recent and this played an important role in increasing the acceptance rate of the innovative product in the market. The customer experience was thus enhanced through the introduction of the iphone. This is because it exposed the customers to a different experience with the mobile phones. The iphone has an 89mm touchscreen display, Bluetooth and it supports Wi-Fi (Brown, 2009). At the time of its introduction in the market, the features were quite unique and it had the potential of meeting most of the requirements of the customers. The software capabilities of the iphone were also improved in the later versions. This is aimed at ensuring that its iphone is compatible with the downloading requirements. On the other hand, it is also important to note that the devices were improved to ensure that the customers can access the App Store. The company was able to make progress as a billion downloads were made in 2009 after the product was introduced. The demand for this innovative product was quite high in the market. This saw the company opening up new branches in other regions across the world for the purposes of meeting the demands of the customers (Graham, 2007). The improvements to the device also saw the company phone supporting the 3G speed which increased the speed of accessing the internet. This innovation was also in line with the requirements of the customers. The device was innovative and it was in line with the changing innovations in the market. The use of this device was thus beneficial to the different types of customers due to the different applications that it has. Face time video calling is also an important feature of the iphone and this played an essential role in ensuring that the users can enhance the process of video calling. On the other hand, the product also has an innovative camera that meets the demands of the customers. The company recorded high sales in the market with a record of selling 4 million products in the first four days of its introduction in the market. This is an indication that the product was quite innovative and was on a high demand in the market. The company also recorded sales of 5 million handsets in the first three days in 2012 when it introduced its latest version of the iphone. The 4G cellular services were also introduced in the iphone which played an essential role in meeting the demands of the customers. In 2013, the company was able to sell 9 million handset of its latest version of iphone during the first three days of its introduction. The battery life of the iphones has also been improved through the use of innovative technology. This is important for the users in terms of ensuring that they can use the phone for a long time without recharging. The energy saving mechanism of the iphone has also promoted the popularity of the product. This has enabled the company to compete effectively in the market. The data on the habit of the user as well as the location is usually used for the purposes of regulating the power consumption of the iphone (Morrison, 2009). This is beneficial to the users as it enables them to use the iphones for a long period of time without the need for recharging. The company is thus known worldwide for the production of iphone which is an innovative product in the market. Although other companies have tried to produce a similar product, Apple still remains the market leader in iphone production and sale. Aspects of diffusion and entrepreneurship Diffusion of innovation mainly occurs when the innovation is spread to other parts of the world. The diffusion of innovation also leads to the popularity of the innovation in different parts of the world. In the case of Apple, the aspects of diffusion of innovations are evident. This is because the iphones are popular in most parts of the world. In every country the iphone is being used by a large number of people. On the other hand, some companies have tried to come up with the same type of product but this has lead to little success. Imitations of the iphones are also in the market although it has not been successful as most of the customers prefer the original products (Aberer, 2011). The diffusion of innovation has also increased the popularity of the company in most parts of the world. Entrepreneurship involves the commercialization of innovations. The company has actively been involved in entrepreneurship (Vance, 2010). This is because it is actively being involved in the commercialization of its innovation. The company also takes risks by investing in huge amounts of money for investing in the innovative products. On the other hand, the company is usually involved in the mass production of its products is for the purposes of ensuring that it meets the demands of the customers. Entrepreneurship is also an important concept in the organization as its foundation was based on entrepreneurship. The founders of the company were entrepreneurs as they left their activities to establish the company. The development of the company is always for the purposes of filling an existing gap in the market and hence its classification as an entreprenual organization. Organizational cross cultural awareness policies The company recognizes the importance of diversity and it has cross cultural awareness policies. The company encourages diversity in its workforce in terms of the culture and other concepts of diversity. The teams of the company are usually formed by members of diverse groups. Which plays an essential role in promoting creativity and innovations in the company (Mallin, 2010). The local people are usually recruited in the company in its different branches worldwide. The involvement of the indigenous people in the operations of the company has played a vital role in increasing the confidence of the local people on the company and its products. The organization is also keen on ensuring that the individuals are able to develop their skills while working at the company. This is also beneficial to the company as it enhances its operations. The company has zero tolerance to policy to discrimination of the employees based on their culture, color or race. Any employee who goes against the policy is usually subjected to disciplinary action including dismissal. The company values the dignity of its employees and it does not tolerate any practice that lowers the dignity of the employees. Equal treatment of the employees is also applicable in the company regardless of the culture race or color of the employees. The policies of the company therefore play an important role in ensuring that innovations are enhanced within the organization. The organizational culture is also keen on promoting innovations and accountability within the organization. Each employee has to be responsible for their own action. Any employee who does not take responsibility is usually dismissed. A senior vice president was dismissed from the company for refusing to take responsibility by signing an official apology (Chartrand, 2008). How a senior engineer functions as an innovator in the company Apple has various senior software and electronic engineers who are responsible for the production of the software and electronic goods in the company. The senior engineer usually performs several functions to ensure that innovations are carried out within the company. The senior engineer in the company usually comes up with creative ideas that are meant to solve the challenges that the users facer in terms of using the electronic products and software. This is usually done after carrying out a market survey to determine the challenges in the market. The senior engineers are usually provided with funds by the organization for the purposes of carrying out experimental designs in a bid to solve the problems being faced in the wider society (Appleyard, 2009). This plays an essential role in ensuring that the senior engineer in the company is an innovator. The senior engineer of the company usually use the technological concepts for the purposes of coming up with new innovative products. The innovative products are usually meant to ensure that the products of the company are relevant to the users and ion line with the demands of the users. The senior engineer is also responsible for identifying the gap in technology in relation to the software and the electronic. The identification of the gaps leads to the development of the new products. It is through the identification of the gaps in the market that the senior engineers have been able to develop new innovative products. The senior engineer in the company usually performs different functions including promoting innovations in the company in order to ensure that the employees can support their operations (Smit, 2011). The policies of the organization also require the senior engineers at the company to be innovative. Factors that hinders and facilitates innovations in the organization Apple has been faced with various challenges that have affected its innovativeness. The infringement of the intellectual properties of the company has impacted negatively on the operations of the company. This is the company does not fully benefit from its innovations and hence affecting the process. Court cases against the company have also hindered its innovation process as it is usually forced to stop some of the innovative processes. The laws and regulations in some of the countries have hindered the innovativeness of the company. However, the laws and regulations are different depending on the country. On the other hand, the death of the founder of the company affected the morale of most of the employees which in turn affected their operations. This had a negative impact on the innovativeness of the company. Most of the workers admit that operations are slow in the company in the absence of Steve Jobs who was the founder of the company (Litzinger, 2013). Although the company has faced various challenges that have hindered its innovations, some factors have also facilitated innovations in the company. The organizational culture of the company requires the employees to be innovative at all times. This has played a significant role in ensuring that the company is innovative. The use of technology has also facilitated the innovations in the organization and hence the production of innovative goods in the company. Diversity in the workforce is also a factor that has facilitated the innovations that the company has been experiencing (Elliot, 2013). This is because each employee comes up with unique ideas that lead to innovations. The company always allocated some amount of money for the purposes of facilitating innovations. This ensures that extensive research is usually carried out and hence leading to the development of the new products. Diagram of innovative model of the company Recommendations and conclusion Although the company is performing well in the market, it is recommended that it ensures that more is done to enhance creativity. The company should see to it that the employees are trained on a regular basis for the purposes of enhancing their creativity. Apple as a company should continue attracting and retaining a diverse workforce as it plays a vital role in promoting creativity in the organization. It is recommended that the organization ensures it recruits more employees who are full of new ideas in order to ensure that the company achieves its aims and objectives. A mechanism of attracting employees who are innovative should also be pit in place. This will ensure that more innovative products are developed by the company. The company should be able to comply with the labor laws and regulations. This is aimed at ensuring that the employees are well remunerated and hence motivating them. Abiding by the labor laws will also enable the employees not to resist changes within the organization. More resources should also be allocated for the purposes of research and development in order to enhance innovations within the organization. It is also recommended that the company should ensure that the performance of the employees should be reviewed depending on their innovative abilities. The leaders of the company should also be innovative in order to inspire the employees to be innovative. Adequate measures should also be carried out in order to protect the intellectual properties of the company. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the company has been able to gain competitive advantage in the market due to its innovative nature. The company uses innovations for various purposes including the development of new products. It is evident that the company has actively been involved in innovations in the recent past. The innovations of the company have played an essential role in revolutionizing the information technology sector. Apple has been able to develop innovative products that have increased it competitiveness in the field of information technology. The iphone is one of the major innovations of the company and it changed the mobile phone industry. It is evident that the innovative product was widely accepted in the market as it registered high sales. The diffusion of innovation is also evident in the innovations of the company. This is due to the high quality of the products of the company. It is also evident that the organization has a diverse workforce which has played an essential role in enhancing the operations of the organization. It is also evident that the company is still competitive due to the policies that it has put in place regarding innovations. Despite the success, the company has also been faced with various challenges which have impacted negatively on the ability of the company to be innovative. The laws and regulations is one of the factors that have hindered the company from competing effectively. Apple should thus continue attracting and retaining the employees who are innovative for the purposes of ensuring that it continues to produce more innovative products. References Aberer, K. (2011). What have fruits to do with technology?: the case of orange, blackberry and apple. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Web Intelligence, Mining and Semantics (p. 48). ACM. Appleyard, B. (2009). Steve Jobs: The man who polished Apple. Sunday Times. Brown, S. (2009). Making sense of new apple varieties, trademarks and clubs: current status. New York Fruit Quarterly, New York, 17(3), 9-12. Chartrand, T. (2008). Automatic effects of brand exposure on motivated behavior: how apple makes you “think different”. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(1), 21-35. Dedrick, J. (2009). Who captures value in a global innovation network?: the case of Apple's iPod. Communications of the ACM, 52(3), 140-144. Elliot, S. (2013). Apple Passes Coca-Cola as Most Valuable Brand. The New York Times. Furfie, B. (2010). Is the iPad a game changer?[Tablet computer from Apple]. Engineering & Technology, 5(4), 34-35. Graham, J. (2007). Apple buffs marketing savvy to a high shine. USA Today, 8. Litzinger, R. (2013). The Labor Question in China: Apple and Beyond. South Atlantic Quarterly, 112(1), 172-178. Lüsted, M. A. (2012). Apple: Company and Its Visionary Founder, Steve Jobs. ABDO. Malliaris, P. G. (2011). Consumer response to company communications during a product harm crisis. Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 8(4), 59-65. Mallin, M. L. (2010). Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, 16(7), 31-40. Morrison, C. (2009). How to innovate like Apple. BNET. com. Satariano, A. (2011). Apple's supply-chain secret? Hoard lasers. Technology, 4, 50. Smit, S. (2012). The perils of best practice: Should you emulate Apple?. McKinsey Quarterly, September. Thomke, S. (2009). Design thinking and innovation at apple. Harvard Busyness School, 1-12. Vance, A. (2010). Apple Passes Microsoft as No. 1 in Tech. The New York Times, 26. Varian, H. R. (2007). An iPod has global value. Ask the (many) countries that make it. The New York Times, 28, C3. Appendices Letter of seeking co-operation Apple Inc Dear Sir, RE: OPPORTUNITY TO CARRY OUT RESERCH With reference to the above, I would like an opportunity to carry out research in your organization. The research in tend to carry out is about innovations which is highly valued in your organization. During the research, I would like to know how innovations are used in the company and the innovative products that have been produced by the company recently. I also intend top interview the senior engineers at the company in order to obtain more information regarding innovations. Thanks in advance, I look forward for the co-operation of the company. Sincerely, A letter of gratitude Apple Inc, Dear Sir, RE: EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE FOR THE CO-OPERATION With reference to the above, I would like to thank the organization for the cooperation that was offered to me. During my research at the company, I was able to obtain a lot of information regarding innovations and how it is important to the company. I was also able to fulfill my aims and objectives of carrying out the research at the company. Thanks for the opportunity and I wish the company well in its innovative operations. Sincerely, Interview questions What is the organizational culture of the organization with regards to innovations? What are the recent in innovations that have been made by the company? What is your role as a senior engineer in promoting innovations in the company? What challenges do you face during the innovations? What are the factors promoting innovations in the company? Read More

The good leadership in the company is responsible for the success that it has enjoyed. On the other hand, the company has also been faced with difficult times but the innovative nature of the products has enabled it to perform well in the market. Apple has also been criticized in the past due to the working conditions of the employees. The organizational culture of the company is important in ensuring that the company remains creative and innovative which has contributed to the success of the company.

Apple is credited for coming up with some of the new products in the market due to its innovative and creative nature (Thomke, 2009). The advancement in technology has also played an essential role in ensuring that the company is able to develop new products. The company has also bee n able to capitalize on the modern technology for the purposes of developing its products. The globalization concepts have played an important role in ensuring that its products are distributed worldwide. Steve Jobs who was one of the founders of the company died in 2011 and the company continues to enjoy remarkable progress.

The paper thus discusses the concepts of engineering innovations relation to Apple Inc. Recent Innovative Achievements of the Company The company has been able to make innovative achievements in the recent past which has also played an essential role in increasing the competitiveness of the organization. In 2001, the company introduced iPod music digital player. The product has since become a market leader in portable music which played an essential role in enhancing the profitability of the company together with its brand image.

The product has also found other applications in sports which have seen the company partner with other companies like Nike. The Apple TV was introduced by the company in the year 2007 and the product was a major achievement due to its unique features. The Apple TV has a set top video device and it is a high definition television. The television has a 160GB hard drive for storage and it also has a HDMI output (Varian, 2007). This recent innovation enhanced the experience of the television viewers and it also played an essential role in improving the image of the company.

The device also eliminates the need for a hard drive. The product was a major achievement for the company due to the changes that it brought about in the market. This product was both innovative and creative due to its unique features. The introduction of the iphone in the market is also a recent achievement of the company and it played an essential role in revolutionizing the mobile phone industry. The iphone has many unique features as compared to the other phones which is beneficial to the user.

The product was not only useful to the users but it was also affordable. The low cost of the product enabled more users to own the device and hence increasing the use of the device for various purposes. The device supports the 3G networking which increases the ability of the users to access the internet at a faster rate. The device also has video capabilities and voice recording. This important feature enables the users to carry out different functions using the mobile device. The high resolution camera of the device was an important achievement for the company which also improved on the capabilities of the product (Dedrick, 2009).

The introduction of the iphone saw the competitors of the company introducing similar products. The new innovative products also lead to changes in the production of mobile phones as the old devices were replaced by the new iphones. This revolution in the mobile phone industry is thus a major achievement of the company. The company has also made achievements in the software market. The company develops its own operating system that runs on Macs. OSX is also an operating system that was developed by the organization.

The software of the company is usually used in the computers that have been developed by the organization.

Read More