Apple Inside Out and Outside in Strategic Planning - Case Study Example

Inside out and Outside in strategic planning Contents Introduction 3 Inside-Out and Outside-In planning 4 Example of Inside Out Planning 5 Example ofOutside in Planning 7 Reference 11 Introduction In the present corporate scenario, strategy plays a significant role in the success or failure of a firm. The phrase “strategy” was originally used in war techniques for developing approaches to win over the opponent. Business is also a kind of battle, where the adversary firms are considered as enemies & everyone in the industry fight with each other in order to achieve the maximum market share & maximum sales. In this war the weapon is strategy. A strategy is a tool used for managing the organization’s resources in order to mitigate risks & optimize resources. This is the simplest definition of the term strategy. However in real life, the organizations face a lot of complexity to form & maintain a strategy. Strategy forms an integral part of the discipline strategic management domain. Thus framing the right strategy and implementing it stepwise is known as the process of strategic planning. The strategic planning process is a stage wise procedure that has got specific objectives and final outcomes that can be employed and analyzed. In simpler terms, this process is the means to view the future and creating an outline on the basis of recent trends and controlling the forces that can affect the strategic decisions (Ahoy, 1998). Strategic planning is an essential part of strategic management. Strategic Management involves actions and thoughts which are focused at the long-term objectives the entire organization and the strategic planning is usually done during situations of uncertainty (Downey, 2007). Strategies are generally designed for meeting the future challenges and for exploiting upcoming opportunities. Every firm needs a strategy tailored according to their needs (Cole, 2003, pp. 2-15). If a firm is not following a strategic plan, then it becomes tough for it to survive in this challenging world of competitions. In the present discussion we will study the Inside out and the Outside in schools of strategic management. Inside-Out and Outside-In planning Inside out is a business strategic planning process that depends on the competitive advantage of the firm to encourage alteration, innovation and product development in contrast to the external forces like the market, consumer preferences and competition. The declaration by the strategists who believe in the inside-out approach suggests that a firm attains better efficiencies and become accustomed more rapidly to the changing situations. The inside-out and outside frameworks of strategic planning involves significant concepts that are applied in order to link strategic pattern to the external and internal accountability steps. These external and internal accountability steps are widespread in all aspects of the national govern aments, districts around the schools and the local firms like the insurance companies, banks etc. Inside-Out arrangement emphasizes on the firm as the primary customer. It facilitates an association to have a vision of the firm which goes beyond the business world. The Inside out framework of planning typically puts stress on the goals, purposes and mission. It always considers the well being of the business and is characteristically known as hasty in nature. Outside-In process of planning puts stress on the general public as the key addressees. It perceives the business from the exterior. It usually confronts the status quo and often causes uneasiness to the existing workers since it suggests transformation. Outside-in process of planning is characteristically practical in nature (Boleman, 2003). Example of Inside Out Planning Firms adapting the inside-out approach require examining their own weaknesses and strengths by putting forth the questions like, “What are we good at making and selling?”(Civichino, 2012). As the strengths are recognized, the firm creates the products accordingly and applies extensive marketing activities to persuade the consumers to make the purchase. This type of strategy can be employed efficiently in the reasonably well-developed firms where the user’s needs and requirements change gradually. An inside-out framework usually works efficiently however the firms implementing it might be unsuccessful if it focuses internally along with overestimating their positive points, underestimating the contributions of their competitors or missing the alterations in the outer market. The inside out strategic planning method comprises of recognizing a firm’s abilities in a particular way with which the other firms in the similar business cannot match up. The business organizations employ their marketing people to look for the clients who will be interested in making the purchase, once the firms have successfully designed the required product. A suitable example of the inside out strategy is the strategic approach practiced by Apple. The organization focuses on the process of business process reengineering while keeping a strong focus on product and service innovation. The innovation and business process reengineering results in creating an edge in the market, which helps in creating a better performance of the company in the market in regards to its rivals. The vision and mission are two very important aspects of an organization. The vision talks about the long term goals, while the mission discusses the short term goals. In the case of Apple, both the long and short term goals are very crisp and well communicated in nature. In the new vision statement which has been designed under the new management leadership, the company establishes its focus on the lines of simplicity, perfection as well as enhancement of human life (Strange, 2013). The company’s mission statement gives a summarized glimpse of the technological marvels that has been achieved by the organization in the past couple of years (Apple Inc, 2013). It is highly important to mention that in the context of defining the mission objectives of the company, Apple Inc, simply restated its focus on innovation. Now in analyzing the influence of the vision statement in the success of the organization, focus has to be given to the services and products which are offered by the company for the purpose of value generation for the consumers. It can be noted that products of Apple are increasingly simplistic and more advanced in nature as compared to its rivals. This clearly helps in providing an extra mileage for creating the demand for the company’s products, which in return generates success for the company. Now, while considering the mission statement, the innovation aspect of the organization comes into lime light. The organization, because of its focus on innovation has always designed new features in its value based offerings. This automatically helped in the creation of a competitive edge for the Apple brand which further consolidated its success in the market. Apple is a public listed company and the stakeholders of the organization comprises of shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and manufacturers. The organization, which always focuses on promoting quality and innovation in its products, provides a lot of importance to the customers. In assessing the role of the customers in the success of the organization, it has to be considered that the customers are the ones who are responsible for the driving the demand for the company’s products and as well as generating the revenue. The role of the employees in the success of the organization is also very high as they are the ones who are actually responsible for the value creation for the customers. The suppliers and manufacturers associated with Apple also has a significant contribution in developing the success of the company since they provide the essential skills and physical resources that are required to create the much desired product or service for the company’s highly valued customers. Example of Outside in Planning Firms that have taken up an ‘outside in’ approach, consciously stress on generating and sustaining consumers by offering increased consumer value. It is done by feeling the situation from the customer’s viewpoint (Knowledge@Wharton, 2010). An ideal example for this type of planning is the micro blog promotional approach once undertaken by Dell. Soon after getting to know about Twitter at the time of the technology portion of the 2007 SXSW (South by Southwest) meeting, the marketer of Dell Ricardo Guerrero got the idea that Twitter could prove to be a low-cost media to endorse one of Dell’s online stores, the Dell Outlet. Guerrero silently signed into Twitter with the username @Dell Outlet, uncertain of the outcome that would take place. The huge proportion of his initial tweets included links to offers & promotions with money off codes especially for the users on Twitter. In Addition to this endeavor, Stefanie Nelson, the Dell Outlet store manager, added some personal touch and communication framework that served as a winning model for Dell. Consequently Dell grew its web wider after getting the feel of triumph with @Dell Outlet and moved further to create Twitter accounts for other regions and consumer service activities. In the website of the firm it is mentioned that, “Our customers have the best ideas and insights” (Dell, 2013). By the means of social media, over 25,000 take part in the conversations with the firm every day. The company further states that, “What we learn from our customers online helps us be a better company and deliver the precise products and services our customers need to be successful” (Dell, 2013). Twitter was used by Dell for- 1. Relevant, informative content Organizations don’t always need to go out and look for of interesting, new inputs to endorse on Twitter. The company possibly already owns a created a mass of obtainable content that can be utilized. Twitter is the perfect medium for promoting and sharing: Information on future events Information influenced from a blog post Webinars with market reflection leaders appealing statistics from news releases investigation from a fresh whitepaper 2. Relevant, informative content … that’s not yours Along with sharing the contents from whitepapers, press releases, blogs, etc. from the organization’s own sources, it is recommended that organizations should leverage content from external sources as well, by: Subscribing to business journals, e-newsletters to obtain the newest information at the organization’s inbox Signing up for the RSS feeds of quite a few famous industry blogs to get alerted of new content Setting up Google Alerts on a daily basis for a few pertinent terms to get the newest articles on news and blog posts 3. Product offers and promotions Twitter can be an effectual marketing means for sending promotional information – when united with other kind of content. The organizations can opt to put forward timely sales data and vouchers, as the nature of Twitter facilitates its followers to act in response to promotions swiftly. The firms can also provide special offers to construct a sense of possession among the followers, and provide the Twitter users an encouragement to follow a particular brand. In this context we can consider the success story of Dell, for instance, Dell uses twitter to circulate product vouchers and information about new product on a regular manner. Complementing these tweets of promotional nature, Dell also exploits Twitter to offer instant facility and extract customer comment. Till now, the organization attributes $3 million in proceeds to Twitter endeavors. (Cain Miller, 2009) 4. Customer service By the means of Twitter micro blogging approach an organization can provide customer service and sustain empowerment of brands to deal with issues swiftly, complement official call centers, and develop brand reputation. Providing customer support by the use of Twitter mainly deals with two factors: Monitoring and providing feedback: Organizations can apply a structure like Tweet Beep to be informed by electronic mail or text whenever there will be the mention of a relevant brand, be it positive or negative. Then the act in response should be instant and lucid and according to the message received. Obtaining feedback: It is relevant and valuable to ask questions similar to, “what features were missing from our latest software release?” or “What subject would you like to learn more about in our next webinar?” These questions would help out the organizations to bring out significant information. However the organizations should not forget to recognize and acknowledge responses, which make the customer feel that they are important for the organization. 5. Re tweets The usefulness of re tweets should not be underestimated. Along with re tweeting, it is recommended that organizations should post the tweets from other platforms which seem to be relevant and useful for the firm for their own following. Re tweeting provides help to the firms by: Increasing its number of following Increasing re tweets on their own content Reference Ahoy, C.1998. Basics of Strategic Planning. IOWA State University. Available at < http://www.fpm.iastate.edu/worldclass/strategic_planning.asp> [Accessed 4th December 2013] Apple Inc. 2013. Frequently Asked Questions. Available at http://investor.apple.com/faq.cfm?FaqSetID=6 [Accessed 4th December 2013] Boleman, C. 2003. Strategic Planning. Available at < http://buildingconnections.tamu.edu/a%20Strategic%20Planning-Abstract.pdf> [Accessed 4th December 2013] Cain Miller, C. 2009. Dell Says It Has Earned $3 Million From Twitter. Available at < http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/dell-has-earned-3-million-from-twitter/?_r=0> [Accessed 4th December 2013] Civichino, A. 2012. Two competency experts weigh in on determining organizational strategy. Available at [Accessed 4th December 2013] Cole. G.A. 2003. Strategic Management. USA: Cengage Learning EMEA Dell. 2013. Dell on Social Media. Available at < http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corp-comm/dell-social-media> [Accessed 4th December 2013] Downey.J, 2007. Strategic Analysis Tools. Available at [Accessed 4th December 2013] Knowledge@Wharton, 2010. ‘Outside In’ Strategy for the C-suite: Put Your Customers Ahead of Your Capabilities. Available at < http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/outside-in-strategy-for-the-c-suite-put-your-customers-ahead-of-your-capabilities/> Strange, A. 2013. Apple Unveils Post-Steve Jobs Mission Statement Video. Available at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2420227,00.asp [Accessed 4th December 2013] Read More