Innovation and Strategic Alignment: Impact of Robotic Automation on Apple Inc.

This article discusses the impact of robotic automation on Apple Inc. and how it affects the company's innovation strategy and strategic alignment. It also provides recommendations on how the organization can organize its innovation activities, develop additional innovation capabilities, pursue innovation initiatives, and create and capture value from innovation.

Running head: INNOVATION 0
Innovation
Apple Inc.

INNOVATION 1
Contents
Overview....................................................................................................................................2
Terms and Concepts...................................................................................................................3
Creation of an innovation strategy and strategic alignment.......................................................4
Impact of Robotic Automation and Strategic Tool....................................................................5
Strategy Tool..........................................................................................................................5
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
How should the organisation organise its innovation activities?...........................................6
What additional innovation capabilities should the organisation develop?...........................6
What innovation initiatives should it pursue?........................................................................7
How should the organisation ensure that it creates and captures value from the innovation?
................................................................................................................................................7
Recommend on strategic alignment.......................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8
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Overview
Apple is an American based multinational technology company which is
headquartered at Cupertino, California. The major aim of this company is to majorly create,
design and sell the electronics to the consumers, the software and the online services. The
core personality whose hand is behind the foundation and development of the Apple is Steve
Jobs followed by Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company came into existence in
April 1976 (Thao and Tsanthaiwo, 2017).
Today the worldwide revenue of the Apple totals to $ 229 billion in the year 2017
which makes it world’s largest information Technology Company. In the year 2018, Apple
became to be the first company in the US to whose net worth was over US$1 trillion. The
company succinctly enjoys the brand loyalty and has been constantly ranked as the most
valuable brand of the world. Talking about the products there are wide ranges of products
established by the company which are iPhone smartphone, I pad tablet computer, Mac books,
laptop, portable media player, Apple watch, Apple digital media player and the Home Pod
smart speaker.
Robotic Automation is one of the emerging trends of the business process and
automation technology which is based on the idea of the software robots. In traditional
workflow automation tools, a list of actions which needs to be automated is produced by a
software developer and to create an interface in the back end system with the help of the
internal application interfaces. But in the Robotic Automation the list gets develop simply by
watching the user perform the task in the graphical user interface and repeatedly performing
the same tasks directly in the graphical user interface. This can lower down the barrier to
infuse more automation in the products.
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The major boosting factor of the Robot Automation is that it is similar to the graphical
user interface testing. The main feature of the Robotic Automation also allows the data to be
handled in and between the multiple applications for example receiving the email and the
extraction of the data and typing the same into the book keeping system (Wickens, et al
2015).
Terms and Concepts
The organisational environment: the organizational environment is the set of the
forces that surrounds the organization and that carries a greater potential to determine the way
it functions and its access to the limited sources. For the flow of the effective management in
the organization the organization needs to understand its environment. This is an important
aspect from the point of view of Apple Inc. to understand the customers and to innovate the
strategy with respect to its strengths (Olivier-Pijpers, Cramm,, Butinx, & Nieboer, 2018).
Innovation trend: Innovation trend simply means the follow up of the new
innovations and the ideas, object or the methodology. In a view of many people the
innovation is treated as the better solution that can meet the new requirements and the
existing need of the market. The innovation trend is basically a result of more effective
products, processes and services that breaks into the market or the society. The major
importance of this innovation trend is to define the new features to the customers under this
highly competitive market so that the Apple Inc. can capture greater markets (Mason, Mattin,
Dumitrescu & Luthy, 2015).
Innovation strategy: the innovation strategy is a plan to increase the profits and the
market share in order to develop the products and provide the services. An innovative
strategy is basically about creating a winning product which generally refers to an attractive
market, a targeted and profitable customer category and address the right issues and the right
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unmet needs and help the customer to get their tasks done in a better manner. Apple Inc. is
the source of the innovative strategy and therefore it delivers the innovative products such as
the Apple digital watch and portable media player. Moreover because of the innovative
strategy it is the world’s largest information technology developer (Pisano, 2015).
Innovation capabilities: Basically the innovation capability is observed as a process
or an event that occurs in an organization as ability come up with the ideas and thoughts to
absorb, adapt and transform the given technology into particular management that can lead to
numerous profits. The idea or though gets transformed into the economic value and value is
something that is relatively worth (Mohtar, 2015). The relationship between the Innovation
capabilities and the Apple Inc.’s objectives is of direct nature. The more the capabilities and
the ideas are showcased by the customers the more products is going to be refined as the
customers are greedy for the new and ready to spend on the basis of quality (Camisón &
Villar-López, 2014).
Innovation value creation and capture: Innovation is not linked only to the
department of Research and Development rather it takes into consideration the entire eco
system which often spreads the business. The value can be captured ad created if and only if
the company is ready to innovate and change the existing strategies and the methods. The
fundamental changes in the business can bring a lot of difference in the business value and
the satisfaction level of the customers. As information technology company Apple Inc. is
basically moved through the idea of value creation and therefore the crystal display and the
touch sensor provided by the company is still a tuff competition to many companies working
in the android market (Tantalo, & Priem, 2016).
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Creation of an innovation strategy and strategic alignment
The creation of an innovative strategy ensures that there is a strategic alignment in the
organisation by the way of the communication and practical implementation of the same. To
strategy also helps the company to deal with the customers through different departments
handling different issues (Gerow, Thatcher & Grover, 2015). For example the planning
department deals with the planning of the innovative strategy and the review team develops
the mindset to find out the variances if any.
To stay focussed and to fulfil the mission and vision of then organizations the
company like Apple Inc. must adopt the forces and the variables. The strategic alignment is
important as it gives an edge over the competitors. It also helps the organization to pursue the
efforts in the right direction and execute them effectively. There is a need of many resources
which are required to be pooled in order to create a desired product and a proper channel and
alignment is necessary so that it is cost effective as well as less time consuming. Through the
strategic alignment the company makes sure that there is a consistency as well as the
transparency between the tasks and the ones that needs to be completed. The strategic
alignment also helps to eliminate the conflicts and provides the structure to the employees to
keep the clarity of the work.
Impact of Robotic Automation and Strategic Tool
The Robotic Automation has brought the significant changes in the environment of
the Apple Inc. Liam, a line of robots that can disassemble iPhone 6, started as an R&D
project with the goal of improving material recovery from end-of-use Apple products
(Siciliano & Khatib, 2016). By focusing on the pre-processing steps and stages, Apple
explored solutions that could better segregate materials into homogenous streams to achieve
higher quality and quantities of recycled material.
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Strategy Tool
The strategy tool that can be applied is SWOT which will easily help in figuring out
as to what are the impact and the opportunities as well as threats for the Apple Inc. In terms
of the major impact, automation was explored because of its potential to provide a clean take-
apart process to meticulously “de-manufacture” an electronic product. By using automation,
individual components were removed from a device and separated into material component
streams, instead of shredding and mixing all the material together (Guibert & Roloff, 2017).
Apple then determined key components of interest for the Liam system. Liam removes the
following components from the iPhone 6: cover glass assembly (CGA), battery, main logic
board (MLB), receiver, speaker, alert module, rear facing camera, and housing.
The opportunities that are available for the Apple Inc. are a wide range of
possibilities. The Apple Company does only create the products but also creates the
revolution and therefore the Apple Inc. created a robot named Daisy which salvages the value
of raw materials and helps to spare the devices from complete ending up. In a way the
automation has created an opportunity to save the devices and use it deliberately.
On the contrary due to automation at such a level there is a possibility of loss of jobs
and the employment ratio may fall down. The cut in the jobs reduced the morale of the
existing employees as well. This in turn have a bad impact on the productivity of the Apple
Inc.
Recommendations
How should the organisation organise its innovation activities?
The organisation can organise through training the employees with the new skills and
expertise that can lead to the innovative and creative products (Stoneman, 2015).
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By segregating of the duties section wise the workload will be balanced and the goals
and objectives will be achieved easily.
What additional innovation capabilities should the organisation develop?
Recognise and protect the entrepreneurs who drive the value of the created product
through internal innovation.
Apart from this the company shall focus on the particular products such as the Apple
iPhone, Apple watch and Apple digital portable media player which are the key drivers in
taking the sales volume of the company to the next level.
Determine the powers and responsibilities within the company for individual
processes and tasks related to the innovative ideas and innovation.
What innovation initiatives should it pursue?
The innovation initiatives that The Apple Inc. shall pursue are the introduction of the
sharing feature with other android phones (Martellaro, 2014).
The market share of the Mac has been rising efficiently and therefore the company
shall focus on the setting up of the price accordingly. This innovative change strategy will
help the company to be on number one.
Development the look and feel of the OS X to further create a distance from the
window itself as the Apple is expert in the user interfaces and the user experiences
(Angelidou & Psaltoglou, 2017).
Provide the leverage Sapphire on IPhones which will provide the facility of the
scratch resistant that will make the phone more valuable.
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Invest greatly in robot automation and the artificial Intelligence in order to build
products with innovative, functional designs and yet still make money doing it.
How should the organisation ensure that it creates and captures value from the
innovation?
The organisation should ensure that it creates and captures the value from the
innovation by the way of creating and developing a new product with entirely different
features that can give a competition to the similar line of the industries. By innovating the
designs and colour of the phone the more customers will get attracted and this way the
company can capture the brand value and can keep it consistent (Euchner & Ganguly, 2014).
Recommend on strategic alignment
The strategic alignment is an important concept that has been understood however, it
is the responsibility of the organisation to keep it to address the innovation trends. There are
several factors which affect the productivity of the organisation and therefore there should be
a balance between the resources and the development of the product to cope up with the
forces of the demand and supply. The innovation trends are basically a benchmark which
showcases the performance of the company; therefore the top level managers of the Apple
Inc. shall form strategies and policies to develop the products and additional features with
respect to the innovation trends (Harvard business, (2017).
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References
Angelidou, M., & Psaltoglou, A. (2017). An empirical investigation of social innovation
initiatives for sustainable urban development. Sustainable Cities and Society, 33, 113-
125.
Camisón, C., & Villar-López, A. (2014). Organizational innovation as an enabler of
technological innovation capabilities and firm performance. Journal of business
research, 67(1), 2891-2902.
Gerow, J. E., Thatcher, J. B., & Grover, V. (2015). Six types of IT-business strategic
alignment: an investigation of the constructs and their measurement. European
Journal of Information Systems, 24(5), 465-491.
Guibert, L., & Roloff, J. (2017). Stakeholder dialogue: strategic tool or wasted
words?. Journal of Business Strategy, 38(5), 3-11.
Harvard business, (2017). Why strategic alignment matters— and how to achieve it?
Retrieved from
http://www.harvardbusiness.org/sites/default/files/20701_CL_AlignYourLeaders_Wh
ite%20Paper_Jan2018.pdf
Martellaro, J. (2014). 7 Apple Initiatives that Will Kill the Competition. Retrieved from
https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/seven-apple-initiatives-that-will-kill-the-
competition
Mason, H., Mattin, D., Dumitrescu, D., & Luthy, M. (2015). Trend-Driven Innovation: Beat
Accelerating Customer Expectations. John Wiley & Sons.
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Mohtar. S (2015). Innovation Capability: A Critical Review of its Role in Determining Firm
Performance. Retrieved from
http://www.academia.edu/6277472/Innovation_Capability_A_Critical_Review_of_its
_Role_in_Determining_Firm_Performance
Olivier-Pijpers, V. C., Cramm, J. M., Butinx, W. H., & Nieboer, A. P. (2018). Organisational
environment and challenging behaviour in services for people with intellectual
disabilities: A review of the literature. Alter.
Pisano, G. P. (2015). You need an innovation strategy. Harvard Business Review, 93(6), 44-
54.
Siciliano, B., & Khatib, O. (Eds.). (2016). Springer handbook of robotics. New York.
Springer.
Stoneman, P. (2015). Soft Innovation and Changes in Product Aesthetics: An Omitted
Dimension in Economic Analyses of Innovation Activities. The Handbook of Global
Science, Technology, and Innovation, 88-108.
Tantalo, C., & Priem, R. L. (2016). Value creation through stakeholder synergy. Strategic
Management Journal, 37(2), 314-329.
Thao, T. and Tsanthaiwo, S. (2017) Apple Inc. In the Years to Come. California: Routledge
Wickens, C. D., Sebok, A., Li, H., Sarter, N., & Gacy, A. M. (2015). Using modeling and
simulation to predict operator performance and automation-induced complacency
with robotic automation: a case study and empirical validation. Human factors, 57(6),
959-975.
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