Managing Innovation in Business: Future Trends and Innovation Capabilities for Apple

This report covers the trends in the consumer electronics in 2022 and beyond, and outlines the innovation requirements for Apple. It evaluates the building of future innovation capabilities for Apple using culture, change management, and leadership. The report is based on BM627 Managing Innovation in Business.

BM627 Managing Innovation
in Business

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report covers the trends in the consumer electronics in 2022 and beyond. The report has
described about the innovation that must be done by the company in order to grow in the market.
It has evaluated about the building of future innovation capabilities for Apple and helps them to
have better productivity in the market. This is described by using the three main categories that is
culture, change management and leadership with the models.
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents.....................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
The Future of the Industry 2022 and Beyond..............................................................................3
The Organizations Innovation Requirements 2022 and Beyond.................................................5
Building the future innovation capabilities for company............................................................6
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation management refers to the process that helps the organization to have the
proper management while having the innovation procedure. The starting stage of the innovation
is the ideation and the final stage of the innovation is successful implementation. By having the
innovation in the company helps them to get succeed in the market and have better profits. The
current report is based on the Apple Inc. it is a multinational company that used to provide the
electric, online services and new software to the customers. It used to have its headquartered in
Cupertino, California. This is one of the largest IT Company having the revenue of almost US
$365 billion in the year 2021. The main purpose of this report is to know about the innovation
done by Apple. This helps to know about the new and innovative ideas that are taken by the
company in order to do innovation. This report will put focus on the future of the industry 2022
and after that as well. Further this report will also outline the innovation requirements for the
company in 2022 and beyond. At last this report will indicate the future innovation capabilities
for above stated company. This will be outlined by using the three main categories that is culture,
change management and leadership style.
MAIN BODY
The Future of the Industry 2022 and Beyond
Apple Company operates in consumer electronics industry. The future of this industry is
very wide and bright. The industry is one of the fastest expanding and most dynamic.
Innovations and revenue earnings expansion are integral part to the industry of consumer
electronics. Digital transformation and the pandemic period are the two factors that have new
heights to the industry (Pre and et.al., 2022). The key reason that caused hurdle in the
functioning of industry is disruptions in the supply chain but the industry surpassed the situation
smoothly. Consumer electronics is an industry that has seen maximum number of evolutions till
date. These evolutions emerged the need for bringing up of trends in the industry. There are
various trends in consumer electronics industry.
The first trend of the industry in 2022 and beyond is expanded shipping options. There is
increasing demand by the consumers asking for fast deliveries in the sector. Fast deliveries with
free shipping is the need of the customers of market. Various studies and surveys shows that the
eighty percentile of consumers prefer that the products are shipped free of cost while around
ninety percentile prefer that their products should get delivered at most within a week.
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Another emerging trend for the industry includes sustainability. Consumers are becoming
increasing more concerned about the packaging facilities of ecommerce. It is preferred by the
buyers that the packaging by the company must be sustainable and does not cause major harm to
the environment (Nayak and et.al., 2022). The other actions from the perspective of
sustainability that the society expects from the companies like Apple operating in consumer
electronic industry is that they reduce the deadstock, implement circular practices, carbon
offsetting and reduce the number of returns and exchanges.
Further one more trend in the industry is mobile commerce. There is a drastic increase in
the buyers of mobile over the years. The trend is expected to continue in 2022 and beyond.
Health tech is an emerging trend in innovation. After the pandemic companies are working
increasingly to bring products in market for helping the consumers to safeguard themselves from
the illness.
Innovation Roadmap (Health Tech Devises)
Today 1 – 6 Months
(Short – Term)
6 -12 Months
(Mid – Term)
12 + Months
(Long Term)
Scope To cater the
increasing needs
of the consumer
to lead a healthy
life.
The short term
scope will be to
provide with the
basic features.
After this the
scope for the
company will be
to enhance the
functionality of
the features.
In long term
scope of the
company will be
to develop the
technology so the
number of health
parameters that
can be diagnosed
increases.
Strategic Focus Research and
Development.
Creation of
awareness in the
employees
regarding the
Initial focus will
be to make the
employees aware
about the
importance
Further they will
be trained to
enhance the
customer
experience.
In long term the
focus to the
company will be
to excel in
providing health
tech devices
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concept.
Targeted
Stakeholder
Research and
development
team, employees,
customers.
same same same
Strategy To fulfil this,
need the focus of
the company will
be over the
research and
development for
coming up with
the innovation of
health tech
devices.
Making
employees aware
about the
benefits of the
health tech.
Focus over
research and
development
Focus over
research and
development
Focus over
research and
development
The Organizations Innovation Requirements 2022 and Beyond
The expanded shipping options are required to be implemented by the company as it
attracts more and more number of customers to purchase the products. It is not difficult for the
company to bring such expanded shipping options for its consumers. Expanded shipping options
means making the products ordered be the consumers available to them at free of shipping
charges and with fast delivery. The manufacturing process of the company can be speeded up to
make its products available to the customers further the transportation facilities should also be
effective to support the company in such initiative (Guduru and Gupta, 2022). Company is
capable of manufacturing the goods at faster rate further there is requirement to make the
transporting services more effective and efficient.
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The trend of sustainability in the consumer electronics industry is maintained by the
company in its existing way of producing the products. Sustainability means making the
processes in such a way that cause minimal harm to the environment. It is essential for the
company from its corporate social responsibility perspective as well as for good brand image
bearing also. Apple produces zero waste in manufacturing of the its products. Further the
material used in the outer covering of the products includes elements or alloys like polyester
yarn, tungsten, aluminium, etc. that are all recyclable. Further toxic materials like mercury, PVC,
beryllium, plastic are avoided by the company. To follow the trend company can further reduce
its carbon consumption. The use of renewable sources of energy can further be increased by the
firm. Advancements through innovations can additionally support company in being sustainable.
The increasing trend of the industry in faster increase in mobile sales than the other
devices requires company to come with more innovations in its mobile product line as compared
to other devices that the company produces. The current strategy of the company to launch
mobile phone with latest innovations in highly preferred by the consumers in the market.
Currently the company is capable of launching innovations on timely basis for continuing to do
so there is requirement for the company to constantly train its staff so that they can remain
updated with the recent trends in the market and constantly bring innovations in the products and
services accordingly (Hao and Bu, 2022). Also keeping the future needs in mind the company
maintains a good working environment that attracts more and more number of increasing talents
towards the company.
The next trend of health tech products of consumer electronics industry refers to those
products that helps the consumers to keep a track of their health (3 Consumer Electronic Industry
Trends Shaping Our Lives, 2022). Few products like some editions of iPhones, Apple watch, etc.
have been already launched by the company. As the concept is new and more number of
customers are increasingly getting attract towards this, can be seen in the sales of these products.
The company requires to further enhance the features it offers related to health tech in its future
launches.
Building the future innovation capabilities for company
An innovation capability refers to the ability of the organization that helps them to identify the
new ideas and helps them bring new and improved product in the market. In order to do the
innovation the organization is required to have the various requirements that include creativity,
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critical thinking and the problem solving techniques (Lam and et.al., 2021). The building of
future innovation capabilities can be described by using the three main categories. The main
categories included are culture, change management and leadership/ motivation. These are
described as below:
Culture:
The organizational culture of the company refers to the beliefs, values and the way of
communication and interacting with the people. Every organization has its different culture that
helps them to have target customers in the market (Asbari and et.al., 2020). The organizational
culture of Apple Inc. is to have the rapid innovation. The continuous innovation in the market
and adoption of such changes is the big achievement for the company.
It is very good for the cited company to support and have the innovation in the market as it helps
them to grow in the market. In order to grow from the current state to future state it is very
necessary for the company to have the innovation. By having the innovation it helps the
company to add the value in their business as this will increase the profitability of the business.
The successful innovation helps the company to have the better competition in the market and
increase the market share of the company.
As Apple is having the rapid innovation organization culture which is somehow good for the
customers in the market. But sometimes the person not to take the product as it thinks he will but
the innovative product that will be launched afterwards by the company. So this used to have
great impact on the profitability of the company and affects demand. The company must change
this organization culture in order to have target customers in order to increase in the demands of
the existing products (Saunila, 2020). The company also make the affordable products that helps
them to have more target people and helps them to have better innovation.
The culture of Apple Inc. can be described by using the Hofstede (1980): The national
culture model. This model used to consists of six dimensions that refer to have the individual
preferences for the one thing as compared to another. The six dimensions are described below:
1. Power distance index: This element refers to the degree to which the less powerful
people in the market are accepted and the powers are distributed equally is exception. As
the cited company used to sell the high prices of the products that used to create the
inequality in the market.
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2. Individualism Versus Collectivism: The individualism refers to the preferences for the
small factors of people. On the other hand collectivism used to focus on the overall
society in the market. Apple used to focus on the Individualism that is the rich people
who used to buy the high prices products of this company. This helps the company to
have the good brand image in the mind of customers by having this brand product.
3. Uncertainty avoidance index: This dimension refers to the degree up to which the people
in the market used to feel uncomfortable with uncertainty. The cited company must have
the weak UAI as it helps them to lead in the market by having the better principles in the
market.
4. Long- term Versus Short Term Orientation: The Long term orientation is the best
dimension on which the company must focus on. This helps the company to have the
better culture with the customers by having the long term goals in the market. This is
most important for the company to have short and long term orientation that helps them
to get succeed in the market.
Change management:
Change management refers to the systematic way in order to deal with the transition of
the company’s goals and technologies. The company must have the change management as
it helps them to implement the new strategies in order to innovation in the market. In order
to have the future innovation the company has to change its pricing policy that helps them to
have more customers in the marker (Najafi-Tavani and et.al., 2018). This is one of the
important innovation requirement led by the people which makes them to buy the new
Apple products and can use them as well.
This is the very wide change as the company has to change its pricing policy and have
better promotion of their products. This could be managed by the company by having the
large number of customers in the market that helps them to buy more products. Selling of
the more products helps the company to have the increase in the productivity and
profitability.
By having the change management the company used to have various sources of resistance
that includes economic losses, threat of influence, etc. In order to come and build the
innovation capabilities from current state to future state the company has to manage such
resistance (Dzwigol and et.al., 2019). At the first phase the company will be facing the
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economic loss as there will be change in the pricing policy of the company. The company
can adopt the new strategies that help them to have good profit and help them to maintain
the goodwill.
By applying the Kurt Lewin model it helps the cited company to have the proper change
management (Kurt Lewin’s Change Management Model: The Planned Approach to
Organizational Change, 2022). It is described as below:
1. Unfreeze: Before having the change in the company it must unfreeze the existing
strategy as many people used to resist the change. By having the proper communication
it helps the company to apply the change.
2. Change: In this stage of the model the company used to adopt the changes in order to
grow in the market. As Apple is having change in the pricing and products it must make
the people to know about such changes. This helps them to adopt such changes in order
to have better profits in the market.
3. Re- freeze: By having the changes the company must freeze in such changes that helps
them to get successful in the life. The changes done by Apple helps them to achieve
better goals and offerings from the people.
Leadership:
Leadership refers to the system of having the ability of the individuals or the group of
people that used to have influence and make the followers to follow them in order to do work. As
it seen that in the company the managers and leaders used to have different role. This helps the
company to build the innovation requirements by having the different ideas from managers and
leaders (Mansaray, 2019). As by taking the different idea from the managers and leaders helps
the company to grow in the market. This helps the employees to get motivated in their work and
achieve better goals in the market.
In order to support the innovation the company must have the innovative leadership
approach that helps them to have the creativity in the future. Apple must have the best leaders
that help them to guide and motivate their team in order to need the innovation requirements in
the future. The vision of the company is very bright which used to shows that they will be doing
the rapid innovation in the market. As it is very important for the company to build the future
innovation capability as it helps the company to have better and new ideas of doing the
innovation.
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The leadership is described by using the Kouzes and Ponser (2002): Transformational
Leadership. This used to consist of five practices that include: Model the way, Inspire the vision,
challenge the process, Make other to act and motivate the heart.
These factors must be focused by the above stated company which helps them to lead in the
market (Al-Alawi and et.al., 2019). The company must have the transformational leadership that
helps and guide the leaders to have the better achievements of the goals. The leaders of Apple
Inc. have the new and innovative ideas and challenge the market by doing the innovation. It is
very important to have the innovation capabilities requirements which help the company to grow
from the current stage to the future state. As the vision of vision of the company was very
inspiring that helps them to have the better market which makes them to have positivity while
doing innovation. The transformational leaders must model the way means they must go first in
order to have the better ideas for the innovation (Trivedi, 2019). As the employees in the
company are required to have the motivation in order to do work so the leaders must provide
them best motivation. By having the motivation it helps the company to have the better
innovation capabilities requirements and have better creativity in the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above it is concluded about the innovation is the important part for the
organization to do. The companies do the innovation on the continuous basis that helps them to
grow in the market. Apple Inc. used to do innovation that helps them to grow in the competitive
market. As there are various competitors of the cited organization but it manages to lead in the
market. By having the modernization of the products it helps the company to be one of the
successful brands in the market. From the above report it is seen that the future of the company is
very bright as it used to do innovation and have capability to grow more. In order to do the
innovation the company is required to have various innovation requirements that helps them to
increase its market share in 2022 and beyond.
It is very important for the company to have the proper management and requirements in
order to do the innovation. The company used to have various new projects that are to be
launched in the coming years which show that it is always ready to do the innovation in the
market. Moreover the report has evaluated about the building of future innovation capabilities for
Apple in order to have better growth. This is describing by using the three main categories that is
culture, change management and leadership and motivation. As it is seen that Company is
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required to do the innovation which helps them to lead in the market. By having the proper
organizational culture and change management process it helps them to build the best future
innovation capabilities.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al-Alawi, A. I., and et.al., 2019. Investigating the barriers to change management in public
sector educational institutions. International Journal of Educational Management.
Asbari, M. and et.al., 2020. Impact of Hard Skills, Soft Skills and Organizational Culture:
Lecturer Innovation Competencies As Mediating. EduPsyCouns: Journal of Education,
Psychology and Counseling. 2(1). pp.101-121.
Dzwigol, H. and et.al., 2019. Formation of strategic change management system at an
enterprise. Academy of Strategic Management Journal. 18. pp.1-8.
Guduru, R. K. and Gupta, A. A., 2022. Consumer Applications of Graphene and Its
Composites. Handbook of Consumer Nanoproducts, pp.471-500.
Hao, D. and Bu, N., 2022. The Broad and Pivotal Roles of Taiwanese Electronics Industry in the
Global Electronics Supply Chain: A Case Study of Foxconn and TSMC. In International
Business in the New Asia-Pacific (pp. 161-196). Springer, Cham.
Lam, L. and et.al., 2021. The relation among organizational culture, knowledge management,
and innovation capability: Its implication for open innovation. Journal of Open
Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity. 7(1). p.66.
Mansaray, H. E., 2019. The role of leadership style in organisational change management: a
literature review. Journal of Human Resource Management. 7(1). pp.18-31.
Najafi-Tavani, S. and et.al., 2018. How collaborative innovation networks affect new product
performance: Product innovation capability, process innovation capability, and
absorptive capacity. Industrial marketing management. 73. pp.193-205.
Nayak, J. and et.al., 2022. An impact study of COVID‐19 on six different industries:
Automobile, energy and power, agriculture, education, travel and tourism and consumer
electronics. Expert systems. 39(3). p.e12677.
Pre, D. M. V. and et.al., 2022. The Effects of Social Media Tools Towards Online Retail
Businesses in the Consumer Electronics Industry. MEC-J (Management and Economics
Journal). 6(1). pp.37-54.
Saunila, M., 2020. Innovation capability in SMEs: A systematic review of the literature. Journal
of Innovation & Knowledge. 5(4). pp.260-265.
Trivedi, S., 2019. A Study on Development of Personal and Management Skills in Apple
Inc. International Journal of Human Resource Development and Management. 9(1).
pp.1-9.
Online
3 Consumer Electronic Industry Trends Shaping Our Lives. 2022. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/388159 >
Kurt Lewin’s Change Management Model: The Planned Approach to Organizational Change.
2022. [Online]. Available through:< https://www.managementstudyguide.com/kurt-
lewins-change-management-model.htm>
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