Building Strong Brands through Relationship Management: Lessons from Apple

The provided content consists of various research papers and articles on business ethics, sustainability, quality management, product design, and brand positioning. The papers explore topics such as the relationship between market orientation and environmental performance, the influence of environmental strategy and employee involvement on environmental product quality, and the role of user-generated ratings in ecommerce transactions. Additionally, there are studies on Apple's innovative success, its top-secret product development process, and its design process. Other articles examine the governance of global value chains, supply chain risks, and the importance of usability evaluation approaches for touch screen mobile devices.

PROJECT QUALITY
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Quality management can be defined as the process in which different tools and
techniques are used by businesses to enhance the product quality and meet the expectation of
customers. High end and quality products result in developing a strong sense of satisfaction
among users. The present report explains the significance of quality in long term growth and
sustainability of business corporations. Apple has been taken as a case organization, and in-depth
analysis of the company’s existing product development process has been carried out. It has been
identified that Apple’s new product development process is very costly and time-consuming.
The result of this can be the loss of valuable, loyal customers and this can be the biggest
threat to long term growth of the company. The company will be carrying out certain changes in
the process of new product development, and for this purpose, it will be making use of Kotter’s
eight step change management model. It is recommended that Apple should shorten its time of
introducing the new product in the marketplace. The rationale behind this is that this strategy will
assist the brand in maintaining the interest of customers. In addition to this, it will also help in
attracting new customers and retaining the old ones in the best possible manner.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................2
Context and background..............................................................................................................4
Definition of quality and process identified................................................................................5
Describing Existing process........................................................................................................6
Problems with current process and causes of the problems........................................................7
Recommendations for process improvements.............................................................................8
Describing the improved process...............................................................................................10
A process change strategy.........................................................................................................10
Expected quality outcomes........................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
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Context and background
In today's corporate era, efficient management of quality is essential for long term growth
and success of companies. It can be expressed that the competition among businesses operating
in the technology industry has become highly intense and now it is no longer easy for
organizations to sustain in the marketplace. At present, companies are required to emphasize on
improving the overall quality of products and services to attract new customers and retain the old
ones. Quality management is crucial for businesses as it increases the degree of customer loyalty
and satisfaction (Bellezza & Keinan 2014). At the same time, quality assists corporations to
attain their long and short term objectives. However, it can be critically argued that instead of
managing quality in products and services only, businesses are required to encourage quality
improvement practices in all operations and functions. High quality in products, services, and
processes assists companies in developing a strong brand image in the marketplace.
In the present era, small and large scale enterprise uses different types of quality
management tools with an objective to enhance their operational capabilities. Some of the
necessary tools which business use for carrying out improvement in their process includes cause
and effect diagram, check sheet, histogram, control charts and stratification. All these tools
support organizations to identify loop holes in their existing process and take corrective
measures to eliminate the same. Furthermore, quality processes help companies to manage their
overall cost of operations in the best possible manner. On the contrary, it can be argued that
management of quality among processes is not an easy task for companies as they are required to
carry out changes at regular intervals (Blackston & Lebar 2015). In addition to this,
implementation of quality management tools and techniques requires lots of time and efforts.
The present study is based on Apple Inc. which is a technology company founded in the
year 1976. In the context of revenue generated, Apple is considered as the second largest
company in the world. The company offers different types of hardware and software related
products and services to its customers (Eraslan, İç & Yurdakul 2016). Its product range includes
Smartphone, tablets, personal computers, software, etc. Since its establishment in 1976, the
company has witnessed huge success in the marketplace, and there are various factors associated
with this success. For example, the brand is famous for its innovations in products, services and
it is also considered as the major strength of the brand. Apart from this, the high degree of brand
loyalty among customers of Apple is another major factor which has contributed to growth and
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success of the organization. Brand loyalty has also assisted the organization in getting the
competitive advantage over other market players.
Definition of quality and process identified
Quality can be defined as the essential characteristic or feature of the product which can
satisfy the need and demand of the consumer. Furthermore, it can be expressed that there are
different aspects which integrate together and form quality. For example, some people refer
quality with good design and functionality (Clarke & Boersma 2017). On the other hand, some
individuals consider aspects such durability, value for money and consistency while defining
quality. The intense competition in the technological industry has encouraged companies to
emphasize on quality of their manufacturing process, products, services and other areas of
management.
Since its establishment, the products and services of Apple are popular because of their
high-end quality which other brands in the market have failed to offer. The brand has been able
to attract a large number of customers even with its high price strategy. The rationale behind this
is that people perceive that the product of Apple is value for money. The selected business
enterprise carries out extensive market research to ensure high-end quality and innovations in its
product range. At the same time, Apple has adopted the strategy where it sells its products and
services by high-quality user experience instead of selling them on behalf of specifications.
For a global manufacturing company, ensuring and maintaining product quality, in the
long run, is not an easy task. Even big brands face issues and challenges linked to quality
management and control (Zink et al. 2014). However, in case of Apple Inc., things are
completely different as the band always seeks for offering high-quality products to all its
customers. It can be expressed that during the process of manufacturing of Smartphone's also,
the high-quality components are used by the organization.
As compared to the other Android phones, the processing of Apple Smartphone is quite
useful. Since its establishment, the company has always focused on the overall quality of
products instead of emphasizing on quantity. This strategy has played a crucial role in long term
growth and sustainability of the brand. In addition to this, high product quality has supported the
company to acquire a higher degree of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Apple has always
learned from its mistakes, and it keeps improving the overall quality of its products and services
offered. For example, during the year 2007, the products or phones of apple were not considered
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as durable, and the company has worked upon the same. The present products of Apple are
considered as highly durable and of high-end quality.
Describing Existing process
Apple’s product development process is considered as one of the most successfully
designed procedures that are implemented by any other firm (Van der Lans, Van den Bergh &
Dieleman 2014). The first step in the Apple product development process is the generation of the
idea that is launching new phone with distinct feature and quality. At this stage manager
expresses to manufacture the new product and discuss brief information regarding the product
and its features. Thus, for producing the new phone in series, it establishes design team that
makes the blueprint of the phone that how it would look. The design team is separated from the
Apple Company and follows their reporting structure that helps them develop the new product
(Elmansy 2017).
Once the design process has begun The Apple New Product Process (i.e., ANPP) is put
into the action. It is defined as a detailed documentation of every step in product development
process. ANPP also focuses on mapping out all the stages of creation and who will work on each
of the stages. Along with this, it also determines who are responsible for completion of tasks.
After that the Executive team weekly reviews every product of Apple that company has in
process phase (Chen et al. 2015). This general meeting or review helps the squad to accomplish
their goals by evaluating small division of the procedure on a weekly basis. Therefore, the
production process of new product development would be completed within the two weeks.
With the start up of the production process, both the responsible people that are
Engineering Program Manager (EPM) and Global Supply Manager (GSM) together known as
EPM Mafia will overview the production process of products in China. Both the managers will
discuss the process and make the decision that will be best for the product.
After the manufacturing of beta product at China EPM and GSM bring the product to
Cupertino that is at the Apple Campus so that executive may review the product. At this testing
stage if executive remark the product then it will be sent back to China so that product may have
required modification (Panzarino 2012). Hence, this process will be repeated again and again so
that product must attain the high quality standard.
After that Packaging of Apple product is designed and the room is dedicated to devising
packaging. The room for packaging has high security where prototypes are unboxed. Along with
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this, intensive testing has been performed so that it may provide the best experience to
consumers.
Therefore, the last step in the product development process is to generate Rules of the
Road manuscript that assesses the entire process and each object within it. Along with this, it
also explains the actions and responsibilities that need to be considered before the launch of a
product.
Problems with current process and causes of the problems
It can be expressed that the present product development process which has been adopted
by Apple has different issues which need to be identified and resolved as soon as possible (West
& Mace 2007). Ineffective planning/ forecasting can be termed as one of the most significant
problems which lie within the existing process of product development. In the present era,
companies are required to invest a substantial amount of human, technological and financial
resources in the process of new products development. Furthermore, the process is also
considered as very risk as the risk associated with failure of a new product in the market is very
high.
Apple has faced issues due to ineffective forecasting in the process of new product
development. This can be justified by the example of iPhone 5 when the company adopted the
strategy of pre-booking before the launch of products. However, it can be critically argued that
the company was not able to meet the demand of iPhone 5 as it was exceeding higher than what
it was expected (Ramaswamy & Ozcan 2016). Apple was required to delay the delivery of
product, and the company also canceled the pre-order booking of iPhone 5. It can be expressed
that the overall brand image and degree of customer satisfaction were adversely affected by the
problem of ineffective planning/forecasting in Apple's process of new product development.
The product development cycle of Apple phones is very lengthy, and this is considered as
another major problem which the company is required to resolve. This issue can be justified by
the fact that iPhone 5 was launched on 21st September 2012 and after this, Apple took almost
two years of time to launch iPhone 6. Customers of the company are required to wait very long
for its new products, services, and this sometimes results in creating dissatisfaction among
people in the market. Nowadays, people get bored by their Smartphone in every six months or 1
year (Page 2013). Furthermore, individuals also desperately wait to buy Smartphone with new
features, processing, and technology.
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However, in case of Apple, people are required to wait for years to buy the new product
or phone produced by the company. It can be stated that even the degree of brand loyalty is
affected adversely because of Apple's lengthy product development cycle (Cho, Fiore & Russell
2015 ). At present, Samsung is considered as the biggest competitor to Apple, and it launches
new products with direct competition to Apple in every six months. For example, Samsung
launched Galaxy S6 as the direct competitor of iPhone 6. Sometimes, existing users of Apple are
do not prefer to wait for one year or two to buy the new product, and they are attracted to
Samsung which has a short product development cycle.
Another fundamental problem linked with the product development process of Apple is
that it is very costly (Payne 2017). The cost incurred in the development of products is very high,
and this encourages Apple to go for a high price strategy. It can be expressed that high price
strategy has created obstacles for the company regarding attracting more and more customers. At
present, the brand's target market only includes people who belong to the upper class and upper
middle class of the society. It means the segment of the middle class or middle-income level is
still unexplored by Apple and at the same time, Samsung has got the opportunity to capture high
market share in this segment.
Recommendations for process improvements
Certain recommendations need to be implemented within the product development process of
Apple so that it may quickly improve the process and maintain its quality. The recommendations
are as follows-
 Short product development cycle- The key recommendation within process
improvement include engaging in shorter product development cycle as presently the
company launches their mobile phone in the gap of 2 years (Misra et al. 2016). Therefore,
it results in shifting their clients and customers towards the other phone as the competitor
are launching new phones on the regular interval. Thus it is recommended for the
company to engage in shorter product development cycle so that they can make efficient
use of technology and meet the requirement of customers.
 Effective planning and forecasting before the product launch- Another
recommendation within the product development process of Apple is that before
launching the new mobile phone in market manager must engage in effective planning
and forecasting of demand. It has been stated that at the time of launching iPhone 5
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company has not engaged in planning and forecasting the demand that results in affecting
their image and shifting launching date after three months (Nahmias & Olsen 2015).
Therefore, it is required to have planning and proper forecasting so that it results in
attaining the desired production of the product.
 Implementation of quality control process- Another recommendation for process
improvement must focus on the implementation of quality control process within the
product development process so that they can easily maintain high-quality standard
within their product. With the help of quality control process, Apple Company can easily
minimize the associated risk and hazard so that it may not hamper the product
functioning (Mitra 2016).
 Cost- Another recommendation for process improvement focuses on reducing the cost
factor within the product development process so that Apple can bring the new range of
phones in the market that must be economic in nature. To manufacture a large number of
phone, it is required by the company to lower their cost so that they can manage their
production level (Cho, Fiore & Russell 2015 ).
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 Target market- It has been recommended that Apple also needs to identify and reach the
broad customer base. Through targeting the middle-income customer company must
engage in developing or manufacturing the mobile phone that would meet their income
level (Khan, Jaber & Ahmad 2014). Therefore, it is recommended to improve the
production process. Along with this, through expanding the company's supply network,
they would reach more of its targeted customers and give them high-quality sales and
support experience will serve to increase market penetration.
Describing the improved process
The improved product development process of Apple will emphasize on shorting the
period of product development and reducing the cost of operations. It has been identified that the
company takes an enormous amount of time to develop and launch its new products (Lewis
2016). However, the new process will focus on creating and launching the new product in the
gap of every six months. The result of this is that the company will be able to maintain a high
degree of satisfaction among existing customers. At the same time, it will be able to attract new
customers in the long run. The new and improved process will opt for reducing the cost of
operations and selling the product at economical prices. The company will operate with two
different product line, and here the products with high price and moderate prices will be offered
to the people in the marketplace (Klingebiel & Joseph 2016).
From the above carried out research on Apple Company, it has been identified that the
market segment of the middle class or middle-income level is still unexplored by the brand.
Thus, the organization will be looking forward to launching new range of phones with moderate
prices through its new product development process. The benefit of this is that Apple will be able
to attract more new customers and enhance its existing market share. The company will be
looking forward to setting up a manufacturing unit in other growing markets such as India. It will
help the brand to lower down the cost of operations and reduce its dependency on one particular
market which is China (Laugesen & Yuan 2010).
A process change strategy
To carry out and manage changes within the product development process, Kotter's eight
step change model will be taken into consideration by Apple. The entire process of change is
mentioned below as:
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Increase the urgency for change- In this stage of change management, Apple is going to
identify the critical threats and problems associated with its existing process of new product
development. Furthermore, the company will also be exploring the key opportunities available in
front of the business enterprise.
Building the dedicated team of change management- In this stage, the company will start the
process of convincing all its employees that change is now essential for long term growth and
success (Hofmann et al. 2014). In addition to this, change leaders within the company will be
identified, and they will be assigned with the responsibility to implement and manage variations
in the best possible manner.
Creating a vision for change - Here, Apple will be developing values which will be center and
core to the entire process of change management. The company will be communicating its future
vision and objectives in this stage of change management process.
Communicating the need for change – Apple will be using various types of informal and
formal communication tools to inform all its stakeholders about the need and significance of the
change in product development process (Hoog & Strzempka 2010). This stage will help
stakeholders to understand the fact that why changes in process are so essential. Meanwhile, it
will also assist in getting adequate corporation from external and internal stakeholders.
Empowering staff with the ability to change – In this stage of change management process, the
employee working in Apple will be empowered with different authorities and responsibilities.
All the barriers and obstacles faced in the change management process will be removed by the
company at this stage (Goetsch & Davis 2014).
Creating short term goals – Here, the company will be recognizing and appreciating the efforts
of employees for the accomplishment of short term goals. This strategy will act as the biggest
motivator and will encourage workers to give their best in making the changes permanent within
the product development process.
Staying persistent – In this stage, the company will be focusing on ensuring the fact quality of
products and service is not affected due to the changes in product development process. It can be
stated that at present, the products of Apple are in high demand because of high quality and any
degradation in existing quality will result in creating dissatisfaction among customers. The brand
image and value of Apple will also get adversely affected because of degradation in quality. In
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this stage, the company is also going to set various objectives and goals with regards to
improvement in quality (Groover 2016).
Making the change permanent- This is considered as the last stage of change management in
which the changes made will be incorporated into the overall corporate culture of the brand.
Here, the organization will emphasize on making the changes stick permanently within its new
product development process.
Expected quality outcomes
Quality plays a significant role within the organization as it assists in meeting the
requirement of customers. With the above possible changes in the process, it has been reviewed
that it would meet the expected quality outcomes of Apple. The company does focus on meeting
the quality standards of their phone as they are considered as the premium brand that offers
quality electronic products in the market (Ferraro, Kirmani & Matherly 2013).
It has also been expected that Apple Company would be launching their smart phones in
the short span of time that is mainly in 6 months. Thus, with the up gradation of the technology
company is required to bring new technology to their product so that it would directly meet the
requirement of customers. Apple has also stated that they would not compromise or degrade their
quality standard with engaging in the new product development process. Along with this, above
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possible change in the product development process would expect in attaining quality outcomes
regarding increasing their research and development activities (Johnson 2012).
With the increasing research and development activities within Apple, Company manager
can easily initiate the new feature or attribute that would be introduced in their new product.
Along with this, it has also been expected that with research and development activities it also
outcome in introducing new or upgraded technology for their operating system so that it may
easily attract the customers and their requirement (Flanagin et al. 2014).
In addition to this, from the above recommendation of implementing quality control
process, it has been expected that employees would consider the quality standard while
performing their activities (Sallis 2014). Along with this, for the expected quality outcomes
employees within the company should be provided with appropriate training and development
activities. With training and development employees must come to know regarding the quality
and quality control process for overcoming the associated risk (Dennis 2015). With the above
recommendation, the company also expects that an individual performance within the business
must be above the standard. At the same time, for the success of Apple in electronic market
quality is considered an essential tool that meets the expectations of customers.
CONCLUSION
From the above carried out report, it can be concluded that Apple is one of the leading
brands in the market and it has been successful because of its quality. Nowadays, quality
management practices have become essential for long term sustainability and in getting a
competitive advantage over other market players. It can also be inferred that the existing process
of product development within Apple has particular problems which need to be resolved by the
company on the priority basis. The process of product development within Apple consumes lots
of time and resources. For example, people are required to wait for years to buy new products of
Apple. This has resulted in developing a high degree of dissatisfaction among existing users and
has also discouraged new customers to purchase the product of Apple Inc.
It has been recommended that Apple should emphasize on reducing the time consumed
for development and launch of new product. Furthermore, it is also suggested that the brand
should focus on the setting new manufacturing plant in developing economies of the world. The
improved process will have a short span of product development, and the company will be
looking forward to launching new product in almost every six months. This strategy will help in
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maintaining the interest of customers and retaining them for the long run. It can be concluded
that Apple will be using Kotter's change management model to ensure that modification in its
existing product development process is carried out in the best possible manner. Apart from this,
it is also expected that the organization will not make any compromise in product quality.
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