BIZ301 Module 3 Case Study: Apple's Creativity and Innovation

This case study examines Apple Inc.'s organizational creativity and innovation strategies. It analyzes how Apple fosters innovation through its leadership, organizational culture, and product development. The study explores Apple's mission and vision statements, and the role of Steve Jobs in shaping the company's innovative approach. It also delves into Apple's market analysis, product design, and customer focus, highlighting the factors that contribute to its competitive advantage. Furthermore, the assignment discusses the impact of organizational culture and employee involvement on generating innovative ideas and launching new products. The analysis references key concepts such as innovation, leadership styles, market research, and customer preferences, providing a comprehensive understanding of Apple's success in a competitive market. The case study also references the role of Apple's people in creating a positive work environment, adhering to management and leadership styles, and generating innovative ideas that were used to launch new innovative products.

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Organizational Creativity and Innovation
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Organizational Creativity and Innovation
Question 1
Apple is an American Multinational company which has been globally considered as the
number one innovative company. Its innovative strategy has been based on launching new
products and innovative business models (Winter, Battisti, Burström & Luukkainen, 2018).
There are different ways in which innovation and strategy work together at Apple Inc. Apple has
innovative leaders who think regarding platforms that push the rate of innovation. With these
innovative leaders, they can create a vision, mission, and goals for the organization (Meyer,
2018). Take, for instance; Steve Jobs was able to create values, mission, and vision that has been
adopted by Apple. An example of a mission statement can be given by the 2017 mission
statement: “Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X,
iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods
and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone
and App store, and it is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with the
iPad.” In the mission statement, there is a description of their products and the states of their
products. With this mission statement, employees and leaders will be motivated to work
delivering the best products to consumers and fulfilling the mission objective of the organization.
When it comes to the vision statement of Apple, employees are guided in ways in which they are
encouraged to keep their products simple in regards to product design and development.
Secondly, Apple has an organizational culture where they take motivation from the
mistakes that they make. As an illustration before the launch of its innovative product, Apple
completely mired the demand of the market. With the help of their innovative leaders, they had
to rethink their strategies when it came to market penetration. In this scenario, Apple needed

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skilled teams, therefore, with the help of Steve Jobs, Apple was able to form an iPod team who
were working on both software and hardware. Apple’s innovation and strategy has been
motivated by the needs of the consumers (Wilson, 2018). With this, they have designed products
based on market needs and preferences. As a result, they have been able to penetrate the market
and increase their market share compared to other rival companies.
Question 2
Apple has been able to produce consistent products. A closer scrutiny of Apple products
indicates that they are all having similar basic product design and architecture. Because of this
product consistencies, an Apple customer will always have an idea of the products to buy once
he or she gets into the market (Langley & Leyshon, 2017). Secondly, Apple has been introducing
innovation periodically. With these new innovative products, consumers will be having different
types of products to enjoy that are being provided by the company. These innovative products
give consumers an opportunity to use Apple products at all times in the houses or while driving
(Giachetti, 2018). For example, we have the iTunes music platform. These new innovative
products have made Apple stay ahead of rival companies as they increase their market share in a
competitive market. Thirdly, Apple products have been equipped with a sense of attraction due
to the packaging, product design and the user interface experiences (Meyer, 2018). Apple has
been able to make its products and attractive through having bright colors, user-friendly interface
hence maintaining customer loyalty.
Furthermore, Apple has been selling its products to schools and universities. As a result,
they have a transformed “classrooms into showrooms”. As a result, students using Apple
products become comfortable using these products. This is a strategy towards creating brand
awareness. With this, Apple captures consumers without even knowing that they are customers.

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Apple has been considering the tastes and preferences of customers (Derbyshire & Giovannetti,
2017). As a result, before the company releases new innovative products, there is extensive
market research that is conducted to determine the reactions and behaviors of consumers. Their
reactions will determine whether the product will be released into the market or not.
Additionally, the knowledge gained through the extensive research will be used to
redesign the products that suit the needs of consumers. Apple has been able to communicate with
its target market effectively. Through effective communication, the company can collect vital
information regarding the market and the needs of the consumers. Within the organization,
employees are aware of the expectations of the company (Safian, 2018). As a result, they can
dedicate their times, skills and experiences towards the delivery of better and innovative
products. The effectiveness of their innovative strategies has been based on effective leadership
and management style where the top executives involve employees in decision making. Steve
Jobs used a democratic leadership style that positively influenced the organization and helped in
the generation of new ideas.
Question 3
Apple people played a role in collecting information that could be used in the creation of
innovative products. Additionally, they were also playing a role in the creation of a positive work
environment where there could be positive organizational behavior and organizational culture
(Hinterhuber & Liozu, 2017). Within the organization, it was the responsibility of the people to
adhere to the management styles and leadership style that was being exercising. Through this,
they were in a position to be aware of the chain of command and apply different ways of solving
their issues such as conflict within their teams.

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The organizational culture encouraged employees to continue generating innovative ideas
that were to be used in launching innovative products. As an illustration, Apple’s organizational
culture has been based on adhering and maintaining the philosophies of the organization such as
mission, vision, and values of the organization. As an illustration, the cultural characteristics of
the organizations have always been aligned with driving innovation. With the mission and vision
of the organization, employees were being guided on the paths that they should follow towards
achieving organizational goals in regards to innovation and new product designs. Through
leadership, Steve Jobs and Tim Cook have been able to improve organizational culture through
the maximization of human resource support in regards to business relevance in different types
of markets (Dolata, 2017). Apple together with its management has been able to shape its
corporate culture with an objective of using it as a management tool.
Furthermore, when it comes to leadership, Apple leaders; Steve Jobs and Tim Cook have
been able to include their employees during the decisions making process. This is a platform that
can be used to generate new ideas crucial in launching new innovative products and product
design. The organizational culture which is being practiced by Apple has made employees feel
like they are part of the organization through being constantly appreciated and included in the
management process (Chauhan, S., & Goyal, 2018).
Question 4.
Steve Jobs changed Apple through product development and delivery. This can be
supported by the fact that, Steve Jobs launched iMac in 1998 which gained popularity in the
technology market. Additionally, he has been able to introduce new products with the help of his
teams (Gallo, 2014). Steve Jobs’ view of innovation was that people should be doing what they
love because, through this, they would do all it takes to ensure that their work becomes a success.

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Steve considered creativity to be connecting things such as associating ideas (Teece, 2017). This
can be achieved by coming up with a team with an objective of launching a new product hence
as a result, numerous ideas are generated.

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References
Chauhan, S., & Goyal, S. (2018). Platform ecosystems: the expert opinion. Journal of
Information Technology Case and Application Research, 1-4.
Derbyshire, J., & Giovannetti, E. (2017). Understanding the failure to understand New Product
Development failures: Mitigating the uncertainty associated with innovating new
products by combining scenario planning and forecasting. Technological Forecasting
and Social Change, 125, 334-344.
Dolata, U. (2017). Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration-
competition-innovation strategies (No. 2017-01). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Organisations-
und Innovationsforschung, SOI Discussion Paper.
Gallo C. (2014). The 7 Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Retrieved from:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2014/05/02/the-7-innovation-secrets-of-steve-
jobs/#648fb183751c (Accessed 8/10/2018)
Giachetti, C. (2018). Explaining Apple’s iPhone Success in the Mobile Phone Industry: The
Creation of a New Market Space. In Smartphone Start-ups (pp. 9-48). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
Hinterhuber, A., & Liozu, S. M. (2017). Is innovation in pricing your next source of competitive
advantage? In Innovation in Pricing (pp. 11-27). Routledge.
Langley, P., & Leyshon, A. (2017). Platform capitalism: the intermediation and capitalization of
digital economic circulation. Finance and society. 3(1), 11-31.

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Meyer P. (2018). Apple Inc.’s Organizational Culture & Its Characteristics (An
Analysis).Retrieved from: http://panmore.com/apple-inc-organizational-culture-features-
implications (accessed date 8/10/2018)
Safian R. (2018). Why Apple is the World’s most innovative company. Retrieved from:
https://www.fastcompany.com/40525409/why-apple-is-the-worlds-most-innovative-
company (Accessed 8/10/2018)
Teece, D. J. (2017). Profiting from Innovation in the Digital Economy: Standards,
Complementary Assets, and Business Models in the Wireless World. Research Policy
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Wilson, E. (2018). Apple's Key Success Factors in the UK that Could Be Learned and Applied
by Other Companies from the Same Industry. Available at
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3152328/
Winter, J., Battisti, S., Burström, T., & Luukkainen, S. (2018). Exploring the success factors of
mobile business ecosystems. International Journal of Innovation and Technology
Management, 15(03), 1850026.