Strategic management

Résumé du document

Apple was created by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in the Jobs family garage, California. They launched the Apple II in 1977, their first big success: the computer which has created the personal computing market. Then in 1980, the firm was introduced to the stock exchange. The Macintosh was presented to the world during the final of the super bowl in 1984 through TV advertising which is considered as one of the most famous TV spots in the world. Directed by Ridley Scott, the scene depicted IBM's world broken by a new machine, the Macintosh. In 1981 IBM made its first PC and in 1985, Microsoft launched Windows, the graphic interface for IBM PC, which used numerous elements of Mac OS. This led to a long judicial battle between Apple and Microsoft. The result of the judgment allowed Microsoft to copy elements of the graphic interface of Macintosh. It is then that, by studying the system of the IBM PC, many firms were able to make Compatible IBM PC. Despite the first version of Windows being technologically inferior to Macintosh, a clone PC could be sold cheaper.

Extraits

[...] For the innovation: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”, turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines” For the design: most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service”, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” For the image: think we're having fun. I think our customers really like our products. [...]

[...] - MacOS 8 is going to allow Steve Jobs to close definitively the doors of Macintosh in clones. Licenses concerned effectively only systems 7.x. By reappointing system 7.7 in he obliges firms to reinvest in the purchase of licenses. Most of the clone companies stopped their activity due to the enormous price proposed by Jobs. He estimated that the builders of clone such as Power Computing have divided the privileged market by Apple, there where most of the margins traditionally were. [...]

[...] The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Doubleday - Jean-Claude Sohm (CERIG / EFPG) (22 mai 1998) http://cerig.efpg.inpg.fr/Note/1998/Apple_22-5-98.html - Tichy, N (1983) Managing Strategic Change, Wiley, New York, pp18-19 - Time special end of year edition http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2004/people/14.html. - Wikipedia Encyclopedia (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer) - Wrapp, H. E. (1984). "Good Managers Don't Make Policy Decisions.” Harvard Business Review 8-21. [...]

[...] This can create a new image to Apple, which will be more affordable and so most popular. Conclusion As we said before, the strategy of Apple was the return to basics: Steve Jobs first tried to renew the past image and strategy of the brand by producing products which were similar to those which made the success of the firm. He achieved it with success according to the last results: all products know rates of progress in volumes (with regard to the same quarter of the previous year) double-digit and sometimes triple-digit on the range iMac, + on PowerBooks) and the incomes of three zones America, Europe and Japan progressed of more than in each of them. [...]

[...] One good example is the iMac which was one of the first computers to have USB ports and no Floppy disk reader. In 1998 it was a revolution and now most of computers are similar to it. - Design: with its iMac launched in 1998, Apple began to create different computers extremely different from other Wintel (Windows + Intel) computers. The iBbook (1999), The G4 cube (2000), the eMac (2002), the G5 in 2003 and finally the Mac Mini in 2005. [...]