Process Improvement Plan Presentation for Apple Inc

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timer Asked: Apr 20th, 2017

Question Description

In this learning activity, we will evaluate process improvement plan presentations. Your presentation will be based on the process improvement plan you developed throughout the course (Attached).


Your presentation should include:

  1. A powerpoint slide presentation.
  2. A 5 to 7 minute narration (should be a summary of the information and not read word for word) .
  3. Presenter notes.
  4. A discussion of the deficiencies in the current processes, your proposal of a new process, the requirements to successfully implement the process, and your plan of action.

The audience for your presentation is the board and stakeholders of the organization implementing the plan.

Unformatted Attachment Preview

The Apple Inc. Company Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company involved in designing and creating iTunes and iPod, desktop computers and Mac laptop, the revolutionary iPhone and iPad and the OS X operating system. Manager’s job in any work place is to get job done, and to deliver this, staff motivation is crucial. The company recently has had challenges as for years; the company relied around its charismatic co-founder, Steve Jobs. Some of these challenges involve preserving the company’s persona, managing growth and capturing public imagination. Apple Company has been able to motivate its staff not only too effectively and efficiently to do the job but also making sure that their employees enjoys doing the work. With their goal of manufacturing great products, they use internal rewards to motivate their staff. They give their employees challenging jobs, where the employee will be pushed to his or her maximum potential. This inspires employee and feels respected because they are believed that they possess the potential to accomplish challenging tasks which makes them strife for good results in their performance. Apple Company has also met their staff safety standards, training needs and also setting up an average salary. Shared company vision is crucial to any business as it creates a reason for all staff and a ordinary identity. Creating joint effort between departments and this improves the operational competence in the firm. Apple inc. has developed a sense of obligation among its staff where their interests have been aligned with the dream of the firm. This has improved their commitment and inspired them to put an extra effort towards achieving the joint vision of the overall business (O’Dea, 2014). Apple’s effective expectations and the organizational culture has been the key factor to its success, Culture, and capabilities in supporting new policies, new strategies and new changes. Managing sales performance is the most important sales managers kill where they can communicate their expectations, monitor behaviors and results, and provide regular feedback. Setting expectations requires planning and the more time a manager invests at the front end, the more effective the team will operate. Communication is also important when setting expectations. Centrally to what many organizations think, workers want to be held accountable for what they do. Accountability equates to responsibility and responsibility leads to intrinsic motivator’s accomplishment, purpose and significance. Holding workers accountable is important as it keeps them engaged. Apple Company has its own code of ethics which applies to all company employees worldwide including the top managers. Success of any company is not only the incredible manufacturing capability and location but many times, Human Resource strategy is what makes the company grow strong to rule the market. Apple considers great talents management approaches as the reason why they may be leaders in consumer electronics market. Instead of development and training programs, Apple Inc. makes workers do it themselves by reinforcing them to have strong self-reliant while developing their own skills (Chang, 2016). References Chang, J. F. (2016). Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. CRC Press. O’Dea, M. (2014). Process improvement. Running head: APPLE INC. 1 SWOT Analysis Apple’s SWOT analysis focuses on the most important strengths that the company can use to advance its position and economic enactment, including the weaknesses and threats that should be handled through new plans (Grant, 2016). The SWOT analysis of Apple Inc. also classifies the key opportunities that outline the strategic direction of the corporation. Strengths Apple Company has been regarded as the top innovator in mobile device technology and an exclusive and reputed company. The company has a strong brand image, high-profit limits, and operative innovation development. Moreover, the corporation can introduce profitable, innovative products and sustains its premium pricing policy. Weaknesses Just like it has strengths, the company has its weaknesses which can serve as an obstacle to the growth of the business. Apple has a narrow distribution system because of its policy of exclusivity which bounds the market reach of the company (Purkayastha & Sharma, 2016). In addition, the company’s price is very high and may not be affordable to lots of individuals. Opportunity The greatest opportunity that the corporation has is that the new products will improve the market share of the company and will support the competitive advantage of the organization. Samsung being the main competitor of Apple Corporation is also the only source of application computers for Apple’s products. Furthermore, increase in sales will offer a good opportunity to enlarge its shares. 2 APPLE INC. Threats The threats of this company could be the hasty technological revolution, which means that the buyer’s interest can converse anytime and the outcome is a failure. Another threat can be an increase in tax, price pressure from its main competitor, Samsung over main mechanisms, and most significant if the rivals move in wired music advertising (Purkayastha & Sharma, 2016). Therefore, this can be a threat and loss of corporation’s income. 3 APPLE INC. Summary and How to Use SWOT Analysis Apple Company’s recent success is related to the capability of the firm to deploy its strengths to overcome weaknesses and threats, and to maximize opportunities. The SWOT analysis of the company provides understandings on the activities of the corporation to exploit its development based on those strengths and opportunities. The SWOT analysis also shows the most significant concerns that the company must handle. For example, the threat of rivalry is among the most noteworthy. An insight of the changing aspects of internal and external considered issues also assists investors to assess the value of Apple’s industry (Nwogugu, 2015). Therefore, the SWOT analysis of the company is of applied use for stakeholders and the leaders and managers of the company. Apple’s SWOT analysis shows that the company owns major strengths that can be used to address managerial weaknesses successfully. The corporation can also use these strengths to maximize the opportunity to enlarge its supply system. Additionally, Apple can use its strong brand image and hasty growth processes to improve and launch different product appearances effectively. Nevertheless, the company faces the noteworthy challenges of forceful competition and imitation, which are key threats affecting competitors in the firm. An appropriate course of action is to solve these threats through a stronger clear selection, together with constant innovation to make sure that there is a competitive advantage of the products of the company even when players try to imitate (Nwogugu, 2015). 4 APPLE INC. Business Strategy Using Contingency Theory In circumstances where the development of foreign markets ascertains to be ineffective, Apple should then target at engaging in the particular markets that it has recognized at the moment since these markets have now ascertained to be effective to the corporation. The current strategies would also be uncontrolled and implement the new strategies that have proved fruitful of the corporation over the years (Nwogugu, 2015). After the loss of Steve Jobs, the company was left with an enormous emptiness that many people thought it would not be easy to fill. Nevertheless, the new CEO and the other workers have verified over the last few months that the also have the ability to take the corporation to new heights even without Steve Jobs. However, to make certain that the corporation is always doing well; the management has an obligation to frequently review several figures against the predicted figures to determine whether the company is healthy or not. After studying the macro environment within which Apple functions in, it is obvious that Apple has strengths in its assets and abilities. This is since the company has superlative design players, talented projects engineers, various existing rights, an operative and fruitful value chain and an innovation based tactic (Purkayastha & Sharma, 2016). On the other hand, the business within which the corporation runs in is quickly altering as main competitors are continuously presenting new products that integrate new technology and strategies. To be precise, the tablet and smartphone industry have customers who are price delicate and experiences a great level of replications in both the strategies and purpose ability of these products can be established by the shared counter allegation against Samsung by Apple and vice versa. Main competitors in the sector are grounded from diverse parts of the world demonstrating 5 APPLE INC. that it would be difficult to observe every move of the competitors. Apple’s main objective is to control the several industries that it operates in, while at the same time generating good profit for the investors and donating at the improvement of the society in general (Purkayastha & Sharma, 2016). Due to the nature of business, Apple, therefore, requires adopting successful plans that will ensure continuous sustainability of the corporation. Some strategies that Apple can implement are, increasing the amount or sell channels especially in unindustrialized nations, cultivate a device that would permit for the products to be charged by other ways not only from plugging into an electricity opening since the key issue of devices has received criticisms. Moreover, certify the use of Siri and Mac Software to changed producers, provide consumers the opportunity to modify and identify the products they desire to purchase from Apple (Purkayastha & Sharma, 2016). Furthermore, Apple should be more involved with the groups in areas where the corporation has operations since such tactics will go a long way in improving Apple brand. Lastly, Apple Inc. should strengthen business social responsibility. These are methods embraced by a corporation to meet investor’s requirements and reduce the impact of the organization to the setting while at the same time funding for the development of a strong brand and optimistic image of the business. Although Apple is already having a trade social responsibility structures in place, there is a requirement for the corporation to be more supportive of corporate social responsibility (Grant, 2016). Some of the enterprises that the company might be established in would be an institution of technical schools in emerging nations, and expansion of affordable models of Apple Mac processors for schools in industrialized countries. 6 APPLE INC. References Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley & Sons. Nwogugu, M. C. (2015). The Case of Apple, Inc., and the S&P-500 Companies: Managerial Psychology, Corporate Governance and Business Processes. Purkayastha, A., & Sharma, S. (2016). Gaining competitive advantage through the right business model: analysis based on case studies. Journal of Strategy and Management, 9(2), 138155. Running Head: THE APPLE INC. COMPANY 1 Introduction Apple Inc. is a multinational technology company involved in designing and creating iTunes and iPod, desktop computers and Mac laptop, the revolutionary iPhone and iPad and the S-X operating system. Essentially, a manager’s job in any workplace is to get the job done and to deliver this, staff motivation is crucial. The company recently has had challenges as for years; the company relied on its charismatic co-founder, Steve Jobs. Some of these challenges involve preserving the company’s persona, managing growth and capturing the public imagination. Apple Company has been able to motivate its staff not only to effectively and efficiently do the job but also making sure that their employees enjoy doing the work. With their goal of manufacturing great products, they use internal rewards to motivate their staff. They give their employees challenging jobs, where the employee is pushed to his or her maximum potential. This inspires employees and makes them feel respected because they are believed to possess the potential to accomplish challenging tasks which make them strive for good results in their performance. Apple Company has also met their staff safety standards, training needs and also setting up an average salary. Additionally, Apple Inc. has developed a sense of obligation among its staff where their interests have been aligned with the dream of the firm. This has improved their commitment and inspired them to put an extra effort towards achieving the joint vision of the overall business (O’Dea, 2014). Proposed Change Apple Inc. boasts of having a great pool of talent from their large labor force. Moreover, among the companies, strength is that it is known for its leading position in technological innovation. Therefore, by exploiting these two strengths and believing in the fact that the company THE APPLE INC. COMPANY 2 has the ability and capacity to develop new and innovative products and maintain its marketability, there are high chances of adopting the same innovative strategy on the market. This is because Apple has only been innovative in creating their products, but they have never concentrated or rather focused much on how to penetrate their market of operation. Therefore, this paper proposes a strategy for the organization to incorporate innovation in all their process from production to marketing (Venugopal & Viswanathan, 2015). Essentially, this proposal focuses more on ensuring that the company’s products are not marketed via the conventional marketing methods which are also used by other companies operating within the same industry as Apple Inc. This strategy does not involve revising the current production techniques. Instead, it insists on having new and innovative marketing techniques. Process Implementation This change will require Incorporation of new marketing strategy techniques and model in an organizational strategy. This is because it is the strategy which governs the particular processes to be implemented in order to achieve the objectives of an organization. Currently, Apple Inc. uses the 4p’s marketing mix model. This model is seen as being suitable because of the diversification and innovative objective of the company. For instance, basing on the place concept, the organization has increased its market presence by opening new markets and acquiring more market shares. The development and designing of new and innovative products represent the product concept, while their standard prices that are designed to maximize profitability represent the price concept of the 4P marketing strategy (Choi, 2017). Lastly, the promotion concept of the strategy is based on the enhanced company name of the Apple Inc. which is a trademark name in the phone and phone accessories sector. This model is good and has been effective in pushing Apple Inc. to THE APPLE INC. COMPANY 3 where it is. Therefore, there is no need to replace it. However, reinforcing it with another marketing model is likely to enhance the marketability and profitability of the company. As Giannakis, Harker, & Baum, (2015) argues, the 4Ps marketing strategy is mostly vital for already established products and organizations. Therefore, Apple Inc. being an established organization with a strong brand name, the model is suitable. However, there is a need to create new markets and offer more information about the company’s new products. Therefore, a different marketing model can be utilized for this function, and in this case, the 3C’s strategy model seems to be highly suitable. This strategy will help the organization to increase the current number of sales through utilization of a customized marketing strategy. This is because this strategy will make the company be a pioneer mobile phone producer. The success probability of this organizational marketing strategy and model is founded on the fact that Apple Inc. has strong research capabilities as well as a strong culture of innovation and research. The 3C marketing model has three parts which are represented by the Cs in the name. These are the corporation, customers, and competition. Customers These are the clients to business, and Apple Inc. needs to focus on their interest and needs first (Venugopal & Viswanathan, 2015). Therefore, most of the innovation produced by the company should be customer centered and not just directed at revolutionizing the technological aspect of the telephone sector. This can be achieved by; Segmenting the company objectives. This could be achieved by differentiating the products with regard to the unique ways that customers use their products. This does not merely lie in the customer thinking but rather in client expectation. THE APPLE INC. COMPANY 4 Segmenting by customer coverage. This will be aimed at optimizing the range of market that Apple Inc. will be able to cover geographically. The spread should be based on establishing a neutral or rather conducive point that balances the costs involved in expanding coverage with the returns. This is because there are situations in which market expansion contributes to diminishing returns. Segmenting the market again. This is vital in helping the firm deal with competition, a fact that will be suitable for Apple Inc. at the moment. This is because Apple faces new competition each passing day as new companies enter into the mobile phone sector on a daily basis. This reduces the effectiveness of the earlier segmentation by the company since the competitors are focused on dissecting the market freshly. Therefore, for Apple to realize this market-based segmentation, the amount of resources allocated to the business marketing should be enhanced so as to effect positive change in the distribution of user mix by the existing market forces. The Competitors This involves developing new competitor based strategies. This can only happen by increasing the product differentiation between Apple Inc. products and that of their competitors. From the SWOT analysis, Apple Inc. can utilize these strengths. Capitalize on the cost versus profit structure differences. This involves evaluating the sources of profits and fixed costs ratio differences. This will enable Apple to have lower prices due to lowering the fixed costs ratio and is likely to attract more clients to their products and result in increased sales. THE APPLE INC. COMPANY 5 The Corporation This part of the 3C’s strategy model focuses on making the commonly better (Choi, 2017). In this regard, Apple Inc. can also better itself through variation of their marketing approach. This can be achieved through; Sequencing and selectivity. Currently, the company has the edge over other players in the same industry in terms of innovation. Therefore, to increase its strength, the organization can consider becoming a market leader in other areas too. This proposal suggests that it can better its status by enhancing its customer-focused initiatives such as quality products, excellence customer care, and high relativity of their products to customer demands. Conclusion Apple Inc. is one of the leading phone manufacturers in the world. The company is highly known for its creativity and innovation that are replicated in their products, a fact that distinguishes it from other firms in the same industry. However, there has been increasing competition as other players have joined the industry. Some of them have strong operational abilities that threaten Apple Inc.’s long-standing dominance. Therefore, there is a need to enhance the company’s current status in relation to the changing business environment. Varying the organization’s marketing strategy and technique seems to be one of the fundamental changes that can help the organization to progress well. This is because it will help it to sell more products, brace off competition, and enhance its relationship with their customers. These features can be enhanced by implementing the 3C’s model which changes Apple Inc.’s marketing focus from three standpoints that are customers, competitors, and corporation. THE APPLE INC. COMPANY 6 References Chang, J. F. (2016). Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. CRC Press. Choi, I. (2017). A Study on Effect of Trust, Relationship Commitment on CollaborationOrientation (3C's), Performance and Satisfaction-Focused on Communication, Cooperation and Coordination. Journal of Marketing and HR, 4(1). Giannakis, D., Harker, M. J., & Baum, T. (2015). Human resource management, services and relationship marketing: the potential for cross-fertilisation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 23(6), 526-542. O’Dea, M. (2014). Process improvement. Venugopal, S., & Viswanathan, M. (2015). Developing customer solutions for subsistence marketplaces in emerging economies: a bottom–up to 3C (customer, community, and context) approach. Customer Needs and Solutions, 2(4), 325-336. Running head: APPLE IMPROVEMENT PLAN 1 The new process aims at achieving two main objectives. First, the organization aims at increasing the number of sales in the company overall sales. Second, the organization aims at making it easy for the new products to penetrate the market with the help of the organization reputable name and current marketing. This will create a way to segment both customer objectives and the company objectives (Hill, 2013). The new process implementation will also help the organization understand their competitor in a better perspective as well as understanding the company in an advanced way. Therefore, the plan will increase sale and make the organization one of the world biggest mobile devices manufacturers. The company will manufacture the new products right after its planning. This will include planning ahead. The manufacturing of the new product will be done as the hiring of the new marketers get underway. This includes the following. After hiring, market segmentation will follow and the marketers will be assigned their location based on their geographical backgrounds. This will be a week after the new product has been launched in the market. The innovation incorporation with the organization strategy will be a continuous process that will start from the beginning of manufacturing of the new product and in the market. This will include continuous changes in the market based on the customer and competitor behavior. The new process will be of great value to Apple Inc. because it will increase the market share which will, in turn, improve the company brand recognition in the market. It will also help Apple Inc. increase sales. Increased sales will translate to increased profits. This makes the organizational financially stronger and better. The new process implementation will also increase the number of products sold by the organization thus increasing the chances of tapping more clients and meeting the need of the customer. Finally, the process will help the organization to APPLE IMPROVEMENT PLAN 2 improve their competitiveness (Sadeghi, 2012). Therefore, the new process will make the company stronger than it is today. The management theories have played important roles in developing goals and objectives. They helped in analyzing the current state of the organization and the possible change that can be made to the company process to make the company better and competitive. The theories also helped in understanding how the organization can implement changes without necessarily changing the organization strategy. Theories also helped understand how innovation can be easily incorporated into the organization process and make the organization powerful and better. Understanding this helped in defining the route to follow and set up the right and real goals and objectives. APPLE IMPROVEMENT PLAN 3 Reference Hill, M. E. (2013). Marketing strategy: The thinking involved. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications. Sadeghi, S. (2012). Defensive Strategy - Apple's Overlooked Key to Success. Berlin: epubli GmbH. Software Requirements Customer Relationship Management System (CRM) For the process improvement to be successful, the company will need to have a comprehensive customer relationship management system. The term customer relationship is used to describe the practices, strategies the technologies used by any company in analysing and managing the interaction with their consumers throughout their life cycle (Jarvis, 2016). The major goal of this is to improve the company relationship with the consumers and in the process help in driving the sales high and maintain the customer loyalty. The company will use the system to gather all the information on the customers across the various point of interaction between them. The system will also consolidate all the information about the customers making easier to manage and access it. The CRM software will help the company grow their sales by Automating marketing: the CRM system will have tools that allow for marketing automation abilities to automate the repetitive tasks in the company. This will facilitate the company marketing efforts to customers at various points in their life cycle. Sales force automation- This automation helps to avoid duplicate efforts between the salespeople and the consumers. The CRM software will ensure the company achieves this by a routine track of all the contacts and follow up between the two parties. Geolocation technology- The Company will use the system to launch geographical, marketing promotions which will be based on the consumer physical location. The Geolocation tool will also be used as a contact management tool that will help establish the sales prospect of certain areas. Sales Management System This is a system that will enable the sales people in Apple Company to be organized, manage their customers better and help them track their deals in a more efficient manner. Implementing a customizable sales management system will help the company achieve its goals for competitive advantages and increase their profits through higher sales. The system will enable the company to evaluate their sales cycles, target features, competitive advantage position and give information on the effectiveness of their sales campaign in different areas (Mishra, 2009). Additionally, the system also provides vital information which can aid in making an accurate forecast for products. This is especially important after launching new products to determine how they are going to favour in the market in future. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) This is a new technology that usually involves small unique tags that are put on products to emit a distinct signal. The company will read the RFID tags placed on individual products using a remote scanner to collect important information on the products sales and the precise location of the product. The company can use this information to map out individual customer movements (Bidgoli, 2010). RFID will significantly benefit the company supply management chain by ensuring that all their available products are at the right locations with no inconsistencies or errors. Additionally collection of information about maintenance and repairs will be possible which will help the company on planning their maintenance schedules or integrate it into the production process to prevent any costly production breakdowns. Implementation of RFID will also help in the distribution of new products and increase the accuracy selecting the areas in which to try the products. Hardware requirements Computers Strong and high-speed computers will be needed on which the system will be installed and run. Networking equipment (switches, cables, routers) High-speed network will be vital for the working of the system to be implemented. The system will be installed on a dedicated server that will provide services to the team members who will be working with the system. High-speed network cables, switches, and routers will be used to interconnect the different work stations for efficiency and information sharing. Training materials White boards this is an old-fashioned method but is very effective if the trainees need to acquire new skills. Overhead projectors these will help the trainers to customize presentations much easily on the spot. Presentation software will be used to create customized training lessons that will be led by a trainer. The trainees can also access and use these materials individually for better understanding or catch up. Real estate requirements 4000 square meters of floor and a server room. This will give the team ample space to carry out the implementation process successfully. Training operations will also be carried out on the floor which is very important to accomplish the whole project goals and strategies priorities. Human capital Developers a team of 5 developers will help to customize and implement the management systems for process improvements. Sales peoples these will do the actual sales of the company product and make contact to the customers using the implemented system. Time training Each phase will take at least three weeks to complete in different locations around the world Time Activities Cost (approx.) Phase one In class training $3,000,000 Phase two Coaching $1,000,000 Phase three Field trip $8,000,000 Phase five Forums $2,000,000 Phase six Special project $9,000,000 Phase 1 in class training Employee training and development will need to be at par with the new changes that will come with the new system to fit the job descriptions and requirements. In class, training will be used to give employees the general knowledge of the system and what will be required of them. Experts and the system developers will engage with the employees in the classroom training where they will help employees familiarize with the systems. Phase 2 coaching This will involves demonstrating the skills that will be required of the employees and giving them guidance, assurance when they start to tackles their new roles. Phase 3 field trips This will help the company employees who will be involved in running the system expand their understanding and have a full picture of the customers the company will be serving. Phase 4 forums Forums relevant to the organization improvement process will be organized for employees to attend. Forums can be viewed as an off-the-job learning experience which can give valuable skills to the employees. Special project After all the training the employees will be given a special project to complete and evaluate how they will fair. This will enable the training team to determine how successful their training process was. Apple financial state Apple financial results for the financial first quarter year 2017, ended on December 31st, 2016 for their first quarter Apple reports • $ 78.351 billion which was a 3.3% than the previously reported revenue in the first quarter one year ago • Net income profit $17.891 billion down 2.6% from the first quarter 2016 • 64% of the sales from the first quarter 2017 were internationals. References Jarvis, A. (2016). Achieving customer experience excellence through a quality management system. Mishra, P. (2009). Sales Management: Keys to effective sales. New Delhi: Global India Publications. Bidgoli, H. (2010). The handbook of technology management. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
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