Executive Summary
The smartphone industry is considered a dynamic environment that shapes the opportunities and goals that a corporation can pursue and attain. Apple’s mission is to create the best possible customer experiences through innovative hardware, software, and services. Apple’s goal of providing a superior experience and high-quality commodities is accomplished by focusing on resource management and industrial design to ensure and provide a holistic strategy that exceeds industry standards. Apple’s operational plan is rigorously implemented by coordinated efforts in product development, sales and advertising, the business’s supply chain, and the corporation’s other business segments. Apple Inc. manages maintenance requests with the assistance of specialist teams. For instance, the firm employs separate maintenance personnel for each location.
Through a differentiation strategy, the company has shared its competencies, processes, and procedures across market segments. As a result, this helps develop strategic advantages that rival struggle to overcome. Apple’s simple, minimalist, and low-interaction design exemplifies how Steve Jobs integrated lean manufacturing ideas throughout the company. Apple’s responsibilities and strengths in the domestic and global markets will dramatically expand due to incorporating robotics, frequently exceeding human skills in many scenarios. However, data-driven automation in operational processes may generate privacy concerns. As a result, when Apple Inc. implements AI, it must select the most suitable information management architecture.
Organizational Objectives Linked to Operations and Quality Processes
The smartphone business is viewed as a dynamic landscape that affects the possibilities a firm might pursue and accomplish. It adheres to the modern market and work environment developments. Apple Inc. is a California-based international technology company. The firm’s objective is to provide its clients with the best possible consumer experience through inventive hardware, applications, and solutions. Quality management is defined as the process of monitoring products and services to ensure they continue to perform at an exceptional level (Yang, 2017). Apple Inc. is well-known for its stringent quality management procedures, which pervade all aspects, including product innovation management, commerce, technology, and market control (Yang, 2017). Apple aims to provide its clients with a better experience and high-quality commodities by emphasizing resource practices and industrial design to ensure and present a holistic strategy to enhance its benchmarks.
Another critical element of the business’s corporate goal is innovation through human resources. Apple’s commitment to bridging any technological industry disparities is enhanced through its employee engagement in research and development. Given the ever-changing nature of the internet, Apple is constantly developing new models through its employees to fulfill the expanding needs of its customers (Greg, 2020). Apple’s effort to meet this section of its strategic plan demonstrates that it views its devices as more than simple recreational instruments. As a result, this indicates that numerous individuals are motivated to work for the enterprise. Apple’s efficient performance management system keeps its workers engaged and satisfied (Greg, 2020). A significant source of inspiration for personnel is engagement during public discussions or productive conferences.
Operations and Quality Management Process at Apple
Apple Inc.’s operations management entails implementing the company’s ten strategic administration decisions regularly to ensure that all elements of the company work efficiently. Apple’s operational tactic decisions are meticulously executed through concerted actions in product creation, sales and promotion, and the business’s distribution network, in addition to the corporation’s other business units (Reid and Sanders, 2019). The organization excels at optimizing operational efficiency. This operating performance transforms into competitiveness and services that enable Apple to attain its goals, ultimately achieving its strategic intent (Reid and Sanders, 2019). The organization’s existing operational and quality procedures to achieve its strategic management objectives are addressed in this section by looking at Apple’s operational strategies.
First, Apple Inc.’s location strategy is restrictive, involving the certification of just a small number of merchants. Nonetheless, most approved merchants are concentrated in urban areas to capitalize on pedestrian traffic and brand awareness (Reid and Sanders, 2019). Currently, the corporation operates hundreds of outlets in more than 20 nations. Notwithstanding this restrictive methodology for vendor authorization, Apple is currently the most valuable brand globally (Reid and Sanders, 2019). Apple Stores generate the most income per square foot of retail space in the United States.
Second, Apple’s personnel management tactics maximize product design and development capabilities. Additionally, the organization collaborates with suppliers to ensure effective procedures and sufficient capacity in this domain of operations management (Reid and Sanders, 2019). For example, distributors are given systems design instructions and the Apple Supplier Code of Conduct to help them manage their human resources more effectively (Reid and Sanders, 2019). Additionally, Apple Inc. is committed to facilitating innovation to maximize capacity and process improvements. As a result, the organization has a complete technique for operations management decision-making.
Finally, Apple Inc. handles maintenance requirements through specialized teams. For instance, the corporation maintains distinct maintenance staff for each location. Apple’s information technology departments also serve as service technicians for the company’s servers and other information technology assets (Reid and Sanders, 2019). The VP of Human Resources guarantees that its personnel can consistently perform at a high level at its facilities (Reid and Sanders, 2019). Thus, Apple efficiently addresses this operational management decision-making area.
Current and Long-term Solutions to Address Challenges Facing Apple
Given its current advancement, Apple faces several problems, the most significant of which is the ever-changing market situation. The institution’s strategic decision to join the telecommunications market and mobile entertainment systems subjected it to fierce competition from all directions (Lockamy III, 2017). These items exposed the corporation to new rivals, low-priced commodities, and potential replacements, posing a danger to the perceived usefulness of the firm’s products and the strategy’s effectiveness. The business’s fundamental skills, including advertising, innovation, connection building, and brand positioning, were also tested (Lockamy III, 2017). Additionally, the diverse client base and a growing number of new adversaries present a difficulty. Both the music business and its innovation are changing at a breakneck pace. Apple’s ability to maintain its brand name through contemporary design and technical advancements faces hurdles.
Over time, adopting a differentiation strategy will enable the organization to share its capabilities, techniques, and operations across product lines. Thus, this contributes to developing strategic advantages that rivals find challenging to overcome. The entity’s supply chain, reseller, wireless agreements, and inventive branders are highly regarded as critical in the institution’s differentiation strategy and strong partnerships (Aliekperov, 2019). Therefore, this has been a crucial component in expanding into new areas and maintaining a competitive advantage. Additionally, association with well-known trade names will increase Apple’s market exposure or increase consumer loyalty in its merchandise (Aliekperov, 2019). As such, Apple’s fundamental strengths are more likely to influence the company’s success in emerging areas such as music, video on demand, and mobile phones.
Apple’s Lean Manufacturing and Benchmarking Tools in Achieving Organizational Objectives and Competitiveness
Lean Manufacturing
Lean manufacturing is a process improvement technique that enables firms to eliminate waste from their production processes. Businesses must be aware of and responsive to customers’ demands and needs throughout the manufacturing operation. Apple’s vertical integration has distinguished them from its competition, enhancing its competitiveness and maximizing its gains. Apple designs its goods to function exclusively with other Apple commodities, as opposed to other companies like Samsung and LG (Lauver et al., 2018). By making the goods incompatible with one another, Apple has created an incredible strategic opportunity to entice users to invest exclusively in Apple products, thereby raising profits and meeting consumer wants.
Additionally, clean, minimalist, and low-interaction layouts are how Steve Jobs implemented lean manufacturing principles into Apple Inc. He attempted to persuade the corporation to prioritize image resolution (Lauver et al., 2018). Therefore, he enhanced that by keeping the number of functions and buttons to a minimum while optimizing the visual performance the phone could deliver. The compulsive method was characterized by a simple philosophy and execution (Lauver et al., 2018). The repeated repetition of enhancing the display and removing superfluous functionality from designs served as a powerful reminder of why Apple remains competitive in the technological sector (Lauver et al., 2018). As a result, this enhances its ability to accomplish its corporate objective of adding value to the user experience by increasing the flow, which is a remarkable statement of why its lean manufacturing is unique.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is critical for maintaining a strategic edge in extremely competitive marketplaces. It identifies an institution’s opportunities and threats and emphasizes critical areas for performance development. It is capable of identifying potential for both quality and efficiency enhancements. Benchmarking enables Apple Inc. to compare itself to competitors and sift through market drivel. This evaluation is critical for meeting objectives and sustaining sector performance. Apple uses benchmarking in its design and planning processes to determine which aims to build or build upon. Apple’s work environment and human resource initiatives are founded on Steve Jobs’ early insistence on competence.
Nonetheless, the corporation has steadily altered its human resources strategy under Tim Cook’s leadership to mirror a more social work environment conducive to high employee morale. Apple Inc. has perfected job design and people management strategies to maintain its continuous leadership in its market, thereby enhancing its competitive edge. Additionally, benchmarking improves control and conformance by identifying ways to maintain increases at comparable levels. Apple’s performance management system places a premium on quality requirements and procedures. The company is well-known for its stringent quality control, which permeates all aspects of the firm. Since clients are attracted to and devoted to Apple’s products, the firm outperforms its competitors, as illustrated in the figure below.
How AI enhances Operational Performance of Apple in Domestic and Global Contexts
Artificial intelligence is a scientific paradigm with applications in operations management, literature, the arts, economics, arithmetic, computer programming, and sociology. AI tries to develop computers or machines capable of performing tasks that need human intellect. The image below illustrates a complete grasp of artificial intelligence’s significance in operational performance. As discussed herein, at Apple Inc., AI has helped fulfill the following in domestic and global marketplaces.
Automation of Corporate Functions
Digitization is enticing and transforms the commercial industry’s environment. Manual processes that rely on documentation reduce firms’ operational capabilities. Therefore, internal operations inside organizations should be well-organized. Robotic process automation is often a software-based strategy for regulating corporate processes such as daily chores, systemized information, and result determination. By incorporating robotics into its manufacturing process, Apple’s functions and capabilities in the local and worldwide market will significantly develop, often surpassing human capabilities in many situations.
Reasonable User Engagement
With the quick improvements in the technical domains, enterprises preserve personal relationships with clients, and brands are progressively striving to engage with consumers on digital channels. There is a proliferation of a broad scope of interaction processes on multiple platforms, such as customer reviews, posting videos of the companies on online sites, and producing websites (Tariq et al., 2021. With technological advancement and globalization, social media networks operate as a channel for Apple to transmit details regarding its items in businesses-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) institutions in the USA and foreign markets.
Challenges of Using AI
Privacy and Storage of Data
The majority of AI technologies use extensive information to understand and make intelligent decisions. The disadvantage of employing enormous amounts of data is that it may cause enterprises to run out of storage space (Imran et al., 2020). Additionally, information-driven automation in company operations may raise concerns about data privacy (Imran et al., 2020). Thus, this is why Apple Inc. must choose the best and most appropriate data management infrastructure while implementing AI.
Sophisticated Algorithms and AI Machine Learning
Corporate intelligence services rely primarily on AI algorithms to run and execute. Enterprises considering implementing AI should have a firm grasp of how AI-based strategies and technology function and how they might improve their business performance (Imran et al., 2020). Once Apple has deployed or produced AI-based algorithms, it will become clear that maintaining machine learning or artificial intelligence models requires significant labor, which can become extremely tough for the organization.
Conclusion and Recommendations
In conclusion, Apple’s human resource management strategies optimize product design and enhancement skills to achieve its corporate and strategic administration objectives. Moreover, the firm works with vendors to verify that processes are functional and have adequate capacity. By pursuing differentiation, Apple has shared its expertise, operations, and activities across market segments. As a result, this helps develop strategic benefits that rival struggle to eliminate.
Finally, by introducing AI into its production line, Apple’s responsibilities and competencies in the domestic and global markets will significantly expand, frequently exceeding human skills in various situations. To increase customer and market share, the corporation must develop goods compatible with Apple’s quality assurance, process design, and core concepts, making innovation simple for buyers. Additionally, Apple Inc. can incorporate additional details about its corporate mission, staff, and reputation in business marketplaces to attract extra prospective clients. It can transmit product specifications, recent innovations, and brand extensions to include the customer’s vision and potential business sectors.
References List
Aliekperov, A. (2019). “Apple”–up or down.’ International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science, 6(18), pp.43-48.
Dolata, U. (2017). Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft: Market concentration-competition-innovation strategies (No. 2017-01, pp.1-33). SOI Discussion Paper.
Greg, R. (2020). ‘Strategic review on Apple Inc. marketing in the United States of America.’ Journal of Marketing and Communication, 3(2), pp.47-61.
Imran, M., Ofli, F., Caragea, D. and Torralba, A. (2020). ‘Using AI and social media multimodal content for disaster response and management: Opportunities, challenges, and future directions.’ Information Processing & Management, 57(5), pp.1-9.
Lauver, K.J., Nahm, A.Y., Opall, B.S. and Keyes, J.P. (2018). ‘Becoming lean: The employee perspective.’ Journal of Business Strategy, 39(6), pp.43-49.
Lockamy III, A. (2017, July). ‘An examination of external risk factors in Apple Inc.’s supply chain.’ In Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal (Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 177-188). Taylor & Francis.
Reid, R.D. and Sanders, N.R. (2019). Operations management: An integrated approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Tariq, M.U., Poulin, M. and Abonamah, A.A. (2021). ‘Achieving operational excellence through artificial intelligence: Driving forces and barriers. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, pp.1-15.
Yang, C.C. (2017). ‘The evolution of quality concepts and the related quality management.’ In Quality Control and Assurance-An Ancient Greek Term Re-Mastered. IntechOpen.
Assignment Task 2
Project Network Diagram
PERT is a technique for managing projects that entail preparatory work, timetabling, organizing, arranging, and influencing uncertain operations. CPM is a quantitative project management tool that entails planning, scheduling, organizing, coordinating, and controlling well-defined exercises (Bagshaw, 2021). Therefore, as per PERT/CPM, the project will end in 44 weeks. Additionally, if there are no activities delays, the whole project is expected to be complete in 44 weeks. The start and finish of individual activities in mentioned in table 1. The most critical activities are A, B, C, D, E, F, J, K, and N, whereas the crucial path follows from A, B, C, E, F, J, L, N, and end. The delay can be tolerated for other activities without delaying project completion is D, G, H, M, I, K.
Table 1: Start and Finish of Individual Activities
Reference List
Bagshaw, K.B. (2021). ‘PERT and CPM in project management with practical examples.’ American Journal of Operations Research, 11(4), pp.215-226.