The Dimension Of The Organizational Culture Of Apple Inc.

Organisational culture can be acknowledged as the organisations personality; which is also referred to as corporate culture. Organisational culture is defined as the process of how things are dealt with within an organisation on a daily basis, affecting the employees and how they work, how they are relating to each other, to the customers and also their managers. Deal and Kennedy defined organisational culture as ‘the way we do things around here’ and Hofstede said it is ‘how people behave when no one is watching’ and ‘the collective programming of the mind’ (Deal and Kennedy 1982, Hofstede 2001).

Apple Incorporation is one of the largest organizations dealing into Information Technology. Apple has a host of products ranging from Laptops, Desktops, Mobile Phones and Multimedia Devices. The company has been extremely innovative in the field of multimedia and it owes it success to one of the greatest innovators, Steve Jobs. The company has always believed in innovation and that is the major reason why it has been so successful in the mobile phone segment. In recent years Apple is second only to Samsung in the Global Mobile Phone industry. However the operations have been largely based in the United States and in times of recession any organization needs to focus on economies of scale and thus focus on growth

Innovation. Apple’s organizational culture is also highly innovative. In fact, Apple is frequently appraised as one of the most innovative companies in the world. All employees are trained and encouraged to innovate in terms of individual work performance and by contributing ideas to the firm’s product development processes. Apple’s organizational culture succeeds in facilitating rapid innovation, which is at the heart of the

To understand the organizational culture of a company, one needs to start by looking at the history. Lakeshore Learning Materials was born from a divorced mother of three named Ethelyn Kaplan, who took a dream and a chance by moving her family to California in 1954 to open a toy store. When she started noticing that teachers were interested in her material, Ethelyn realized that she needed to expand her business into educational materials. 60 years later, Lakeshore Learning Materials has grown into a company with over 2000 employees, 60 retail stores throughout the United States and growing. Lakeshore Learning Materials is currently headed by Ethelyn’s grandsons, Bo and Josh Kaplan. Under the supervision of Bo and Josh, Lakeshore continues to be a leader in the Educational Materials, yet still able to keep the family culture that their grandmother started. Highest quality customer service and hard work are the core values that shape Lakeshore’s Organizational Strategy. These high expectations aren’t hard for employees at Lakeshore because the company is so loved by everyone that works there, that they give nothing less than the best.

Since its inception in the late 1970s, Apple incorporation has brought a tremendous revolution in the field of technology. The multinational firm has received a worldwide acclaim as a consumer electronics provider. Apple incorporation design, develop and sell consumer electronics that includes personal computers, iPhones, and tablets. These electronic products are tailored towards customer needs and preferences thus resulting in high demand. According to Lashinsky (2015), the changing market structure and demands have made Apple produce highly sophisticated electronic products such as advanced iPhones that can compete favorably with other consumer electronics manufacturers such as Samsung and Microsoft. The products are designed to help the customers in communication as well as

Organisational Culture is defined as what the employees perceive and how this perception creates a pattern of beliefs, values and, expectations. Organisational culture differs from organizational climate. Climate refers to more temporary attitudes, feelings and perceptions of individuals (Schneider, 1990). Culture on the other hand is an enduring, slow to change, core characteristic of organisations which is an implicit often indiscernible aspects of organisations, climate refers to more overt, observable attributes of organisations.. Organisational culture is “the way things are” in the organisation rather that people’s transitory attitudes about them

Apple corporate culture has played a major role in its success; the corporate culture is founded on values, traits, morals, principles and standards that are believed to be crucial in assisting it and its employees to succeed. The corporate culture is the foundation for what is done in Apple and how it is done. Cumulatively, the distinctive values make Apple a unique company. Apple’s core corporate culture is founded on innovation and nurturing talents of creative people. The company strives to build highly innovative products that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of the customer. Apple’s products embody outstanding designs and styles that attract consumers across the world. Since its inception, Apple has always been associated with cutting edge technology; the company boasts of the most

Apple’s products have always been created by small teams working closely together, with no outside intervention (apart from the management’s directions). This was the case when it was first founded in 1976 with only three people, and is true today with almost 25,000 people employed. In Apple’s early existence, these teams consisted of talented people hand-picked by the senior management (particularly Steve Jobs).

Since the iTunes music store was introduced on April 28, 2003, gross music sales have plummeted in the United States - from $11.8 billion in 2003 to $7.1 billion in 2012, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (Covert). Counterintuitively, during that time consumers were buying more music than ever. How is that possible? It 's because iTunes had made digital singles popular and was selling them cheap. This would change the music industry forever. In 2000, Americans bought 943 million CD albums (Covert), and digital sales didn’t even make a dent in comparison. But by 2007, those inexpensive singles overtook CDs by a wide margin, generating 819 million sales compared to just 500 million for the CD.

Founded in 1977 Apple Inc. has provided an extended range of products and services to meet the increasing demands of consumers worldwide. Apple has multiple lines of consumer goods including. Computer software and cell phones along with consumer electronic products globally Apple values their shareholders and consistently creates new goods and ideas is a way of life for Apple. Apple has over 300 locations across ten different countries giving them a significant presence in the market. Apple has become a prime example of a prosperous business organization that is thriving globally. Apple is known for their high levels of customer satisfaction and retention and is one of the most well known global organizations (Graziano,2013).

With the monumental success of the iPod, Apple expanded in this industry by becoming one of the largest purchasers of flash memory in the world. There was also the development of complementary products lines such as headphones, docking stations, cases, etc. Though Apple was already superior to competitors, nothing gave them a bigger advantage than the creation of Apple’s iTunes store. After its launch in 2003, sales shot up to 733,000 units and continued to explode (Yoffie & Kim, 2010). Customers thoroughly enjoyed the ease of use as well as music selection allowing iTunes to sell 10 billion songs and become world’s largest music catalog.

In order for Apple to gain so much success from their products, advertising has been an essential aspect. Apple Inc.’s first successful product on the market was in 1977 when Apple II, a microcomputer, was released. Apple Inc. did not implement portable music devices until 2001 when the first iPod was released. Coincidentally, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was given the title the year before in 2000. The ‘iPod classic’, Apple’s first portable music device, is considered to have not only transformed Apple as a firm but the entire music industry as well. (Linzmeyer, 2006). Post the release; Apple received success from their products. As time went on, the quality of their products

From its start-up until the present, Apple’s corporate structure hasn’t changed a lot. Before his death, Steve Jobs was the one to make the calls regarding all the decisions; everything had to be passed through him. The company’s decision making processes were and still are centralized, in which the CEO makes all the decisions but it is incorporating more of a collaborative approach. The company is doing so by encouraging its hardware and software teams to collaborate. This approach however, never existed when Jobs was the CEO. Apple is considered a centralized company because it makes high capital investments that encourage centralization. It is highly competitive, offers high technology products, has a homogeneous product line, low product diversification, and has a lot of experience doing international business. Furthermore, it is organized on different basis; functional, divisional and geographical. Its functional structure is that the innovations and visions essentially come from top management and flow down the organization. Top management includes the board of directors in which they oversee and ensure that shareholders’ interests are being served for a long-term. Also, its functional structure is departmentalized and includes marketing, engineering, manufacturing, financing, IT, research and development. Its divisional functions include the products the company is offering, the market it is operating in and geographical areas. Apple has four product categories; the

Nowadays, Apple has positioned itself to be an innovator in the personal computer industry and Apple has developed by offering modern products compared to its competitors. According to Apple’s mission statement last year, “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 is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.” (Business Management,

Also, as the purchasing power of the common has risen in various markets across the global, the purchasing of luxury products have gone up. For examples, the iPhone, iPod, iPad and the most latest technology, iWatch. Having these products are considered as statues symbols in many societies which have also increased the sales of Apple Inc. products. Another big social influence to the Apple Inc products is the rapid growth of the music industry, which have improved markets over the cyber space as well. The main exclusive music store is the iTunes and it is ahead of any of their competitors. Thus, in all Apple products benefitted from the social aspects as it has started defining a modern individual lifestyle.