Introduction
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in California. It designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. The company was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
Strategy
Apple’s strategy has always revolved around innovation and creating a high-performance culture, through which it achieves and sustains its competitive advantage.
MISSION STATEMENT
“Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and internet offerings.”
VISION STATEMENT
“Apple is committed in producing high quality products and providing high quality service thus setting high industry standards for other competitors.”
External Environment
Apple has also been criticized for its methods of tightly controlling information regarding product launches, deliberately passing out misinformation in an effort to find leakers and keep the media unsure of its current developments. Therefore Apple 's methods result in more hype surrounding product launches. In some cases, Apple deliberately leaks information to the public to gauge potential viability of products such as the Apple iPad.
Structure
THE STEVE JOBS ERA
One of the keys to Apple’s success is that it is an incredibly collaborative company. According to Steve Jobs, Apple is organized like a start-up – the biggest start-up on the planet. The CEO of any company has an important role, but Apple is structured in a way where it 's less so.
CEO Steve Jobs was at the centre. It was an unconventional, start-up like structure with small, isolated project teams and top-down management. The advantages of such a structure were that the CEO had full control; the organization was highly goal-directed, innovative and task-driven. There was self-motivated, collaborative
References: http://allthingsd.com/20100607/steve-jobs-at-d8-the-full-uncut-interview/ http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2010/id20100610_525759.htm http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/18/inside-apple-adam-lashinsky/ http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/apple