Executive Summary

The exploration of Apple and Nike’s organisational culture suggests that while many staff expe-

rience a positive work environment, others experience a more challenging cultural environ-

ment.

These companies’ organisational culture refers to the shared values, behavioural norms and ex-

pectations that influence how people go about their work and interact with each other. The

findings in this report outline the positive aspects of the work environment, which should be re-

tained, while highlighting less constructive behaviours, which are creating a trying work envi-

ronment for many.

The positive aspects include the physical work environment, the presence of friendly, support-

ive and high calibre work colleagues and flexible working conditions. The challenging experi-

ences manifest as inactive or ineffective management, high levels of bureaucracy.

Many aspects of these companies’ culture, and the associated drivers, are common to industry.

This report studies the organisational structure in two different but yet similar industries and

shows how it differs in both these companies.

NIKE - ORGANISING FOR INNOVATION

“To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world, if you have a body, you are

an athlete”. Nike’s mission statement

Introduction

“We are on the offense, always”, is boldly printed on the front page of Nike’s Annual Report

2008. According to Phil Knight, Nike’s founder, “Business is war without bullets”. And indeed,

Nike is very much a growth company with an ever expanding portfolio and a tremendous brand

value. And it’s been doing well, hence, Mark Parker, CEO and president of Nike, proudly com-

mented on the company’s 2008 performance: “I’m very pleased with how we have enhanced

the position, performance, and potential of all the brands and categories in the NIKE, Inc. fam-

ily.”

Growth, however, creates structural challenges. This is all the more true for global players such

as Nike Inc. who need to juggle tradeoffs of local responsiveness and global integration on a

daily basis. Hence, this case takes a look behind the scenes and focuses on how Nike manages

and structures its worldwide operations. In particular, aspects of regional management and the

splitting of functions and responsibilities between global headquarters and regional headquar-

ters in Europe are highlighted.

Key Facts & Figures

Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike Inc. is the largest seller of athletic footwear and ath-

letic apparel in the world and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. For the fiscal year

ending May 31st

2008, Nike reported record revenues of USD 18.6 billion, a USD 2.3 billion in-

crease over last year’s earnings, that’s up 14 percent with growth in eve- ry region and every

business unit. Gross margins improved by more than a percentage point to a record high of 45

per cent, and earnings per share grew by 28 per cent.

Nike operates on six continents, employs over 30,000 people worldwide and has a work- force

of over 800,000 workers in contract factories. The leading designer, marketer and distributor of

athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories is represented by 14 Niketowns, over

200 Nike Factory Stores, 12 Nike Women stores and over 100 sales and administrative offices

around the world. Nike products are distributed under the Nike brand and Nike Inc. affiliate

brands such as Bragano, Bauer Nike Hockey, Cole Haan, g Series, Hurley, Converse, Chuck Tay-

lor, All Star, One Star, Jack Purcell, Starter, Team Starter, Asphalt, Shaq and Dunkman.

In 2008, the footwear segment generated revenues of USD 9,732 million, apparel sales

amounted to USD 5,234 and equipment sales reached USD 1,069 million in all three major re-

gions. Total pre-tax income increased by 14 per cent to USD 2, 509, 9 million in fiscal 2008.

The Nike brand includes footwear, apparel and equipment in six core categories: running, bas-

ketball, football (soccer), women’s fitness, golf, and tennis, men’s training and sport cul-

ture.Nike products are sold through Nike owned stores and independent distributors in over

160 countries. Footwear and Apparel production is outsourced to independent manufacturers

outside the U.S. while equipment is produced both in and outside the U.S. Nike works with 137

contract factories in the Americas, 104 in EMEA, 252 in North Asia, and 238 in South Asia.

History snapshot

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight founded the company “Blue Ribbon Sports” in 1964. Both contrib-

uted USD 500 to the partnership and managed to sell 300 pairs of Tiger running shoes within

three weeks. Some eight years later, they introduced a novel brand of athletic footwear called

“Nike”, named after the Greek goddess of victory.

Eight years later, they introduced a new brand of athletic footwear called Nike, named after the

Greek goddess of victory. In 1972, Blue Ribbon Sports launched the Nike line of footwear. In

1980 the company went public and within the following year Nike became the predominant

brand of the company. In 1986, corporate revenues surpassed USD 1 billion for the first time.

With the “Swoosh” trademark logo and its slogan “Just do it” Nike craft- ed a unique brand image

in the 1980s. Nike underwent a period of substantial expansion in the 1990 starting with the

acquisition of Cole

Haan, an American

luxury brand, fol-

lowed by other major

strategic acquisitions

such as the ice

hockey equipment

brand Bauer (1994)

and Converse (2003).

Nike Hierarchy.

The global headquarters is not only on the top of the hierarchical decision-making pyramid of

the group, but is also in charge of three of Nike ’s four major markets and manages regional op-

erations in the U.S., the Americas and Asia Pacific. Instead of having individual RHQs in these

regions, the infrastructure that runs these markets is located at the global headquarters.The

EMEA region, on the other hand, is managed by the European RHQ. Structure is of utmost im-

portance to Nike’s global headquarters:

Structure prioritizes where you spend your time and because [you are] getting completely in-

undated with information if you don’t have a sort of structure. And so the fact that you need a

Nordic walking shoe to be successful in Norway is irrelevant to our business. I am using this just

as an example, but we don’t [want our] people here to give the same level of attention to a

Nordic walking shoe from Norway as they would give to a basketball shoe that could be used in

many mar- kets across the globe. So I think that’s part of what you do with the structure, you

filter out some of the information that maybe frontline information, We need to be prioritized

and to create a structure in a right way, then the right in- formation flows very quickly. (Mr. Ale-

beek, Vice President for Operations, Nike Head Office)

Structure needs to be supported by a strong organizational culture and corporate identity. The

headquarters needs to create a common identity and culture, where everybody feels and iden-

tifies with a company culture that embraces closeness to the end consumers needs. If that

common understanding is present, streamlined and centralized structures are not a barrier to

stay in touch with the local consumer end, but essentially enable the company to pick up im-

portant trends:.

I think part of how you make sure you stay very close to the consumer is not through a struc-

ture but that’s part of a cultural thing where everybody feels that it’s their job to really under-

stand what happens at the consumer end and I think that the structure does not necessarily in-

clude that or facilitate that from happen- ing, that’s more. That is something that’s driven by

the culture where everybody in the end knows that our job is to identify and solve consumer

needs and trans- late them into product needs, a general, cultural mindset that everybody has

in this company to be innovation and consumer focused all the time. (Mr. Alebeek, Vice Presi -

dent for Operations, Nike Head Office)

On average it takes Nike eighteen months to design and manufacture a product. Re- search,

product development and design are largely in the responsibility of the global headquarters in

Oregon. Given the sheer numbers of product developments - 30,000 to 40,000 per year – Nike

needs to constantly scout for new trends on the markets. While apparel is designed on a re-

gional level, footwear design remains the responsibility of the global headquarters. Although

some footwear designers are located at Hilversum, R&D facilities are largely centralized at one

place.

Producing consumer goods, Nike needs to react quickly to ever changing consumer prefer-

ences and to adjust its product mix accordingly. Therefore, product features and colors are

changed and updated on an ongoing basis. Doing so allows Nike to stay innovative, while at

the same time achieving certain continuity which is sought after by consumers.

Nike uses information technology systems, such as SAP, across the supply chain to ensure an

efficient inventory management and timely shipping to customers Most product sourcing is

managed globally and is organized by product type (footwear, apparel, equipment).

Most of the sourcing of products is managed globally. Again the reason for that is that we are

trying to rationalize globally how we set up our resource base most of our products are made in

Asia. It wouldn’t be efficient for everyone in the regions to work with the same factories, almost

compete with each other for volume commonality structures. We basically plan, forecast the

demand regionally, place purchase orders regionally and then manage purchase orders with

the factories globally. (Mr.Ruppe, Vice President for Global Equipments, Nike Head Office)

Planning and forecasting of the demand and placing orders is affected on a regional level, while

purchase orders with the factories are managed globally. Since most of Nike ’s products are

manufactured in Asia and sold worldwide, effective operations are seminal. In 2006, contract

suppliers located in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand manufactured some 30 per cent of

total Nike brand footwear. Nike’s brand apparel is mostly produced by contract manufacturers

located in some 40 countries including Bangladesh, China, Honduras, India, Indonesia,

Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. Manufacturing is

rather scattered: For example, Nike’s largest foot- wear factory has a share of around 6 per

cent of total footwear production in 2006. Also, raw materials are largely obtained locally.

Outsourcing production to such a large degree requires sophisticated logistics: 21 distribution

centres in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and Canada are needed to get the goods from the fac-

tories to the customers. Efficient operations are therefore the key to Nike’s success.

Counterfeiting is a big issue for Nike, since their greatest competitive edge is essentially their

brand. However, it is quite common in the sports good industry that competing companies

share the same production halls. Consequently, also Nike shares some facilities with its major

business rivals such as Adidas. In order to prevent unique knowledge from evading, Nike tries

to establish trusted and long-standing relations with manufacturers and Nike buildings are sub-

ject to tight security measures. Moreover, Nike makes sure that R&D facilities are kept sepa-

rately from competitors. As one manager said:

We have a separate development centre, separate stuff for that and things staying there. So

we try everything we can to create as much competitive separation as possible. At the same

time we build a great loyalty, we have factory groups that have been working with us for thirty

years. You know they are not owned by Nike but they have grown to become very wealthy

managers and owners by being our partners and trusting us.

Marketing campaigns are created at the global headquarters, and later adapted to local needs.

Typically, local athletes are hired for local marketing campaigns. However, global campaigns

integrate testimonials who are often famous soccer players like Ronaldo.

We were very US centric, some argue that we are still are. We are a US brand up in the North

West of Oregon, high passion about very specific sports and early in our development those

sports were uniquely American in their heritage. We didn’t care about soccer until the early

1980ies. (Mr.Ruppe, Vice President for Global Equipments, Nike Head Office)

Regional headquarters

Nike’s European regional headquarters is located in the Netherlands and is responsible for 27

countries in the EMEA region. The latter is further divided into three countries and four sub-re-

gions. While larger country markets such as Italy and France do report individually to the head-

quarters, smaller country markets are grouped into sub-regions (see Figure 4). AGSS is consti-

tuted by Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia. The CEMEA (Central Europe, the Middle

East and Africa) region − split into CEMEA North and CEMEA South − encompasses Bulgaria,

Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, South

Africa and Turkey. The Iberia sub-region includes Portugal and Spain. Northern Europe com-

prises Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Nor- way, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The main reason for introducing an additional layer of hierarchy on a regional level is to reduce

complexity and enhance transparency throughout the group. In the words of a senior manager:

And part of what happened when I was in Europe was that the GM at that time that came in

said, how do we reduce the number of direct reports that I have. And he basically created at

that time seven geographic direct reports, consisting of the big five countries, which were U.K.

France, Germany, Italy, Spain (Iberia), and then he created Northern Europe, which was the

Benelux and the Nordic countries together and then Central Europe, Middle East he put under

one. Later that was modified a little bit, Austria and Switzerland was put to Germany so that

became a sub-region. And the thing what you are really trying to do is to manage the number

of direct reports you have.

In some Eastern European countries, Nike still cooperates with distributors which will succes-

sively be taken over in the future to get more control over the brand management. Conse-

quently, subsidiaries will be set up in these markets in order to pursue a differentiation strat-

egy pursued that ensures consistent brand positioning.

Over time we started to bring distributors in-house or buying them out or terms eclipsed we

started to build a structure on a country level. So we never had stressed having the idea of

having a regional structure from a very early stage and literally up to this point we have really

never gone back to fundamental questions.

Where we have been structured I would say in the last five years, has been very much looking

at the intersection between geographies, so countries’ roles up into to product structures, re-

gions and product-based business units focused on creation of product for geographies and

that’s aligned by footwear, apparel or is within equipment. And that ’s been the main way that

we have structured on the product based side is a lot of the discipline around operations,

sourcing, supply chain, setting up the ability to deliver product into market. At the geography

level, certainly there is a need to then take the backing work and make sure that we are deliv-

ering for customers, the wholesale business we deal with. Most of our business goes through

retailers that are not Nike owned. So we are transacting at that level. So you know regionally

there is a heavy discipline towards managing the account base and how we interact with those

accounts, making sure we make delivery for them, so a lot of supply chain activity based upon

doing that. And then in addition to that, the marketing aspects how we are going to communi-

cate what our offering is or how we going to build the brand through the communication that

we have. And then in addition, there is feedback that comes back to the product creation

process to make sure that from a regional basis that we are understanding the markets and de-

livering what is being required. So that’s very fundamentally the way it’s structured. Under-

neath that is an operations unit and somewhat in better than somewhat be coupled the prod-

uct in region structure that we have. (Mr.Ruppe, Vice President for Global Equipments, Nike

Head Office)

The reasons for building sub-regions are manifold: First, synergies can be derived by grouping

countries:AGSS was created to streamline operations (for example marketing, logistics, and fi-

nance) across the group.

Second, reducing the number of reporting lines facilitates coordination and speeds up decision

making. Grouping single markets into regions helps to filter and funnel local demands. The

more countries are integrated into a sub region, the lower is the total number of direct reports

to the European regional headquarters.

Third, sub regional structures provide support for individual markets. Smaller, less important

markets are given a voice within the group of countries:

Part of the idea here is that when you do the sub-grouping you are trying to allow a group to

have a better voice but at the same time a lot of the goals are at the other side of it.

(Mr.Ruppe, Vice President for Global Equipments, Nike Head Office)

A sub-region manager reports these local requirements to the European regional head- quar-

ters. By doing so, issues raised by a seemingly unimportant market can be amplified by re-

gional structures and are granted more attention within the MNC than without regional struc-

tures.Hence, the regional headquarters not only bundles information flows and enables syner-

gies, but also needs to manage surfacing tensions which come with aggregation. The more ag-

gregated single subsidiaries are into groups, the more they grave for attention. Nike ’s grouping

criteria are manifold:

So it is a matter of effectively trying to cluster, and say this makes sense. Generally for Central

and Eastern Europe, and this EMEA region, generally there is a relatively fast growing region

for us, so the mindset has been a lot different than in some of the other parts of the geography.

Only the bigger five countries outside of Germany are independently run. It’s really just that Eu-

rope, that Central European HESS, it’s the only one that is otherwise a sub cluster within that

region and we felt, hey, we can get better leverage where we can that. (Mr. Hubertus Hoyt,

General Manager for AGSS, Nike Regional Headquarters)

Countries are clustered according to consumers’ similarities, for example French or British con-

sumers are different from consumers in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia which are

countries that have been aggregated in the AGSS sub-region. Similarly, regions are based on

the alikeness of retail structures across countries.

Geographic location per se is also a clustering reason. While there are surely differences

among geographically proximate countries (for example Nordic countries), there are also simi-

larities. Undoubtedly, trade-offs need to be made when grouping countries. Other reasons for

building sub-regions are market size and market development stage of single country markets.

Nike’s underlying structural logic, the matrix, is replicated at the regional level: Managerial re-

sponsibility is broken down by business unit (apparel, equipment and footwear) and function

(human resources, operations, finance, marketing, sales including retail).

Regional Matrix Structure

In short, Nike’s European regional headquarters has a strong integrative role within the region.

It seeks to coordinate country and regional strategies and pools resources to increase the effi-

ciency of regional operations. Also, Nike realizes synergies by strongly co- operating horizon-

tally across business units.

The main driver for establishing a regional headquarters was the necessity to aggregate mar-

ket knowledge at the regional level. Moreover, the regional headquarters enables Nike to

achieve leverage effects in financial and management operations as well as in supply chain

management.A regional headquarters executive explains:

So we value, we are bringing in the idea that there is a value aggregating knowledge about a

market up to a regional structure and then feeding it in and aggregate it as opposed to having

everything come unfiltered from thirty or forty different gather points out of Europe into the

head office. (Mr.Ruppe, Vice Presi- dent for Global Equipments, Nike Head Office)

New product development for Nike products, in particular for shoes, is largely done at the

global “product engine” in three global R & D centres.liv

Hence, the accountability for products

is at the headquarters where the main decisions are made.lv

At the same time, the regional

headquarters needs to make sure that they scout around for local stimuli, pick up important lo-

cal trends, and quickly feed those back to the global headquarters. Essentially, R &D and de-

sign issues are handled centrally at the global headquarters in Oregon. Therefore, effective

communication is calls for rather flat hierarchies and collaboration. A senior manager explains:

We try to be as flat as we can. The ideal behaviour at the end of the day is that Japan is a

unique market, Tokyo is an epicenter for trends, we got a group of people in Beaverton, Ore-

gon, responsible for trend and creating product is really fresh and brand based. It’d be better to

listen to Tokyo, right? That’s what we ultimately try to accomplish. If we make the world’s best

football boots, right, well the world’s best football players on a normal basis aggregate in Eu-

rope every year. So if we sit in Kansas and say, we are going to engineer the best football

boots and listen to the University of Kansas football team..No! We are going to be in Western

Europe. So they way what we actually do is all in partnership.

Thus, global Nike collections are often a joint effort: Global and regional designers go into the

field to carry out consumer research and consumer analyses because of varying con- sumer

preferences within Europe. Fashion-oriented Italian consumers, for example, are found to pre-

fer product features different from more performance-oriented German consumers. The soccer

line, for instance, was jointly designed by the designer teams of the headquarters and the re-

gional headquarters. They went to local clubs (for example Arsenal) to work out products and

make product adjustments with players.

In Europe, global products are adjusted to regional demands. Also, regional apparel, equipment

and shoe collections are especially developed for Europe. All European products originate from

the regional product engine. Some 700 new models per season are coming out in Europe.

Countries do not develop any products but their input is incorporated in the European shoe col-

lection. The countries are in charge of filtering consumer insights in regard to products and

sports categories and reporting local product requirements to the regional headquarters which

are afterwards forwarded to the global product engine. Each country has employees who are

responsible for individual product categories. They meet regularly to discuss specific product

features, for example functionality of a running shoe, colors, price points and so on Based on

these briefings, new collections are created. This way Nike ensures that all regional and local

product requirements are covered. However, not the entire product range is available in all

country markets. Nike also develops products with regional customers (such as Hervis Sports

and Intersport) individually in order to supply them with exclusive models.

Strategic Marketing, including investment decisions and product concepts, for EMEA is done by

the regional headquarters. As one senior regional headquarters manager ex- plains:

At the regional level, what we mainly try to do is look at how you disseminate your marketing

messages and how you communicate you have to make sure that you are on track in terms of

the imaging and storytelling. So marketing becomes a key function there.

Five big marketing campaigns per annum are drafted either regionally or globally. In order to

adjust for cultural differences some campaigns are tailored to the European market. For in-

stance, given the popularity of soccer in Europe, Nike sponsors some of the best soccer teams

(for example FC Barcelona) and players (for example Ronaldinho). Also, celebrity endorsements

varies by region based on local popularity differences.

Although Nike produces many regional campaigns not all are necessarily implemented on a

country level. Also, uniformism has its limits; hence, generic advertising campaigns are devel-

oped for the region as a whole and are adapted locally. Basically, countries do have an adver-

tising budget assigned for local activities, but need to seek approval by the regional headquar-

ters to ensure that their activities are in line with Nike’s corporate identity.

Foot Locker is Nike’s major pan-European key account, representing some 10 per cent of Nike’s

global net sales in 2006. In order to effectively manage key accounts, Nike has joint teams con-

sisting of members from the single countries and the regional headquarters.

Pricing strategies are also centrally decided on at the regional headquarters. Consequently

there is a uniform discount system for all European sales. All sales agreements deviating from

that rule need to be approved by the regional headquarters.

Operations, that is supply chain management which comprises all activities from manufactur-

ing to delivery, are another important function of the regional headquarters. While the supply

chain is managed by product type (footwear, apparel and equipment), the logistics and cus-

tomer delivery side of the supply chain is organized by the regional headquarters within the re-

gion. Customers are supplied directly by factories and distribution centers (Nike 2006a: 16).

In an effort to gain more control over their distributors, Nike took over most distributors during

the 1980s and the 1990s. Ongoing optimization processes lead to the formation of a single Eu-

ropean distribution centre in Laakdal Belgium.

Subsidiaries

Nike’s subsidiaries enjoy some autonomy within clearly set boundaries. Projects exceeding the

limits set by the regional headquarters or global headquarters do need the approval of the re-

gion. Basically, operational country level decisions can be taken by the subsidiaries them-

selves.While subsidiaries largely implement plans, there is some room for lo- cal initiatives and

adaptation as well.

Design and transformation are regular aspects of Nike’s corporate culture. In the mid- 80’s,

Nike’s organizational structure was trans- formed from a general manager orientation (main di-

visions led by a marketing manager) to a matrix model that emphasized functionally oriented

division (sales, marketing, R&D, production and operations now contributed to various product

categories). Management’s main objective was to jumpstart innovation through team-based

product development; Nike’s previously established “designer collectivism” would facilitate the

reorganization.

The Problem: By 1993, various teams performed various functions throughout the firm. Com-

munication and interaction from team to team became complicated. Innovation was hindered

by a lack of risk-taking by teams and team members. Nike ’s corporate values were starting to

misalign, so management took-on more roles in controlling and monitoring rather than in en-

couraging autonomous innovation. The functional units that Nike had once established to pro-

mote new ideas proved to be doing the exact opposite.

The Process: It was evident that the organizational structure had to be completely transformed

again; yet, Nike was in possession of all the knowledge to do so. Predisposed to various fluctua-

tions in their history, Nike is very open to change and update their strategies consistently.

Moreover, Nike’s Design Management Process had been developed fairly well in the past, i.e.

management had already embraced design as a competitive advantage

in their industry and this resonated through all the aspects of the firm. Nike wanted to maintain

team-based product development as seen in the functionally oriented structure but wanted to

reduce the degree of complexity to promote intraorganizational interaction. Strengthening the

organizational and strategic ties between marketing, merchandising, design and development

was also key. In order to achieve this, management wanted teams to become fully focused cat-

egory units.

The Solution: Nike completely reformed their organizational structure to emphasize the im-

portance of different product categories. They moved from a complex web of innovation that

undermined interaction to one that would take advantage of team identity, stability and exper-

tise. To be more specific, Nike’s transformation design led to the creation of several autono-

mous units that directly controlled one product type, i.e. basketball, running, tennis, etc. The

units act like small, entrepreneurial companies able to make decisions, develop visions and run

their business like their livelihood depends on it. Nike, however, must ensure that an overall co-

ordinated product line is communicated to establish a general direction. As long as everybody

understands the Nike’s mission and objectives, they can take a portion of the business and

make it their own.

Apple

Apple Inc. Formerly Apple computer Inc. is an American multinational corporation with head-

quarters based out of Cupertino California. The company was founded on April 1st

1976. And

incorporated as apple computer Inc. on Jan 3rd

1977. The name was changed to Apple Inc. on

Jan 09, 2007. The same day Steve jobs introduced iPhone, reflected its shifted focus towards

consumer electronics.

Apple is world’s second largest information technology company by revenue and the world ’s

third largest mobile phone maker. It has been awarded the most admired company by fortune

magazine in United States in 2008 and in the world from 2008 to 2012. On Sep 30, 2013 Apple

over took Coca-Cola to become the most valuable brand in the Omnicon groups best global

brand’s report. However the company has received criticism for its contractors’ labour practices

and for Apple’s own environmental and business practices.

History:

Initially it was established to sell Apple 1 personnel computer kit. A computer single-handedly

designed by Wozniak. During the first five years revenues doubled every four months with an

average growth rate of 700%. The Apple II also invented by Wozniak was introduced on April

1977. Apple II was chosen to be the desktop platform for Killer App. Of the business world, Visi-

Calc, A spread sheet program. By the end of 1970s Apple had a staff of computer designers

and a production line. The company introduced Apple III in May 1980 in attempt to compete

with IBM and Microsoft. On December 12 1980, Apple went public at $22 per share generating

more capital than any IPO and instantly creating about three hundred millionaires than any

company in history. In 19982, Jobs took over Jef Ruskin’s low cost computer project which was

launched in 1984. It was a first personnel computer to be launched without any programming

language at all.

In 1985, a power struggle developed between Jobs and CEO John Sculley who had been hired

two years earlier. The Apple board of directors instructed Sculley to limit Job’s ability to launch

expensive forays into untested products. Rather than submit to Sculley ’s direction, Jobs at-

tempted to oust from him from his leadership role. Jobs after a conflict with Apple ’s board of di-

rectors sided with Sculley founded NeXT Inc., the same year.

The Macintosh portable was introduced in 1989 by Apple. After that Apple introduced power

book in 1991. The same year Apple introduced system7, which remained the architectural ba-

sis for Mac OS until 2012. The magazine MacAddict named the period between 1989 and 1991

as the first golden age of the Macintosh. In attempt to avoid competing with various consumer

outlets such as Walmart. Apple introduced many products leaving consumer confused during

this time Apple experimented with a number of other failed consumer targeted products mak-

ing consumers to not understand the difference between models. Apple relied on high profit

margins and never developed a clear response. Instead, they sued Microsoft for using GUI simi-

lar to the Apple lisa The law suit was finally dismissed and at the same time a series of major

product flops and missed deadlines sullied Apple’s reputation, which made Sculley to be re-

placed as CEO by Michael Spindler. In1996, Michael Spindler was replaced by Gil Amelio, who

chose to purchase NeXT and its NeXT STEP operating system bringing Steve Jobs back to Apple

as an adviser. Amelio was ousted by board of directors after three year record low stock price

and crippling financial losses in 1997. Jobs become interim CEO and begun restructuring the

company’s product line. In the period from 1998 to 2005, Apple purchased several companies

to create a portfolio of professional and consumer oriented digital product software. In 2003,

Apple’s iTunes store was introduced and the service quickly became the market leader in on-

line music services. Between 2003 and 2006 the price of Apple’s stock increased more than ten

folds in January 2006, Apple’s market cap surpassed that of Dell. Apple achieved widespread

success with its iPhone, iPod touch and iPad products, which introduced innovations in mobile

phones portable music players and personnel computers respectively. Delivering his key note

speech at the Mac world expo on January 09, 2007 Jobs announced that Apple computer Inc.

would from that point on be known as Apple Inc. because computers were no longer the main

focus of the company, which shifted its emphasis to mobile electronic devices. The following

day Apple share prices hit $97.8 and all time high at that point. After introducing iPad on Janu-

ary 27, 2010 and fourth generation iPhone Apple share hit an all-time high in October 2010. On

January 7, 2011 Jobs announced medical leave of absence to allow him to focus on his health

COO Tim Cook to assume Jobs’ day to day operations at Apple. Apple become the most valu-

able consumer facing brand in the world. In June 2011, Steve Jobs surprisingly took the stage

and unveiled I Cloud, which was the last product launched Jobs attended before his death. On

Aug 24, 2011 Jobs resigned his position as CEO of Apple and was replaced by Tim Cook. Jobs

became Apple’s chairman prior to which Apple did not have chairman and instead had two co-

lead directors. Apple launched many products in 2012 and 2013 and also acquired many com-

panies like Embark Inc. etc. A mid October 2013 announcement revealed that Angela Ahrendts

will commence as senior vice president at Apple in mid-2014.

Organizational Culture at Apple:

Apple’s culture has invaded the business world and had a powerful impact. As a supremely suc-

cessful company that has risen above strife to become a market leader, competitors look to Ap-

ple for inspiration, adopting its practices to improve their own companies. Apple ’s culture is

loosely structured around Steve Jobs personality, one of the Co-founders of Apple. Based on

this background let us look at how work culture at Apple evolved over the years.

Initial Years (1976-80):

Apple was established on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in

Steve Jobs parents’ garage. Apple was incorporated January 3, 1977, without Wayne, who sold

his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. Multi-millionaire Mike Markkula

provided essential business expertise and funding of $250,000 during the incorporation of Ap-

ple.

Since its inception Apple and its culture was heavily influenced by Steve Jobs personality. He

was extremely passionate and fearless when it came to growing Apple. Many actions in his ca-

reer were controversial and at certain points risked the future of the company. He passed this

passion and commitment to its products and customers to others employees of Apple. This pas-

sion and commitment can still be seen in all the Apple’s employees to this day. Because of this

passion and commitment and Steve Wozniak’s technological expertise, Apple grew at a very

fast rate. During first five years, revenues doubled every four months, an average growth rate

of 700%.

Lisa and Macintosh (1981-85):

As Apple grew, the Steve Jobs, then CEO felt need for someone with business expertise and

someone who can guide Apple to become one of the technological giants of the current cen-

tury. To bring about this change Jobs hired John Sculley, then CEO of Pepsi co. Initially every-

thing went well.

Apple started working on Lisa computers having best features. Steve Jobs wanted to introduce

Lisa as low cost product. But Sculley refused because of its high cost of production. This differ-

ence of opinion led expulsion of Steve Jobs from the Lisa project. Jobs’ obsession to produce low

cost computer turned his attention to Macintosh, another product on which Apple ’s team was

working on. This led to a division within the company. Different divisions within the company

started focusing on different objectives. One was Lisa group and the other was Macintosh

group. Since competitiveness was inculcated in employees’ personalities, this competitiveness

led to huge infighting between two groups for resources. This infighting resulted in removal of

Steve Jobs as the CEO of Apple.

Decline (1986-97):

After Steve Jobs, John Sculley took control of Apple. But his lack of expertise on the developing

industry, his short sightedness and risk averseness led to fall in sales and revenue of the com-

pany. During this period Apple and its employees lost their vision and mission. John Sculley

failed to inspire the employees. The competitiveness and passion which defined Apple was lost.

Apple was not producing the kind of products for which it was admired and loved. The profits

declined. Even the series of changes in the top management failed to inspire employees and

there was decline in Apple’s reputation and profits.

Transition and Return to Profitability (1998-current):

After series of transitions, Steve Jobs returned to Apple. The time when Steve Jobs was away

from the company, he started working on different projects. Enriched from these experiences,

Jobs started bringing the culture back to Apple. The team where given complete freedom for

creativity and enough time to successfully execute the set targets. The employees where given

sense of purpose and the bigger picture and overall mission of the company were explained to

them. Employees where challenged to come up with new ideas. To motivate them, they were

awarded higher wages, the star performers and their families were given a chance to go on

yacht with Steve Jobs where new ideas about products where discussed and the best ideas

were brought to production. The sense of purpose and award for excellence motivated employ-

ees which led to renaissance in the company and it became one of the most renowned compa-

nies of this century.

Ethical behaviour of Apple Inc.

Apple bases its success on “Creating innovative products and services and on demonstrating

integrity in every business interaction.” The four main principles of Apple that contribute to in-

tegrity are honesty, respect, confidentiality and compliance. As many of the Apple ’s product

components are manufactured in countries with low labor costs, the potential for misconduct if

high due to differing labor standards and less direct oversight. Apple makes each of its suppli-

ers to sign its “Supplier Code of Conduct” and performs factory audits to ensure compliance.

Though Apple has consistently won first place as the world’s Most Admired Company, it has

aced several ethical issues in recent years. The issue requiring product quality oversight con-

tinuously. As Apple’s brand hinges upon product quality, so mistakes can create serious ethical

dilemmas. Another important issue was regarding privacy which is the major concern for Apple.

The most important issue for Apple is sustainability. As we see all the Apple products are using

green technology it is constantly trying to ensure environmental friendly usage for the cus-

tomers. Apple has many lawsuits regarding the intellectual property rights of the company

against other companies. As it is totally based on innovation, these issues would be more com-

mon. It also frequently involved in the patents cases against other companies.

Hence we can see that Apple is more concerned about its ethical standards and is constantly

upgrading itself to comply with the standards it has set for its own operation.

Organisational Structure

Apple has change in organisational structure and that is by time frame. In this report we try to

present what are the major changes has been done to the organisational structure of the apple

year wise. Here the main objective is try to find out the benefits and the disadvantages of the

structural changes happened with Apple Inc.

New Organizational Structure of Apple (2010-current)

Apple Inc. hired a new Vice President who will report directly to Tim Cook. Paul Deneve is cited

as having responsibility for “special projects” and will report directly to Tim Cook.

The organizational structure (in Exhibit 1) is CEO centric one and circular type. Where the each

and every functions of the company caters around the Chief Executive Officer role. The left side

of the structure suggests normal business function oriented departments where right side of

the structure is suggesting product oriented functions.

Advantages:

1. Responsiveness is very high.

2. Inter department decision making is possible.

3. CEO has influence to the decision making of department’s functions.

4. Centrally controlled structure.

5. Reduction of the traditional hierarchy.

Disadvantages:

1. Too many department to handle for CEO.

2. Functions are not inter related mainly product oriented ones, so communication gap

between departments.

3. Transaction cost between departments.

Exhibit 1:

The main areas of Apples Management:

Marketing

The goal of this part of the firm is to identify the customer ́s needs and preferences and to mar-

ket the products that satisfy their needs.

Design

Industrial Design is responsible for designing the all Apple products, including the Apple

Macintosh computer line.

Device Engineering

The main task of this department is to design Apple’s hardware as well as the Software. To do

customization, configuring according to latest trends and technology are the prime focus of the

organization.

Retail

The retail business of Apple I tunes and music stores are being marketed by this department.

Software Engineering

This department is responsible for designing the OS platform of the Apple Inc.

Changes in Organizational Structure:

In year 1977 Apple Inc. had traditional organizational structure that was created by Steven Jobs

and Stephen Wozniak. They hired first professional manager A.C. Markkula.

As the enterprise was growing and in 1983 the structure was look like as shown in Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2:

Due to the Apple products were not competitive enough that became the reason to retire of

Markkula as the CEO (but still remained as a consultant) and hire on his post John Sculley from

PepsiCo.

In 1984 new President John Sculley simplified the organizational structure. The main change

was

1. To reduce the number of Apple product division to three. The three categories were

Macintosh, Apple II.

2. The job maintained the position of the chairman of the board of directors.

Exhibit 3:

In 1985 Sculley made change in organizational structure. The changes were:

1. The main cause was to change the three product category to one Product Operations.

2. The change should lower the operating cost of the products.

Changes consequences:

1. Steve Jobs was no longer a member, he resigned from Apple and Jean-Louis Gassee, head of

Apple France, was promoted to replace him.

2. Steve Jobs found company NeXT what will be bought by Apple later.

Exhibit 4:

The centralization concept:

1. To centralize operations and involve Apple’s senior management in day-to-day decisions,

Sculley created a new position of Chief Operation Officer

2. Yocam was appointed as Chief Operating Officer.

Exhibit 5:

Failure of the change in Organizational Structure:

1. Scully was forced out of his leadership position by Apple's board of directors in 1993 due

to bad results.

2. Michael Spindler, broke tradition by licensing Apple technology to outside firms.

The Big Mistake:

Spindler made a horrible mistake in 1995, when Apple had unfilled order in worth of $1 billion

(underestimated demand). This was his last mistake, after that was replaced by Gil Amelio. But

Amelio was not the chairman for much time. In 1997 was replaced again by Steve Jobs. This

was because lately in 1996 Apple bought NeXT, Steve Jobs’ enterprise.

Apple – Organic or Mechanistic structure

While mechanistic structures induce people in predictable, accountable ways with centralized

decision making organic structure encourage people to take initiatives and is found to be very

flexible. Apple cannot be clearly defined as purely organic or purely mechanistic. Industry that

apple operates is very dynamic and it had tried to keep its structure as organic as possible and

it was quite successful. Steve jobs created a flattened organizational structure which focused

on decentralization.

Mechanistic structure in Apple

Apple manufactures its Ipad and Ipod through foxconn industries,China. Apple outsource this as

they can focus on their core competency. Foxconn is found using performance appraisal and

organizational structure is pyramid style bureaucracy. Foxconn even landed up in controversy

for threatening employees using performance appraisal. So it can be noticed that whatever

functions that may require mechanistic structure have been outsourced.

Organizational structure

Apple follows a flat organizational structure and this encourages employees to contribute effec-

tively to company by taking part in the decision making process. With Hardware,software and

retail functions apple clearly follows a divisional structure.This segregation was done based on

the product the division is specialized in. So it can be said that apple revolves around depart-

ments rather than people.

Advantaged this structure than offer could be

 Stronger pursuit of internal organizational efficiency,motivated by the extra control

provided by the corporate office

 Corporate can easily identify the division/department which is performing poorly or

which is earnng maximum returns on investment

 Division would tend to adopt international best practices as the division is linked with

international counterparts.

Disadvantages this structure can offer

 Huge Bureaucratic costs due to extensive duplication of activities within the organiza-

tion

 Divisions competing eachother for human resources in external and internal labor

market

Transfer pricing issues – determination of the same and coordination problems that

can emerge because of that

Employee Motivation:

Apple’s culture is greatly influenced by its founder Steve Jobs. He inculcated passion for the

products into his employees. The employees are given complete freedom to use their imagina-

tion. They are given complete freedom in terms of product development to product delivery.

The employees are encouraged to work in cross functional teams. Micro-management is dis-

couraged. Opinions respected, ideas listened to, bug bears acted onto. To keep daily stock of

activities, regular meetings are arranged but none of the employees are forced to attend these

meetings. Because of the work environment and sense of purpose and chance to work on big

things, employees are ready to work for long hours even though they are forced to.

Secrecy:

Because Apple is a hardware company they knew that letting details out about new products

would kill sales of existing products, so they built culture of secrecy early on. Employees at Ap-

ple aren't allowed to tell even their co-workers about what they are working on.Everything is on

a need to know basis reducing redundancy of data and as such limited confusions. This extends

even into meetings. If you are in a meeting and you aren't on the disclosure list for something

you'll be asked to leave. Generally people don't bring up stuff in meetings they aren't allowed

to discuss with the group. In labs, every project is kept under black cloths, just in case some-

one gets into a section they weren't supposed to be in. Plus the labs are all sectioned off and

you have to sign into your part of the lab (and, of course, key cards only work if you are sup-

posed to have access to that lab).

Organizational Process

1. Product Design

The success of the Apple’s products predominantly depends on the design of the product and

application. In order to narrow down a specific design for a product of specific category or an

application, the company follows several methods to finalize it. They are as follows

i) 10 to 3 to 1

In this method, the designers are allowed to come up with up to 10 ideas, where the seven are

selected to make the other three look better compared to them. After this, the selected three

designs are taken to next level. The designers are allowed to work on them and the final strong

decision on design is arrived by boiling down the options from 3 to 1.

ii) Paired Design Meetings

This method like the above mentioned is a bottom to top approach process, where the flow of

ideas happen from the bottom level of the management such as employees to the top level of

management such as C-suite persons. There are two meetings held by the company every

week. One being the ‘Idea Meeting’ and the other being the ‘Production Meeting’. The aim of

the former one is to help people come up with innovative ideas through brain storming

whereas the later one involves the designers and engineers to nail down the work to make the

idea finalized in the former meeting work.

iii) Pony Meetings

This process in contrast to the earlier mentioned methods involves top down management in-

volvement. In this session, the senior manager clearly states the problem definition in terms of

a required application or a product. During these meetings, the production engineers are ex-

pected to chalk out a road map that shows the building up of the requirement and present it to

top management. Once these plans are approved by the people from C-suite, the plan is put

into action. This method has several advantages. Through this method, the workers at the bot-

tom will get hold of an idea of the vision that top management team trying to achieve. On the

other hand, the top management can have a check on designers work before approving them.

2. Staffing

i) Recruitment

Throughout all these years right from beginning, Apple has maintained positive recruitment

policy. And, the company achieved these by offering internship, on-the-job training and career

opportunities. The company emphasized importance of computer knowledge in people in every

one of its recruitment drive. The company had several business groups within itself, which have

been given the privilege of recruiting people for specific domain. For instance, the software de-

velopers group hired interns to work on OS X server, Technical publications, Graphics and

Imaging. Moreover, the company also recruited people based on feedback collected from con-

sumers. Apple always recruits its product marketing manager based on the feedback collected

from consumers. Very often Apple insists on task primacy and individual responsibility. As a re-

sult, during its communication to employees, the company stresses on the employees to take a

better offer if it came along their way. Through this the company gives the employees freedom

to choose their career. On the other hand, Apple is unapologetic about the layoffs it makes.

From this, we can see that Apple believed in Employability security rather than Employment se-

curity.

ii) Responsibilities:

Apple employees are required to perform different responsibilities from time to time like: Over-

seeing multiple projects with strict timelines, allocating resources, driving business, functional,

financial, and reporting requirements. Cross-functional project schedules include development

on the iTunes Store, back-end financial systems, and other Apple groups. Collaborate with

IS&T, Treasury, legal, Tax, finance, operations and other organizations both within and outside

of Apple to develop solutions for partnerships and promotions and other new business.

iii) Accountability:

An employee is accountable for any undertaking taken up by him. He is strictly under observa-

tion of the governing bodies within the organization at all times. All the regulations and guide-

lines of the organization and must be followed religiously and thereby operate within the

boundaries of professional ethics. Sharing complete knowledge of the overall activity as a part

of his job, a project manager must act as a guide to the concerned departments.

iv) Probationary Period:

Any candidate joining Apple has to sign a 12 month probationary period agreement which in-

cludes training and performance management to determine the satisfactory work capabilities.

Apple monitors its new project manager`s performance closely since a large portion of respon-

sibility is rested on his shoulders. Unsatisfactory performance of the candidate may lead to the

termination of the job during the probationary period.

v) Compensation and material benefits

Post recruitment, various benefits are enjoyed by the employees of Apple. The benefits depend

on the location and employment status. The common benefits enjoyed include insurance cover-

age, flexible spending account, and an employee stock purchase program and a 401K invest-

ment and savings plan. Product discounts, on-site fitness centres, and opportunity to work on

big projects with some of the experienced players were added bonuses.

In 1995, Apple initiated the Apple Fellows program to reward an employee, who had made ex-

traordinary contributions to personal computing while at the program. Each Apple Fellow acted

as a leader and a visionary, guiding the company in the area of their expertise. Apple also of-

fered FlexBenefits program, where the employees can chose among the pool of benefits of-

fered according to their need.

In October 2008, Apple tried to setup a program called Apple University, with Mr. Joepodolny as

head in 2010. Through this program the company tried to replicate the successful concept of

Pixar University initiated by Steve Jobs.

vi) Recognition:

In the company, a group of 100 people are selected and labelled as ‘Apple Elite’. This group

comprised of talented members from various domain. The idea behind the group formation is

that the company’s then CEO Steve Jobs organizes a meeting with these people and shares the

vision of Apple and communicates where the company was heading at that point of time. More-

over, it was stated that only in these meetings, the draft of company’s idea on every new prod-

uct is communicated.

Customer Satisfaction, Product/Services Concept

1. Customer Management and Satisfaction:

Walking past an Apple store on the eve of every new product launch, one undoubtedly notices

the line-up of devoted Apple fanatics impatiently waiting to get their hands on Apple ’s newest

delivery. Apple has always been triumphant in cultivating a cult of Apple fanatics who have re-

peatedly proved to be the most brand loyal consumers present in the market. Recent Bernstein

research study shows that an incredible 90% of iPhone users indicated an intention to purchase

another iPhone as their next phone, many as soon as the new iPhone comes out.

Although revolutionary product conceptualization, out-of-the-world design, and chic, clever

marketing are largely accredited for Apple’s incredible sales and marketplace dominance over

the last half a decade, its unique customer management system has also provided the founda-

tion of its aforementioned features to nurture. Apple has been consistently ranked at the top

for customer service in the personal computers category of the American Consumer Satisfac-

tion Index (ASCI), has consistently scored highest in Vocalabs phone support satisfaction sur-

veys. It also achieved the highest customer satisfaction scores in numerous Consumer Reports.

Apple’s customer management has depths beyond being just its obvious function as customer

support. It is more devoted to consistently deliver a customer experience that not only meets,

but even exceeds expectations.

Apple’s Customer Management can be explained from 5 different perspectives as follows:

i) Apple Stores, the Perfect Customer Experience:

Apple products are sold through Apple’s own chain of retail stores. Apple does not leave pri-

mary customer interaction to random employees of big multiband stores who treat each prod-

uct indifferently or based on prejudice. Apple Stores are a microenvironment within them, de-

voted and dedicated to provide primary customers an experience of a lifetime, presenting ev-

ery detail of Apple products in entirety, each time they visit an Apple Store.

ii) Provide customers with an environment to “hang-out”:

Along with being the most valuable brand in the world, Apple Stores are also the most prof-

itable marketplaces in the world. However a key fact that has been noticed here is that, the

majority of customers that enter an Apple store don’t actually make any purchases. Instead,

teenagers, students, young professionals, and parents often visit Apple Stores to hang out and

play around with Apple’s cool new products. Apple too, rather than pressurizing their staff to

persuade the customers into sales, insists them to greet the customers by smiling and encour-

aging the customers to experience the products. Over the years Apple has been successful in

turning shopping for computers and phones into an extremely enjoyable customer experience

and it has resulted in creating a brand image that competitors can only be envy of.

iii) Tight Quality Control, best strategy to minimize customer service problems:

For any company that aspires to be a market leader in customer satisfaction, customer service

has to form the heart of its business model. It’s because no matter how good the technicians

are, how amicable the sales staff are and how efficient the outsourcing partners are, poor qual-

ity products can never produce brand loyalty and customer retention. It is here that Apple has

taken quality control to a whole new level. Apple exercises tight control over every aspect of

their business model. Whether be it the impeccable veil of secrecy over its upcoming products

or their strict proprietary control over the iOS, Apple has never left any slack on their security

measures. This manifested in an unprecedented level of control over the user experience and

allowed them to stand a class apart from all competitors when it comes to the level of cus-

tomer satisfaction. In their App store, Apple checks and sends every piece of software through

stringent quality control tests before it can be installed onto an iOS device. Apples decision not

to allow flash support on their devices shows its level of quality control. Flash, required by most

video websites has the notoriety of random crashes, which was unacceptable for Apple.

iv) Customer Management, a Long Term Investment:

Although most companies take customer management as an expense and try their best to min-

imize it, Apple welcomes it as a long term investment in fostering customer loyalty and building

brand image. Apple refused to move its North American phone support offshore, despite the

huge cost benefits associated with the move. Also Apple maintains a hassle-free approach of

replacing broken devices instead of repairing, as done by the competition. Studies show that

these decisions have consistently resulted in placing Apple at number one position in customer

service satisfaction. Apple believes that these decisions though seem costly in the short term,

produce much greater dividends in the long run and we all have seen that it has been starkly

correct.

iv) Pin-point Targeted Business Focus:

Although Apple is world’s richest technology company, it makes only a handful of products.

Such has been its reputation that almost every tech enthusiast, be it an Apple fanatic or not,

can recite every Apple product produced till now. Steve Jobs believed that the goal of customer

management is to be able to answer the question, “What is our business?” Jobs understood that

this question had to be asked from the customer’s perspective. Apple believes in delivering

more than just the physical form of its products, Apple delivers cool, elegant, reliable products

that stands out from the crowd, and thus makes the users stand out from the crowd. By taking

utmost care and diligence in catering this experience to customers, Apple has been able to

build an incomparable customer loyalty and user satisfaction.

2. Products/Services Concept:

Apple bases its marketplace advantage on two key Product/ Services Concepts which are: "cat-

egory-killer innovation" and its expertise in “making complexity simple".

i) Apple Concept: Category-Killer Innovation

"Category-killer innovation" is when a company produces a product that fundamentally

changes both the rules of the game and the customer's value proposition in a product cate-

gory. It requires that “Think different" attitude. Apple examples of "category-killer innovation"

include the iPod, iPhone, iPad and iCloud. Each one of these products have brought futuristic

technologies at the times when they were released. The iPod with its compactness and huge

memory and sound quality, the iPhone 1 with its fluid interface and the latest iPhone 5s with its

fingerprint sensor are some examples of this very fact. Unlike other companies who believe in

taking baby steps by just tweaking one product with minor changes to release a newer one, Ap-

ple takes its time, and delivers complete innovative products.

ii) Apple Concept: Make Complexity Simple

A company “make complexity simple" when it moves technology out of the way and technology

includes not just hardware and software but also obtuse jargon and confusing terminology. In

Steve Jobs words, "the best technology is invisible - things work like magic". Apple achieves

simplicity by focusing on the few most important concepts or features that add the most value

- rather than include every feature you can imagine. Apple never included Bluetooth in its

iPhones, nor did it allow music transfer without iTunes, still these have hardly had any impact

of customer acceptance. Simplicity is about clean, uncluttered design and the iOS, both in its

mobile and Mac versions represent the epitome of simplicity.

3) Apple Success

Reliance on these key fundamental uniqueness have differentiated Apple in the marketplace

and enabled it to establish a leadership position in mobile technology. All these culminated in

placing Apple at the helm of the most valuable companies in the world.

Analysis as Q&A

Why Apple to be considered as a learning organization in terms of Organizational behavior?

1. The most important reason is Steve Jobs’s contribution towards Apple’s organizational

design change.

2. The employees are satisfied in working at Apple Inc. as mentioned by famous employee

opinion website Glassdoor.com.

3. Main motto of the organization is learning as collective activity not an individual one.

Supportive environment is always available.

4. The direction in which the organization is growing is to REFLECT, PLAN & GENERATE.

5. If the above one achieve then INTEGRATE, INTERPRET & ACT.

Why Apple was forced to change its organizational structure?

1. To produce innovative product for long term reputation and making product that cus-

tomer wish for.

2. To survive with financial failure and make organizational structure strong.

3. Competitive market share increase with competing IBM and MICROSOFT.

4. To revise corporate strategy.

How Organizational change makes Apple Inc. successful?

1. Apple implements Peter. M. Senge’s fifth discipline to increase their sales

2. They involved in research and development with senior resources with several years.

3. Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Building Shared Vision, and

Team Learning have been implemented as core values of Apple Inc.