Apple Competitor
Creating Disruptive Innovation as an Apple Competitor

Apple continues to create an entirely new level of disruptive innovation in the areas of MP3, smartphone and tablet PCs by continually fueling new ecosystems of musical and video content while revolutionizing the hardware experience. The continual evolution of the iPad is today re-ordering the structure of the PC market and with it, enterprise computing (Apple Investor elations, 2012). Just as the iPod and iPhone are revolutionizing music delivery it is feasible to assume that that iPad and follow-on tablet PCs will also bring the same level of rapid change into enterprise computing. Apple has redefined the concept of the platform as the competitive force in stable and emerging, high growth markets (Deck, 1997). This focus on ecosystem-driven profitability however is ripe for disruptive innovation at the individual customer experience and device level. The intent of this analysis is to look at…...

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References

Apple, Investor Relations (2012). Investor Relations. Retrieved November 29, 2012 from Apple Investor Relations and Filings with the SEC Web site:  http://www.apple.com/investor/ 

Cusumano, M. (2008). Technology strategy and management: The puzzle of apple. Association for Computing Machinery.Communications of the ACM, 51(9), 22.

Deck, M. (1997). The power of product platforms: Building value and cost leadership. The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 14(6), 526-529.

Porter, M.E. (2008, The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78-93.

It was then not the device, but the ability to selectively customize the device for a given consumers' tastes and preferences in music that mattered. The iTunes ecosystem, now responsible either directly or indirectly for nearly one out of every four dollars Apple makes, was the most powerful catalyst of disruptive innovation the tech industry has ever seen (Tariq, Ishrat, Khan, 2011). Disruptive innovation was created in the initial processes of how Apple develops products, and continues to this day in the approach they take to integrating suppliers into the process early, defining very high levels of performance for each members of the value chain as well (Dedrick, Kraemer, Linden, 2010).
What is also unique about Apple's disruptive approach to innovation is the ability to learn from one product generation and use the insights and intelligence gained for the next product. This is how Apple was able to transition so…...

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References

Dedrick, J., Kraemer, K.L., & Linden, G. (2010). Who profits from innovation in global value chains?: A study of the iPod and notebook PCs. Industrial and Corporate Change, 19(1), 81.

Tariq, M., Ishrat, R., & Khan, H. (2011). New product development processes a case study of apples success with iconic iPod and iPhone. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(1), 158-169.

Xerox
How did disruptive innovations in the industry affect Xerox? Did it adjust; and if so, how? Discuss possible sources of innovation for Xerox

Capitalism, in general is often referred to as a "Profit System." However, a more accurate term would be that of a "Profit and Loss System." Consequently, due primarily to this loss component, innovations arise. Disruptive innovations occur when an unusual industry occurrence disrupts traditional thought process. The prevailing thoughts are often found to be incongruent with market demands. As such, innovations arise which propel companies to the forefront of their respective industries. Xerox is no exception to this occurrence. Its industry was characterized with intense competition and rapidly decreasing margins. These eroding margins resulted in subpar performance for the company in regards to revenue and net income. The increased competition, particularly from Asian countries placed downward pressure on margins due primarily to low manufacturing costs. In addition, price…...

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References:

1) Smith, Gene. "Xerox Planning to Market Color Copier Next Year." New York Times. May 19, 1972

Mobile Computing: A Disruptive Innovation Whose Time Has Come
The pervasive adoption of mobile computing devices, combined with cloud computing and the quantum gains in application software are creating a globally diverse collaborative platform. These elements taken together are deliver an exceptionally fast and pervasive level of disruptive innovation across all sociocultural and technology sectors (Bernoff, Li, 2008). The impact of this disruptive innovation is so significant that IT departments have to drastically reorder their policies in smartphones, tablet PCs and other devices that employees are using to streamline their lives (Thomson, 2012). Smartphones, tablet PCs and devices like them are becoming so pervasive today that they are considered a formable cultural and socioeconomic factor in the planning and execution of business and government strategies well into the future (Bernoff, Li, 2008).

This platform of technology is so pervasive, that it requires in-depth support to enable integration of systems to supporting data…...

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References

Apple, Investor Relations (2012). Investor Relations. Retrieved June 9, 2012, from Apple Investor Relations and Filings with the SEC Web site:  http://www.apple.com/investor/ 

Bernoff, J., & Li, C. (2008). Harnessing the power of the oh-so-social web. MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(3), 36-42.

Blair, G.S., Coulson, G., & Grace, P (2004) Research directions in reflective middleware: the Lancaster experience, Proceedings of the 3rd workshop on Adaptive and reflective middleware (pp. 262-267). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: ACM Press.

Emmerich, W., (2007) Software engineering and middleware: a roadmap, Proceedings of the Conference on The Future of Software Engineering (pp. 117-129). Limerick, Ireland: ACM Press.

Innovation
In a single day, the average person comes into contact with a range of services, products, and processes that can be categorized as forms of innovation. Furthermore, most of these innovations will differ in degree, some being radical innovations and others being merely incremental; some sustaining, others breakout, and still others viewed as disruptive innovations. This paper will analyze the different examples of innovation with which I come into contact on a daily basis, show how they are innovative, what generic lessons can be derived from them, and under what form of innovation they would be categorized.

The water purifier is a perfect form of process innovation that is often applied to product innovation: for example, it may be found within the mechanism of the refrigerator, attached to the kitchen faucet, or even inside a portable water bottle. All three provide purified water and illustrate how process innovation can be adapted…...

In his book, Beyond the obvious: killer questions that spark game-changing innovation, Phil McKinney (2012) argues that most innovation efforts fail because the right questions are never asked -- people are taught and do not stray from the obvious. McKinney asserts that in a rapidly changing world, people ought to ask the right questions about their businesses -- they must stretch beyond the basic or usual. Indeed, asking the right questions is the heart of innovation (Berger, 2014). Asking the right questions causes a fundamental shift in how a business sees its products and customers, and the way the two interact. In addition to asking the right questions, innovation involves creating an environment that supports innovation and having the right leadership practices. These three themes constitute the focus of this paper. The paper particularly highlights important questions that drive the innovation process and the role of leadership in creating a…...

However, by keeping apace of industry trends and consumer desires, it can be better poised to be aware of potential threats, as these are areas disruptive technologies often wish to target.
What strategies might they use when they do identify a technology that could be disruptive?

A company must remain both on the cutting edge of innovation in terms of technology in its industry, and have a clear knowledge of the needs of its customer base. Segmenting and addressing a diversity of needs that might be ripe for the targeting of new technologies is one way to remain in control of the market. Small firms, however, might be well advised to snap up and deploy such evolving technologies, as these could be potential growth opportunities in markets where they cannot have the advantage of producing on an economy of scale....

Innovation and Theories of Management.
Managerial Planning and Leading in Organizational Innovation

The account presented here is intended to examine the role of innovation in modern business practices. Particularly, this will be examined from the perspective of management and with a focus on the two primary management functions of Planning and Leading. The literature review hereafter considers these functions of management in direct relation to the complex questions pertaining to innovation. Primary areas of consideration are the decision-making which enters into the determination of whether to innovate or to follow market patterns; the impact of market externalities and economic cycles on this decision; and the correlation of internal factors and personnel matters on this decision. The discussion ultimately produces the finding that innovation is only suited for those firms possessing the right mix of internal and external conditions.

Introduction:

Corporate innovation is often thought of as an inherency in the world of business. That…...

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Works Cited:

Abramson, Mark A. & Ian D. Littman. (2002). Innovation. Rowman & Littlefield.

Audretsch, David B. (1995). Innovation and Industry Evolution. The MIT Press.

Audretsch, David B. (2006). Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Barnett, Homer Garner. (1906). Innovation: The Basis of Cultural Change. McGraw-Hill.

(1000 Ventures, 2008)
The work of Kaplan and Palmer (2007) entitled: "Strategic Imagination: External Thought Leaders Inspire Breakthrough Innovation" published by Innovation Point relates the fact concerning innovation efforts that they "often deliver disappointingly short-term ideas and fail to identify longer-term growth platforms. An organization's inwardly-focused and historically-biased view of the world limits its capacity for 'strategic imagination'. Bringing in fresh, future-oriented perspectives from outside the organization is an essential catalyst for innovative 'stretch thinking'." (Kaplan and Palmer, 2007) Bringing in what are termed to be 'external thought leaders' derived from various domains will assist the innovation process and assist the team in the development of 'Industry Foresight' and in identification of: "...non-obvious opportunities." (Kaplan and Palmer, 2007) External thought leaders are described as "...inspirational provocateurs and visionaries..." And are said to be the "...essential catalyst for teams that seek breakthrough innovation." (Kaplan and Palmer, 2007) the work of Wagner…...

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References

Herzberg, Torsten (2005-2006) Toward a Mid-Range of Method Selection for Innovation Pre-project Activities" School of Industrial Manufacturing Science Enterprise Integration.

Cranfield University. Online available at:  https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/bitstream/1826/1059/1/060429_PhD_Torsten_Herzberg.pdf 

Kaplan, Soren and Palmer, Derrick (2007) Strategic Imagination: External Thought Leaders Inspire Breakthrough Innovation. Innovation Point. LLC. Online available at  http://www.innovation-point.com/Strategic%20Imagination.pdf 

Profitable Innovation in High Tech: Innovate to Compete, Innovate Profitably to Win (2008) Oracle. Online available at  http://www.oracle.com/industries/high_tech/Profitable_Innovation_for_High_Tech.pdf

Horizontal Innovation Networks: By and for Users
Assessing the Viability of Horizontal Innovation Networks

In evaluating whether user generated innovation is good or bad for a company including if user innovation can happen independently from manufacturers, the insights and knowledge provided in Horizontal innovation networks - By and For Users (von Hippel, 2007) serves as the basis of this analysis. The integration of user-generated innovations into the product development process, and to the extent to which innovations' benefits and unique position within a manufacturers' marketing mix are analyzed in the context of social networks being the platform for open innovation (Bernoff, Li, 2008).

Defining the Value of User-Generated innovation

elying on microeconomic analysis and the frameworks of free revealing supported by examples from open source software and the development of the Apache Server software in addition to several other examples Horizontal innovation networks - By and For Users (von Hippel, 2007) illustrates the value…...

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References

Bernoff, J., & Li, C.. (2008). Harnessing the Power of the Oh-So-Social Web. MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(3), 36-42.

Bucci, A., & Parello, C.. (2009). Horizontal innovation-based growth and product market competition. Economic Modelling, 26(1), 213.

Jeffrey H. Dyer & Kentaro Nobeoka. (2000). Creating and managing a high-performance knowledge-sharing network: The Toyota case. Strategic Management Journal: Special Issue: Strategic Networks, 21(3), 345-367.

Per Hilletofth, & David Eriksson. (2011). Coordinating new product development with supply chain management. Industrial Management + Data Systems, 111(2), 264-281.

The cloud computing platform has also made it possible for companies to integrate their information technologies and services into a common strategy; a goal that had not been attainable in the past (Buttol, Buonamici, Naldesi, inaldi, Zamagni, Masoni, 2012).
A second strategic technology that is driving a high level of innovation in organizations is mobility and the rise of mobile computing, incouding the latest generation of operating systems in this area. Apple's iOS, Google's Android and many other operating systems are the foundation of disruptive innovation throughout many enterprises today. The early advances in mobile technologies are a case in point, as are the continued development of medical applications for the Apple iPad (Wickramasinghe, Sharma, Goldberg, 2003). Mobility is also showing the potential to be a technology that can support precise geo-positioning and analysis of the best delivery routes for courier services and supply chain-based companies as well. The rise…...

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References

Arinze, B., & Anandarajan, M. (2010). Factors that determine the adoption of cloud computing: A global perspective.International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems, 6(4), 55.

Buttol, P., Buonamici, R., Naldesi, L., Rinaldi, C., Zamagni, A., & Masoni, P. (2012). Integrating services and tools in an ICT platform to support eco-innovation in SMEs. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 14(2), 211-221.

Kleis, L., Chwelos, P., Ramirez, R.V., & Cockburn, I. (2012). Information technology and intangible output: The impact of IT investment on innovation productivity. Information Systems Research, 23(1), 42-59,280,282-283.

Nambisan, S., Bacon, J., & Throckmorton, J. (2012). The role of the innovation capitalist in open innovation. Research Technology Management, 55(3), 49-57.

It takes insightful analysis of the key success factors from the customers' perspective while a strong commitment to re-orient internal, back-office systems to support customer-driven criterion. The examples of the e-commerce industry, which is known for increasing returns and being highly differentiated on knowledge, show how quickly the network effect can serve as an accelerator for second movers to gain customer base in a relatively short period of time.
eferences

Jeffrey H. Dyer, & Kentaro Nobeoka. (2000). Creating and managing a high-performance knowledge-sharing network: The Toyota case. Strategic Management Journal: Special Issue: Strategic Networks, 21(3), 345-367.

Hsieh, T.. (2010, June). Why I Sold Zappos. Inc., 32(5), 100-104.

Isckia, T.. (2009). Amazon's Evolving Ecosystem: A Cyber-bookstore and Application Service Provider. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 26(4), 332-343.

Lieberman, M.B. & Montgomery D.B. 1998, 'First-Mover (Dis)Advantages: etrospective and Link with the esource-Based View, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 19, pp. 1111-1125.

Maida Napolitano. (2009, February). Zappos.com goes Space…...

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References

Jeffrey H. Dyer, & Kentaro Nobeoka. (2000). Creating and managing a high-performance knowledge-sharing network: The Toyota case. Strategic Management Journal: Special Issue: Strategic Networks, 21(3), 345-367.

Hsieh, T.. (2010, June). Why I Sold Zappos. Inc., 32(5), 100-104.

Isckia, T.. (2009). Amazon's Evolving Ecosystem: A Cyber-bookstore and Application Service Provider. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 26(4), 332-343.

Lieberman, M.B. & Montgomery D.B. 1998, 'First-Mover (Dis)Advantages: Retrospective and Link with the Resource-Based View, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 19, pp. 1111-1125.

Action
The importance of creativity and innovation in the workplace is well documented, but the debate over nature vs. nurture continues with some authorities maintaining that people are born with attributes such as creativity and innovation while others argue that such attributes can be inculcated over time (Furnham & Heaven 1999). To determine the facts in these matters, this case study examines the relevant literature to gain some fresh insights concerning how creativity and innovation can be most effectively stimulated, support and sustained within a given organization. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the case study's conclusion.

Companies of all types and sizes are currently attempting to gain a competitive edge through creativity and innovation. Creativity in the workplace is defined by Garrison, Harvey and Napier (2008) as being "the production of ideas, products, or procedures that are (a) novel or original; (b) appropriate for the…...

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References

'Coast Guard Innovation Program.' (2008) Commandant Instructions 5224.13, CG-09. Washington D.C., U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Garrison, G. Harvey, M. & Napier, N. (2008) 'Global Decision-making: the Role of Managerial

Curiosity in Assessing Potentially Disruptive Information Technologies.' Multinational

Business Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 21-23.

technology s-curve analysis is useful to assess the developmental lifecycle stage of technology. The term s-curve refers to the share that the progress of the lifecycle will be seen as on a graph where the x axis is time and the y axis is performance White & Bruton, 201). The line resembles an s, as shown in figure 1 below
Figure 1; the Technology S-Curve

The curve is useful as it will help to assess where technology is in the life cycle, and whether there are likely to be major improvements, or if the product is moving towards maturity if it will be vulnerable to substitute technology White & Bruton, 2010). New technology that will be come a substitute is likely to start its lifecycle during the accelerated growth period of the exiting technology, so it is ready to become the substitute when the current technology reaches maturity. Understanding the s-curve…...

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(a) Key issues to remember in managing technology substitution include the way in which the consumers that buy the technology use it, and how the new products may be perceived in terms of acceptability (White & Bruton, 2010). This means looking not only at current needs, but at potential future consumer needs in order to ensure that the technology meets with market needs. Firms need to ensure potential substitutions will include the ability to satisfy needs and offer sufficient additional, but desired or useful benefits that will justify the consumer switching for a product that is likely to have a higher cost, and may include some inconvenience in terms of adapting to the changes in the technology (Kotler & Keller, 2011).

(b) When a firm manages technology substitution the process should begin before the technology is needed, so there is time for it to undergo the slower development stages before it is needed and can present with the enhanced performance the point the technology needs to be used as a substitution. The process should include focus on the market needs and forecasting consumer demand, as well as the technological capabilities and developments (White & Bruton, 2010). The process should also be undertaken in a manner that will protect the developments with patents etc...

(c) Managing technological substitution is important as now product will last forever; even lifecycle extension strategies will only prolong the lifecycle for a limited period of time. In technology where there is a highly competitive environment this is especially true. If the firm wishes to survive they will need to have product in place to act as substitutes, if they do not they will loose their customers to

Both dissenters and innovators are outsiders -- thinking and acting outside the box. The very qualities that make these individuals annoying (e.g. arrogance, single-mindedness) are also part of the types of qualities (passion, drive, confidence) that are needed to keep ideas alive and vital. A good manager can deal with the package and manage the wheat with the chaff.
Talking Points

Usually impossible to get the type of innovators one wants without getting some of their own negatives (arrogance, inability to compromise, etc.).

Managing means eliciting the needed strengths out of each individual employee, and harkens back to the idea that not all employees are equal.

Managers often have the urge to tame the wild nature of a dissenter; to "bring them into the fold."

There are people who provide dissent because they are simply unhappy -- regardless of the situation. These types of dissenters rarely contribute innovation, but instead provide a litany of…...

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Cited in www.fastcompany.com.

Senge, P.M. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning

Organization. Broadway.

Tichy, N. And a. McGill, eds. (2003). The Ethnical Challenge: How to Lead with Unyielding

Integrity. Jossey-Bass.

Leadership in Modern Organizations

The Evolution of Leadership: From Traditional Approaches to Contemporary Paradigms
The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Effective Leadership
Cross-Cultural Leadership: Navigating the Complexities of a Globalized Workforce
Servant Leadership: Balancing Empowerment and Accountability
Leadership in Crisis: Strategies for Navigating Organizational Challenges

The Impact of Leadership on Organizational Outcomes

The Relationship Between Leadership Style and Employee Engagement
The Influence of Ethical Leadership on Organizational Reputation
Transformational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Organizational Success
The Importance of Diversity in Leadership: Enhancing Performance and Inclusivity
Leadership and Organizational Culture: Shaping Values and Beliefs

Leadership Development and Succession Planning

Identifying and Developing Future....