Apple Inc - Analyzing a Current Operations Management Technique - Clinical Decision Support Systems

Executive Summary

Apple Inc. has come back from near bankruptcy in the 1990’s to being the most valuable company in the world today. Their business practices can be a valuable lesson for other companies. First, they allow customers to create apps and accessories for their products that are sold in the Apple Store and the App Store. Allowing customers to create and sell products allows for a larger number of items for customers to buy and allows Apple to focus resources on creation of larger projects. Apple’s customer relationship strategy focuses on creating products that customers don’t even know they want. This strategy of creating innovative products helps Apple stay above the competition. One of the best strategies that Apple has might be how then maintain secrecy. Apple does not disclose much information on how they are run and most information available is from speculation or past employees. Maintaining secrecy in a technology field is very important to keep companies from stealing ideas.

Over the years Apple has created products that have revolutionized how we listen to music and use cell phones and computers. In order to manage apps, songs, and other media on multiple devices, Apple has created the Cloud to allow users to back up products and access items on other devices without connecting to a computer. Apple’s most recent revolutionary product is Siri. Siri is an intelligent system available on the iPhone 4S which can interact with the user essentially like a personal assistant. Siri was created by a customer and originally available in the App Store until Apple saw the potential and bought the company. It is a prime example of Apple letting customers create apps for products and Apple seeing the potential in revolutionary products.

Apple Inc. Case Study

Apple Inc. is an innovative company who has come back from near bankruptcy in the late 90’s to being the most valuable company in the world today. From allowing customers to create products to sell in the Apple App store to deciding what products customers want for them and keeping business practices a secret, Apple Inc is a company that can teach valuable business lessons to other companies. Since nearly going bankrupt, Apple Inc has created revolutionary products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad that have helped bring the company back from the dead and to the front of the pack.

The fact that Apple welcomes products created by consumers to sell to consumers is a key component of their business strategy. It wouldn’t be possible for Apple to make all of the apps and accessories that are available for their products with their current resources. By allowing their customers to create these products, they are ensuring that the customers are getting products that they would desire and are also freeing up resources to devote to development of