...John Serian 12/14/13 Professor Powers FYIS class The Legacy of a Man Who Changed the World “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” –Steve Jobs. (Steve Jobs Quotes) His very voice echoed in the ears of millions across the globe, his saga, leaving a lesson to be taught to the indigenous people of the twenty first century. Steve Jobs, a man whose innovative thoughts transpired to develop one of the highest technological advancements in the history of mankind. Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents’ garage in 1976, was ejected in 1985, returned to rescue it from near bankruptcy in 1997, and by the time he died, in October 2011, had built it into the world’s most valuable company. (Isaacson). After the release of Job’s biography, other inspired leaders got a chance to scope out how he lived, thought, and ran his company. All the lessons that can be passed down from his life cannot be simply described in one sitting. Although, there are seven key components that helped shape his life of success; being a rebel, an optimist, a dreamer, an enabler, an adaptor, and a philanthropist. Steve Jobs was the ideal figure head of his company’s Apple and Pixar. Yet with his success there were other contributors that, without...
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... Apple, Inc. was founded in 1976 by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs as a technology company specializing in personal computers. In December of 1980, Apple became a publicly traded company and in 1982 became the first personal computer company to attain $1 billion in annual sales. In 1985 after the launch of the Macintosh, Steve Jobs was forced out of the company. He later returned in 1997 to rescue Apple from its stagnant and unimpressive performance of the early 1990s. Jobs’ vision for Apple began to take shape in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac, which returned the company to profitable status by the end of the decade. In the 2000s Apple unleashed a volley of game changing products, starting with the iPod and continued with the iPhone and iPad. These innovations solidified Apple’s status as the world’s foremost technology company and cultural icon. Apple’s horizontal and vertical integration between all of its devices, software, hardware, and operating system give it a unique competitive advantage in the fast changing world of technology. Steve Jobs stepped down from Apple in August 2011 while he was battling cancer. He passed away in October of the same year. Apple thrived under his leadership and his death left a void that is not easily reconciled. Jobs was a visionary leader who brought Apple back from stagnation and built it into the world’s most valuable company. Although Apple has had some missteps without Jobs at the helm, it seems to be poised to face...
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... | CONTRASTING STYLE OF TWO LEADERS The traces of Leader and the act to guide have always been since the beginning of mankind. Numerous theories have been evolved; definitions have been coined by various famous and renowned authors, academicians and also from the various institutes. In today’s business active world lot of attention have been shed on leaders and various notions of leadership linked with them. Peter Drucker, in his work in 1954 pointed out that “Leadership is of utmost importance. Indeed there is no substitute for it. But leadership cannot be created or promoted. It cannot be taught or learned”. In an orthodox composition on ‘Kantian theory of Leadership’, Bowie mentioned that “leader has a hierarchical and even elitist connotation, opposite to Kant’s moral (basically egalitarian) philosophy” (Bowie, N, 2000).As per Machaivelli “power was seen as the sole purpose of leadership”. (Machiavelli, N, 1952). Were as academicians like Schiro, J. B. (1999) whose view is more vigorous; “Leadership is an elusive concept, so there are many definitions of...
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...its industry. As Apple has reinvented its products, it has reinvented their organizational structure as well. The following is an analysis of Apple at an organizational level: its culture, leadership, ethical practices, and the use of power and political behavior. It is important to understand these factors because they represent a real-life learning opportunity for anybody involved in organizational management, based on one of the most recognized and successful companies of our time. Innovation is definitely at the core of Apple’s success. It was the first company to introduce a Personal Computer and the first and currently the leading company to introduce mobile technology such as the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad (CITE). However, Apple was not always the leading company in profitability. It struggled behind the more affordable Microsoft. It is interesting to note that as Apple struggled or succeeded with selling its products, it also made changes within their organizational structure. Throughout its history, Apple’s success has been influenced by its leadership, most famously of its co-founder, Steve Jobs. When one thinks of Steve Jobs, innovation comes to mind, which is at the heart of a leader’s role within an organization: “agitate for change and new approaches” (Nelson 187). Steve Jobs is a charismatic leader who regained control of the company in 1997, making several changes within the organization, from streamlining its products (for example, eliminating 15 of the company’s...
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...Directors, Community [UPDATE] ... After-hours trading of $AAPL resumed shortly thereafter RE-Fundraising.com Fundraising + Relationship Building Home Consulting Speaking Bio of Author Disclosures Analyzing Fundraising Strategies through the 80/20 Principle Knowing what produces our greatest results can make a real difference. When I speak to nonprofit and education professionals involved with fundraising the discussion inevitably turns to the ROI of funding strategies currently in place and ways to improve. I think many nonprofits have explored various types of funding sources and to some extent have a diversified fund development plan in place. Where many fundraisers go wrong is in identifying which of these strategies has become too time consuming and less productive to their organization. To help dissect this problem I utilized the principles of an economist born over 150 years ago- enter Mr. Vilfredo Pareto. In the business world most are familiar with the term the “80/20 Principle” or Pareto’s Law. Quick history lesson; Pareto was a controversial economist (who isn’t these days) that lived from 1848 to 1923 and he wrote a book where he included a law about income distribution. The mathematical formula he used to demonstrate a grossly uneven but predictable distribution of wealth in society where- 80% of the wealth and income was produced and possessed by 20% of the population. Pareto’s Law can be summarized as follows: 80% of the...
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...Successfully Managing Change by Howard Schultz There have been many examples of good leadership. When recalling top CEOs in American history names such as Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Warren Buffet and Bill gates come to mind. Many CEOs build a legacy through brilliant invention, insightful leadership and sometimes tragic failure. Howard Schultz is one who built a reputation for restoring service and improving employee satisfaction. In 2000 Howard Schultz retired as CEO of Starbucks. Starbucks stocks hit an all-time high in 2006 followed by a landslide decline through 2007 losing over 50% share value. Schultz returned in 2008 to save the company he built. His model for change was developed with careful consideration for customer and employee satisfaction and a refocus on all things coffee (Monica, 2013). Schultz knew the changes would be met with mixed emotions and resistance throughout the country. In an email released to all employees Shultz stated, “Since I returned as CEO six weeks ago, we have experienced a lot of change in a very short period… we have created a blueprint to transform the company, and I sincerely appreciate all that you have done and will continue to do every day on behalf of Starbucks” (Schultz, 2008). The changes brought cutbacks to the network of partnerships. Six hundred partners and positions were eliminated and regions were completed realigned to enable the company to align leaders closer to customers and partners. Additionally, Schultz held...
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...appropriate was the approach to strategic change given the issues faced by the organisation? Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic leadership during the change process. Identify the impact of the change episode upon the key resources and core competencies of your organisation. This paper will analyse a recent period of strategic change at The Walt Disney Company which began in 2005 with the appointment of current CEO Robert Iger. The company began to experience halted growth during the late 1990s. The former CEO Michael Eisner had been successful himself in the late 1980s in changing the company during what is known as the Disney Renaissance. Eisner successfully concentrated the company’s energy back into producing animated films and helped the company to create now-classic names such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin and others. However starting in 1999 share prices began to fall as changes in Disney’s competitive environment, consumer preferences and technology combined to alter its strategic context – which posed problems for the company in aligning its strategic objectives with its organisational structure and culture. Eisner was well known for his micromanagement and top down approach to management (Gunther, 1999), which served the company well during the 1990s when he could focus on single brands. The production of animated feature films which are successful at the box office can generate revenue for all Disney’s business...
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...SWOT Analysis of Apple, Inc. Name Institution Affiliation SWOT Analysis of Apple, Inc. Company Overview: Apple Inc. Apple Inc. was co-founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on April 1, 1976 (Johnson, 2012). Originally, the duo sought to develop a simple micro-computer board that could be offered to small and businesses. However, since its conception, Apple exhibited unprecedented growth in the ICT industry with its initial products, including Apple I, Apple II and Macintosh becoming the first commercially successful personal computers that assisted Apple to develop into a profitable, well-regulated firm that has come to be today. Today, the company focuses on the design, manufacture and marketing of a wide variety of consumer electronic products, including personal computers, smartphones, and portable music players, coupled with related computer software, applications, services and peripherals (Laugesen & Yuan, 2010). Apple has global supply chain with more than 250 retail stores distributed worldwide (Johnson et al., 2012). Starting with delivering music only, Apple has ventured into other entertainment content such as videos, television shows, films as well as audio books that are distributed via its ITunes Store (West & Mace, 2010). The current market environment features significant market players with relatively stronger and long established brands such as Microsoft, IBM, Google, Amazon, HP, Lenovo, and Dell (Zairi, 2013). Strengths Apple has several strengths over...
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...Entrepreneurship Leadership Abstract The purpose of this paper is to inform about the common elements found in the thinking of Case, Kouzes, and Drucker about the entrepreneurial. Include the new definition of entrepreneurial leadership presented in Understanding Entrepreneurial Leadership in today’s Dynamic Markets. Describe what type of organization a transactional, transformational, and authentic leader would thrive in the most, as well as which type of leader would thrive the least. Evaluate and explain the resources available through Small Business Administration (SBA) and SCORE, and how new entrepreneurs can take advantage of these. Also include a list of leadership “best practices” according with the author of this paper that would apply to the greatest small and large business. Entrepreneurship Leadership Entrepreneurship leadership is defined as a social influence process that facilitates the discovery, evaluation, and also the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities. Entrepreneurship as a concept is a symbiotic bond between the creation of a new venture and playing the role of entrepreneurship as a leader-founder. The main idea presented in all the sources points out on the fact whether a leader is made or born. Entrepreneurship in the past research and studies was based on trait theory and the focus was only on the individual. However, Kouzes pointed out that leadership as a whole fails if the leader does not understand the people they work along...
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...Corporate Responsibility and Marketing Strategies Tracy Crayton Contemporary Business; BUS 508 Dr. Laura Jones Strayer University April 25, 2014 Corporate Responsibilities and Marketing Strategies Apple Corporation is well known for employing technological masterminds. The company has undergone extreme successes and failures since its humble beginnings. One such failure was made known to the public in 1996 at the famous “MacWorld” Expo when Apple announced that it was taking a $68 million quarterly loss (Goodell, 1996). Fast forward to 2006, Apple finds itself in the hot seat for violations of worker rights, deaths and even suicides (Chun, 2011). What does all of this mean? Can a company produce a great product and literally get away with murder? Will society look away because we love our iPads and iPhones? This essay will exam Apple’s ethical and social obligations and the consequences of violating these obligations. It will also present processes that may be implemented to assist Apple in adhering to wage and benefits standards. It will address concerns in regards to passing costs of improving to customers and the customer’s willingness to pay more for the highly desired products. Finally, Apple’s marketing strategy will be observed in order to determine recommendations to improve its competitive advantage. Overview of Apple Apple Inc. is a global corporation, based in Cupertino, California, that produces technology ranging from computer servers to software...
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...ever before, we can feel that we live in an era of risk and instability. Globalization, new technologies, and greater transparency have combined to upend the business environment and give many CEOs a deep sense of unease. The management structure of an organization as well as personal leadership style CEO’s and other senior leaders’ affects how individuals within a company make decisions and how quickly the company reacts to various challenges and opportunities. From basic definition of change we learned that the origin of the necessity of change lies in the dissatisfaction with the current state or the perception of a problem. The objectives, content, and process of change should be specified as part of the change management plan. Change management processes can benefit from creative marketing to enable communication between change audiences, and a deep social understanding about leadership styles and group dynamics. To track transformation projects, organizational change management should align group expectations, communicate, integrate teams, and manage and train people. Change management should also make use of performance metrics, such as financial results, operational efficiency, leadership commitment, communication effectiveness, and the perceived need for...
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...Management_Assesment01_Melgie Nebiar 701476_Ma. Janine So 701337_Rhea Lyn Haro 701495_2016BusT1L7B The evolution of strategy planned at Yahoo and their response to unforeseen events happening in its external and internal environments. The evolution of strategic planning of Yahoo was base on the improvement in their basic character and structures, educating the users in the internet world which is “Gerry’s Guide to the world wide web” which later on called yahoo and analyzing the competitive environment through over-viewing the industry’s demand with the use of internet economic features. (thompson, 2003) The strategy begins when the founders of the yahoo Jerry Yang and David Filo accidentally created one of the world’s first web directories that enable to help the web users on finding things in the web (1994). Hypothetically it was an era of computers, expecting a lot of new users such as business related companies etc. and also involving curios individual to access the net world, later on, their directories called Yahoo stand for “yet another hierarchical officious oracle” (http:/www.yahoo.com). Yahoo was drawing over 100,000 people a day that made to come with up with the new strategy making Yahoo into a business, the business model was derived revenues from renting advertising space on the pages of the fast growing directory. Coming up with this new strategy it needs a capital fund for the investment in servers which provide them by Sequoia Capital a Silicon Valley venture...
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...International Management Project - Apple - Summary In a context of “fast growing technological market", what could be the futures perspectives of Apple over the strategic issues in order to maintain its competitive advantage? Introduction I – A Sociology of Steve Jobs A) Steve jobs: the perfect illustration of a charismatic authority B) Steve Jobs: does he really is an inventor? C) From death to succession II – How does Apple react about the uprising competition on the consumer electronic market? A) Understanding the market B) External and Internal analyze through specific models C) Major changes on the market D) Apple’s strategic positioning: a specific target audience III – Recommendations and Justifications A) Drawing of frightening competitor B) Possible strategies C) What Apple is looking for and how to reach it? Conclusion Appendix Introduction In a period of financial turbulences, the consumer electronics market is facing several challenges where every company have to differentiate themselves and bring something more through innovation in to be able to maintain their competitive advantage and to grow their market share. In this case, Apple, great name, is probably the most innovative corporation established on this market by staying aware of the trends evolutions as well as of the electronics consumers’ needs to gain competitive advantages. Indeed, its orientation...
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...Leadership is the concept and practice of inspiring members of an organization or a project into pursuing a revolutionary vision set by knowledgeable leader with the aim of achieving an organizational goal. This report will highlight leadership as to how it applies to all levels of management in organisations and the role of leaders to internal and external stakeholders. This report will also identify and evaluate various conceptual frameworks and models that will be used to explore leadership as a concept. Introduction If one could consider an organization as an independent entity, with its plethora of goals and objectives to achieve in line with its mission, then one must also endeavor to find out the lifeblood that keeps the organization running. Such would be leadership; according to a smart definition by Steve Zeitchik, CEO of Focal Point Strategies, leadership is inspiring others to pursue a revolutionary vision within the parameters set, to the extent that it becomes a shared effort, a shared vision, and a shared success by every member of the organization (Focal Point Strategies, 2014). According to Winston and Patterson (2006), a leader is one or more people who selects, equips, trains, and influences one or more followers and focuses the follower on the path of achieving the organization's mission and objectives, causing the follower to willingly and enthusiastically expend spiritual, emotional, as well as physical energy in a concerted coordinated effort to achieve...
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...We’ve Got Rhythm! Medtronic Corporation’s Cardiac Pacemaker Business The legacy of Medtronic Corporation, the company that created the cardiac pacemaker industry, is a proud one. Starting from its earliest pacemakers, which had to be carried outside the body, Medtronic had achieved dramatic improvements in the functionality, size and reliability of these devices. In so doing it had extended the lives, and improved the quality of life, for hundreds of thousands of people in whom pacemakers had been implanted. The pacemaker has been designated as one of the ten most outstanding engineering achievements in the world over the past 50 years, along with the digital computer and the Apollo 11 moon landing. 1 Medtronic, which in 1995 booked operating profit of $300 million on revenues of $1.7 billion, had been founded in 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Earl Bakken, a researcher and inventor who had to his credit patents on several of the crucial technologies that led to the modern heart pacemaker. Pacemakers were small, battery-powered devices which, when implanted within a patient, helped a malfunctioning heart to beat in a steady, fixed rhythm. Because Medtronic was the first entrant into the pacemaker field and built a strong technological lead, it enjoyed a substantial portion (over 70%) of the market share for cardiac pacing through the 1960s. Building upon Medtronic’s legacy of leadership was not easy, however. In the face of increasing competition, rapid technological...
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