Competitive Strategies Student Name

Professor Name
BUS 508 Contemporary Business
Date

Differences of Apple and Microsoft corporate culture
Scully (2011) gave a bird's eye view of Apple and Microsoft corporate culture. He said "In Steve's world, 'No compromises'.' In Bill's world, 'Hey, compromise is alright. We'll get it right the third time. We just want to have a land grab'." According to Scully, the two have entirely different approaches, both very, very successful. But in the era of consumer electronics, the Steve Jobs approach is a hands-down winner. Williams (2011) said that if there is one key difference between Microsoft and Apple, it is secrecy. Apple rarely shows its hand before a product is ready to ship. Microsoft usually offers sneak previews of products months, sometimes years, in advance. Sethi (2012) revealed the two corporate values that Apple implements - value and cost culture:
When it comes to customers, Apple applies the notion of value. For example, Apple’s pricing strategy that is driven by its focus on the value. The customer is willing to pay a price that is equal to the product's perceived value to the customer. However, as long as the customers are satisfied, Apple is under no obligation to reduce its prices. When it comes to workers' wages and working conditions, Apple uses its dominant market position or buying power to acquire these services at the lowest possible price, thus keeping the largest share of the profit for itself and yielding the lowest possible share to the workers. It is not important that the added costs of better wages and working conditions represent an infinitesimally small proportion of the overall costs. It's all relative; if these additional costs are higher than those of Apple's competitors, they could adversely impact the company's stock price in the short run.
On Microsoft's bureaucratic