Strategic Planning and Implementation

strategic PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION INTRODUCTION For the purpose of this paper I ca-ca selected M/s. orchard apple tree Inc as an organisation. M/s. apple Inc be considered to be one of the most competitive organisations in the globe who operate in a very(prenominal) fast environment of technology and computing devices, where the developments atomic number 18 so rapid and fast that the caution are expected to revisit their strategies and capital punishment plans on a continuous basis to stay competitive and fend for that technological bank in the commercialise purport. The world of computers and electronic gadgets is so fast paced that vernaler technologies are launched in a fast pace.The top train oversight is expected to undertake stiff feedback from the marketplace and as well run over the environment for the needs and plan their strategies accordingly. Hence, I have selected M/s. orchard apple tree Inc for carrying out the study on strategic planning and impl ementation. The study would management mainly on the dodge follow by M/s. orchard apple tree for the launch of their much famed computer model Macintosh in the year 1984. The some opposite study reason for selecting this organisation in particular(prenominal) is that this organisation has faced multiple threats to its survival and faced numerous competitions and the organisation survived and grew in adversity.This shows the planning and resources implemented by the management group to grow this organisation and their strategic resolve bear be seen from the above. exclusively this illustrate that this would be the perfect organisation to study the scope and the discernment of strategic planning and the intricate implementation plans undertaken by this organisation for achieving this bizarre turnaround and improving the confidence of the stakeholders and also the customers with their innovative harvest-tides.The comp some(prenominal) got incorporate on 03rd Jan 1977 in t he state of California in United States of America. 1 major Stakeholders The major stakeholders in the comp whatever are listed below 1. Steve Jobs, Chief executive director Officer 2. herds grass D Cook, Chief Operating Officer 3. dig Oppenheimer, Chief Financial Officer 4. Philip W Schiller, senior(a) immorality hot seat 5. scoring Papermaster, elderly Vice chairwoman 6. Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice chairperson 7. Bertrand Ser allow, Senior Vice prexy 8. Ron Johnson, Senior Vice PresidentSteve Jobs The magnetised CEO of orchard apple tree Inc, was born on 24-Feb-1955, he is also the co-founder of apple Inc, who was one of the founding members of apple Inc, is one of the major stakeholders in the organisation. 2 Timothy D Cook Cook is the Chief Operating Officer he is one of the all-important(prenominal) stakeholders from the viewpoint of management as he heads entirely the operations and sales of apple Inc. He is also the head of orchard apple trees Macintosh divisio n. 3 Peter Oppenheimer Mr. Peter Oppenheimer is the Senior Vice President and also the Chief Financial Officer.In this position he heads the treasury, investor relations, tax, selective selective information systems, internal audit and facilities take to the woodss. With such(prenominal) responsibilities his consent is imperative for undertaking any management planning or strategic initiatives. 4 Philip W Schiller Mr. Philip W Schiller is the Senior Vice President of worldwide Product Marketing. He is part of the Apples Executive Team and is also responsible for the crossing merchandising. In this enjoyment he becomes a key player for any management and strategic initiatives. 5 Mark Papermaster Mr. Mark Papermaster is again another Senior Vice President who handles the key portfolio of modern overlap development in this role he plays a key role on the selling system with his valuable inputs. 6 Jonathan Ive Mr. Jonathan Ive in his role as the Senior Vice President of Industr ial Design plays a key role in the marketing of in the raw technologies with his innovative designs. As such most of the Apples convergences designs are considered to be of remarkable art pieces. 7Bertrand Serlet Mr. Bertrand Serlet is the Senior Vice President of Software Engineering in his role as the developer of software for all the systems launched by Apple Inc. He is regarded as a major stakeholder in the management. 8 Ron Johnson Mr. Ron Johnson as the Senior Vice President of sell has a major stake in any marketing system plans that are being developed and planned for implementation. His inputs and consent are important for implementing any strategic purposes in the organisation. 9All the above mentioned people are the major decision makers in the organisation and they form the first attract of stakeholders for implementing the scheme and providing guidance to the organisation. Hence, it would be imperative that they be considered as major stakeholders from the point of strategy and implementation of marketing philosophies. The above mentioned people conjointly or at times individually take decisions on the resistant and type of strategy to be implemented to catch maximisation of net income to the stakeholders of the organisation who are the general shareholders and other firms.Hence, the agreement for any decision and implementation would be required from this peer group before handout ahead with any management decision on strategy. We will surveil a scenario of the how the management of Apple Computers effectively implemented the launch strategy and topographic pointment of IPOD in front of the customer which is considered to fill the gap in the market between the net-books and multimedia phones. In this respect the strategy adopted by the think tank of the management is commendable we will outright have a glimpse of the introduction strategy adopted by M/s.Apple Inc. way Strategy Review The entire management strategy is based on the d evelopment of crude technologies as M/s. Apple Inc are re at presentned to be market leaders in innovation. The launch of every new product is eagerly awaited by the general existence. And M/s. Apple has capitalised on this advantage and create a buzz in the market before any launch of the product which helps them to introduce the new product in the market with minimum tally of risk. Traditionally it tolerate be observed that Ms/ Apple Inc launches the new products in home market (i. e. United States of America) as the customers over there are considered to be of low precariousness avoidance culture as per Hofstedes framework on assessing culture. This helps M/s. Apple to test their new inventions in the market as the customers are more inclined towards buying and testing new products. Once, the markets accept this product then it is launched on spheric basis when the new product has already created a cult experimental condition in the home market. This affable of strategy has been followed by M/s. Apple in most of their launches and has proven to be quite masteryful.From the above it hindquarters be seen that M/s. Apple Inc has always strived on creating world furcate products with stylish design and the same are launched in low uncertainty avoidance cultures where the general acceptance levels are high and once they are self-made in those markets they then are replicated in other markets. Which in turn manipulates the success of the product launch on a global scale, now we will understand the situation of the launch of the Ipod, which everyone were sceptical at the time of the launch of this product. Marketing Strategy M/s.Apple Inc created a new product which was supposed revolutionary in design and the characteristics were very innovative at that time. M/s. Apple Inc packaged the IPOD with such an desirable design that the competitors were left lurching. At that time the market was seen heavily bend upon to cut costs and make the mp3 playe r faster and better. Apple came up with this ultra modern design and had positioned the product in the line of originator segment and there by created a disparate marketing strategy altogether for this product and created new ways of interacting with the media with the launch of this device.The IPOD was conveniently programmed to function well and fast the Macintosh systems that viewd that the sale of Macintosh also would be taken care off when the IPOD is launched in the market. This kind of strategy ensured the success of M/s. Apple Inc as an organisation all together. The market was examine for relevant trends in the music industry and appropriate tie-ups with the music bands and market players involved in music industry would be required to ensure availableness of the music through the iTunes software which was to be installed in the computer for synchronising with the iPod.Apart from that as most of the computers are running on windows operating system a congruous version of iTunes which would work in windows environment would need to be developed to ensure that the product reaches the identify customers and can be marketed to all the segments of the customers irrespective of the computers that the customers are using. However, the diametricaliating factor of iTunes harmonious with windows was that the upload and synchronising was not so robust as with any other Apple Macintosh product.This would create a demand for other related products from the Macintosh abiding. The other part of the launch strategy was that the product alone would not succeed unless proper support is derived from all forthcoming conduct. These include the likes of music companies, internet groups, bundled packages, customised playlists, and it also created a cult stance for the product by maintaining the exterior of the product consistently which can be seen in different products which attained a similar nature like the Beetle (Volkswagen) and Mini (Cooper) etc. As we have seen the strategy let us now go ahead and understand the organisations line of business objectives, culture, ethics and how they are related to this particular scenario. Apples Business Objectives, Culture, Ethics The objectives and the measurements adopted by the company are as follows. The companys main objective is well elucidated in its com tutelage and vision statements itself which imbibe that the company would like to be the leading innovator of the century.Accordingly in-line with this objective the company has embarked on a challenging sector where in it has developed newer and customer friendly brands and launched them in the market place at regular intervals. Which has placed Apple Inc in a different sphere altogether. The culture in the organisation is open ended and encourages can of innovation that was one of the reason why the company is at the edge of technological advances and innovates a lot of new products which are launched on regular basis in the globa l market place.A brief comment of the ethics would build a comprehensive look of the organisation and also provide appropriate guidance in this regard. Hence, I would like to develop the ethics followed by M/s. Apple Inc, like defining and implementing a program on greener environment and also providing an option for the general public to air their innovations and suggestions the company can be seen is very keen and sensory(a) to ideas and innovations which in turn helps the organisation tap the potential and grow their businesses. Vision, Mission, Objectives and MeasuresThe thrill statement of M/s. Apple Inc as per their website is Apple ignited the in-person computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the in-person computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and sea captain applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and motion picture players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhoneThe vision of the M/s. Apple Inc is Man is the creator of change in this world. As such he should be above systems and structures, and not subordinate to them. As can be seen from the above that M/s. Apple Inc is deeply involved in the concept of world class products and position them in the global market place and also create a sustained culture based on independence rather than dependence on the systems, which would enable the humans to be more resurgent and independent and have command over the systems they deploy in their homes / organisations.As we have understood the organisations vision, mission and objectives now we will move forward and discuss the strategy deployed by M/s. Apple for the launch of IPOD which would create an understanding and how it could have been differentiated. rig Timelines The original IPOD was launched way back in 23rd October 200111, however it can be seen that the maturement of the iPod sales did not hit the expected come at the beginning as the market was not conducive to this kind of product. It would have been perfect if the launch was positioned when the elated infrastructure like availability of broadband network and other items are in place. It can be seen that the sales of iPod started to gain momentum only after M/s. Apple Inc ensured the compatibility of its iTunes software with the windows operating system and also the availability of the broadband networks that the product took on and the sales improved dramatically. Hence, it is inevitable that the markets are understood and a satisfactory and conducive environment created before launch of a new and advanced product in the global market place. Dissemination subprogramAt the launch of the iPod the market was not provided with the right information and the features were not procurable for everyone to understand and then use the same. Hence, in the beginning days of the iPod it was not successful as it is now. This can again be attributed to the inadequacy of clear and systematic information flow from the organisation. This can be top hat avoided by ensuring that the process and infrastructure are available and compatible for the practice of the product before launching any product to ensure that the product sustains its expected sales targets.Apple failed to create to environment before the launch. It took such a yen time for the iPod sales to reach astronomical levels which it has now reached. At any launch of new product it is to be ensured that suitable and possible information on the product are widely available and the same is marketed using different channels of marketing to gain the marketing advantage. This kind of strategy was deployed by M/s. Apple in the later part of the iPod life cycle which ensured that the product sustained the S bend and continued its grow th momentum.It can also be seen that M/s. Apple Inc then embarked on a detailed mission of pooling in different vendors and suppliers for developing relevant content for the product which ensured that new and updated information is aerodynamic from different channels and new ideas were used to build and sustain the product. And the information and the content were gathered from different cultures and different geographical locations thereby ensuring market penetration to different markets. Monitoring and Evaluation StrategyThe monitoring and military rank strategy deployed by M/s. Apple Inc was a constant business intelligence thereby they understood the flaws in their initial strategy which ensured that the iPod was compatible with only Macintosh machines. As the same was reversed by ensuring its compatibility and other similar nature of tweaks in the strategy are to be undertaken and ensured that the feedback trustworthy from the market place is constantly analysed to ensure th at the product is sustained with new and improved versions of the product.As can be seen from the developments undertaken by the organisation to ensure that the product stays in the limelight by opening different channels of sales and distribution and also opening of different channels of supply chain, in this case the supply chain would be the availability of music online in the iTunes store for which constant tie-ups with different bands and music companies would be required to ensure that the product is usable and the same can be purchased by the customers online without any hassle.By this way more and more customers can be retained and new customers attracted which would ensure the sustainability of the product in the long run. Apart from that the technology would need to be relooked on constant foothold and a eye on the market place and competitors development would ensure that the product is successful. With regards to the evaluation strategy, the best way to understand wheth er the strategy deployed is successful or not in this regard would be to see the growth in sales and the amount of sales at the iTunes store which would definitely provide the right information whether the strategy deployed is successful.References 1. Apple Investor Relations Investor FAQ, FAQ, on hand(predicate) at http//phx. corporate-ir. net/phoenix. zhtml? c=107357&038p=irol-faq Accessed on 11-02-2010 2. Telegraph, Steve Jobs, Apples iGod Profile for sale at http//www. telegraph. co. uk/technology/apple/4242660/Steve-Jobs-Apples-iGod-Profile. html Accessed on 15-01-2010 3. Apple implore Information, Timothy D Cook, Available at http//www. apple. com/pr/bios/cook. html Accessed on 11-02-2010 4. Apple military press Information, Peter Oppenheimer, Available at http//www. apple. om/pr/bios/oppenheimer. html Accessed on 11-02-2010 5. Apple extort Information, Philip W Schiller, Available at http//www. apple. com/pr/bios/schiller. html Accessed on 11-02-2010 6. Apple Press Info rmation, Mark Papermaster, Available at http//www. apple. com/pr/bios/papermaster. html Accessed on 11-02-2010 7. Apple Press Information, Jonathan Ive, Available at http//www. apple. com/pr/bios/ive. html Accessed on 11-02-2010 8. Apple Press Information, Bertrand Serlet, Available at http//www. apple. com/pr/bios/serlet. html Accessed on 11-02-2010 9. Apple Press Information, Ron Johnson, Available at http//www. apple. com/pr/bios/ronjohnson. html Accessed on 11-02-2010 10. 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