Term Paper on "Strategic Scaffolding for Apple During the Time Without Steve Jobs"

Term Paper 4 pages (1089 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Strategic Scaffolding at Apple

Strategic Scaffolding for Apple Before Steve Jobs

The strategic scaffolding of Apple during the time period Steve Jobs was away (1986 -- 1997) is comparable to many other technology companies at the time who had become reliant more on price/performance than uniqueness of customer experience or brand. The CEO and senior management of Apple were managing the company more like a traditional PC manufacturer, less like a disruptive innovator. Strategic scaffolding techniques including an analysis of the persona, performance, puzzle, pattern and composite portrait of the company illustrate a business competing more on price and less on a differentiated user experience (Keidel, 2010).

Analysis of Apple, 1986 -- 1997

Using the strategic scaffolding framework to analyze the time period of Apple's history between 1986 -- 1997 shows an organization with a significantly different perspective on resources and how it manages constraints compared to today. One of the most significant differences that Apple had then was a different organizational character in terms of value, perception and valuation of time, and a significantly different technical acumen as well, all dimensions of how companies parse time (Keidel, 2010).

All of these factors contributed to Apple also having a completely different persona, or personality relative to its peer organizations at the time. The persona was to a large extent defined by its exceptional level of support from its customers, many of which had for decades purchased the latest generation computer systems, PDAs and other personal electronics devices (Sakakibara, Lindholm, Ainamo, 1995). Apple had been very successful in taking an initial market strategy based on "the computer for the rest of us" positioning and creating a passionate group of users globally who would willingly invest thousands of hours in beta-testing products for no charge back to Apple. Apple continued to cultivate this persona of being the computer for the everyman so to speak, going so far as to define a marketing strategy that embraced and celebrated non-conformity around the George Orwell book, 1984. While this occurred during the time period when Steve Jobs was with the company, the residual effects of this strategy was what carried the company through the 1986 -- 1997 timeframe. In many respects, 1984 was a critical metric that would define the company for decades to come, because it celebrated being different -- a key trait of why so many customers became such strong fans over time.

Based on a scaffolding analysis the performance aspects of Apple during this time period, their focus on relying on Moore's Law was a primary concern, followed by continuing their core strengths in desktop publishing and graphics. Apple's senior management continued to pursue the traditional areas of cost reduction and performance gains that computers in general and microprocessors specifically could provide. This led to performance metrics that also pushed the company more in the direction of price competition with Microsoft Windows-based laptops and PCs that were designed around the much less expensive Intel processors. Apple held tightly to the metrics of graphics performance and the design of processors from Motorola that could manage millions of graphical computations per second, making them the most effective server, desktop and laptop systems commercially available for advanced graphics functions. Apple continued to hold to very high performance engineering metrics… READ MORE

How to Reference "Strategic Scaffolding for Apple During the Time Without Steve Jobs" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Steve Jobs if I Were to Spend Admission Essay

Steve Jobs

If I were to spend a day with anyone in the world, past or present, I would choose Apple CEO Steve Jobs. He went from having an unexceptional… read more

Admission Essay 2 pages (634 words) Sources: 2 Topic: Computers / IT / Internet

---

Apple Computer Overview and Historical Perspective Case Study

Apple Computer

Overview and Historical Perspective

Apple Computer was founded in April 1976 by college drop outs Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The Macintosh computer finally moved Apple into the… read more

Case Study 4 pages (1379 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Computers / IT / Internet

---

Strategic Research Project: Apple Research Paper

Strategic Research Project: Apple

Strategic Research of Apple Computer

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is today one of the world's most valuable companies with a market capitalization rate of $625B as of… read more

Research Paper 5 pages (1684 words) Sources: 4 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

Apple Computer 2002 Term Paper

Apple Computer is as old as the PC industry itself, and has led that industry for a substantial portion of its history. Early Apple models made the idea of a… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (1862 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Computers / IT / Internet

---

Apple What Have We Learned so Far Essay

Apple: What We Know So Far

After forming a friendship during high school over a shred interest in electronics and "outsider" statuses, college drop-outs turned Silicon Valley workers Steve Wozniak… read more

Essay 3 pages (845 words) Sources: 8 Topic: Computers / IT / Internet

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>