Define Risk? Webster dictionary defines risk as the possibility of loss or injury. As I was reading through the case study it surprised me with the products that have failed with Apple. The case only highlights products such as: The 20th Anniversary Macintosh, the A/UX Operating system, Apple’s “Hockey Puck” USB mouse, and lastly the Mac Cube. These products were failures to Apple, but in reality these products opened the door for future products to hit the selves. These products were failures to Apple, but these products also helped Apple realize that apparently there are issues with developing products the consumers want. The case highlights only a few products that failed but with business there needs to be a level of risk involved to push new products. Businesses need to be able to take risks with those new products to see where the consumer stands. With no risk, there’s no reward.
As I reviewed the case there was one major concern I had with regards to the implementation of these products. Every business will have products that fail but to have four in just this articles shows me the lack of the getting to know the consumer. I feel as those Apple missed ball on the introduction of these products, with each product that was introduced into the world they failed, and then another type of that product was produced. Through trial and error more products were produced in the fashion of consumer needs. I do believe that Apple was ahead of its time and some of these products when they were introduced might have been to tech savvy for some consumers. That can scare customers away when something has too much technology.
The Business plan on Apple Computer Comprehensive Case Analysis
Industry SummaryApple Computer's standard industrial classification (SIC) is 3571. SIC 3571 is used for companies that manufacture computer hardware. The top computer hardware manufacturers by sales are IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, Dell Computer, Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, Xerox, EMC, Seagate, and Gateway. Growth in the computer hardware industry in the United States is predicted to be slow ...
Now, with the failure of these products it opens the door for other products and those products were and are very successful. A great example of this is the no button mouse, Apple developed a mouse with no buttons and using touch sensitivity to produce the click. I believe the hit and miss with the “Hockey Puck” mouse helped in the long run with the development of the new mouse. The lack of research about consumer needs, ultimately resulted in these products failing. The lack of establishing a market for these products was one of the major problems associated with these products. market research is key, and I do not know if Apple conducted the proper market research to introduce these products to consumers. So in general a failure can lead to a success it is just about how a business bounces back from that failure will determine how much success can be created.
To really gain a better understanding of how these product failed there needs to be further information. The one piece of information that would really be helpful in the determination of why these products failed would be market research. In the case there was no mention of market research, and no mention of how these products were marketed to the public. This information is vital to gain a understanding of why these product failed. Furthermore, how were these product introduced, and was research groups used to determine if consumers would want these products. Lastly, how were these products tested because The Mac Cube failed mechanically and was this known during research and development? The issues associated with these products should have been noted during the research, development, testing, and introduction phases of these products.
I believe Apple has done a better job at introducing products to the consumer, but it comes down to understanding what the consumer wants out of their products. Apple needs to establish a better way of introducing products to the consumer and need to ensure these products are capable of withstanding customer use and abuse. Apple needs to establish a research and development department and within that department test this products to the extreme. The research and development department needs to work with other departments and also have a better understanding of marketing, finance, and production. A cross-functional team would help to eliminate some of the current issues related to these products.
The Research paper on Business Research Test Market
Introduction and Overview Businesses in today's economy often face challenges that are not readily apparent until, more often than not, the costs of those challenges become critical. A businesses ability to identify the fundamentals of these challenges and act accordingly to squelch the damage that has been done while bouncing back is paramount to the businesses success. This paper will identify ...
The team can develop and brainstorm different issues, recommendations, cost, and corrective actions to help promote, produce, and test these products. Having the understanding of what each department does, and what they are in charge of will help develop quality products that consumers will want. The cross functional team also should develop test groups, these test groups should be based on age, gender, and social status. The purpose of the testing group is to get largest array of individuals to test the products. These individuals will help develop improvements to a product, and will help determine if that product will be successful with consumers. The best testing group would be a group of current employees within Apple from all departments. These employees know the product and maybe someone from a department that does not work on that product will have the best idea. The implementing of these groups will help streamline the introduction phase of new products to consumers.
With the implementation a cross-functional team that is associated with the development, testing, production, and introduction of new products will provide with a high success rate with consumer purchases. Obviously, more products sold will create more money for the business and that is the ultimate goal of any business to create and build profit from the sale of products. This could create a high demand for a product which could create issues for the business as well, if the inventory is not up to par with what the consumers want this could create backorders which customers do not like. A prime example of this was the introduction of the iPad, the iPad exceed all expectations from Apple and their inventory was not large enough to sustain all the orders and most iPads were put on backorder. Conducting research market test this could help bring that number of expected to sales to a number more reasonable, and the results from the market research will provide the data needed for production. The 2nd generation iPad was more successful because Apple was prepared for the orders that consumers were preparing for.
The Essay on Calling Card Product Minutes Consumer
The business world is all about selling a product or service and earning money. To sell the products, especially with all the other competition in the marketplace, marketing the product through advertising, packaging, and labeling is important. With all the pressure to sell "your" product, over someone else's product, many use deceptive and / or manipulative marketing practices. Claims, pricing ...
Introducing a cross-functional team within Apple with members from different departments would push Apple in the right direction of introducing new products to consumers. These teams would help elevate Apple to the next level of business. Through these teams issues can be expressed and resolved instead of going through different departments. This process will stream line the introduction phase of new products. As we can see now Apple has developed quality products and have been able to introduce these products to consumer with much success. Former CEO Steve Jobs has done a great job of focusing in on what the consumer wants and needs with Apples products. Through the introduction of the iTouch, iPhone, iPad, and redesigned Mac books apple holds down a large majority of the electronic market. Apple would not of been this successful without taking the risk needed with past products that failed. Taking that large of a risk gave Apple the confidence to continue introducing products and to never give up on a dream. Steve Jobs never veered from his dream to make Apple as successful as it can be and now Apple is one of the largest know companies in the world. It is not about failing it about how you can overcome the failure to be more successful, and Apple has found it.
Works Cited
Brandt, Andrew. (2006, March 31).
A Brief History of Apple’s Failed, But Innovative, Products [Blog Message].Retrieved from pcworld blogs:
http://blogs.pcworld.coom/staffblog/archives/001763.html
“Risk.” Def. 1 Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 11 November, 2011 from:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/risk?show=0&t=1322247718
