Trends in Mobile Technology and organizational behavior, Apple and Samsung
Introduction
The prevailing trends in the mobile and computer industry are of great advantage to mobile and computer devices consumer. While consumers are excited about every new product release, competitors are constantly in war. This wars are evidenced through various ways including increasing business secretes, escalating innovations, market campaigns, falling product prices, or even opening cases in the court with claims related to unlawful or unfair market competitions. This paper looked at the new trends in the mobile technology and how it is affecting some other top companies in the industry such as Apple Inc. and Samsung in terms of their organizational behavior. The major company in this case would be Apple with Samsung being the influencing factor. Samsung and Apple are today at the top of the game in the mobile and computer industry and market. They are also from two different top technology nations. Samsung is a Korean Company while Apple has remained to be a source pride to many US citizens given that they have all reasons to celebrate their home products.
There have been constant conflicts not only between the two companies but between loyal customers from the two sides. It was only on the second Friday of this Month when a Samsung expert made a cases as to why Samsung Company need to pay Apple as little as $52 million as the damages caused by Samsung to Apple (Tibken, 2013). Apple had been claiming that Samsung was using its technology in order to reach the top of the industry. Samsung has not only won the eastern part of the globe in terms of market, but also has been a major threat to Apple in its home country. Apple has all the reasons to get scared of the Korean Giant. Samsung technology and marketing strategies are so strategized that they are preventing new entrants from entering the market and industry (Tibken, 2013). Apple has found this to be unfair especially given the production of equally advanced products but Samsung sell its products at a much lower price. The two companies thus seem to target different consumers which are hardly true as far as Samsung is concerned.
Apple Inc.
Apple is a United States-based electronic company and among the top companies in both mobile and computer technology. Apple has been known for its ability to generate path breaking products. The innovation and technology at is highly associated with the organization’s corporate culture. Apple has a rich work culture, which was driven by worker’s passion to generate new and more advanced products (Asay, 2007). This happens despite the many working challenges. Workers only saw the brighter and greater opportunities ahead of them. The companies became a pioneer of the motto, “Work Hard Play Hard,” which was part of the working ethics. Its corporate culture was mainly exemplified through the company’s intense work ethics. The working environment was relatively relaxed and casual but workers had much commitment especially to deadlines. The company’s culture is more of fun but it is very demanding (Asay, 2007). To advance, the company had to hold various shows and establish work in very challenging but creative environment (Asay, 2007). It adopted a leadership style that was neither formal nor hierarchical. It used a result-driven approach, which also focused on customer satisfaction and more importantly, its products were mostly found to be beyond customer expectations. The company also employs a culture of secrecy, but many competing companies have taken over some of its top secrets. Cultures like absolute secrecy as well as control insistence were developed since the establishment of the company (Asay, 2007). These cultural aspects and its unique organizational behaviors have lead to the growth of the company in terms of choice for many customers, market size, and competitive advantage.
Samsung Corporation
Samsung is a Korean company dealing in consumer electronics, computers, phones, and tablets. These products compete with other top companies such as Apple, LG, Sony, and Google among other top competitors. Its organizational culture and behavior has been changing as the company grows. The company is much older than Apple but at the time of its establishment by Lee Byung-chul in the year 1938, it was basically a trading company (Samsung Group, 2011). The company diversified into other business lines such as textiles, food processing, insurance, retailing, and securities (Samsung Group, 2011). The first operation in the electronics industry was towards the end of the 1960s. It also entered the shipbuilding. The company increasingly expanded its business activities and expanded its global market during the 1990s. After entering the mobile and computer industry, Samsung has expanded significantly. Samsung electronics has grown to be the largest company in the world in the information technology sector. The company has a rich culture and powerful influence on the development of South Korea as well as the country’s politics, culture, media, and business. By the beginning of 2013, Samsung Company started to construct the largest mobile phone factory in the world, situated in Thai Nguyen province in Vietnam (Samsung Group, 2011).
Application of the New Trends in Organizational Behaviors (The Case of Apple Company)
The market for computers and mobile devices has been widening with time. Companies have not only been increasing their sales but have been forced to remain innovative and as competing as possible. New entrants are also witnessed with examples of companies that initially dealt in other business lines venturing the computer and mobile electronics industry and market. Some companies have however remained competitive due to their regular innovative efforts. Apple Inc. started with the notion of “One person- One computer,” which was meant to make computer user friendly. This notion has been achieved with efforts of the company’s organizational behavior (Lashinsky, 2009). The company has invested heavily on human capital, employing more than 46,000 full time workers and over 2,000 temporary workers and contractors. The organizational behavior of Apple is realized through its developmental changes especially in the organization’s leadership structure. Its operations are based on a mission of changing the world through computer technology. According to the Business Week (2013), Apple Inc. has held the top position in innovation for almost a decade. The company’s founder, the former CEO, was even chosen as the best CEO during the decade of 2000 to 2009 (Business Week, 2013).
The choice of Steve Jobs to be the CEO of the decade was based on the top innovation of the company. The top innovation is based on the organizational behavior of the company, which believes in hard work and employee motivation. Steve Jobs once stated, “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how they’re led, and how much you get it”. (Asay, 2007) This statement brings out a picture of the way the company’s culture and organizational behavior is cultivated. The culture has to do with hard work, and give top priority to what customers want.
Some of the organizational behaviors contributing to the company’s success since its establishment include provision of the employees with good working environment as a part of the motivation plan. This was seen when the company decided to redesign its work place to enhance comfort ability and good working environment. The company also encourages teamwork and idea sharing. In the 1990s, it provided its workers with a common area where the workers could share and discuss various ideas. Intensive research is also encourages to develop new technological innovations and inventions. It also employs a cultural practice of empowering the company’s associates (Business Week, 2013). Other major organizational behaviors include delegation of authority and providing workers with much freedom. These organizational behaviors have placed the company to its current position with respect to high quality products and market success. The company believed heavily on Creative thinking. In its hiring processes, the company hires individuals who could share the company’s values and have absolute passion in what they do (Asay, 2007).
The company’s culture and organizational behavior have enhanced the company’s growth and innovativeness. The company is today still on the top positions as far as innovation is concerned. In fact, the company is the biggest rival of Samsung today. Samsung is today accused of making use of Apple’s innovative ideas and part of the company’s patents (Tibken, 2013). The company claims that Samsung’s unfair competition is has caused Apple as much as $114 million of losses through unachieved profits (Tibken, 2013). This claim is one of the top issues prevailing in the mobile industry and market today. To a great extend, the company has applied some theories of organizational behavior such as the Rational Planning Model. In this model, the company has to realize a problem, establish and evaluate the planning criteria, create alternatives, implement alternatives, and monitor the alternative process. The major problem in this case is competition but this model has made Apple fight hard to maintain a top position, both in the market, and industry.
Conclusion
Apple and Samsung are giant companies trying to compete with each other. Most of the problems visualized in the prevailing trends are caused by differences in market operations and decision-making processes. The two companies need to understand that they are not only the top companies in the industry. Too much concentration on pinning each other down could be a great advantage to the emerging giant companies such as LG, Google, and Sony among other top companies in the industry. It could be unclear as to which company is telling the truth in the recent case where Apple is claiming to have lost a lot due to Samsung’s unfair market and production operations. Apple stands by the claim that the total damages are worth at least $144 million while Samsung holds that it can only compensate Apple by paying at most $52 million. These could be unfounded claims, which could interfere with the two companies’ business and market reputations giving other competitors a better chance. There are very many organizational behaviors and models that the companies should apply to avoid future conflicts, which could turn out to be a political or global problems especially given the two companies are from two country that are greatly divided by distance and varying cultures. If truly Samsung is taking over Apple’s market, which seems to be true, Apple need to revisit its former strategies that placed it at the top for more than a decade.
References
Asay, M. (2007, August 10). The Power of Apple’s Culture. Retrieved from icmrindia.org/: http://news.cnet.com
Business Week. (2013). Chapter 1. A Strategic Approach to Organizational Behavior: 1.5. EXPERIENCING ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: Creating Innovation: Leading and Managing the Human Capital at Apple. Retrieved from Business Week: http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/hr-organizational-management/9780470528532/a-strategic-approach-to-organizational-behavior/experiencing_organizational_behavior_col
Lashinsky, A. (2009). The Decade of Steve: How Apple’s Imperious, Brilliant CEO Transformed American Business. Fortune, Nov. 23, 93–100.
Samsung Group. (2011). History – Corporate Profile – About Samsung – Samsung: Samsung Group. Retrieved from http://www.samsung.com/uk/aboutsamsung/corporateprofile/history06.html
Tibken, S. (2013, November 15). Samsung expert: No one buys Samsung gadgets for touch-screen tech:Michael Wagner, an expert witness hired by Samsung, says Apple has overstated how much money it’s due for Samsung’s infringement on Apple’s “pinch to zoom” tech. Retrieved from news.cnet.com: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57612651-94/samsung-expert-no-one-buys-samsung-gadgets-for-touch-screen-tech/