TASK 1: Innovative management theories and processes at Apple: Creativity and Innovation Management fulfils an important aspect in management

literature between the theory and practice of organizing imagination and innovation. It enables managers to introduce innovation within their organizations and accelerating the development of creative performance in their workforce. 1. Definitions of innovation and creativity; There is little consensus on exactly how to define innovation. Some of the more popular definitions include: "Innovation is the degree to which changes are intentionally implemented that is new to the organisation" (Mohr, 1969). Damanpour (1991) defined innovation as "the generation, development, and adaptation of novel ideas on the part of the firm". The European Commission Green paper (1999) on innovation defines innovation as "the successful production, assimilation and exploitation of novelty in the economic and social spheres". Nohria and Gulati (1996) defined innovation to "include any policy, structure, method or process, or any product or market opportunity that the manager of an operating unit perceives to be new." Zaltman et al.(1973) defined innovation as "any idea, practice, or material artifact perceived to be new by the relevant unit of adoption". "Innovation is the creation of a new productmarkettechnologyorganisation combination" (Boer and During, 2001).

As working definitions, we will assume the following : Creativity is the ability to think a new idea. (This includes the ability to rethink an old idea for example, to think of a new application for an existing technology).

Innovation is the process by which the new idea is put into practice. This definition of creativity allows for the artistic creative genius and the brilliant inventor, but also enables everyone to be creative, since anyone can have a new idea. The definition of innovation links the world of ideas to the world of human affairs, including business. (For brevity, "innovation" will be used to mean "innovation and creativity"). Innovation also acts along the entire spectrum from "soft" to "hard", where soft envisages communication, vision, and people's behaviour and hard stands for structure, organisational forms, procedures and IT systems.

2. Elements, characteristics and features of innovation: Having set the context, the innovation landscape is characterized by several interrelated assumptions:

The social sector is rich in innovation. Every day people all over the world meet their own needs and those of others, including scarcity and hardship, with ingenious new ideas and adaptations of materials and concepts to their particular purposes.

Too many social innovations seem episodic and isolated. Often those innovations created out of immediate and urgent needs tend to stay in too small a sphere without appropriate resources to grow to scale.

A systematic commitment to innovation seems to yield greater benefits to more people over time. With systematic innovation, needs and opportunities are carefully understood, the search for ideas is open, and the culture nurtures the development and scaling of innovations to yield a continuous pattern of innovation. The business sector and some areas of government have typically made the boldest commitments to systematic innovation; yet the social sectoron the front lines of so many of our planets and our communities most challenging situationsis only just beginning to explore more systematic approaches.

New technologies are changing the social sector. Emerging technological tools give us new options for how we connect with others, share information, and do our work. Technology literally is changing how we think. Companies that continuously innovate will create and re-invent new markets, products, services, and business models which leads to more growth. Innovation is founded on the organization enterprise's ability to recognize market opportunities, itd internal capabilities to respond innovatively, and itd knowledge base. So, the best thing to do to guarantee growth is to build a sustainable innovation organization around the following components: Vision and strategy for innovation Culture supporting innovation Processes, practices and systems supporting the jazz of innovation Top management team leading innovation Cross-functional teams mapping innovation road Empowered employees driving innovation

3. An overview of innovation at Apple: Apple innovates through: Creativity and Innovation Innovation in Products Innovation in Business Model Innovation in Customer Experience Innovation and Leadership Steve Jobs Visionary Leadership

Apple has built an Innovation Factory one that harnesses creativity in its people, stimulating new ideas, and launching successful, profitable new innovations. Apple leverages its diverse culture, innovation processes, partners and networks to seize the new opportunities in the marketplace and grow its business exponentially.

4. Innovation as a management process:

Innovation management is focused on the systematic processes that organizations use to develop new and improved products, services and business processes. It involves harnessing the creative ideas of an organization's employees and utilizing it to bring a steady pipeline of profitable new innovations to the marketplace, quickly and efficiently. This innovation management resource center contains a valuable collection of the best articles, websites, books and other resources on this important topic.

Types of innovation: Corporate innovation can be divided into four categories: 1. Customer oriented innovation 2.Product innovation 3.Process innovation 4.Strategic innovation 1. Customer oriented innovation Customer oriented innovation refers to all aspects of corporate-customer interaction, including: marketing, sales, delivery, customer service and everything in between. Better advertising can provide more information to customers as well as remind existing customers that they made the right choice by your products. Better after-sales service can make all the difference between a making a single sale and developing a long-term relationship of multiple sales. These days, as there is less and less to differentiate one product from another, customer oriented innovation is one area where Apple can demonstrate a real lead over the competition. 2. Product innovation When most people think of corporate innovation, they think of product innovation, in particular, launching that stunning new product that brings in billions of Euro (or dollars or

pounds or yen...), makes them industry leaders and puts them on top of Ingvar Kamprad and Bill Gates in the Fortune list of wealthy individuals. While such innovation is nice, it is equally, if not more, important to solicit incremental product innovation from Apple. 3. Process innovation Process innovation may sound comparatively dull, but it is the bread and butter of corporate innovation. In Apple, lots of people are involved in internal processes that allow the company to run smoothly and legally. These are the people in middle management, human resources, accounting, finance, administration, and the like. 4. Strategic innovation Strategic innovation is rare because it is about fundamental changes in how a company like Apple operates. And in a large company like Apple, that is about the most difficult task of all. Strategic innovation requires an innovative CEO with vision and determination. Jack Welch transformed GE from an old fashioned American industrial company into a powerful global services company.

Conceptual framework of innovation: The mobile devices industry is a competitive market dominated by key firms like Nokia Corporation, Samsung Electronics Company, and Motorola, Inc in the US and UK. These companies, which have extensive product lines, capture a large portion of consumers in the mobile devices industry. However, the release of Apple, Inc.s iPhone, in June of 2007, positioned the company as a direct competitor in the industry as the iPhone offered a variety of unparalleled features. Although the product has confronted various problems since the unveiling, Apple has done well to identify key internal and external threats that challenge the success of the iPhone. Conceptual frameworks, such as Porters fives forces model and VRIO analysis (Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization) establish Apples resources and capabilities and identify the organizations positioning within the market. The analysis also provides an understanding of Apples current competitive advantage and provides information necessary for strategic planning. From these studies, it is apparent that the iPhone

has had tremendous success per volume of sales. However, with Apples severely limited product line, little product diversification capabilities, and the recent release of similar alternatives, such as the T- Mobile G1 by Google and the Dare by LG, the iPhones competitive advantage seems fleeting. New strategy and direction is pertinent to the continued success of Apples iPhone.