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Presented by:
Name: ALISHA CHHABRA(6)
4th SEM
MBA (HRD)
 Multinational Corporation; Consumer Electronics Industry
 Apple Computer was formed in April 1976 by 25-year-old Steve Wozniak and 21-year-
old Steve Jobs—both college dropouts.
 Their goal is to improve the user-friendliness of their products and to encourage an
open-minded approach when developing new technologies and services.
 Headquartered in Cupertino, California, USA, Apple Computer operates on a global
scale, with multiple locations world-wide. Apple’s business operations are structured
into three main categories: hardware, software, and business support services.
Within these categories are various divisions, including: Macintosh (computers),
peripherals (Apple TV, digital video displays, etc.), applications (iTunes, iLife, Final
Cut Studio, etc.), internet services (Safari, QuickTime, MobileMe, etc.), and others.
 Apple’s strong following of loyal customers and an ever-increasing fan base can be
attributed to the company’s strive to constantly “Think Different,” as their slogan
suggests. The company’s business strategy leverages on their unique ability to
design and develop their own operating system, application software, and
hardware.
 Over the last decade, Apple has become the most iconic brand and valuable company
in the world. It stands for innovation — innovation in its technology, design and
product experience. And it has been a magnet for responsible investors, whose
portfolios have been served well by holding the company.
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Q-1) What “major challenges” (from a quality improvement, business
performance, and/or operational perspective) do you anticipate your
organization will be facing between now and the year 2025 ?
Ans. 1
Tough issues around labor and human rights in its relationships with
its suppliers — some of which manage massive workforces in
countries such as China.
Supply chain audits having their limitations and mounting
indications of “audit fatigue” on the part of suppliers.
Escalating customer demands and dominance
Big companies turn to BPR when they notice that they’ve been losing
money and need to stay afloat, but in reality, even small and
midmarket companies can benefit from it. It’s helpful for any and all
kinds of companies to identify unnecessary measures in their
processes—even more so with smaller companies that can’t afford to
be bogged down by needless work.

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Q-2) What “specific obstacles/limitations” do you anticipate your
organization will need to overcome in order to prepare its workforce for
successfully addressing/overcoming the above-listed challenges?
Ans. 2
Business process remediation including ongoing adjustments to create a
more responsive and user-friendly approach to customer service.
 Investing in the time and knowledge needed to bring about top-down and
bottom-up infrastructure change requiring strategic planning.
Better communication with customers to introduce them to products,
features and services.
Helping our suppliers comply more effectively with labor laws and to
respect workers’ rights
Becoming more environmentally conscious and reducing our carbon
footprint

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Q-3) How can process re-engineering help you to overcome the above-listed
obstacles/limitations?
Ans. 3
 It will enable business process management (BPM) to be adjusted in order to
support growth, mitigate challenges and respond to market trends.
 It will help our company to own more of the market.
 Always having an Apple person in every audit
 Closed-loop remediation with our factories, which means we ensure the
factories close things out and we look for recidivism when we go back to audit
them again

Q-4) Describe the process you are considering to re-engineer.

Ans. 4
Improving supplier and customer service
iPod and iPhone entries into the respective MP3 player and Mobile Phone /
Smart Phone markets

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Q-5) What forces are driving you to consider re-engineering (e.g., Customer Demands, market place
changes, level of urgency, etc.)?
Ans. 5
 Keeping customers engaged to ensure repeat sales, and attract strong feedback ratings and word-
of-mouth referrals.
 Adding effective infrastructure through BPM solutions to create momentum toward meeting
aggressive profit goals and increasing brand recognition.
 Apple has been a leader in the supplier responsibility space, but has learned that it is difficult — if
not impossible — to achieve the same level of perfection on these issues as they do in their
products.

Q-6) Describe your organization’s commitment to and support for re-engineering?

Ans. 6
 Commitment towards applying the best practices to the unique situations facing our organization
 Apple has allowed innovation to govern the direction of supporting processes. That has helped it
stay ahead of market trends and respond effectively to internal and external feedback.
 It has embraced the potential of social media and its role in building brand recognition and strong
consumer relations
 Unlike many other companies, Apple’s Social Responsibility team sits within its Operations team.
 Business may change, processes may change, but people will never go out of business. Steve Jobs
has created an empire around applying this philosophy to his business ventures.
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Q-7) List the different functional areas your process re-engineering effort will impact (e.g., Customer
Service, finance, shipping, etc.)?
Ans. 7
 Customer Service- A new customer support strategy for its Technology Services operations to offer
“tightly integrated, end-to-end support with a single point of contact that best serves you, the
customer, and on your terms.”
 A leader who commands, motivates, and ensures that each step is a step towards the right
direction.
 A process owner or manager who is responsible for a certain business process and the
reengineering efforts geared towards it.
 A reengineering team or group of people focused on diagnosing the existing process, coming up
with ways to improve on it, and implementing the changes they suggest.
 A steering committee or group of senior managers who can make policies to help develop the
reengineering strategy as a whole and keep track of its progress.
 A reengineering Czar or an individual who has the ability to develop tools and techniques to unify
all reengineering efforts across different business processes.

Q-8) List the key customers of the process you want to re-engineer?
Ans. 8 In communicating Apple’s primary business philosophy to potential employees, Jobs describes
daily life at the company headquarters: Don’t expect business as usual. A lot of big companies are
about endless meetings. Massive bureaucracy. Executive parking spaces. And suits. We don't see
what any of that has to do with great work. So we don't bother. This isn't your cushy corporate nine-
to-fiver. Fortunately. Prepare to be inspired. We've got an environment where you can make things
happen. Fast. There's plenty of open space—and open minds. Collaboration. And of course,
innovation. We also have a shared obsession with getting every last detail right. Leave your neckties,
bring your
Businessideas.26 This strategy has proven successful, and Jobs shows no signs of regret to the 7
Process Re-engineering
ways in which Apple now manages its most unique and valuable assets—its human resources.
Q-9) Briefly summarize the concern of your key customers?

 Ans. 9
 Increased flexibility in customer support troubleshooting – keyword and product search,
an instant troubleshooting tool and an easily accessible cache of popular support
documents
 Mobile device-friendly support apps
 Technology support for the entire system
 Live chat with Apple experts

Q-10) Formulate two interview questions that determine the customer specific
requirements, needs, and expectations for one of those concerns.
Ans. 10
 What sets apart Apple’s customer service?
 Apple’s customer services is set apart by the choices we offer our customers—and we’re
going to continue to deliver more choices that give you greater access to the support you
need to keep your technology running.”
 What sets apart Apple’s supplier service?
 At Apple, we believe that every worker in our supply chain has the right to safe and
ethical working conditions. That’s just not a slogan on our website; it’s something we live
and breathe every single day. And it’s not just the responsibility of my team; it’s also the
responsibility of the hundreds of Apple employees in our factories every single day.
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Q-11) List the organization you would like to benchmark for this process? Describe why
you would choose that organization?
Ans. 11
1. Microsoft
 Described as obsessive, impulsive, and overly critical, Steve Jobs truly knows what he
wants, and cultivates his ideas into realities. In a television documentary entitled
“Triumph of the Nerds,” Jobs describes Apple’s largest competitor—Microsoft: The only
problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. I don’t mean that in a small way. I
mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas and they don’t
bring much culture into their products. I have no problem with their success — they've
earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make
really third-rate products.
 Jobs is said to have called Microsoft CEO Bill Gates after the interview was published to
apologize for the harshness of his words. Still, he apparently told Gates that he truly
meant what he had said, and that every word of it was the truth. It is apparent that Jobs
not only cares about the performance of Apple computers, but also the look and feel of
them as well.
2. Pixar
 They run a very repeatable blockbuster-movie-making machine. However, failures can
happen – judgments about character and art have to be made and if they’re too far off
instead of a blockbuster you get a dud. But the track record of Pixar is too consistent to
be random chance. And the movies weren’t all inspired/written/executed by the same
creative mind. Again, my external view tells me this must be a well-formulated process –
one that is less likely to fail than the traditional “make a movie on gut alone” approach…
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Q-12) List the major tasks in the process?
Ans. 12
Minimizing the number of external factors that can affect production – while
simultaneously strengthening the relationship between customer service data and
research and development practices
 Streamline what you do well and do it better than anyone else
 Stay true to your corporate mission statement and design integrity
 Consolidate resources and outsource when necessary or appropriate
 Pare down inventory spending
 Create strong partnerships
 Implement increased marketing and branding strategy
 Improve communication across all sectors of the company
 Lead with innovation
 Exercising strong leadership to understand the short-term and long-range goals needed
to support sustainable growth ensuring that each member’s skills, education and
experience cover a core of capabilities
 Spending a lot of time with my team in the factories talking to managers and attending
audits.
 Joining the Fair Labor Association and strengthening its policies and management
systems in recent years.
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 Recycling initiatives implemented in 95% of the countries that sell our products.
SOURCE: https://goo.gl/images/rLhYQi

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• Step 1: Identify adjacent market where “more features” on the device will not
necessarily yield more sales.
• Step 2: Conceptually, determine whether a new device could be designed that is
dramatically simpler and captures the most important features discovered and
pioneered by the vendors in this space.

• Step 3: Identify whether a vertical platform (for purposes of our discussion, think web application or cloud application platform
for either buying, storing, trading, etc.) can provide a compelling, competitive advantage. Do any of the existing vendors offer a
decent platform? Is the integrated experience a good one? Does it create long-term lock-in? Does it allow for easily migrating
hardware devices while retaining your relationship to the vertical platform?
• Step 4: In the labs, design prototype devices that emphasize simplicity and elegance (as currently defined), and evoke the Apple
brand. In all but the most basic functions, trade-off simplicity of look and use over additional functionality. Make this an IT lust
item, a fashion accessory, such that the exact number of MB and knobs and twiddles are less important than how it feels in your
hand or looks while you use it in public. Do not recreate the original brick cell phone!

• Step 5: Release product and platform at the same time.

• Step 6: Revise product, release again, every 6-18 months depending on the product cycle,
cost, etc. New releases generally should encompass a bit more technical horsepower, but
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additional benefit of each release is an improved fit-and-finish, look, fashion, etc
Q-14) Describe the results of your “new process”? Envision it as a “best case scenario”.
List how things will function in 10-15 years in future.
Ans. 14
 Increased market share
 One of the strongest codes of conduct in the industry.
 A greener Apple

Q-15) Is re-engineering necessary to bridge those gaps or will process improvements

cover them?
Ans. 15
 Launched the Environment, Health, and Safety Academy to try to address the root cause
of some of the health and safety violations.
 Increasingly added transparency into our reporting, including listing our suppliers, our
smelters in the conflict minerals program and the standards that sit behind our code of
conduct
 If the current products aren’t that good, then Apple’s “good” products will displace their
demand. Also, Apple can start with a premium price point for a few reasons: First, a high
initial price protects them against ramping production too quickly and overshooting
demand (which is then followed by discounting, etc). At the very least, it reduces this
risk.
 Second, Apple displaces low-profit sales of the competition with high-profit sales for
itself. Third, as demand curves become more predictable, Apple ramps production, and
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can afford to lower prices with volume discounting on parts, pre-pays, etc.
Q-16) Are there any lessons you have learned from your current process? If yes, briefly
describe one such lesson learned.
Ans. 16
 A hallmark of Apple’s success is its ability to provide products and services that stay true to
what drew its customers in the first place. Once you have the strategies down in your arena,
they can be used again and again; in fact, they become an effective part of your corporate
culture.
 We needed to be sure that we were designing supplier responsibility programs with the same
level of attention to detail and innovation that we bring to our products — and we need to be
able to do that at Apple scale. And for Apple, scale means that our top 200 suppliers manage
over 750 facilities worldwide at all levels of our supply chain — and manage over 1.5 million
workers. So that’s the challenge ahead of us.
 We really needed to focus on tackling the root causes of any issues we observed within the
supply chain. For example, we saw that workers weren’t wearing the appropriate personal
protective equipment.
 We needed to be more transparent and open around the work that we are doing.

 We think it’s really important to talk to our friends, our critics and our partners about the
work that we are doing, because hopefully we can inform them and they can inform us, and
we’ll improve.

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Can we make the process simpler?
Ans. 17
 The existing vendors can produce a new device, a better mousetrap. They can even release devices with
more RAM, CPU speed, technical specs of all kinds. They could at some point release a device that *looks
better* than Apple’s devices. However, for the most part the competition does not have a vertical
platform to begin with. Their new devices end up looking like pretty baubles or paper weights because
they aren’t tied in with the network effects of a platform.
 BPR that works should simplify processes, provide hefty returns, and improve the company’s performance
remarkably. With the creative use of technology, all these can be achieved in less time. The integration of
information technology has long been identified as a key enabler in numerous successful BPR case studies.
Can we reduce time and/or cost?
Ans. 17 b)
To goose the revenue:
 Lower the price on the existing units
 Release a new, improved unit with the old (high) price
 Release more varied looks with approximately current technical specs (e.g. the colored iPod Nanos, for
example)
 Create new pricepoints with low-cost components – e.g. RAM.
 Improve the platform by adding new services or functions
 Change the pricing of services on the platform
 Any combination of the above.
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Q-18) Choose one of the questions by which you placed a checkmark, answer it,
and briefly describe how you will respond for your re-engineering effort.
Ans. 18
 What sets Apple’s strategy apart?
 Apple’s strategy gives it a lot of leverage on the markets it enters. And it
implements a version of the fast-follower that is quite compelling – the follow-
better strategy rather than the follow-cheaper strategy employed by so many
vendors in the software and hardware markets of IT.

Q-19) What jobs will be impacted by your re-engineering effort? List them.
Ans. 19
1. Identify where you are vs. where you want to be
2. Form a reengineering team
3. Point out a specific process to improve on
4. Analyze the process
5. Reform the process through the use of information technology
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Q-20) List all the people and areas that will be impacted by your process re-
engineering effort and explain how.
Ans. 20
 Unlike business process management (BPM) and business process improvement
(BPI), which require minimal revisions on current operations, BPR demands
commitment to implementing radical changes over a period of time, but the
benefits are far greater. Through BPR, you can:
 Cut costs of production by removing unproductive activities
 Shorten cycle times through the introduction of simpler and more streamlined
operations
 Improve product quality and employee satisfaction by creating systems that
allow each person to take ownership of their work.

Q-21) Check the emotions you expect from employees during implementation of
the new process.
Ans. 21
“Change can be frightening, and the temptation is often to resist it. But change
almost always provides opportunities—to learn new things, to rethink tired
processes, and to improve the way we work.” – Klaus Schwab, founder and
executive chairman of the World Economic Forum

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Q-22) Describe how you will mentor your change management plans.
Ans. 22
 Businesses begin as great ideas that seek to fulfill a demand. When starting a business, one of the first
things you must think about is how to establish a system that turns your objective into a profitable output.
Once a system is in place and you have customers clamoring for your product, the work lies in making sure
daily operations run smoothly and without hitches.
 Of course, it doesn’t end there. Say you made a million dollars from your business this year—wouldn’t it
be awesome to double your profit and make two million dollars next year?
 To ensure that profit margin grows and your business doesn’t fail or remain stagnant, you must take a
closer look at your business processes. After all, every business needs constant innovation to evolve and
stay relevant. This is where business process reengineering (BPR) comes in.

Q-23) Describe how you will implement your process re-engineering effort on a “trial-run” basis.
Ans. 23
 A drastic redesign of business practices can lower production costs and improve the quality of service to
the consumer, and that information technology plays an integral role in executing this big change. This is
the key concept behind BPR.
 A company on the verge of reengineering will rely heavily on its employees to carry out the desired
change. Make your team understand why a revamp is necessary to a company’s growth and survival, and
how sticking to the same procedures may lead to negative outcomes. In the same breath, set a tangible
goal for them to measure their efforts against. Providing a clear vision of where the company should be
will help them know what they’re working toward and give them a much-needed boost during more
challenging times of the transition.
 Seeing BPR through successful and beneficial completion relies heavily on successful ERP implementation.
Without dependable software, introducing changes to business processes will require a lot of manpower,
which can result in inconsistencies and failure to overhaul the organisation. Conversely, to make ERP
software work for you, you’ll need all the information you’ve gathered through successful BPR. From this,
you can choose an ERP that can facilitate process improvement and reengineering, and at the same time
provide opportunities
Business for collaboration among different business functions under a centralised system.18
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Q-24) How do you propose to evaluate your data?
Ans. 24
 I want metrics. I want metrics that will show if I’m improving or not improving.
That allows us to use the audits as a core component of a supplier’s scorecard.
 Apple has truly put the “personal” in personal computing.
 The company realizes that rather than publicly announcing product development
plans years in advance, products are better-received with an “awe” response if
they are simply released when they’re finished as opposed to providing “beta” or
“demo” versions to the public. This is an excellent strategy when the goal is to
keep consumers eager for the latest products and asking, “What could they
possibly improve next?”

Q-25) How will you celebrate your success?

Ans. 25
 Appreciating the agents responsible for the success achieved
 Building upon the achievements for greater future success

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 Thank you for
your attention
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