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Quantum Strategy at Apple Inc

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Organizational Dynamics (2013) 42, 92—99

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Quantum Strategy at Apple Inc
Loizos Heracleous

Over the last 15 years, Apple Inc has revolutionized the personal electronics, telecom, computer and media industries through a string of blockbuster products that offer unique, designer, integrated customer experiences. In the process, the company has helped to accelerate the blurring of industry boundaries through the spread of devices that offer convergent technologies, and to position itself so that it exerts significant power over both consumers and industry players, with outstanding performance results. Apple became the most valuable listed company, with a market value of US$623 billion in August 2012, and has gathered the highest accumulation of cash reserves ($121 billion in September 2012) of any listed company. It regularly achieves net margins of above 20 percent in industries where most competitors achieve single-digit margins. Its net margin was 26.7 percent during 2012, having increased from 23.9 percent in 2011 and 21.5 percent in 2010. During the same period, Apple’s revenues increased from US$65.2 billion in 2010 to US $108.2 billion in 2011 and to US$156.5 billion in 2012. The chief architect of the business model and value system that led to this exceptional performance is widely acknowledged to be the late Steve Jobs. With Jobs’ passing in October 2011, many have wondered whether the magic at Apple would last, or gradually fizzle out. In this article, I take an in-depth look at the strategy and organization of Apple to argue that the magic will last. This is not only due to clear and consistent strategic choices over time that have served to institutionalize the Apple way; it is also due to the fact that Apple has achieved what might be called Quantum Strategy

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