Apple Incorporated: Highly Innovative Innovation

Discussion Question 7.2 Without a doubt, Apple Incorporated has been highly innovative. Throughout Apple’s history it has innovated and brought new technology to the marketplace. Apple has used each of the four types of innovation throughout its history. For example, the first Mac computer drew technology from developments at Xerox Parc in the 1970s, but was a new technology in the sense the Mac was smaller, faster, and much less expensive (Nonala & Kenney 1991). In the 1970s through the 1990s Apple used incremental innovation. Apple was able to build on established knowledge and continued to improve its products and services (Rothaermel, 2017). Apple used radical innovation for the first time in 2001 when it released the famous mp3 …show more content…
Walmart’s incorporation of a grocery segment into its retail locations is a prime example. Walmart’s dominate business, prior to incorporating grocery stores into certain locations and creating supercenters, was retail sales (Courtemanche & Carden, 2014). Walmart was successful at incorporating grocery sales into its stores due to the shared competencies that Walmart’s retail supply chain and grocery diversification venture shared. Additionally, Walmart’s scope and scale provided the company with additional leverage with grocery suppliers and allowed Walmart to remain a cost-leader in the retail and grocery industry. Walmart used the dominant business corporate strategy of diversification to incorporate grocery stores into its existing network of …show more content…
McDonald’s is credited as the first restaurant operator to standardize food production (Ghobadian & O'Regan, 2014). To control the quality and consistency of its products, McDonald’s is highly dependent on standardization across all of its restaurants. The global-standardization strategy was used by McDonald’s during its initial global expansion to allow the firm to keep costs low and provide little to no differentiation among its products (Rothaermel, 2017). However, McDonald’s had to alter its global-standardization strategy to a transnational strategy. The transition to a transnational strategy occurred when McDonald’s entered the Indian market. For example, when McDonald’s entered the Indian market it had to alter its menu to India to meet the vegetarian requirements of Indian citizens (Ghobadian, & O'Regan, 2014). McDonald’s has been successful in providing a standardized product globally while connecting with local markets through tailored product