How can an organization foster creativity and innovation?

What strategies and practices can it adopt

and how do these connect with the theories about creativity discussed in this module? Answer this
question by focusing on the case study of an organization that is well known for its creative culture.

Everyday creativity refers to a process, which brings together at least one active human mind, and
the material or digital world, in the activity of making something, which is novel in that context, and
is a process, which evokes a feeling of joy. David Gauntlett

Creativity is a wide topic, which allows different interpretations. It has been described, as the
process of bringing something new into being... creativity requires passion and commitment (Rollo
May, The courage to create). According to Gauntlett he also mentions that creativity is the ability to
come up with ideas or artifacts that are new, surprising and valuable.
Creativity can be divided into three different kinds:
1. Combinatorial creativity generating new, surprising and valuable ideas and artifacts through
combining existing ideas and artifacts
2. Exploratory creativity generating new, surprising and valuable ideas and artifacts that expand
our understanding of an area or creative domain
3. Transformational creativity generating new, surprising and valuable ideas and artefacts that
transform the way we see the world. Through this belief Gaunlett has proven that creativity can be
defined on many distant levels, cognitively, intellectually, socially, spiritually and from the finite
prospective of different disciplines of business, science, art, dance, music, theatre etc. Rollo May
also states that out of the creative art, is born symbols and myths.

Within every indidvual, creativity is a function of three components: expertise, creative thinking
skills and motivation, (Henry J., 2001:4).

According to the Business dictionary they interpret innovation a process by which an idea or
invention is translated into a good or service for which people will pay. They also state that to be
called an innovation is when an idea is replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific
need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving
greater or different value from resources and encompasses all processes by which new ideas are
generated and converted into useful products. In business, innovation results often from the
application of a scientific or technical idea in decreasing the gap between the needs or expectations
of the customers and the performance of a firms products.

Creativity and innovation has combined to create the materialization of the new ideas, which has
grown out of the uniqueness of the individuals, such as Picasso, Shakespeare, Leonardo Da Vinci and
many other famous names. With the rise of new technologies in particular computing it has reached
a new dimension with creativity and innovation one brand in particular stands out Apple.

Two men Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple on April first. Both Jobs and Wozniak have personalities
that persevere throughout Apple even today. Jobs was and still is the expert in sales and futurist
while Wozniak was the intrusive technical genius. Wozniak was always creating his own computer
from home and that is when he realized that it was a commercial potential.

Apple 1 was created and after selling 50 computer kits to Paul Terrells Byte shop in Mountain View,
CA, however Jobs and Wozniak required financing to sell their improved version, the Apple 2. Once
they found their financier the company introduced the Apple 2 on April 17th, 1977, the same time
Commodore released their PET computer. Apple 2 sales increased dramatically as it came with
VisiCalc, a modern spreadsheet program. In 1979, Apple commenced three projects in order to stay
on top of the competition, they were: 1) the Apple 3 which would be a business sloping machine, 2)
The Lisa the planned money making success and 3) the Macintosh.

With Apple plan (above) didnt go as planned as the Apple 3 was a commercial downfall as the public
found it too expensive and the design looked like it was cheap, however Apple didnt stop. In August
1981, Apple welcomed IBM to the PC market, which led IBM to be the leading PC, which dominated
the market. Which meant that Apple had a new task on their hands and that was to port its MacOS
operating system to the new architecture. Jobs once quoted "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 you're led, and how
much you get it." -Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998

By 1993 Apple released the Macintosh desktop computer however in the coming years Apple was to
release the Macintosh and PowerBook G3, G4 and G5, which led Apple to be once again a successful
company. In 1999 Apple released the Ibook, which led to another major commercial success.
However what Apple didnt know was that when the iPod was to be released it would make them
one of the best computer companys in the world.

The Apple iPod was released in 2001. An iPod is a portable hard disk MP3 player in which has the
maximum capacity of holding up to 5,000 songs, this led Apple into having there own music program
called ITunes in which has become one of the biggest program operators in the world. With the iPod
nano doing so well Apple set their aims on making the Apple Iphone in which led to be one of the
most used phones in the world and from the success of the Apple Iphone, Apple have now created
the Ipad which is also leading to great success.

O Regan quoted Apple is a highly innovative company and has made major contributions to the
history of computing. From this quote O Regan Is suggesting that Apple has made history to the
world of computing in which I believe is true because without Apple computing wouldnt be as
competitive in which means that there wouldnt be a lot creative invented as competition makes a
company to work harder in order to offer the consumers something better each time.

"It's rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something amazing." -
Steve Jobs at the age of 29, in Playboy, February 1985.

From looking back at the history of Apple it shows that great creativity was produced, as they were a
company that never gave up and always wanted to offer something different and better compared
to other companies, and have succeeded by using creativity on many different scales. In the scales
that Apple have used creativity was by not just designing a different platform of computering but by
also designing a different approach on the appeal of a Mac and done this by making it look sleek and
sexy. Their computers and other equipment are not just a computer or an accessory but they are
also a fashion item due to their stylish designs.

As my visual piece I decided to create a collage using the Apple logo full of all their designs from new
to old. The reason why I have decided to do that was to visualize how Apple has changed from the
start to now and how creative they have been. I decided to use their logo due to the fact that it is a
well-established logo in which most people know about when they see as the logo speaks for itself.

Apple have achieved so much success in the years thanks to the fresh, imaginative way of thinking
and doing business with a winning combination of outstanding products, amazing design, great
strategy, an innovative marketing and sleek communications.

Apple owes their overpowering success to the creation of the iPhone, Ipod and iTunes product
mixtures, a mixture of a amazing hardware piece with style, software and overall a great
performance with a user friendly interface. The creation of the iPod and iTunes aura effect and new
Mac computers with the Mac OS software did the work with increasing the Apple revenue.

Between the years 2003 to 2008 the Apple share value has increased from $7.5 billion to $180 billion
per share, this means it has increased by 25 times. In 2008 before the big global financial crisis, the
Apple market capitalization was $160 billion dollars however even though there was a big global
financial crisis this didnt stop Apple from not making any money in fact in January 2010 Apple
shares rose to $210 billion. However Apple would not have achieved all this success without a
successful creative marketing strategy. I will now look at three different creative marketing
strategies, which Apple has used.

Firstly the creation of the iPod. We all know that before this was created not many people knew who
Apple were but now we know that it has given a fortune to Apple with 250 million iPods being sold
worldwide until December 2009.

So firstly there was an iPod launch in 2001 however the iPod was an absolute flop. The iPod was
originally launched in October 2001, however the sales from 2001 2004 were between 100 200
thousand units per quarter, whereas today they sell 10 20 million per quarter then in June 2004
something changed the iPod sales began to grow and as the years went on more and more iPods
were getting sold. Today we all know that the iPod is a huge success for Apple as it was one of the
first and leading digital portable music players.

So why did the iPod first flop? It was because of the great of the iPod it was too advanced for the
period it got released in as one major factor was because the internet connections were very slow as
broadband was very rare to find in households. Apple also did a huge mistake with not using a
communication strategy with the iPod, as there was not any advertising made so therefore Apple
relied on people word of mouth.

The iPod was not actually Apples idea but was proposed to Apple by a man called Mr Fadell. He had
approached many companies one including Microsoft and Microsoft turned him away saying that it
was uninteresting and that this will not make any money, shows how creative Microsoft are.

However when he came to Apple things were different, he was heard in the meeting and just two
weeks later Steve Jobs called Fadell and told him Ok, I put you in charge of the development of this
products and of the business concept, I give you a team of 30 brilliant guys, designers, programmers
and hardware engineers". Tony Fadell and his team later developed the iPod in just 12 months.

Even though the concept of the iPod and iTunes was not actually Apples idea, the advantage of
Steve Jobs and the Apple executives was in the power to listen on the money making business idea.
The other advantage to Steve Jobs and Apple was also in continuing the development and improving
the product year after year with adding more functions e.g. colour display, video playing, slimming
down the size etc (which you can see in my visual item). Apple was also improving iTunes and done
this by making a number of deals with record companies, to which now iTunes is one of the worlds
biggest downloading software packages. Without the determination and creativity from Apple the
iPod would have never been made and because of its global success it has made the digital world
more compact.

In 2010 the Apple iPad was launched it was like a bigger iPhone however it has more dimensions to
it, Apple aimed to make a touch screen handheld laptop which later on had similar enhancements
from different creators.

So the marketing strategy for the iPad was that firstly Apple would only market this product in the
US only, however after 3 months Apple would market it into other countries. After 6 months, Apple
would make a price rebate where at launch a basic 16GB iPad would cost $499 and does not have 3G
and the top of the range would cost $829 with 3G.

After 6 months, Apple would once again make a price rebate making their prices lower in order to
get more business. A 64GB top of the range with 3G would cost $499 ($330 rebate) and the 32GB
with 3G for $399 (again a $330 rebate).

As Apples original communication strategy flopped after the launch of the iPod nano, Apple decided
to change the whole communication strategy. Apples communication is now intriguing, simple,
minimalistic and intelligent. I begin my analysis on this with the well known I am a Mac, I am a PC
advert.

Sarcasm was the main weapon in which Apple used to fight Microsoft in the famous I am a Mac, I
am a PC advert. In these humorous television adverts the weaknesses of the Microsoft operating
systems were shown in full view in an amusing, smart and intriguing way.

Apples communications is very creative as they always come up with a unique style. The I am a
Mac, I am a PC advert is very effective but simple and also an embarrassment for Microsoft.

Apples adverts are unique as it shows companies around the world that there is a lesson to be
learnt. As we all know that Apple have amazing products, it is easier to draw in the customers,
however creating it with style and intelligence is something that Apple do very well as it boosts sales
and the brand value too. This is all due to great creativity.

Even though Apple has great strategies there is always room for improvement. I believe that Apple
could also adopt these strategic methods in order to enhance their creativity even more. It would be
in two stages. Firstly:
Trickle down the head of the company says, everyone else follows. There could be HR training for
staff in methods for creativity, and they employ strategies to ensure recruitment of staff that has
high creativity in respective field. This can therefore put systems in place in order to exploit wider
creativity from it's consumers via competitions, market research, and customer loyalty to a brand or
product for example an application for the iPhone or iPad in which customers would like to buy or
sell. Secondly internal company incentives like holidays and benefits for the most original ideas from
staff. So basically if a member of staff comes up with the most original idea they could win a holiday
or other exciting things. This way the staff will stay motivated and keep coming up with better
creative ideas in order to beat other competition too.

Creativity and innovation has been highlighted in this case study by using Apple, the worlds leading
technology and computing company. Through the years Apple have had lots of ups and downs
however with the help of finding great creativity and not giving up they have got themselves number
1 with being a creative organisation according to Business week.

Through my visual element I show the creation of Apple with pictures from old to new inside the
Apple logo in order to visualise the products of which Ive spoken about and to also show how their
great creativity has changed throughout the years.

In this case study I have highlighted the strategies that Apple use when selling a product and with
their strategy it has benefited them into taking power of the whole computing network with more
than 40% of people owning a Mac. As for the future of Apple, they will always be one step ahead of
everyone and it would take something different to knock them off the top.

Creativity is the art of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality Linda Naiman and is exactly
what Apple have done.



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