Reputation in an Organization

Reputations in organizations are extremely valued. Having a certain reputation can make or break an organization, consumers have the tendency to place more value on a product if the company making the product has a good reputation. This type of reputation can come in many forms. Walmart has a reputation for providing items at bulk pricing to consumers. Microsoft has a reputation for making products for business use such as through Microsoft Office and the Windows operating system. In particular, one company that I have found to be especially interesting is Apple. The reputation that Apple has developed in the past 20 years is incredible to see. Essentially, Apple has developed the reputation to be technologically innovative and to provide products to the consumer that is aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, Apple has developed a reputation for providing good support for its consumers. For these reasons, Apple has established such a large following in the consumer market. Thousands of consumers wait in lines for new releases of Apple products every year. The reputation that Apple has developed brings the company loyalty in its customers. I have personally seen people buy a certain Apple product on the market simply because of the brand, rather than another item that might be cheaper or meet their personal satisfaction better.

One of Apple’s more innovative products was the release of the iPod in 2001. This was one of the products that Apple revolutionized the music industry. Consumers were able to have an mp3 player that wasn’t based off of flash storage. Consumers were able to store thousands of songs on a device and be able to integrate this device with the iTunes software developed by Apple. In this way, Apple developed the reputation for being innovative in the music industry. Consumers associated the music market with the iPod brand. Apple also developed a reputation for being “cool” amongst the younger generation. Furthermore, the utilization of advertisements with flashy visuals and catchy music helped uphold this reputation of being “cool”. I personally remember how popular iPod were when I was growing up. All my friends that had iPods when they first came out became very popular because everybody wanted to see the device in action. Furthermore, Apple has maintained the reputation of being technologically innovative (even though it might not be), by releasing a newer version of the product every year. Typically, there are a few improvements with the product such as an updated version of the iPod. In recent years we have seen how the iPod has improved every year and even by coming out with other versions of the iPod such as the iPod Nano and iPod Touch.

Apple also has a reputation of having good support. Usually support through the genius bar is supplemented by someone that is competent enough to try to fix a situation. This is quite contrary to other businesses where you are directed to speak to someone who might not even be based in the United States in order to provide troubleshooting. The reputation of Apple is obviously also very apparent in way the stock value has risen dramatically in the past few decades. Apple may have the reputation of being innovative, and it does this best by creating products that are consumer friendly while also attracting the tech savvy as well.