Delivering Customer Value through Procurement and Strategic Sourcing: A Professional Guide to Creating A Sustainable Supply Network

10. Time-Based Strategic Management

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, who helped create Apple’s vast supply chain before succeeding Steve Jobs as CEO in 2011, is allocating money back into the business as sales growth has slowed amid competition from Samsung and others. Although designing a manufacturing process has long been part of Apple’s product creation, the task has taken on heightened strategic interest. The company’s fiscal 2014 capital expenditures are up 61 percent from 2013 and almost tenfold since 2008. The $10.5 billion Apple has forecast for fiscal 2014 capital expenditures on robots and lasers represents a fraction of its $171 billion in sales last year. Samsung, which has earmarked about $22 billion in capital expenditures this ...