Companies need to focus on their customers’ needs and wants in order to be successful. Learn about some famous examples of successful businesses that were client-focused.
Many businesses hit rock bottom before finding success. Discover some of the most inspiring turnaround success stories. For example, Evernote, a note-taking and organization software, was almost shut down before it became a global success.
1. Apple
The Apple story is an example of a successful business that reinvented itself to achieve continued success. The company started in a niche market and developed innovative products that quickly became a hit with customers. It also stayed relevant and up to date on changing technology to keep its products ahead of the competition.
The company’s first product was the Apple II, a computer with a plastic case and color graphics that sold well. The computer was more advanced than competing machines and helped the company secure a dominant share of the hobbyist computer market. Later, the Apple Macintosh was introduced and helped the company establish itself as the premier personal computer maker.
As the business grew, Jobs recognized the need for professional management and significant funding. He enlisted Regis McKenna, a public relations expert, and Michael Markkula, an investor with deep roots in the semiconductor industry. The company’s resulting initial public offering was the largest since the 1956 launch of the Ford Motor Company. It generated more than $100 million and created over 300 millionaires at the time.
In contrast to staid competitors, Apple promoted an unconventional corporate culture that emphasized low-cost casual attire and laid-back office spaces. The company also forged partnerships with other companies, such as VisiCalc for the small-business and consumer market, and DOS (disk operating system) from IBM to enable software developers to target the new platform.
In the early 1990s, Apple continued to innovate with the iBook and iPod, which set standards for digital music players. The iPad followed the iBook and helped Apple dominate the tablet market. Apple also boosted revenue with the release of OS X in 2001, which combined the genius of NeXT software with the beauty of Apple designs.
3. McDonald’s
The McDonald’s corporation is the world’s largest restaurant chain and a household name. The company has built a global reputation for selling consistent, simple, low-priced American food. In addition, McDonald’s has managed to grow its revenues and profits through continued innovation in the fast-food industry.
The story of McDonald’s began when two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald, opened their first restaurant in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. The restaurant was designed as a “drive-in” and initially offered a wide variety of food items. The brothers’ goal was to produce large quantities of food at low prices. They did this by reducing the menu to nine items: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, breakfast items, milk shakes, soft drinks, coffee and potato chips. The brothers also implemented an efficient service system that included a self-service counter, eliminating the need for waiters and waitresses. Burgers were cooked ahead of time and kept warm under heat lamps, making for a speedy delivery to customers.
Ray Kroc, a Chicago milkshake mixer salesman, took notice of the McDonald’s brothers’ business concept. He became a franchise agent, buying out the brothers in 1961. By the end of the decade, the company had grown to 36,000 locations worldwide. Today, the McDonald’s corporation earns revenue in two broad ways: sales of food by company-operated restaurants and rents and royalties from franchised locations.
While many people think of McDonald’s as a fast-food outlet, the company has actually made significant investments in health and wellness over the years. The company has partnered with several organizations to promote healthy lifestyles, and it offers free meals to children in select schools and communities. It has also launched an initiative to reduce obesity in the United States by 2025.
4. Microsoft
Microsoft is an example of a business that achieved success through massive innovation. Initially, they focused on hardware and software for personal computers, and they became the first company to earn over a billion dollars in revenue in one year. By the 1990s, they had captured around 90% of the world’s PC market.
As a Stanford computer science graduate student, Larry Page studied how different web pages were linked together, in the hope that this would help him create a better search engine. In 1998, he and fellow Stanford graduate Sergey Brin founded Google.
Since then, they have become one of the most popular and valuable tech companies in the world. They are also continuing to innovate, with products such as the Hololens holographic AR headset.
5. Google
With a broad portfolio of Internet-based services and products, including online document creation, e-mail, and mobile software and hardware, Google is one of the world’s largest and most influential companies. Its success is largely due to its original search engine, which revolutionized the way we use the Internet. The company was founded in 1998 by Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Page and Brin stumbled upon the idea for the service after noticing that Web pages were linked to one another on the then-embryonic Web. Today, the company is valued at more than $1.2 trillion and has become the world’s most used search tool. It operates under the umbrella name of “Alphabet,” and specializes in search advertising, wh