Please comment on the effect that alliances such as Apple and Microsoft can have on competition within the context of Operations Management.

Operations Management is the term applied to the correlation of activities which achieve the core objectives of an organisation. Apple and Microsoft are companies which come from very different cultures, Apple a very steady stable environment, which non-the-less appreciates and recognizes employee input. For example at Apple computers, Cupertino, California, all employees who worked on the design of the original Mackintosh computer had their signatures engraved on the inside of the models case. Microsoft's also …

…a new culture. If this cannot be achieved, it needs to be negotiated and both cultures adapted so that the core activities reflect the companies business aims. The cultures of these two companies, Apple and Microsoft are too far removed to nurture a successful alliance, and it appears that when the alliance was formed no negotiation took place which looked at the core objectives and focused on, how structurally, both companies could achieve these aims.