Introduction
Adobe Inc. is a prominent global corporation operating in the software industry. Nonetheless, maintaining competitive advantage implies a complex evaluation and alterations in regard to several organizational components, such as technological advancements, corporate culture, and demographics. Adobe is a corporation that adheres to current standards and understands the importance of considering diversity and technological innovation as the two aspects directly address both the internal and external environment. On the one hand, the elements generate a positive internal culture for the team members, while, on the other hand, consumers are satisfied with products and services that are unique from others on the market. It is certain that Adobe is to continue maintaining its competitive advantage through the measures that are currently implemented, such as diversification of the workforce and investments in tech.
Organizational Culture
Adobe’s main priority, as for every for-profit organization, is generating profit for investors. Nonetheless, it is important to highlight the internal values and beliefs incorporated through the organizational culture and code of ethics. Namely, Adobe’s primary belief is the importance of facilitating creativity and employee well-being (Adobe, 2022b). The corporation acknowledges the importance of the workforce and aims to maintain a stable yet innovative environment in which the team can flourish. In regards to expectations, the company expects to maintain a competitive advantage through the generation of innovative ideas that elevate its products compared to goods offered by competitors.
The corporate motto is “Changing the world through digital experiences”, which highlights the main organizational value (Adobe, 2022b). Namely, Adobe aims for leading positions in the digital software market and wants to create the best possible products and experiences for its users. Last but not least, the company has various regulations and norms employed within the internal environment.
Organizational Culture Management
Managers have a major impact on the culture of the organization, and Adobe is one of the companies that adhere to this concept. Such initiatives are effective in addressing several barriers since an employee whose cultural and ethical values resemble corporate ones is more likely to work productively for the sake of the company (Akpa et al., 2021). In the case of Adobe, the managers increase said productivity by highlighting an example of what corporate values are to represent. Namely, the CEO Shantanu Narayen directly mentions the importance of diversity and equality, hence encouraging team members to follow a similar mindset when it comes to the workforce (Adobe, 2021).
Similarly, the chairman mentions the importance of having strong work ethics and being inclusive, which is how corporate values are promoted among workers. As a result, managers are directly involved in maintaining and developing a corporate culture that generates common goals that each member of the Adobe team strives to achieve.
Corporate Demographics
It is certain that Adobe is focused on facilitating the establishment of a strong and diverse team. The diversity aspect of the workforce is highlighted in the demographic characteristics of the employees. Namely, 33,8 of all global Adobe employees are women (Adobe, 2022a). Moreover, most workers are between 22 and 30 years old (Zippia, 2022). This highlights that the workforce is young, prone to innovation, and able to exemplify creativity in the products that are being created and sold. Moreover, ethnic minorities are also a major part of the organizational workforce, with 18% of team members being Hispanic and 17% being Asian. In regards to education, the majority of employees have a bachelor’s degree or higher. The demographic in this particular sector is relatively stagnant as Adobe specializes in digital software, a domain that requires formal education on the topic. As a result, the demographics illustrated in which category highlight a diverse and inclusive internal environment.
Demographic Analysis
Having a diverse workforce, as exemplified in the previous table, correlates with positive advances for Adobe and other companies with similar strategies. For example, the fact that the majority of employees are aged between 22 and 30 correlates with the presence of newer perspectives (Wong et al., 2021). Moreover, Adobe has improved regarding diversity as many of the employees are women, individuals from ethnic minorities, and part of marginalized groups. As a result, it is certain that Adobe highlights the importance of having an inclusive policy in regard to hiring new specialists in digital software.
Moreover, diverse workforces correlate with the generation of contrasting ideas. An inclusive workspace is one that emulates consumers since Adobe is a global corporation. Thus, employees can follow market trends and satisfy each demographic by having a unique outlook on corporate goals.
Impact of Technological Forces
It is certain that today’s market is heavily impacted by technology. Namely, following technological advancements is one of the primary aspects of operating in the software domain, which is exactly what Adobe’s strategy is. The company maintains competitiveness by investing in the newest tech inventions and focusing on maintaining an innovative agenda concerning what managers apply in development, production, and distribution. For example, one of the newest investment elements for Adobe is machine learning and artificial intelligence (Adobe Blog, 2022). The strategy is not only useful in the internal environment but also allows the corporation to implement it in the products it offers, maintaining consumer interest through individual-centered technology.
Contribution to Innovation
Regarding the digital software industry as a whole, Adobe’s contribution to innovation highlights the importance of adhering to current trends. Namely, the corporation acknowledges that for competition to be maintained, investing in AI and similar nuances is a long-term solution to the ever-changing market dynamics. Moreover, Adobe contributes with information on approaches to tech change implementation. For example, other companies can adhere to a similar consideration on how the team members accept the changes and implement similar techniques (Ashford & Hall, 2018). Thus, while impacting the internal environment, the phenomenon contributes to overall industry development and increased competition, which is effective as competition motivates companies to maintain high levels of creativity, resilience, and innovation.
Ethics and Social Responsibility
Adobe has employed multiple values and policies to address the aspects of ethics and social responsibility. Namely, the platform makes such to be transparent, reliable, and helpful to consumers who invest in their products and investors who directly fund corporate aims. Moreover, ethical considerations are also applied to workers, which is why a code of conduct is implemented (Adobe, 2022b).
Thus, employees are confident they will be protected under national and corporate law. Concerning social responsibility, Adobe offers multiple grants and opportunities for education for vulnerable populations. Moreover, the company conducts charitable operations to support local and international communities. Another aspect of social responsibility that Adobe has incorporated is sustainability. The company actively reduces waste and focuses on more sustainable sources of raw materials and production to minimize environmental damage.
Recommendations Concerning Innovation
The current techniques employed by Adobe managers, namely, workforce diversity and investment in new tech advantages, assist in the maintenance of the highly competitive position on the market. Thus, it is advised that AI and machine learning continue becoming more prominent for the company, and the team remains diverse and inclusive. However, focusing on destructive innovation can become an effective way to capitalize on more products (Holloway et al., 2021). Namely, creating more affordable and accessible products that are easy to use would allow more consumers to be interested in Adobe products. Moreover, it is essential to consider the change in relation to the workforce. Namely, before implementing an innovative idea, managers are to build resilience so that resistance is minimal.
Conclusion
Adobe maintains high competitiveness in the market through effective strategies such as focusing on workplace diversity as well as technological innovations, including machine learning and AI. The team is multinational and contains people contrasting in gender, nationalities, ethnicities, ages, and education levels. Nonetheless, besides maximizing these strategies further, Adobe can implement new techniques. Namely, it is advised that disruptive innovation is implemented to generate more accessible products. Moreover, it is essential to build team resilience as further changes within the organization may lead to employee resistance.
References
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