Steve Jobs vs Tim Cook free essay sample

Steve Jobs versus Tim Cook: Has the Apple © fallen from the tree? Thesis: Apple has achieved more success under the leadership of Steve Jobs than under the leadership of current chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook due to differences of management style, research and development and Apple’s profitability as a result of these differences in management. I. Apple has had great success under the leadership of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. a. Steve Jobs was CEO twice, 1976 1989 and later from 1997 2011 b. Tim Cook was COO during Job’s second reign and has acted as CEO after Jobs. II. Steve Jobs acted as an innovative micro-manager, which lead Apple to create a new market for different devices. a. He invented the iPod, a user friendly mp3 device, and iTunes, a web service to buy music, which brought Apple large profits and continues to do so today. b. He invented the iPhone, a user friendly smart phone, which launched the smart phone market we know today. Until the emergences of other companies in the smart phone industry Apple monopolized the smart phone market. c. He invented the iPad, a user friendly mobile entertainment device, which launched the tablet market we know today. Apple monopolized the tablet market until recently. d. Each of these new innovations brought record profits to Apple, which diminished as new competitors entered the market. e. This is due to Job’s laser focus for innovation and risk taking. III. Tim Cook’s Laissez-faire style of management maintained Apple’s place as one of the best technology companies in the current market. a. Tim Cook focuses on optimization rather than innovation. As such he brought updated changes to iPhone, iPod and iPad. b. Changes were necessary to compete in the saturated smart phone, tablet, and mp3 player market. c. Many senior managers left Apple due to Cook’s focus on profit which is a shift from Jobs’ focus on innovation. d. Profits are not as high as they were under Jobs due to the saturated markets that Apple competes in. IV. Conclusion Apple has achieved more success under the leadership of Steve Jobs than under the leadership of current chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook due to differences of management style, research and development and Apple’s profitability as a result of these differences in management. Apple has had great success under the leadership of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. Under the leadership of Jobs as the CEO of Apple from 1976, and until he was forced out in 1985, (by then CEO John Sculley, the man he had brought in to run Apple while he specialized in developing products) he created some of the most innovated products such as the Apple I, II , IIe, III, Apple Lisa, Apple Macintosh , Laser Writer, iMac, Final Cut Pro, Power Mac G4, Power Book G4. (rose) After his ousting from the company that he founded, Jobs went on to start NeXT/Pixar; where he began his work on the OSX operating system. (Allen) Apple, when on to create several versions of their Mac system, but by 1992 , sales of Macint osh computers suffered due to the mass availability of inexpensive PC clones, and for the first time in its history, Apple resorted to marketing clones during the late 1980’s until Jobs returned to the company in 1997. (Powell) Once Jobs returned to Apple, he began steering the company towards his original back to basic approach to technology. In 1998, during Steve Jobs second reign as CEO of Apple, he hired Tim Cook of Compaq to work on overhauling Apples manufacturing and supply chains, which had become stagnant for more than a decade under different leadership. He closed factories and warehouses, replacing them with contract manufacturers, causing the companys inventory to fall from months to days. In order to revive the company, Cook created a system that would be the envy of gadget-makers around the world company by outsourcing almost all of Apples manufacturing overseas. By doing this, Apple could predict demand and delivering products on time, which is crucial in the technology industry where new products could cannibalize existing offerings. (O’Brien) In 2004 for several months served as CEO of Apple, while Jobs battled with health issues, and in 2007 Jobs promoted Cook to COO and in 2011, Jobs pushed for Cook to become his successor. (O’Brien) Steve Jobs acted as an innovative micro-manager, which lead Apple to create a new market for different devices. His devotion, drive, technological skills, attention to detail, and the hiring of capable people to work with helped him invented the iPod, a user friendly mp3 device, and iTunes, a web service to buy music, which brought Apple large profits and continues to do so today. The iPod changed the way we consume music and reshaped the music industry and iTunes helped consumers download, and organize digital audio and video on personal computers. (Rose) In 2007, Jobs invented the iPhone, a u ser friendly smart phone, which launched the smart phone market as we know it today. Until the emergences of other companies in the smart phone industry Apple monopolized the smart phone market. Although, other competitors are producing smart phones, Apple still continues to be successful when it comes to sales. For instance, Apple’s new iPhone 5S models sold more than 9 million units in their first weekend, and the company has earned praise for overhauling its iOS mobile operating system. (Gross) The 2010 iPad, a user friendly mobile entertainment device, which launched the tablet market we know today. Apple monopolized the tablet market until recently, as companies such as Samsung, and Kindle came popular. Each of these new innovations has brought record profits to Apple, which diminished as new competitors entered the market. However, with the new release of the iPad Air and the new iPad mini, Apple beat all other tablets in new activations following the four-day shopping spree from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. (Whitney) According to Localytics, activations of the new iPad increased by 51 percent this past weekend compared with those from the prior weekend. That volume put the new Air on the top of the tablet sales, followed by the new iPad Mini in second place with 26 percent more activations than those during the prior weekend. (Whitney) This is due to Job’s laser focus for innovation and risk made Apple so successful. Apple was so innovated because Jobs was not afraid of taking risks. He never market tested his products, just simply relied on his judgment and perfectionism. (Allen) He set aggressive and sometimes unrealistic targets and motivated his employees sometimes by being criticism to deliver with excellence. (Kosner) Tim Cook’s Laissez-faire style of management maintained Apple’s place as one of the best technology companies in the current market. Take over as CEO for Apple has not been easy, especially since he has a completely different management style that Jobs. Since, Cook took over in 2011, the company’s environment is more calm and relaxed. Unlike Jobs, he delegates orders to his employees, and is known to sit quietly, and rock with his hands folded in front of him, while listening in meetings. Employees become concerned only if the pace of his rocking changes. (Kaiser) Cook, in other areas has stepped up in ways that Jobs would not have. For instance, he is fixing big problem within Apple such as the iPod-related public relations problem, involving a sweatshop working conditions in China, and Apple now tracks and reports hours of a million workers to avoid illegal overtime in their factories. (Musgrove) he has fixed the Apple maps disaster problem by firing of mobile software chief, Scott Forstall, and had Eddy Cue of the company’s internet services step in to fix the problem. (Gupta and Henderson) Tim Cook focuses on optimization rather than innovation. As such he brought updated changes to iPhone, iPod and iPad. He has a released the new iPhone 5, 5c and 5s series and made upgrades to the iOS operating system, iPod line and the new iPad Mini at a size that Jobs once dismissed as too small. (Kaiser) Changes were necessary to compete in the saturated smart phone, tablet, and mp3 player market and success of the new iPhone 5 series, iPad mini with the high resolution Retina display has boosted sales that had caused Apple stock to fall earlier in the year. But Cook and Apple will need to produce completely new products if Apple is going to continue their innovation and sales. (Gupta and Henderson) Many senior managers, and in particularly hardware engineers have left Apple due to Cook’s focus on profit which is a shift from Jobs’ focus on innovation, but overall the company’s number of employees has grown exponentially. (Appleinsider) Profits are not as high as they were under Jobs due to the saturated markets that Apple competes in and also due to the fact that Apple did not launch and major updates in the first six months of 2013. This however was considered a dry spell for Apple, a company that had seen tremendous growth in the past ten years. (Kaiser) In conclusion, Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs, he is determined to put his own stamp at Apple rather than being content living under the shadow of Steve Jobs. Cook has dealt with many issues at Apple professionally and has apologized to the public about mistakes that Apple has made such as the working conditions in China and the Google Maps disaster. He has offered fixes to employee morale, and a better working environment, where employees aren’t afraid on making a mistake. It has only been two years, since Cook took over as CEO, and Apple has continued to produce new products concluding that the Apple hasn’t fallen from the tree.