Reference no: EM133093669

Can you follow an icon and succeed? Apple and Tim Cook after Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was Apple's founder and icon CEO. Much of Apple's phenomenal success, especially after 2000, was attributed to Steve Job's "genius" and leadership. Because of this and Tim Cook having a significantly different style from Jobs, he was given little chance for success. Yet, in 2014, several years after Cook assumed the CEO position, Apple had what Tim Cook referred to as an unbelievable year. Apple sold 200 million iPhones and had $200 billion in revenue. Apple's stock price increased by 65 percent, and the company's market value reached more than $700 billion, the largest ever of any U.S. firm. The $700 billion in market value is more than twice as much as either Microsoft or Exxon Mobil. Cook's primary experience has been as manager of operations; he was Apple's COO prior to assuming the CEO role. And, much of Apple's sales are based on products developed and introduced to the market under Job's leadership. So, the jury is still out on Cook, especially with regard to developing new products and making them a success in the marketplace. Steve Jobs was a master at this process.

Cook's style of leadership is much different from the approach used by Jobs. Some considered Jobs to be ruthless and impulsive and almost maniacal in developing new products and ensuring a high quality product desirable in the market. Cook's knowledge and skills do not make him an expert in product development, design, or marketing. So, he delegates those responsibilities but remains as the leader and decision maker. Cook tries to buffer and maintain Apple's corporate culture developed largely by Jobs. Thus, the emphasis remains on innovation that is valued in the marketplace. Cook has learned the importance of hiring other top managers with talent but who also fit into Apple's culture. He has made some very good hires, such as Angela Ahrendts who now heads Apple's very important retail stores. Cook takes a much less emotional approach than Jobs. Some refer to it as a "measured emotional approach to leadership." He empowers his team to manage their functional areas and emphasizes the need to take a long-run perspective.

Observers have been able to highlight other differences between Cook's and Job's strategic leadership approaches. Cook shares the limelight with his leadership team, whereas Jobs kept the light on himself. In fact, one analyst suggested that Cook is a good leader who builds an effective team around him. Cook is leading Apple to be more philanthropic than in the past. His strategy has entailed a major acquisition (an audio company for $3 billion) and developing enterprise solutions for corporate IT units, both strategic actions that Jobs eschewed. Apple has formed an alliance with IBM to develop enterprise applications many of which will be designed for the iPad, especially the new and larger versions.

Innovations developed during Cook's leadership include the Apple watch, introduced to the market in April 2015. Many are waiting to learn its rate of success. Initial reports suggest that demand is exceeding supply, causing Apple to increase production. In addition, hints provided by Cook suggest that Apple may be planning to enter the television market. Most importantly, Cook claims that Apple's goal is to change the way people work and will target the development of future products for that purpose.

Questions:

1. Please evaluate a CEO's job, and what makes a CEO's job so complex? Use the challenges Tim Cook faces as Steve Jobs' successor to provide examples that support your answer in detail.

2. Tim Cook came from Apple's internal managerial labor market to succeed Steve Jobs. According to your analysis, do you think that using the internal managerial labor market is the best approach to follow when replacing S. Jobs?

Use materials in the chapter regarding the internal and external managerial labor markets to explain your answer.

3. Given their different leadership styles of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, describe the differences you found in Apple's culture under Tim Cook's leadership compared to the culture in Apple when Steve Jobs was CEO in detail.

4. Using information in this Mini-Case as well as you found additional materials through your searches, how do you evaluate Tim Cook as a CEO?