What Has Apple Done Right?

Even when Steve Jobs were alive at Apple, Apple was not mentioned as a “great organization” or a “well-managed company” from the traditional sense. It is a great business from the perspective that they launched such cutting-edge innovative products in the world and in consumer technology fields, that they have beaten competitors by a large margin both in time and in profits. The huge profitability generated for Apple from these products has rarely been matched even years after the launch. They have also significantly raised consumers’ expectations on the future high-tech products and enhanced imaginations of a generation worldwide. How did they achieve the remarkable feat?

1. The Collective Genius. Steve Jobs might be a great intuitionist, perfectionist, motivator, promoter and negotiator, but many of the innovative ideas from Apple’s products were not directly from his mind. What he was good at, was to identify where the problems were in consumer products and intuitively know which revolutionary ideas were the best from all the brilliant people that he surrounded himself with. He never tolerated bozos and he can give trust to his selected people around him. He simply knew how to motivate his best people to come up with the best ideas and encourage them to perfect them and realize them, to “think different” and try the impossible. He used these secretive “project teams” for advanced ideas and gather all the needed best-fit resources to focus on each individual great idea until something came up to satisfy his superb senses and intuitions – “That’s just right and insanely great” for the market.

2. A Giant Lead Time. From IPod, to IPhone, to IPad, each great product was a revolution in high-tech consumer industry.  Apple completely leapfrogged competitions by a huge margin. When the products were launched, many competitors hadn’t even thought about the ideas or the direction that Apple had taken. From the idea inception, to perfection, to manufacture and finalization, Apple had at least one and half or two years lead time ahead of the completions. This is definitely not an easy feat to achieve in this highly competitive industry. They did it, with the beliefs, the motivations, the drives, the collective minds and hearts, the effective identification, negotiation and collaboration process with partners. If Apple keeps this tradition, depending on if Apple can make it a tradition in their system regardless of if a strong visionary leader exists or not, it can enable their lead and success for a long time to come. It will be very hard for Apple’s competitors and followers to catch up with Apple in such a business if they don’t have some truly original revolutionary ideas to start with and can’t implement 3-4 times faster than Apple.

3. The Immense China market. Every great idea needs a great implementer to realize it. Apple needs fast and creative implementer, precise manufacture, and a low cost. Apple believes in China market, its unlimited potentials both from consumer thirsts and manufacture prowess, and they have fully utilized it. Jim Cook has been focusing on China for a long time. There in China he found the best manufacture partners who are willing to meet the “perfection” needs of manufacturing for Apple at a very low margin. It was calculated that for each IPhone sold around $500-600USD, Apple’s China manufacture partners only took about $5 USD. He could find nowhere else with such readiness, capacity, inventiveness, agility and willingness for such large-scale manufacture activity at such a low cost. Jim Cook has paid many visits to China and emphasized many times to investors that Apple’s future grown potential revolves a lot around China. For the sales, the Greater China region is Apple’s fastest growing region with triple-digit growth by beginning of 2013. Apple even breaks out China revenue on its balance sheet just to highlight the sheer growth and importance of the region. Apple apparently has a much better understanding and appreciation of the culture of the region than many of its US competitors. For such a culture, long-term thinking, respect, compassion, tolerance and fairness far outweigh short-term calculations, aggressiveness or ideology dominance in business. When the Chinese government demanded an apology from Apple due to some issues, Apple delivered such an apology. It might be awkward for many of the US mentality, but that’s a smart and easy move for Apple to win the minds and hearts for its indispensable partners and consumers in such an unlimited market.

We have to respect Steve Jobs for what he had initiated and implemented to transform Apple. From $18 billion market value in 2000 to $455 billion in 2013, it becomes the largest company per market value and the most profitable. Today, it is a time of great changes for many businesses.  Leaders who can understand the dynamics of the world markets, the industries, and minds and hearts of the customers, and who have the courage to lead them with great innovative products and services will always be the ones we look forward to.