Steve Jobs leaving Apple, good for consumers?

[rdowns]

I wasn't comparing Apple 1985 to Apple 2011.

New management may (or may not) keep pursuing the same core values that previous management did. A change in management can be a huge benefit or detriment for a company. That was really my point.

When you say, "Do you recall what happened when Jobs was ousted the first time? It went south from there.", you are comparing the Apple of today and 1985.

When Jobs was ousted, he didn't know how to run and build a company. Apple didn't have a culture other than wearing casual clothes and working late. You could argue that he was as detrimental to Apple's growth as he was to their success back then.

Fast forward to today and you have a mature, well oiled company built in his image and with his values. Not that any new management is coming to Apple, but if it did, I bet they'd follow much of what Jobs and his team has been doing. Who wouldn't given their run over the past 8-9 years?

 

[belvdr]

When you say, "Do you recall what happened when Jobs was ousted the first time? It went south from there.", you are comparing the Apple of today and 1985.

That's the way you read it. It was not a comparison of Apple as a company. A comparison of a company over time would be much more than examining a single event in its history, so I'm surprised someone would read a simple statement like that as a comparison.

It is an example out of how a change of management can cause some significant changes in many facets of the business (from sales to internal structure).

When Jobs was ousted, he didn't know how to run and build a company. Apple didn't have a culture other than wearing casual clothes and working late. You could argue that he was as detrimental to Apple's growth as he was to their success back then.

Fair enough. However, if he wasn't ousted, one wonders what the landscape would look like today.

Fast forward to today and you have a mature, well oiled company built in his image and with his values. Not that any new management is coming to Apple, but if it did, I bet they'd follow much of what Jobs and his team has been doing. Who wouldn't given their run over the past 8-9 years?

I'm sure they'd try to do that as well. However, trying does not equate to actually delivering, especially with design aesthetics and other details that makes Apple what they are today.

 

[Heilage]

When you say, "Do you recall what happened when Jobs was ousted the first time? It went south from there.", you are comparing the Apple of today and 1985.

When Jobs was ousted, he didn't know how to run and build a company. Apple didn't have a culture other than wearing casual clothes and working late. You could argue that he was as detrimental to Apple's growth as he was to their success back then.

Fast forward to today and you have a mature, well oiled company built in his image and with his values. Not that any new management is coming to Apple, but if it did, I bet they'd follow much of what Jobs and his team has been doing. Who wouldn't given their run over the past 8-9 years?

I agree. I don't think Apple is as fragile now as it was back then.

 

[belvdr]

I agree. I don't think Apple is as fragile now as it was back then.

I don't think it's as fragile as it was back then either.

That said, I think all companies are fragile, especially the bigger ones as they get covered by the media more. With the Internet at everyone's fingertips, information spreads quickly and one can destroy a company very quickly.

Case in point, look at P&G. In less than four months, their CEO in 2000 (Durk Jager) almost ran the thing into the ground and halved the company's stock price. Had they not pushed him out, I am not sure they would be there today.

 

[mammadon]

Do you recall what happened when Jobs was ousted the first time? It went south from there.

When new management takes over, they tend to leave their own mark in the company. Whether or not they include previous management cultures in the future is up to them. It's not a given.

Perhaps. But changing culture is not always easy. It depends on whether the organisation wants to change, as accommodating those who oppose/resist it.

I think Apple would be silly to change the Jobs culture. Prior to making the first iPods many years ago now, Apple had a small market share of personal computers worldwide, especially since IBM-derived PCs obviously for years now have ruled the roost. It has been innovation and setting the trend that led to the iPhone, iPod and iPad, which of all Apple products must be their biggest revenue earners.