Future of Apple without Steve Jobs

 For a brief period of time Apple has been able to dethrone Exxon Mobil from the number one position in terms of market capitalization to become the most valuable company. Apple’s stock price has varied between $705.07 and $385.10 from Aug’12 to Aug’13 (a 45 percent change) and it clearly shows swing in the sentiments of investors. Now everybody has started asking the obvious questions about the future of Apple. Will Tim Cook and company be able to come up with the visionary products that catch the fancies of the customers? Will they continue to lead the technology market? Is the leadership at Apple as effective as the leadership of Steve Jobs?

A couple of decades ago Apple was just an overpriced beige box manufacturer with an obsolete operating system. Michael Dell had once said that the company should be sold as scrap and the money returned to its shareholders. But Steve’s return was marked by a unique vision. He lead a team of immensely talented engineers to create the future market for iPod+iTunes, iPad and iPhone.  Now Apple is the new Microsoft and it controls everything from the hardware to the operating systems to the apps. It has become the number one technology company in the world. There is no company which can match the style, design sense, attention to detail, marketing and manufacturing precision of Apple.

 Times have changed. Apple can no longer profit at the same pace in saturated markets. To keep the behemoth breathing and killing, Apple needs to create a new market- a virgin territory, a new gold rush. It appears that wearable gadgets may be the answer. Apple has been registering the ‘iWatch’ trademark across the world. The most important feature of the gadget is the ability to see new messages without taking the phone out of one's pocket. Tim Cook, Jonhathan Ive and Co. are very brilliant and capable people. But the question is, can they do it without the Wizard of Oz, the snake oil salesman and the amazingly brilliant Steve Jobs?

In recent times Apple has undergone a significant brand makeover, shaking off some of unpleasant characteristics associated with Jobs and taking on bits of the personality of its new leader, Tim Cook. By contrast, Apple from the outside has appeared more open under Cook, thanks to a number of meetings and trips to appeal to the various stakeholders i.e.consumers, investors, politicians etc. iPhone 5’s Maps app was marred by flaws such as missing features, misplaced businesses, landmarks and even towns as soon as it hit the stores. Cook apologized for this error publicly and with surprising humility which could have never been expected from Steve Jobs.

Apple has nothing much on the product horizon and new products are not expected until 2014. There is nothing to lure the investors or customers but Cook, Jonathan Ive and their latest signing Paul Deneve, the CEO of luxury goods house Yves Saint Laurent Group, are together capable enough to bring back the favorable sentiments. A constructive and sensible use of cash pile can do wonders for the company .Let us hope that Apple does not have same fate as Sony, a wonderful company, with appealing products and awesome design, but still struggling to sell phones tablets and computers just like any other company.   

References:

1. http://www.apple.com/

2. http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AAPL

3. http://www.forbes.com/sites/dividendchannel/2013/08/01/apple-moves-up-in-market-cap-rank-passing-exxon-mobil-2/

Contributed by : Sushant Singh;PGP 2013-15. He can be reached at pgp13115.sushant@iimraipur.ac.in

Ethical Leadership of Mahatma Gandhi

 

Smt. Shobhana Radhakrishna and Mr. Ravi Chopra from the Centre for Gandhian Vision and Values visited IIM Raipur campus on 20th Nov 2012.

Smt. Shobhana Radhakrishna enlightened the students about Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology in the area of ethical leadership. She emphasized on the fact that the Gandhian era has not ended and the Gandhian principles and values are still relevant. As potential future leaders she advised the students not to have pay-cheques as their only objective in life but to attach themselves to higher ideals and work towards solving the problems of the society. Gandhiji had immense expectations from the educated youth of the society. She highlighted the fact that Gandhiji was a ‘practical idealist’ who practiced what he preached. He personified the modern idea of ‘leadership by example’. Mistakes committed by the leaders cost too high as they stand as a role model for the masses.

 We should do our work wholeheartedly to the minutest detail as each and every work is given by god. Objectives should be small but measurable but goals should be certain. The resources we use are not a gift from our forefathers but a loan from our future generations. It is therefore our obligation to give it back 100 times of what we use. She urged us to focus on increasing our efficiency. One should always spend one’s time for useful purposes because time is the most valuable resource in one’s life. She further mentioned the three principles that governed Gandhi’s time management techniques: Be Quick, Be Brief and Be Gone. Efficiency includes adherence to truth and avoidance of negligence. We must be able to take charge when the need arises, Gandhi was reluctant in public speaking and shy until he realized the purpose of his life. Similarly we should always live upto the expectations of the situation when the time demands for it and realize one’s purpose in life. Delegating tasks to the right people, dealing every situation with wisdom, being punctual, sincere and prompt in every step will help one achieve success. We all should identify the unique virtue in ourselves which would be our inner strength to guide us through life. Smt. Radhakrishna demonstrated how to spin thread with a ‘charkha’ and ‘takli’. The students travelled back in time to the 1950’s and witnessed the state of our country back then, compared to the present and it dawned upon them how Gandhian principles acted as a transformational tool in the development of the country. The session made the students realize how the efforts of a single individual can cause gargantuan influence on the society.

Former HAL MD Briefs Students of IIM Raipur on Social Values.

As part of IIM Raipur Corporate Interaction program, Mr. T K Dhar, former Managing Director and Board of Director, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, visited the campus on 22^nd September 2011. During the discussion, he opened up the new dimensions by stating that it is people who matter most for any organization, group or nation.

He said while deciding the “vision and mission” for life, three things should be kept in mind – Innovation, entrepreneurship and social cause. He said that motivation of social cause has infused a lot of funds in India in last decade. One of the important events enabling all this transformation was PAN IIT 2006 conference held in Mumbai where visionary president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam addressed NRI’s from all over the world.

He further added that high growth rate of our nation needs to be supplemented with growth of most underprivileged sections of the society. While looking for the growth of the nation, three aspects need to be emphasized – inclusiveness, sustainability and micro financing. He cited the example Nobel Prize winning Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus to emphasize the importance of micro financing. Education, healthcare and access to clean water remain the most important areas to work upon irrespective of any stage of growth. He cited the example of Sathya Sai Baba whose organization did a lot of work on healthcare, education and water management.

He quoted Vivekananda’s saying “Those only live who live for others” to emphasize the service to others. He reminded that leaders like J R D Tata always aspired for a “happy” nation rather than for a “superpower.” TATA’s developed excellent basic amenities around their plants in Jamshedpur. PSU’s in India have also been doing justice to Corporate Social Responsibilities since decades. He took up the example of Toyota to adopt values like continuous improvement, respect for people, long term perspective and servant leadership. He ended the lecture citing Lincoln’s perseverance and quoting Gandhiji’s philosophy “The earth has enough to satisfy everybody's need but not anybody’s greed.”