CASE STUDY

Defying Doom: Apple

Apple: focus, focus, focus

Apple can be studied from many different perspectives. I would like to use Apple as a great example of a company maintaining focus, especially after the return of Steve Jobs in January 1997 as a part time advisor to the CEO.[1] Jobs finally took over again a few months later, first as interim CEO (iCEO) and finally (it took almost two years to drop the interim title) as CEO of Apple with an annual salary of $1.

1. Apple’s burning platform

By 1996, Apple was in a very challenging situation. Steve Jobs found himself facing a very urgent financial and competitive situation, and decided to set a clear vision for Apple’s future. Apple’s market share had fallen to 4 per cent from a high of ...

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