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STEVE JOBS AND THE RETURN TO APPLE
Steve Jobs and the Return to Apple
Blake A. Campbell
Master of Arts Executive Leadership, Liberty University
Author Note
Blake A. Campbell
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Blake A. Campbell
Email: bacampbell8@liberty.edu
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STEVE JOBS AND THE RETURN TO APPLE
Steve Jobs and the Return to Apple
Part I
Tablets, laptops, personal computers, and phones; these the major products produced by
one of the most well-known companies across the globe, Apple Computers, Inc. Apple was
founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who came in with a vision to change
computers. They wanted to build computers that were small enough for people to have at home
or in their office while also being user friendly (Terrel, 2021). Apple may have started small, but
it was not long until their products began to take over as the top consumer digital product of the
21st century.
Apple now has a small army of employees, having over 150,000 currently employed with
the company. They are headquartered in Cupertino, CA and are now being led by long time
Apple member Timothy D. Cook. Under Cook’s direction, Apple has continued to grow, hitting
an amazing feat as the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at $1 trillion (Salinas,
2018). Apple did not take long after that to continue to increase their value, reaching $2 trillion
only two short years later (Nicas, 2020). It would be hard to imagine that a company such as
Apple would have had to turn itself around from the brink of bankruptcy to get to where they are
now.
Apple’s Decline
Apple started off as a company with a great future. During their beginning, Apple had
great success with their early products version of Macintosh. This was Steve Jobs first major
success with Apple, a personal computer that was small enough for anyone to own, either at
home or their office. The success of the Macintosh was initially very good but began to taper off
in part due to the high price, slow speeds, and a limited range of available software for the
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machine (Isaacson, 2015, pp. 186-187). Not long after, the CEO at the time, John Culley, began
the downfall of Apple through a power struggle with founder Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, Inc. His resignation left Apple under
the total control of CEO John Culley and the board of directors, and they began to change the
way Apple operated (Lee, 2015). Apple now began to experiment with a variety of products to
reach their consumers, none of which helped Apple’s market share. Suclley had invested an
enormous number of resources into the problem-plagued Newton division, which was based on
his unrealistic market forecasts (Huddleston, 2021). There was also a major competitor to the
computer market that began to profit on Apple’s failure, Microsoft, who was developing software
for personal computers rather than building expensive computers with limited software
capabilities. Rather than building a response to Microsoft’s success, Apple sued because they felt
Microsoft was using a GUI to similar to Apple Lisa, but the suit was ultimately dismissed
(Hombry, 2006).
Throughout the rest of the 1980’s and early 1990’s, Apple was never able to experience
the initial success that Steve Jobs brought them with the Macintosh. CEO Sculley was replaced
by Michael Spindler. Initially, he tried to combine Apple with IBM and Motorola to build
software that could counter Microsoft’s monopoly, but this also led to failure for the company.
Finally, in 1996, Apple replaced Spindler with Gil Amelio, who was hired because of his
reputation. Amelio was known as a corporate rehabilitator, and he came into Apple and made
some extensive changes such as layoffs and cost-cutting (Chaffin, 2001).
Return to Profitability
In less than a year, Amelio made one important choice that would be the turning point for
Appe. In 1997, Apple purchased NeXT and with the purchase, saw the return of Steve Jobs while
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only weeks from bankruptcy (Thompson, 2018). Apple needed to make a change and having one
of the co-founders back in the fold would bring that change around. Jobs came back with a
mission to turn Apple around and return Apple back to the profitability the company had before
he left. What he was able to accomplish in a year was to turn $1 billion in loss to over $300
million in profit (Lee, 2015).
To accomplish that change, Jobs had to look at Apple and see how it was organized.
Upon his return, Apple was a traditional organization, but Jobs changed that and turned it into a
functional organization. In doing so, Apple was able to continue its improvement because it now
relied on a structure that was centered on functional expertise (Podolny & Hansen, 2020).
Changing the organizational structure at Apple was not a change intended to be a quick fix.
Rather, it was a permanent change and one that has led to great success.
When Jobs returned to Apple, the vision he had was drastically different than what it was
when he left. Rather than building PCs as a focus, he conceded that Microsoft won the PC war
and Apple needed to get on to the next great tech item (Lazonick et al., 2013). By stating this
publicly, Jobs was able to reenergize Apple towards a new strategic vision and start creating
products to meet the demands of their consumers. The new vision at Apple was to include mobile
devise and wearables to complement their impressive computer (Beattie, 2020). The opportunity
for Apple to change was apparent to Jobs as the company stakeholders, mainly the consumers,
wanted something new. In the early 2000’s, Apple began their climb back up with their mobile
devices, including the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. These three products were at the time, Apple’s
most successful items, as both the iPhone and iPad are still released today, 20 years later, though
with major improvements as technology has improved.
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These where the new goals and objectives Jobs set for Apple to meet. It was not an easy
task to accomplish but what Apple did change the way the general public views technology. In
order to meet Jobs’ goals and objectives, Apple needed to begin to focus on these new markets
and aim for the right consumers. Apple began to target these new devices to the middle- and
upper-class income who are usually willing to pay more for a better user experience (Johnson et
al., 2012). The user experience is what Apple was founded on. Jobs and Woznaik wanted Apple
to be user friendly and able to be used at home and the office. Apple as accomplished their
original vision as their products are now used by 64% of the American population while many
people own at least 2 Apple products (Liesman, 2017). Apple has continued to explore these
markets and explore new products to meet the demands.
Now, Apple has been turned around into the powerhouse technology company they are
known for now. Jobs was able to come back into Apple and leave their past behind them. He was
able to put Apple on their path of success and put the company in the direction he originally
envisioned for them. Apple continues to innovate their technology while still remaining user
friendly and generally easy to operate. New CEO Tim Cook has taken the reigns of Apple and
continued to improve where other CEO’s have failed. Cook has kept some of the legacy that Jobs
set out with, which also includes almost yearly updates to their products. This includes both new
items and updated items, which lead to an ever-evolving line of Apple products available to the
consumer. What does the future of Apple have in store? As consumers continue to grow and
demand new items, it would be of no surprise that Apple will continue to be at the top of the
market, ready to meet those demands.
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Part II
Definition of Project:
Apple was at the brink of destruction and bankruptcy prior to Jobs returning and a change
in how they operated was desperately needed. Jobs saw this when he returned, and he set out to
make the changes and did so within one year of being brought back in as the new CEO. The first
step in his change was to reorganize how Apple operated. In his first year back, Jobs laid off
every general manager of the business units in a single day and combined the functional
departments of the business unit into one functional organization (Podolny & Hansen, 2020). In
doing so, Jobs combatted the inter-fighting that was happening at Apple that was one of the main
causes to them almost going bankrupt.
By making this drastic change, Jobs was able to get Apple to begin working together, as a
single cohesive unit. Now, Apple continues to operate this way, and they have continued to find
success in their operation. Apple is now run by experts who lead experts, something that Jobs
identified as a problem early on is his return. He found that many of the general managers he laid
off had great organizational skills, but they lacked the expertise in their areas to focus all of their
attention on it (Podolny & Hansen, 2020).
When Jobs returned to Apple, he came back at a time when the company was already
dealing with failure. He had to find a way to invigorate the company to get back to their roots
while making the drastic changes that he did. Jobs would ask employees to tell him what was
wrong with Apple, but many did not answer him. Jobs had to get the company and the employees
on his side if he was to be successful in getting them turned around. Some around the company
did not know what was going to happen now that a new CEO was making drastic changes. With
a change in the organizational structure to becoming a functional organization, Apple employees
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now question if their skills are still needed or if their knowledge will still be useful (Leading
Organizational Change, 2021).
Jobs came back to Apple with a new vision in mind. He understood the company he
returned to was not the same as the one who left, and the new vision he had was to get Apple
back on the market. They had to move beyond being only a computer-based company, he had a
vision of Apple also having mobile devices and wearable technologies (Beattie, 2020). Jobs set
forth new objectives for Apple to turn them around and get the company back up and running.
TO do so, he wanted a smaller product line that came down to two things; one desktop and one
portable device for consumers and professionals (Fell, 2011). This change was the groundwork
for Apple to work on and to turn around, which Jobs was able to guide them to in turning $1
billion in losses to $300 million in profits in his first year.
Diagnosis of Current Situation
Apple was on the brink of destruction before Jobs came back into the fold. They needed
something to change at Apple because the products they were making were not meeting the
expectations the stakeholders had of Apple. In the early 1990’s, Apple was experimenting with a
variety of target products which were falling short of the original vison Apple had for the
company. While Apple was experimenting with these many products, their competitors where
capitalizing and gaining ground with their products. During the early part of the 1990’s, Apple
also saw three CEOs rotate through the leadership of the company to try and change what was
happening.
Jobs was the final CEO to come in and put his foot down to change the company. He
came in and used the director image to make the changes that needed to be done. As the director
of Apple’s change, he needed to control the outcomes of what Apple would be in order for them
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to survive any longer. A director image controls management and can get the outcomes they
desire as planned (Leading Organizational Change, 2021). When Jobs changed the
organizational structure at Apple, he became the sole management with everything coming to his
level. He was able to control the outcomes of Apple because he limited and focused their efforts
on a small list of marketable items rather than a large list.
How well do the organizational leaders understand what the issues really are?
Jobs understood what made Apple who they are and who they were known as. The first
Macintosh computer set the stage for what consumers thought of when they heard the name
Apple. While Jobs was out of Apple, he ran his company NeXT under a functional organization
and he was able to fine tune how that structure worked. When he instated that structure at Apple,
Jobs knew that is what was needed to get the changes made. He had a goal in mind in changing
the structure and how leaders at Apple operated. He wanted them to have a deep expertise in
their areas, wanted the leaders to be able to immerse themselves into the details of their tasks,
and he wanted the company to openly collaborate with each department (Bariso, 2021). Jobs
knew the battle for the PC was lost to Microsoft but rather than giving up, he set Apple on a path
to compete one on one with them and create a product that was targeted at a specific client rather
than everyone. This tactic worked for Apple and got them to where they are now.
Apple was ready to make a change when Jobs came back. Being on the brink of a
financial ruin, changing the direction of the company was their only option. When Jobs came
back, the initial motivation for the change may have been misunderstood but he kept the
communication flowing and always put everything out front for the company to understand the
direction he had taken them. In doing so, Apple employees put their faith in Jobs to turn their
company around and get them on the right path again.
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Recommendations:
The changes that Jobs had to make at Apple were by no means a small change. In order
for them to turn around and start making a profit, Jobs had to streamline the products they were
making and stop making the products that were costing more to manufacture than they were
making. Another way Jobs helped Apple make a change was asking their rivals for help. In 1997,
Jobs reached out and asked for a $150 million investment from Microsoft, stating “we need all
the help we can get” (Weinberger & Hartmans, 2020). While this may not have been an accepted
stance, it shows that Jobs understood the nature of the business and knew when he needed to ask
for help.
Implementation Plan:
Apple must continue to use the strategies Jobs set as the foundation of Apple after his
return. They must continue to either hire leaders or promote leaders from within who model the
expectations Jobs set for Apple’s leaders; a deep expertise in their jobs, willingness to immerse
themselves into the details of a given task, and willingness to collaborate with the rest of the
team (Bariso, 2021). This will allow Apple to continue to grow, long after the loss of Jobs.
The current CEO at Apple should also continue to ask for buy-in from the organization
on what direction Apple should take. Since the CEO is the only true management function within
Apple, they need their experts to help them out. Apple continues to have good deadlines for
when products should be released, often having a spring and fall event to release their products
to the public. Each department within Apple should build their own deadlines based off of that to
ensure they are getting their piece of the product completed with ample time for debate to go
through the company on if each product works to the specifications set by the CEO.
Summary:
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Apple has come a long way from what the company was in the late 1980s. Now, they
continue to set the stage for what is expected of consumer targeted electronics. The hype that is
Apple has continued to grow following the death of Steve Jobs and will continue to grow as long
as the company follows the path he laid out for them.
Proverbs 3:5-6 states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (English
Standard Bible, 2001). The path is out there for Apple to follow, and it is up to the CEO to guide
them down their path and continue to strive for success. They can use the past as an example of
what can happen if they falter from their path. Even though they may falter, they must trust the
Lord has a plan for them and will guide them in the direction they need to go. It is through Him
that we have strength to make it and guidance to get us where we need to go.
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Here’s how the late Apple CEO saved the company from disaster and set it on the path to
a $1 trillion valuation
