Inside Apple: How Apple’s way of doing business violates everything you learned in business school.
It has been said about Apple that its business practices are like a bumble bee: It shouldn’t fly, but it does. And how well it does. Apple is the first or second most valuable company in the world, and it got that way by doing business differently from how it is taught in Harvard Business School. The whole world loves Apple products, but even sophisticated business people don’t understand how Apple does what it does. Lashinsky discusses in detail Apple’s approach to leadership, personnel, secrecy, design, product development, marketing, public relations, and other seemingly mundane but extraordinarily unique approaches to business. The topics make for a particularly lively Q&A session: Everyone has an opinion about Apple (How much did Steve Jobs matter? Can my company be as secretive as Apple? What happens when an Apple product flops?). What’s more, the contemporary case study is playing out before the audience’s eyes. Each week’s news brings fresh discussion points.