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Rangkaian Artikel yang saya posting secara berseri ini saya kutip dari Buku The Apple Way : 12 Management Lessons from the World’s Most Innovative Company karya Jeffrey L. Cruikshank. Banyak Point dan pelajaran tentang management yang bisa kita ambil dari Perusahaan paling inovatif di Dunia ini. Mari kita belajar dari Keberhasilan dan Kegagalannya. Selamat Menikmati.

I’ll provide a shorthand summary of the managerial lessons contained therein. So, let’s look at what I’ll call Apple’s “lessons in marvels and margins”:

■ Think about your market share: Are you really BMW, and if so, is that really good enough?
Apple and its apologists like to say that going from 10 percent market share to less than 2 percent market share in a decade is OK, because the Mac is a premium product. But, is that really good enough? Taking half steps to the wall in the wrong direction is unsustainable.

■ Macs are great because Apple controls every relevant aspect of the Mac experience.
So, what are the equivalent levers in your business? Who is using your product, and how? And what thingsabout their experience need to be controlled internally? How does “control” relate to “profit”?

■ Consistency and continuity are all-important, to non-technoweenies.
Even in the fast-moving world of high-tech, Apple has found ways to:
1) create consistency of user experience across multiple programs, and
2) allow for continuity from one generation of OS to the next.

■ Gross margin is a great measure—until the day that it isn’t.
The world has changed. It’s not clear whether Apple has changed along with it. A gross margin that depends on a highly differentiated product may turn out to be unsustainable—and therefore a trap.

■ Product shortcomings will whack your margins.
And we’re not talking about catastrophic stuff like PowerBook batteries catching fire, here; we’re talking about the kinds of chronic product inadequacies that invite unflattering comparisons and customer defections. If your chip leads to underwhelming processing speeds, for example, your spectacular graphic user interface may not be enough to make up for it. And if, meanwhile, your industry is engaged in cut-throat competition, and if, meanwhile, your OS edge is being narrowed by skilled competitors.

Source : The Apple Way. 12 Management Lessons from the World’s Most Innovative Company. Jeffrey L. Cruikshank.McGraw-Hill. 2006