The Impact of Steve Jobs: April 2012

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Jobs and Marketing

I read a biography on Steve Jobs from the book "Science and Its Times." It talked about the rise of Apple and business partners, Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The two met at a Hewlett-Packard electronic firm. Years later, they partnered up to create Apple with Jobs in charge of marketing and Wozniak in charge of the development of products. It was Jobs' expertise in marketing that helped launch the company. He was able to envision what the consumers would want, and Wozniak was able to create the desired product. The book even stated Jobs' great marketing ability. "Jobs' constant innovations led Business 2.0 to name him the fifth most important leader in business in 2006. It called him 'easily the greatest marketer since P.T. Barnum' and a muse for innovators" (Schlager and Lauer). If Wozniak was able to begin Apple without Jobs' participation, would Apple be as successful as it is now?

Citation:

"Steven Paul Jobs." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 7. Detroit: Gale, 2000. Student Resources in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2012.

Links:

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CK2643413103&v=2.1&u=west51213&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Jobs' Management

I read an article about an interview with Walter Isaacson, author of the Steve Job's biography. Isaacson described Jobs as focused, interesting, inspiring, and strong-willed. Jobs did not create any new technology; he merely set a new standard. When creating the iPod, Isaacson said "he (Jobs) insisted that you be able to get whatever you wanted with only three clicks. The engineers kept saying 'we can't do it,' and he would find ways to show them how it could be done" (O' Rourke, 2012). Apple's success from Jobs' management style that pushed the company to aspire to create possible and unthought of products. But with the death of Jobs, will the company be able to fill the void he has left and continue to perform well?
Citation:

O'Rourke, Morgan. "A conversation with Walter Isaacson." Risk Management Apr. 2012: 34. General OneFile. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.

Link:

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA285087612&v=2.1&u=west51213&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Apple's China Factories

Apple had been criticized for Chinese factories used for the production of the company's products. One article states "Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records" (Duhigg and Barboza, 2012). The article continues to further talk about negative facts and opinions on these factories. Although I myself do not agree ethically with the way the factories are conducted, I interestingly found another article that spoke of the positive side to Apple's Chinese factories with Foxconn. It talks about how Foxconn raised payments for all workers, has better-than-average work conditions than other local competitors at the different countries it is located, and how Foxconn is providing a "natural path to modernization" (Karlgaard, 2012). The article compared China to the same state as the U.S.A was in 1922 when it came to worker rights. Seeing as Foxconn seems to have better payment and work conditions than other local competitors and provides jobs for thousands of people, I have to agree that these Chinese factories are a benefit to both China and Apple. I would like to state that I do believe the conditions should be improved nevertheless, but would a powerful, high-earning company that is gaining quite the profit from this usage of such factories make a change to improve them?

MLA Citation:

Karlgaard, Rich. "In Defense of Apple's China Plants." Wall Street Journal. 02 Feb 2012: A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Apr 2012.
Duhigg, Charles, and David Barboza. "In China, the Human Costs Are Built Into an IPod." Editorial. New York Times 25 Jan. 2012. The New York Times. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.

Links: