Apple Strategy & Corporate Culture — Proven Success Formula

Apple has earned the rep­u­ta­tion as one of the most admired brands — and envied com­pa­nies — in the world. For the third year in a row Apple ranked as the world’s most admired com­pany, by the high­est mar­gin ever. But this didn’t hap­pen overnight, and it’s not just because Steve Jobs is one of the world’s most admired CEOs. There are sev­eral fac­tors that account for Apple’s con­tin­u­ing suc­cess as a mar­ket innovator.

A key ele­ment of Apple’s strate­gic play­book is its relent­less pur­suit of consumer-delighting inno­va­tion:

“What makes Apple so admired? Prod­uct, prod­uct, prod­uct. This is the com­pany that changed the way we do every­thing from buy music to design prod­ucts to engage with the world around us. Its track record for inno­va­tion and fierce con­sumer loy­alty trans­lates into tremen­dous respect across busi­ness’ high­est ranks.

As BMW CEO Nor­bert Rei­thofer puts it, “The whole world held its breath before the iPad was announced. That’s brand man­age­ment at its very best.”

— For­tune Mag­a­zine, March 4, 2010

Apple’s suc­cess is not due to some secret sauce that only Steve Jobs can for­mu­late. (Although he is a crit­i­cal ingredient.)

Shared Strate­gic Val­ues: Inno­va­tion, Excel­lence, Con­sumer Delight

Another fac­tor is Apple’s remark­ably cohe­sive cor­po­rate cul­ture, one that actively fos­ters a set of shared val­ues and beliefs among employ­ees and part­ners. Cen­tral to that cul­ture is a com­mon under­stand­ing and pas­sion­ate com­mit­ment to what it takes to deliver just the right set of capa­bil­i­ties and expe­ri­ences to delight consumers.

This is not a cor­po­rate cul­ture dom­i­nated by bean coun­ters, risk-avoiding lawyers, or design com­mit­tees whose nego­ti­ated com­pro­mises inevitably lead to bor­ing prod­ucts and medi­oc­rity. It’s a cul­ture that’s com­fort­able with using the words “pas­sion” and “excel­lence” in every­day conversation.

These val­ues fuel the cre­ative juices and pas­sion­ate col­lab­o­ra­tions that deliver award-winning prod­ucts and ser­vices year after year.

A Strate­gic Com­mit­ment to Excellence

Over din­ner recently with a fel­low Apple alum, we talked about the fact that Apple’s remark­able suc­cess did not spring up overnight (even though most of the pop­u­lar press seems to believe that). Apple’s achieve­ment results from 30 years’ dogged pur­suit of excel­lence, as defined by a design aes­thetic that embraces sim­plic­ity, the per­fect bal­ance of form and func­tion, and an expe­ri­ence strat­egy that engi­neers out the “fric­tion points” that cause frus­tra­tion or has­sle in the envi­ron­ments or usage sit­u­a­tions where Apple’s prod­ucts compete.

We told each other sto­ries of encoun­ters between Apple mar­keters and prod­uct engi­neers, or design­ers and Steve Jobs — all of which under­scored the lengths to which Apple will go to ensure prod­uct qual­ity and inno­va­tion. Design as strat­egy… Some of our anec­dotes came from our own expe­ri­ence as Apple employ­ees; some were recent sto­ries she’d heard from a cousin who works as an Apple prod­uct engi­neer today.

What struck us was how sim­i­lar the themes were from our expe­ri­ences at Apple in the late 1980’s, and the Apple of today. That’s a sign of a con­sis­tent, endur­ing cor­po­rate culture.

Apple “Thinks Different”

Apple’s cul­ture offers a star­tling con­trast to that of most pub­lic com­pa­nies, the ones that set­tle for “just good enough.” Or worse, com­pa­nies like BP that push cost-cutting to the point of unac­cept­able soci­etal risk, with long-term dele­te­ri­ous con­se­quences for share­hold­ers and the pub­lic alike.

If you’ve been lucky enough to work in a cor­po­rate cul­ture like Apple and con­tribute to prod­ucts that change the world, work­life after­wards can be an incred­i­bly painful expe­ri­ence — cop­ing with the com­mon­place world of “just good enough…”

I wish more com­pa­nies would take steps to emu­late what’s best about Apple’s strategy.

Tagged as: Apple, Brand Strategy, consumer delight, corporate culture, corporate purpose, strategy

Revised on March 28, 2011