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來源于《商論》版塊
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熊彼特商業(yè)專欄
iPhoney war
蘋果的憂患意識
Does Apple’s boss have a Plan B?
蘋果公司的老板有備用計劃嗎？
Long before Tim Cook became Apple’s boss, when his job was to wring costs out of the company’s supply chain, he learned of a problem with a supplier in China. “This is really bad,” he told his staff. “Someone should be in China driving this.” Thirty minutes later he saw one of his executives sitting at a table. “Why are you still here?” he asked quietly. The executive stood up, drove directly to San Francisco’s airport and bought a ticket to China.
早在蒂姆•庫克成為蘋果公司首席執(zhí)行官之前，他的工作就是從公司的供應(yīng)鏈中擠出成本。“刻不容緩，”他對員工講，“應(yīng)該有人在中國推動這件事。”30分鐘后，他看見一位經(jīng)理坐在桌旁。“你為什么還在這？” 庫克平靜地問道。這位高管站起身，直接開車去舊金山機(jī)場，買了一張去中國的機(jī)票。
This anecdote, recounted in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, is one of only a few tales in print that offer an insight into the management style of Mr Cook, who took over from Jobs shortly before he died of cancer in October 2011. It is telling. While Jobs, the irascible creative genius behind Apple’s bestselling products, stole the show, Mr Cook, who is both courtly and deeply private, plugged away behind the scenes to cement a relationship crucial to Apple’s soaring success: that with China.
在沃爾特•艾薩克森為蘋果創(chuàng)始人史蒂夫•喬布斯撰寫的傳記中，講述了這段軼事。這是為數(shù)不多的能讓人們深入了解庫克管理風(fēng)格的故事之一。喬布斯于2011年10月因癌癥去世，在此之前不久，庫克接替了喬布斯的職位。這段記述很寫實(shí)。喬布斯是蘋果最暢銷產(chǎn)品背后暴躁的創(chuàng)新天才，搶盡風(fēng)頭，而庫克則在幕后埋頭鞏固一種關(guān)系：與中國的關(guān)系。
In the early days of Apple, Jobs wanted to make his Macintosh computers in America. With his trademark obsessiveness, he built a factory of pure white to produce them (and wore white gloves to check for dust). When Mr Cook joined the company in 1998 he changed all that, deploying his soothing Alabama lilt and a fearsome work ethic (he gets up at 4am) to forge an unrivalled supply chain running through Asia. Today labels on nearly all iDevices read, “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China”.
在蘋果的早期，喬布斯想在美國制造麥金塔電腦（Mac機(jī)）。帶著標(biāo)志性的執(zhí)著，喬布斯建造了一座純白的工廠來生產(chǎn)這種電腦(并且戴著白手套來檢查灰塵)。1998年，庫克加入蘋果，改變了這一切，他運(yùn)用那令人寬心的來自阿拉巴馬的抑揚(yáng)頓挫和令人生畏的職業(yè)道德(凌晨4點(diǎn)起床)，打造了一條貫穿亞洲的無與倫比的供應(yīng)鏈。今天幾乎所有蘋果產(chǎn)品的標(biāo)簽上都寫著“由位于美國加利福尼亞的蘋果公司設(shè)計，在中國組裝”。
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