Tim Cook became Apple CEO on August 24, 2011, and promised that the company wouldn’t change under any circumstances. But the CEO has already marked his operational way over the company which seems different in contrast to its predecessor – Steve Jobs.
Mr. Jobs had never been interested in administrative matters, such as promotion and corporate reporting structures, but in recent weeks, Tim Cook took a different approach by started interacting in administrative matters. The new CEO has communicated with employees, sending varieties of emails that address employees as the “team”.
Cook wants to operate the company in his own way and doesn’t like to imitate the style adopted by his predecessor. He is more communicative than Steve Jobs and after taking over the company’s helm, he has addressed the company’s employees a number of times. Recently, Cook announced a charitable program of up to $10,000 a year, which is going to start in the US, which was opposed by Mr. Jobs.
Tim Cook is a very disciplined and accessible manager, serving the company as a sounding board executive in the Jobs’ regime. In recent, Mr. Cook has played a vital role in restructuring Apple’s educational division, which previously deviated from the overall organizational structure.
Cook has partitioned the business into wide divisions, such as the sales and marketing arm, and also, has incorporated the groups into their respective company. Apple’s streamlined structure has increased the responsibility of the senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. After taking the charge as CEO, he promoted vice president Eddy Cue to Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services.
Tim Cook is more open with the shareholder and customers; it seems from his schedule that he has been framed by his willingness to meet investors regularly over the year.
Steve is always opposed to stock buybacks in his regime, but people expect Tim Cook to focus on Apple’s $81.6 billion in cash and cash equivalent and Mr. Cook seems very traditional about dividends or a buyback.
However, despite many such operational differences, Tim always gained the confidence of Steve Jobs. Tim also proved himself in the absence of Steve by managing the company efficiently when Steve went on leave first time for liver transplantation in 2009.
Last month, in the Apple Q4 report, Tim Cook said, “I am not religious about holding cash or not holding it”. It might be Tim’s personal perception about the company’s Q4 report but people still question whether he can continue to maintain the dignity of the world’s one of the largest technology companies. Is Tim’s ingenious approach lead the company market graph up? All these matters are still anonymous for Apple and its investors, as well as customers, can only unveil it in the future.
