How similar is Apple and Malaysia?
It’s a never ending debate, no man is bigger than a company, and apple is not steve. (, that’s line actually originated from articles on Manchester United “no player is bigger than the team, when David Beckham and many other stars left the team” ) now that’s an undeniable truth.
Imagine Steve Jobs, leaving apple the next week and starting his own tech company call chemography and launching its own line of product and services. Surely, there the hype and all, but after several products that more than misses the mark (or perhaps inconceivably a disaster story from the start), chemography get sweeps under the carpet among all the other junk stocks. Wait, that did happen back in 1985 when Jobs was ousted as CEO, and he started NeXt, which didn’t really take off.
On hindsight, can you imagine Apple without Steve? I think many can and many already have. Countless articles retelling the same story of how Apple should have enough depth in their product development cycle waiting to be unleash. No apple insider will tell you that, but that should be generally the case.
Sure, Apple should have stuff up their sleeve for now, but without that blinding philosophical leadership, awe inspiring product launches, speeches that were so simple yet effective, steve at apple has the world at his feet.
Think back a decade ago, how relevant was the apple brand and think today. Apple stores (or resellers) in every other shopping mall in Malaysia, every tom and jane holding the iphone (sorry nokia, you got screwed, too slow to catch on the wave that iphone was going to bring). It was simply put it this way, a marvel.
I think Apple will survive, but it will surely fall into mediocrity. Just like Microsoft, Dell, and to a certain extent Malaysia, post Mahathir era. Mahathir went to the extent that he nearly ruled with a iron fist. At the height of Mahathir’s career, Malaysia was growing at a unprecedented pace, towers came up, Petronas was billed as one of the best managed NOCs in the world and mentioned in the same breath as Gazprom, Petrobras, an alternate future to Multinational such as ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron. (there were also failures of course (Putrajaya/Cyberjaya, Labuan) , and countless other money sapping strategies that no one dares to talk about) Post Mahathir, Malaysia went on autopilot, and at least from an economic standpoint, there little to look forward now that the focus has gone to obviously, China, Indonesia. Even countries like Vietnam and Cambodia are getting noticed with plenty of population to boot.
What Malaysia and Apple needs is, a charismatic leader, who could lead, inspire and get people back to the drawing board and work their ass off. Malaysia/Apple needs a leader, which would not bend over when the going gets tough; a leader who can capture their emotional essence and inspire hope and belief. Malaysia needs a leader with a strong personal branding that is consistent, with a strong drive and track record to the likes of Shell’s CEO, Peter Voser (strong, calculative, thoughtful and inspiring). Apple probably would need someone more to the likes of Tony Fernandez (opportunist, entrepreneurial, ground breaking)