Executive Summary

In this paper we are discussing about the Leadership and Management style of Tim Cook and how he
has led, tech giant apple to its glory after Steve Jobs set aside. It is noteworthy that Steve Jobs and
Tim Cook worked together for over a decade before Cook finally took over.

Thus it can be said that during the years of Apple’s growth and development as a global leader Tim
has been there with Steve, and it is often told that Cook played his part in solving much of Apple’s
Supply Chain issues which played a major part in its huge success.

Tim Donald Cook took over as chief executive officer on August 24, 2011 months before co-founder
Steve Jobs died. Tim unlike many other CEO’s had faced critical analysis and has been under the
radar for his style of leadership. Many believed that Tim will linger in the shadows of Steve Jobs, but
he went on to prove them all wrong by taking Apple to new heights.
What are the chief elements of Tim Cook’s overall
leadership and managerial style? How well is it
working? Is his style evolving?
The chief elements of Tim Cooks overall leadership and managerial style can be summarized as
follows –

- Democracy and Transparency: Tim as a leader has given preference to transparency within
and outside the organization and being a people person has adopted democratic values. He
led the clear privacy statement drive for iPhone assuring customers that Apple doesn’t steal,
save or sale customer data.
- Diversity and Innovation: Under Tim, Apple has nurtured major number of successes in
terms of new products. This became possible as he encouraged Diversity, the think design
approach, coming up with fresh original ideas. Driving innovation is a continuous process
and can only be achieved with thought leadership.
- Collaboration at work: Tim believes in a more collaborative mode of work and is always
open to ideas from his team.
- Focus on Market Leadership: Tim essentially took time out to understand on Apple’s current
position and instead of going for huge modifications he decided on to focus to the areas of
development and came out with improvisations. Siri has been welcomed with warm regards
across the world and demonstrates his strategic move.
- Acknowledge Risk: Risk taking is an integral part of leadership. Tim Cook demonstrated his
strong will as he brought Apple watch to the world. A product that created a new market
altogether.
- Strategic Planning: A great quality in Tim is his ability to work in silence. He is a master
strategist. Under his leadership Apple has successfully addressed and resolved lot of product
issues and at the same time launched new products.

As we can see Tim has successfully taken over Apple and given it a robust roadmap, a great vision.
Tim’s excellence as a leader is proven in the fact that he acknowledges the distinction between
vision and mission of a company, and he makes sure his team is collaborative while working on any
project. Tim’s style can be seen in the Apple product launches which now comes in as a more
orchestrated group effort. Over the years, Tim has led the company revenue from 108,249 million
USD in 2011 to 274515 million USD in 2020. So, it can be confidently said his style of leadership and
management is working well.

Tim Cooks style of leadership has evolved along with Apple. Over the years, his craftmanship in
business strategy has been more refined with experience. We can say, his humble nature and great
people management skills have driven his journey towards success.
Explain Apple’s business model. How — if at all — has
it changed over the first five years under Cook’s
leadership?

The key element of apple’s business model was innovation and it was what set Apple apart
for many years. It was the sense of achievement and self-expression of owning an apple
product. However, it’s not that every time a new product launched was unique or ahead of
its time such as the iPod. But the fact that it was always better than its predecessor was
what gained Apple the premium command over its competitors.
Tim Cook, from a purchase background, was quite successful in reducing the overall cost of
production at different fronts. He simplified the cumbersome supply chain mechanism by
reducing the number of key suppliers & warehouses.
On August 24 2011, when Tim Cook took over as CEO, things began to change further north.
Inventory which is essentially an evil for a tech-based company was further reduced. This is
evident from the substantial YoY growth in net income from 2010 till 2014.
Although, the net income grew over the years Apple essentially transformed into a market
driven company from the legacy of a product driven company where innovation was
paramount. Since 2013, we haven’t witnessed any unique innovative products or solutions.

SOURCING
WAREHOUSING
AFTER SALES
SUPPORT

DESIGN & MANUFACTURING DISTRIBUTION

DEVELOPMENT Apple Store
& RETAIL
Mac
Handsets & Content Hardware &
iPhone
Appliances Agrégation Software
iPad
iPod
Apple Watch iTunes Mac OS
Mac App store iWork
iCloud iOS
Apple TV iLife

To set as an example, iPhone flaunted the very idea of face unlock whereas the idea was
already brought into the market by Samsung years before. A similar example is the Apple
watch which is almost at par with the one offered by Samsung.

How would you rate Tim Cook in terms of the three

main managerial areas (Staffing, Acquiring, and
developing resources and capabilities, and Structuring
the organization) used to build an organization? Which
are strengths, and which are areas for improvement?

Tim Cook was successful to build a well-staffed organization with resources, knowledge,
competencies, capabilities, organization structure to execute the strategic plan.

 Quality Staffing:
1. Deploying a strong and dynamic management team
2. Best in class talent management
3. Gender Equality
4. Diversity
5. Sending strong vision and mission message across the team

 Acquiring and Strengthening the capabilities to achieve the goals towards strategic
vision:
1. A highly proficient resources set for value-chain activities
2. Setting up a high dynamic range of Key-Performance-Indicator (KPIs) related
capabilities and resources to quickly adapt external condition and strategic changes
3. Continuous training process to maintain the high knowledge base and skills
4. Focus on specialization and market leadership in area of expertise
5. Evolving as a leader building on best practices

 Organization Structuring with clear goals and responsibilities:

1. A well-defined organizational structure with clear relationship of reporting tree to
facilitate better execution of strategy
2. A clear guidelines and delegation policy for decision making authority to act
3. Democracy in management
4. Promoting Design Thinking practices
Tim overall has been quite successful as a leader hence his style and practices are proven.
His greatest strengths are perhaps:
- humble nature
- ability to work in silence
- people management skillset
- collaborative nature
- strategic mindset

Areas that Tim can improvise on are perhaps his presentation skills and product launches. In
terms of social media marketing he can improve on how a buzz gets created much before
the arrival of a new Apple product.

What recommendations would you make to Tim Cook

to allow Apple to strengthen its position in its most
important markets?

Apples products can be largely classified as follows. We have tried to recommend according
to each segment.

Segment Recommendation
- More customization
Personal Computer - Launch few low-cost range computers to
capture next level user
- More product features to compete with
Personal Media Player market competitor
- More advertisement
- More features like android
Smartphone - More apps like other competitor
- More varieties
- Add phone call function like other
Tablet
competitors

Apart from this, overall, the recommendation will be to follow market penetration in areas where
Apple is still falling short of being a market leader. Product launches should be on a global scale.