Sequencing Apple's DNA

Patrick Corsi is an international consultant in designing breakthrough futures based in Brussels, Belgium, and an Associate Practitioner in intensive innovation at the Centre de Gestion Scientifique at Mines ParisTech in France. Previously, he had an extensive career with IBM Corp., IBM France, THOMSON-CSF, the European Commission as well as a successful start-up experience in artificial intelligence. Dominique Morin has worked across private, public as well as semi-public organizations. Throughout his career, he could observe a wide spectrum of mismanagement practices, mostly in the IT domain, while acutely observing Apple’s history. Recently, as a senior engineer in aeronautics for Safran Group in Paris, France, he was involved in critical software development and certification, and airworthiness.

Acknowledgments xi

Preface xiii

Introduction xxvii

Part 1 From Insanely Successful Episodes 1

Chapter 1 Sequencing the First Segments of Apple’s DNA 3

1.1 The gene, domain and cultural bias 3

1.2 Nine DNA segments of rare importance 4

Chapter 2 On Risk Taking 7

2.1 Where is the gap? 7

2.1.1 Business school 7

2.1.2 Apple 8

2.2 Amplifying the gap and progressing 9

2.3 The genes 13

Chapter 3 Product Design 15

3.1 Where is the gap? 15

3.1.1 Business school 15

3.1.2 Apple 16

3.2 Amplifying the gap and progressing 16

3.2.1 On packing with functionality 18

Chapter 4 Market Studies 21

4.1 Where is the gap? 21

4.1.1 Business school 21

4.1.2 Apple 22

4.2 Amplifying the gap and progressing 22

Chapter 5 Giving up Some Fights 25

5.1 The chasm 25

5.1.1 Business school 25

5.1.2 Apple 26

5.2 Amplifying the gap and progressing 26

Chapter 6 Entering New Markets 29

6.1 The chasm 29

6.1.1 Business school 29

6.1.2 Apple 30

6.2 Amplifying the gap and progressing 30

Chapter 7 Apple, the Learning Company 33

7.1 The chasm 33

7.1.1 Business school 34

7.1.2 Apple 34

7.2 Amplifying the gap and progressing 35

Chapter 8 On Research and Development 39

8.1 The chasm 39

8.1.1 Business school 40

8.1.2 Apple 40

8.2 Amplifying the gap and progressing 40

Chapter 9 On Company Acquisition 45

9.1 The chasm 45

9.1.1 Business school 45

9.1.2 Apple 46

9.2 Amplifying the gap 46

9.3 Progressing the gap 52

Chapter 10 The Manager, the Software and the Process 55

10.1 The chasm 55

10.1.1 Business school way 55

10.1.2 Apple’s way 56

10.2 Developing the chasm 56

10.2.1 The case of Mister Hullot 57

10.2.2 Drawing lessons from software management 58

Part 2 Emergence of a Brand: From Failures to Everyday Situations (In Search of Exclusive Value) 61

Chapter 11 Failures Left Behind 63

11.1 Why failures? 63

11.1.1 Business school 63

11.1.2 Apple 63

11.2 Failure dissolves in time 64

11.3 A basket of historical failures 64

Chapter 12 A Cornucopia of Commerce Situations 71

12.1 Commercial policy 71

12.1.1 Business school 71

12.1.2 Apple 71

12.2 Asking customers 71

12.2.1 Business school 71

12.2.2 Apple 72

12.2.3 Development 72

12.3 Forecasting and strategy 73

12.3.1 Business school 73

12.3.2 Apple 73

12.3.3 Development 73

12.4 Grabbing a trend 73

12.4.1 Business school 73

12.4.2 Apple 73

12.4.3 Development 73

12.5 Communicating 74

12.5.1 Business school 74

12.5.2 Apple 74

12.5.3 Development 74

12.6 Getting incomparable value 74

12.6.1 Business school 74

12.6.2 Apple 74

12.6.3 Development 75

12.7 Making something profitable 75

12.7.1 Business school 75

12.7.2 Apple 75

12.7.3 Development 75

12.8 Going after the enterprise market 75

12.8.1 Business school 75

12.8.2 Apple 76

12.8.3 Development 76

12.9 Expenses versus returns 76

12.9.1 Business school 76

12.9.2 Apple 76

12.9.3 Development 76

12.10 Management to commitment to product 77

12.10.1 Business school 77

12.10.2 Apple 77

12.10.3 Development 77

Chapter 13 Emergence of a Brand 79

13.1 The chasm 79

13.1.1 Business school 79

13.1.2 Apple 80

13.2 Amplifying the gap and progressing 81

Part 3 Importing Apple’s Genes into Transferable Knowledge (In Evidence of Deeper Gaps) 83

Chapter 14 On Structure and Contents 85

14.1 The chasm 85

14.1.1 Business school 85

14.1.2 Apple 86

14.2 Developing the chasm 86

Chapter 15 You Said Reality? Which Reality? 89

15.1 The chasm 89

15.1.1 Business school 90

15.1.2 Apple 90

15.2 Developing the chasm 92

15.3 It’s all about perception 95

Chapter 16 Combining the Genes 99

16.1 Taking stock of a flat list of genes 99

16.2 Setting the stage toward a combined dynamics 103

16.2.1 In search for dominant designs 103

16.2.2 Breaking the dominant designs 104

16.2.3 Blueprinting radical “crazy” concepts 105

Chapter 17 Evolving Competition 107

17.1 Cracking open the notion of “competition” 107

17.2 Designing an expanded understanding “competition” 109

Chapter 18 Evolving Innovation 113

18.1 Cracking open the notion of “innovation” 113

18.2 Designing an expanded understanding of “innovation” 112

Chapter 19 A Company Under (Dynamic) Tension 117

19.1 Tension is a co-evolving dynamic 117

19.2 Tension is a dynamic toward futures 119

19.3 Walking the way 120

Chapter 20 Overcoming Common Blocking Points 123

20.1 The need for an innovation molecule 123

20.2 A need to revisit risk-taking 125

Conclusion 129

Appendices 133

Appendix 1 135

Appendix 2 139

Appendix 3 151

Appendix 4 171

Appendix 5 177

Appendix 6 187

Bibliography 191

Index 199