[Reprinted] Apple and division of labor principles

Apple and division of labor principles

Author: Ruan Yifeng

Date: January 1, March 8, 2013

Finally, I have finished reading jobos. This is a good book. I should have read it earlier.

The biggest achievement is to understand why Apple is now.

Apple is very different from other computer companies and has a distinctive style. In the past, I simply thought that it is such a feature, or its product strategy and sales method. After reading the story of jobs', I realized that this was entirely decided by Steve Jobs's personality.

I. Jobs

In 1979, shortly after Apple was founded, Steve Jobs took a famous photo.

He sat alone on the floor of his new home, and thought about his legs. There are almost no things in the house. People think this is to make photos. However, the legend of Jobs' disclosed that this is true for his family. There is no furniture, because jobs' requirements are too high and there is no suitable furniture.

"Steve Jobs bought a nice house, but there was only one Maxfield Parrish painting, a hundred-card coffee maker, and a few hundred-card knives at home.He was so picky about his furniture that he could not find the right one. The room was empty, with no bed, Chair, or sofa.His bedroom was very simple: there was a mattress in the center, and there was a framed photo of Einstein and Mahara, an apple No. 2 computer, on the wall. "

Jobs' personality is characterized by perfection and persistence.

Ii. pursuit of perfection

This kind of personality is fully reflected in Apple's products.Apple strives for perfection in all aspects.The following are some examples.

(1) At the earliest, Apple sold only hardware (Apple I and Apple II ). Apple soon developed its own operating system to prevent other companies' software from damaging its hardware.

(2) Steve Jobs "the thought of a perfect Apple software running on a broken computer from another company was uncomfortable. "Therefore, Apple's software is not authorized to other vendors, and even few versions of other platforms are released. Similarly, unauthorized software cannot run on Apple's platform.

(3) The apple mouse has only one key, and the iPod has only one scroll wheel. The iPhone and iPad have only one Home key, because this design is perfect, and it is not perfect if there are two keys.

(4) In order to prevent users from damaging Apple products, they cannot be split without authorization. Macintosh computers cannot be inserted with expansion cards, iPhone and iPod cannot be changed to battery, and special screws are also used.

(5) You cannot make all parts perfect. The best way is to remove the imperfect parts, so Apple's products are always very concise.

(6) The Flash format may have various problems, which is not conducive to the perfect user experience. Apple announced that it does not support the Flash format.

(7) Apple's products are very detail-oriented, because as long as there is a detail error, it cannot be called perfect. Apple's designers once complained that Steve Jobs had made them spend too much time designing the title bar, preventing them from doing more important things. Steve Jobs got angry and shouted, "Do you think you have to stare at this title bar every day? This is not a simple task, but a proper task. "

(8) Steve Jobs even demanded that the computer's internal circuit board should be perfect.

He said:

"Even if the circuit board is hidden in the computer, I still want to make the circuit board as beautiful as possible. Will a good carpenter use a piece of rotten wood as the backboard when handling a dingtalk? Although the backboard is always attached to the wall, no one can see it, you still know that the board is there, and finally you decide to use a good wooden board to pin it. In this way, you can rest assured, because you have taken into account the beauty and quality, to achieve perfection. "

3. control everything

Jobs' pursuit of perfection is so important that he wants to know everything.

As long as one part is not his decision, he will be unbearable and cannot guarantee that the product can meet the perfect standards. This determines Apple's unique business model in the industry. It is almost the world's most powerful product control company.

(1) Apple only sells products integrating hardware and software, and never authorizes other vendors the operating system to ensure that everything is under its full control.

(2) to ensure that users hear perfect music on the iPod, Apple has set up an itunes Music Store. To ensure that users use qualified software on the iPhone, apple built an App store. To ensure that users read beautiful typographical books on the iPad, Apple built an iBooks bookstore. In a word, Apple also needs to control the content. Only the content that it has reviewed can access its products.

(3) because Intel's processor does not meet Steve Jobs's requirements, Apple began to produce its own A4 processor and put all the upstream electronic originals under its control.

(4) to ensure the shopping experience of consumers, Apple opened its own store to accurately convey the characteristics of Apple products. Steve Jobs personally participated in the design of stairs, tables, layout, decoration and other aspects. Apple controlled the downstream Retail department in this way.

Steve Jobs believes that the best product is "Integrated Software and Hardware Products". Every detail is based on the "end-to-end" principle, from the manufacturing end (head) to the user (end) full control, to design and build. He could not imagine that he could not control what he had created by giving it to others.

Therefore, an Apple company manages the entire industrial chain, from the most upstream electronic parts to the most downstream retail outlets, is its business scope. Both hardware, software, and content are under its control.

Iv. Division of Labor Principle

However, this operation violates the basic principle of economics-division of labor.

In 1776, Adam Smith, the British economist "father of Economics", gave a classic example in Guo fu theory, proving that division of labor can bring huge economic benefits.

"The manufacture of a needle involves 18 processes: one person pulls a wire, one person pulls it straight, one person cut it, one person sharpen one end of the wire, one person grind the other end, so that the round header can be mounted ...... I have met a small factory that only employs 10 workers, so in this factory, there are several workers working in two or three processes at the same time. If they work diligently and can make 12-pound needles a day, with 4000 needles per pound, the 10 workers can make 48000 needles a day, that is, one person can make 4800 needles a day. If they work independently and do not work in a specific process, no matter who they are, they can never make 20 needles a day, or even one needle a day. Not only can they produce one of the 240 points produced by appropriate division of labor and cooperation today, but even one of the 4800 points cannot be produced. "

History has proved that division of labor is the basic way to improve productivity, which can greatly improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Apple's practice of controlling everything clearly violates the principle of division of labor. It is doomed that its cost will not be low, so Apple products are always much more expensive than similar products.

5. Apple's success or failure

Since Apple violates the division of labor principle, why can it still succeed?

The reason is that its products are a big leader than their competitors. They are often revolutionary products and lead the trend. Therefore, even if the price is very expensive, consumers are willing to purchase. From iPod to iBook, to iPhone and iPad.

This is the true meaning behind Apple's slogan "think different": only differentiated products can make up for high costs.

However, Apple's violation of the division of labor principle has its internal weakness. Once Apple products cannot lead their competitors and lead the trend, consumers will not be willing to pay high prices. In that case, Apple will be in trouble, and the huge cost of controlling the entire industry chain will not be compensated.

This is what is happening now. Since the death of Steve Jobs, Apple's new products (including iPad 3 and 4, iPhone 5, and iPad mini) are excellent products, but they are not revolutionary products, the product gap with other companies has not increased, but is becoming smaller. As a result, the share price has been rampant, and Wall Street is worried that consumers are increasingly reluctant to pay additional high prices for Apple products.

What apple really needs to launch is not the ultimate version of the iPhone and iPad, but a completely new product like Google Glass and Chromebook Pixel.

If this is not done, Apple will be rewarded for violating economic rules and will have to give up its control over upstream and downstream systems to reduce costs and maintain market share through price wars.

(End)