Courtesy SCRP News
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Critics Question Apple Succession Plans
Apple Inc. now has the rare chance to conduct a test-run of its succession plans for the day when Chief Executive Steve Jobs no longer can run the company. But so far, shareholders and corporate succession experts don’t care for what’s happening.
“Basically, Apple has done everything wrong from a succession standpoint,” said Marshall Goldsmith, who teaches at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School and is the author of the best-selling books on corporate succession plans.
Indeed, shareholders responded negatively so far to whatever plans Apple has in place. Apple shares fell more than 9% at one point after hours trading Wednesday, but later recovered some of their losses and were down about 7%. Nonetheless, it’s likely Apple shares will dip below $79.13 Thursday, setting a 52-week low.
Jobs’ role puts Apple in a difficult situation to begin with when it comes to choosing his successor. To many people, Apple is Steve Jobs. His attention to detail is legendary; and meanwhile, Jobs is also an elite product developer whose name is on the patents for most of Apple’s key products, including most notably its iPhone and iPhone 3G smart phones.
But Apple is doing a bad job on another key element of a successful succession – assuring shareholders that a Job-less Apple has the executives of his caliber to continue, despite the fact that the company is frequently praised for its deep bench by equity analysts.
Can Apple thrive and grow without the visions of its leader? This question may have to be answered sooner rather than later.
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@Jojo – please live in the real world. Steve is human. Humans get old and they get sick. This is not a fairytale where he will magically get better and reappear all better and 20 years younger. Steve will not return to Apple. He said he is leaving for 6 months to keep the stock from really tanking. He is saying this to lessen the shock. In 6 months, people will be accustomed to new people running the company and he’ll say he needs a couple of more months for his health. It will take him at least a year to officially leave allowing people to get accustomed to an Apple without jobs but he wont be back to work again (unless just to make an appearance) until he announces he is retiring. He is making an abrupt departure but is trying to state it so that it looks like a gradual transition.
# 21 Thermo said, ” He said he is leaving for 6 months to keep the stock from really tanking.”
And, to give him the legal maneuvering room to cash out his shares before everyone finds out and the price really tanks…
as someone who works in medicine I wonder why the media have not pickup on the grim fact that 100% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are dead within 5 years. There is no cure and no effective treatment. when it was first announced mr jobs cancer was first announced i wonder why not more was made of it at the time
#11 Unless he has a brother, which I don’t think so. And if he does, he doesn’t work at mac.
That’s how cuba has done it, even though is sucking at it.
cuba is a good example ’cause that’s a corporation, right?
It’s been what 2-3 days? Sorry but i don’t think any company can fall apart that fast.
I’m betting the “six months” is how long the doctors gave him to live.
When the head of IBM retired, did it fall to pieces? If the head of ATT were to drown in a bathtub, would the world end?
Jobs has built something bigger than any nameable list of products; the Apple Attitude. Then he staffed the company with brilliant minds. He hasn’t been micromanaging for quite some time. But none of the pundits could tell.
Apple will survive, prosper and grow. Steve just moves on to Steve 4.0. Hopefully with a bright future all his own.
,,,and Ben Charney (the article’s original writer) is a dork. A self-serving prognosticator of bullshit. Apple closed not below $79 as he predicts. $83.38 at the end of the day.
Charney: Biting. Insightful. Mistaken. Loud.
I predict that Goldsmith knows less than he is touted to know. It’s one thing to write about that which has gone before, molding a theory of operation based on prior evidence, and quite another to predict anything that has to do with Apple.
Haha! Now you see that eating only vegetables won’t save your from cancer.
And that hormonal imbalance? ESTROGEN-LIKE PESTICIDES FOUND ON VEGETABLES.
Apple is done for without Jobs.
There are thousands, millions of apple customers who buy them simply because of the supposed ‘hipness’ and ‘coolness’ of Jobs. When that goes so will those customers in search of the next ‘hip’ and ‘cool’ device.
This is already being reflected in the stock, and expect more, drastic drops in the stock price as more and more customers buy elsewhere.
Those apple fanboys who are sticking their heads in the ground and are confident that the stock price is going up, then why aren’t you out buying every penny of stock you can afford? Why are you here posting? Buy Buy Buy! Otherwise you’re nothing but a damn liar!
AAPL started falling steeply in Jun ’08 @$185 and has kept dropping to the current $83.00. The stock has dropped 50% from what it was a year ago.