Harvard Business Review

Four 'Harvard Business Review' stories November 2011 - August 2012

HBR: Who Cares If Samsung Copied Apple?

9to5 Staff Aug 20 2012 - 8:51 am PT

The Harvard Business Review’s James Allworth asks the question ^

If Apple ends up winning this case against Samsung — and either stops Samsung from releasing their phones and tablets to the market, or charges them a hefty license fee to do so — does anyone really believe that the market will suddenly become more innovative, or that devices will suddenly become more affordable? Similarly, if Samsung wins, do you really believe that Apple will suddenly slow its aggressive development of the iPhone and iPad? It’s certainly not what happened last time they lost one of these cases.

Now, if you’re with me so far, then I don’t think it’s a leap to suggest that having these companies duke it out in court over “who might have copied who” is counterproductive. Let’s have these companies solely focused on duking it out in the marketplace — where consumers, not courtrooms, make the decisions about innovation. In such a world, the best defense against copying isn’t lawsuits, but rather, to innovate at such a rate that your competition can’t copy you fast enough. That, to me, sounds like an ideal situation not just for consumers — but for the real innovators, too.

This is what Apple used to do.

Biographer Walter Isaacson on the Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs

Jordan Kahn Apr 4 2012 - 8:20 am PT

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Walter Isaacson, author of the Steve Jobs biography, said in the past he omitted certain details and even referred to the book as a “first or second draft” when discussing plans to expand it with an addendum in a future re-release of the best-selling bio. While we have heard nothing official on those plans since, Isaacson just published a lengthy piece for Harvard Business Review titled “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs.”

As noted by Isaacson, he was inspired to write the piece after many attempted to draw management lessons from the biography that he claims, “fixate[s] too much on the rough edges” of Jobs’ personality. Most of the piece focuses on Jobs’ management style, but Isaacson also once again talked about the late chief’s desire to produce “magical tools for digital photography and ways to make television simple and personal.” Here is an excerpt:

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Apple Store Doorbuster finds familiar brochure, chipper salespeople

Seth Weintraub Nov 25 2011 - 4:06 am PT

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This brochure might look familiar but it is now out in the open. Our leak earlier this week was obviously spot on.

Early visitors to the Apple Store noted that there was a lot of traffic but things were orderly and with the help of “EasySteal”, they were in and out in a matter of minutes and saved lots of money. Hit up our Black Friday 2011 Price Guide to get the best deals on Apple hardware and accessories.

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Ron Johnson: How I built the Apple Store on experience, not commissions

9to5 Staff Nov 21 2011 - 10:46 am PT

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Ron Johnson, the CEO of J.C. Penney and the former senior vice president for retail at Apple, ran a guest post detailing his Apple tenure over at the Harward Business Review blog, accompanying a monster interview which appears in the December 2011 issue of the Harvard Business Review magazine.

Apple doesn’t owe its success in retail to shiny products, he said. “You don’t need to stock iPads to create an irresistible retail environment”, he said. “You have to create a store that’s more than a store to people”. Even though Apple products can be purchased for less elsewhere, people visit Apple’s stores for the experience, not products, he argued:

People come to the Apple Store for the experience — and they’re willing to pay a premium for that. There are lots of components to that experience, but maybe the most important — and this is something that can translate to any retailer — is that the staff isn’t focused on selling stuff, it’s focused on building relationships and trying to make people’s lives better. That may sound hokey, but it’s true.
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