Apple and Micromanagement

Last weekend, as I watched a mob of people line up in front of the Apple store in Beijing, pushing and shoving each other to get the latest Apple gadget, I asked myself, “How do they do it”?

Well, here’s a big tip about Apple and how they do so well in a very tough market.

 They “micromanage” what they think is really, really important.

Micromanage is a dirty word to a lot of professionals, and for some, with good reason. But let’s review some examples from a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article on Apple’s Micromanagement style that might make you think twice before getting rid of the old concept altogether.

 1.    First, their retail manual gives their store associates specific phrases to use when customers are upset, or how to greet people. Actual words to say. Not ideas but ACTIONABLE SPECIFICS.

 2.    Something else the manual or their policies say will likely surprise you: if an associate is six minutes late 3 times in a six month period, you can terminate them.

 If it’s really, really important, you’re not micromanaging it in a bad way; even if you get really far down into the details.

So why do I need NetSuite for this?

 NetSuite is perfect for an executive who can identify the key elements of the business that are vital, or “core”, and focusing in them as much as wanted or needed. 

 It can sift through mountains of data, even if that data is dynamically shifting, and show you an up-to-date version of that data all the way down to the transaction line or journal entry, if need be.

This includes manufacturing information, inventory data, sales, accounting, marketing and more.

Real-time, dynamically updated data to a very precise level.

Can’t this be done with other software systems?

Of course – but they are sure to be much more expensive to build and maintain, and not nearly as flexible. Also, nothing is as accessible as NetSuite – a true SaaS system.

Apple material and story from the Wall Street Journal and Manager Tools (manager-tools.com/)

please translate to Chinese and post to Trigger website, Kaixin, RenRen, and all of our blogs by this Thursday~