Organization and Management – MAN 3025 Case Assignment

Steve Jobs’s Personality & Attitudes Drove His Success

The Big Five personality dimensions are: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. Extroversion refers to how outgoing, talkative, and sociable a person is. Agreeableness refers to how trusting and good natured one is. Conscientiousness refers to one’s dependability, responsibility and achievement orientation. Emotional stability refers to how relaxed or unworried one is. Lastly, openness to experience indicates how intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broadminded one is. Each of these dimensions can be used to assess job performance. The five traits that are important to understand behavior in organizations include locus of control, self-efficacy, self-esteem, self-monitoring, and emotional intelligence. Each of these factors contributes to an employee’s job performance. These traits are important to managers who wish to understand the behaviors they see in the organization.

Walter Isaacson interviewed Steve Jobs as part of his work on writing Jobs’s biography. Jobs had an interesting resume that included working for Atari in its early years, co-founding Apple in his parents’ garage in 1976, being ousted as Apple’s leader in 1985, a stint with Pixar Entertainment, returning to Apple in 1997 to not only rescue it from bankruptcy but to build it back to the world’s most valuable company by the time he died in October of 2011.

Jobs had a primary interest in building the best product and what the customer wanted, more than a focus on a lot of products and maximizing profits. For example, upon his return to the company in 1997 he reviewed the company’s product line and decided to reduce its focus to simple consumer and pro products that were either desktop or portable. He decided to cancel all other product lines, relying on his belief that “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”

He was a relentless perfectionist who lived out his belief about focusing on doing a few things well. After addressing Apple’s problems, Jobs began taking his “top 100” people on a retreat each year. On the last day, he would stand in front of a whiteboard and ask, “What are the 10 things we should be doing next?”. As ideas came up, he would write them down—and then cross off the ones he decreed dumb. After much jockeying, the group would come up with a list of 10. Then Jobs would slash the bottom seven and announce, “We can only do three.”

Jobs also believed that in order to succeed, the company had to think into the future. For example, after the iPod became a huge success, Jobs spent little time relishing it and instead began to worry about what might endanger it. One possibility was that mobile phone makers would start adding music players to their handsets. So he cannibalized iPod sales by creating the iPhone. “If we don’t cannibalize ourselves, someone else will,” he said.

His personality was such that he drove people to accomplish the things they themselves would tell him were impossible. Colleagues called it his Reality Distortion Field, after an episode of Star Trek in which aliens create a convincing alternative reality through sheer mental force. An early example was when Jobs was on the night shift at Atari and pushed Steve Wosniak to create a game called Breakout. Wosniak said it would take months, but Jobs stared at him and insisted he could do it in four days. Wosniak knew that was impossible, but he ended up doing it.

Jobs commented that “I’ve learned over the years that when you have really good people, you don’t have to baby them,” and that “By expecting them to do great things, you can get them to do great things.”

Source: Excerpted from W. Isaacson, “The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs,”

Harvard Business Review, April 2012, pp. 93–100.

Please read the case before attempting to answer the questions. When answering the questions, please make sure that you support your answers with the concepts in the text. Please view the rubric you will be graded on before completing the assignment.

Questions:

• Steve Jobs was a demanding perfectionist when it came to his business. In fact, the case recounts instances where Jobs would have his “top 100” people attend a retreat and they would decide on the ten things the company should focus on for the next year. This list eventually was narrowed down to just three after Jobs would “slash the bottom seven” ideas. Which of the Big Five personality dimensions does this type of behavior seem to be most related to?
• Once the iPod became the huge success it was, Steve Jobs decided to cannibalize it by creating the iPhone. To cannibalize such a successful product is a gutsy move for a manager. What does Steve Jobs have a high degree of that enables him to make these moves?
• Despite the fact that many of the people who worked for Steve Jobs would tell him something was impossible to do, he would push them to do it anyway. It appeared as if his belief was that anything was possible if you put your mind to it. What component of Jobsâ€s attitude toward accomplishing things does this seem to be related to?
• Steve Jobs was a unique individual with some interesting quirks that drove him as a businessman. Based on what you have read in the case and know of Jobs, which of the following was most likely the primary factor in causing stress for Jobs?

Case Study Grading Rubric

Each item is rated on the following rubric.

5= Very poor

10 = Poor

15 = Adequate

20-30 = Good

25-50 = Excellent

Item	Score
1. Evidence of knowledge (organized flow of words, discussion flows well, no awkward pauses or confusion, evidence you read and researched case study)	5	10	15	20	25
2. Content (Response includes accurate and relevant information, appeared knowledgeable about the case and the topic discussed, tied content in to textbook.)	10	20	30	40	50
3. Writing (Response demonstrates correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation; complete sentences; correct use of capitalization.)	5	10	15	20	25

Total Score: ________ (sum of Items 1-3)

Comments:

 

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Assignment 2: Marketing Plan
Due Week 6 and worth 100 points
This assignment consists of two (2) sections: a marketing plan and sales strategy, and a marketing budget. Note: You must submit both sections as separate files for the completion of this assignment.
For the first six (6) months your company is in business—to give you time to perfect your product and to learn from actual customers—you will start marketing and selling in your own community, a radius of twenty-five (25) miles from where you live.
For most non-alcoholic beverages, marketing (as opposed to the actual product itself) is key to success. Cola drinks, for example, are fairly undifferentiated, as are many energy drinks, juices, bottled water, and the like. Companies producing these types of beverages differentiate themselves and attract market share through marketing and brand awareness—both of which are critical to success.
Section 1: Marketing Plan & Sales Strategy (MS Word or equivalent)
Write the three to five (3-5) page Marketing Plan & Sales Strategy section of your business plan, in which you:

Define your company’s target market.

Analyze the types of consumers who will be drinking your beverage in demographic terms (i.e., age, education level, income, gender, ethnic group, etc.). Support your analysis with actual data on the size of the demographic groups in your local community (nearby zip codes).
Outline the demographic information for your company specified on the worksheet in the course text (p. 107 | Demographic Description). Click here for help accessing a specific page number in your eBook.

Hints: At American FactFinder (http://census.gov), you will find demographic information on potential consumers in your area. If you are selling through other businesses (such as grocery stores), indicate the number of those businesses in your local area. You will find information about such businesses in your local area at County Business Patterns (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html). Check Chapter 2 of Successful Business Plan for more research sources.

Assess your company’s market competition.

Use the factors listed in the course text graphic (p. 123 | Assess the Competition) to assess your company’s market competition.
Defend your strategy to successfully compete against market leaders in your segment.

Hints: For example, in the soft drink market, it is intimidating to try to compete against Coke and Pepsi. Newcomers in mature markets typically must pursue niche markets or even create new market categories, as Red Bull did with energy drinks.

Defend your plan to differentiate yourself from the competition using the information detailed on the worksheet in the text (p. 131 | Market Share Distribution).

Hints: Every business faces competition and the non-alcoholic beverage market is an especially crowded market.

Clarify your company’s message using the information provided on the worksheet in the text (p. 160 | The Five F’s).

Hints: Before you choose your marketing vehicles, you must determine the message you want to convey through those vehicles.

Identify the marketing vehicles you plan to use to build your company’s brand. Justify the key reasons why they will be effective. Provide examples of other non-alcoholic beverage companies that use these tactics effectively.

Hints: If you plan to use online marketing tactics, refer to the worksheet in the text (p.171 | Online Marketing Tactics) to aid your response. Remember that even if you’re selling through grocery stores you need to build your brand and social media is a major part of that in regard to beverages. Some of the marketing tactics that beverage companies use include: sampling in grocery stores, building a following on social media, sponsoring events, exhibiting at trade shows attended by retailers, and so on. You will use a combination of these tactics. For example, if you decide to give out samples in grocery stores, promote your sampling on your social media networks and those of the grocery store.

Hints: If you are planning to distribute through resellers, describe how you plan to reach them, for example, through industry trade shows or by establishing your own sales force. For information on trade shows, visit the Trade Show News Network (http://www.tsnn.com). You can exhibit or network at these shows.

Format your assignment according to these formatting requirements:

Cite the resources you have used to complete the exercise. Note: There is no minimum requirement for the number of resources used in the exercise.
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

Section 2: Marketing Budget (MS Excel worksheets template)
Section 2 uses the “Business Plan Financials” MS Excel template (see: Course Required Files in Week 1). Use the “Business Plan Financials Guide” (see: Course Required Files in Week 1) to support your development of the Marketing Budget.

Complete the Marketing Budget worksheet for your company.

Hints: The goal of the marketing budget is to help you determine how much it will cost you to reach your market and achieve your sales goals.
Hints: When filling out the “Marketing Budget” worksheet in the Excel spreadsheet:

Begin in the current year and complete a marketing budget for the first year of your business. The information you enter in the marketing budget spreadsheet will flow through to your “Income Statement” in the Business Plan Financials.
Leave the number at zero (0) for any marketing vehicles you do not intend to use.
Remember that all marketing activities involve costs. If social media represents a significant portion of your marketing, assume you will have cost of advertising and that should be reflected on your budget. Even if a social media site charges nothing to use it, you will need to use company resources to manage the site, pay someone to execute your social media marketing campaigns, and will most likely pay for ads on that site.
Do NOT leave the “Marketing Budget” blank, assuming you will not have any marketing costs.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Recommend effective business strategies based on an analysis of domestic and global operating environments, market dynamics, and internal capabilities.
Analyze competitive positions including foreign market entry and the resulting impact on business strategy.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in strategic management.
Write clearly and concisely about strategic management using proper writing mechanic.

Part 3: (on a seperate sheet)
How would you implement the concept of Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Profit) at the NAB company you created?
Before Responding check out these Resources:

Learn more about the Triple Bottom Line concept. You will find a description of each of the components as well as examples.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_79….

Check out this video to see how the concept is applied at Honest Tea Company.

Dr. Woody Interviews Seth Goldman of HONEST Tea (6 min 1 s)

Video Overview of how to answer the discussion.
Check Chapter 14: Social Responsibility & Sustainability for more information.

The concept behind the triple bottom line is that companies are responsible to all their stakeholders, and these include everyone that is involved with the company whether directly or indirectly, as well as the planet we’re all living on. This approach sees shareholders as part of the stakeholder group, but only as part of it.
You will address each of 3 components as outlined below:
Profit
When looking at profit from this theory’s perspective, the idea is that profits will help empower and sustain the community as a whole, and not just represent a benefit for the shareholders.
Briefly explain your approach.
People
Discuss your approach to care about suppliers, customers, community, employees.
For example, to care about employees you can provide a good working environment, training and development opportunities, healthcare, etc.
Planet
Discuss your approach to minimize your impact on the environment.
An example would be to create processes to minimize waste or reduce energy usage; maybe you are using recycled materials, etc.
Note: you will use this information in Assignment 3.
 
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