HBR on Apple and Innovation

Apple's market success is the envy of every high-tech company. It can't be a coincidence. How do you run a $260B/year company and maintain agility and a relentless focus on innovation? This HBR article looks at how Apple is structured to avoid silos and competing business units.

I find it fascinating that you do not see an iPhone or MacBook on the Apple org chart. Even now, as a $260B behemoth, the functional organization structure persists.

But it does not stop there: from the way Apple makes decisions by giving more weight to those who earned the reputation through their work, to how do they compensate their executive team to avoid short term focus and competing agendas, to the leadership qualities. It's a fascinating read.

Apple is not a company where general managers oversee managers; rather, it is a company where experts lead experts.