关键字：苹果 供应链
在库克的带领下，苹果公司将会发生改变，但这似乎是不可避免的。事实上，库克曾经公开表示，乔布斯自己也不希望苹果公司总是想知道“乔布斯接下来要做什么？”库克还说，乔布斯曾告诉他，“尽管去做对的事吧！”
但库克十分熟悉整个产业供应链。他曾经担任苹果公司营运长(COO)，自2005年起管理苹果公司的全球供应链。在此之前，他曾经是Compaq公司材料部门副总裁。他对于“什么是对的事”的想法和专精于设计领域的乔布斯显然是不一样的。
最近在《财富》(Fortune)杂志一篇题为“库克如何改变苹果？”(How Tim Cook is changing Apple)的文章中，作者Adam Lashinsky指出几个供应链议题的重要性正日益提升的迹象。“库克如何带领苹果公司的管理方式开始成为众所关注的焦点，”他指出，虽然库克仍努力维持苹果公司的文化，“但行为与氛围的转变是相当明显的。”其中包括：
库克先后摆平了业界对其于中国供应链的工作条件和可能出现的环境问题等批评。不同于乔布斯通常采取直接解雇或解约的方式，库克致力于解决问题。他还亲自参观了富士康电子公司的厂房。苹果最后也加入为劳工把关工作厂房环境的公平劳工协会(FLA)。
库克似乎打算大幅强化苹果公司的供应链，并为推出苹果电视(Apple TV)作准备。该公司透露其于中国资产的价值约有26亿美元，根据Lashinsky推测，这些资产大部分都是苹果公司为其合约制造商购买的材料和设备。Lashinsky认为，苹果公司正“为其于亚洲制造产能的大规模提升而提供资金支持”。
此外，T. Rowe Price基金公司投资组合经理David Eiswert强调，苹果公司是一家财力雄厚的制造业巨擘，“苹果公司在供应链的大手笔，没人能比得上。”
库克并确保其供应链管理涉及公司策略的最高层级。Lashinsky在文中引用了一位苹果工程副总裁的话：“我被告知任何重要的会议现在都会有项目管理与全球供应管理部门参与…而当我与会时，工程部门决定我们所需要的，过去这是产品管理与供应管理部门的工作。现在出现了优先级的变化。”
与此同时，苹果公司的主要竞争对手之一──谷歌(Google)──也开始致力于打造其供应链。Google公司最近聘请供应链专家Mark Randall负责其供应链业务；Mark Randall曾经为Amazon Kindle与Kindle Fire开发与管理采购业务。随着Google公司开始深耕手机等硬件业务，建立起完整的供应链对于未来的策略发展格外重要。
Apple Elevates Supply Chain Under Cook
Tam Harbert
As Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) holds its 23rd annual WorldWide Developers Conference this week, the iFaithful may be watching for signs of change under CEO Tim Cook. While I haven't seen or heard any big surprises from WWDC so far (although the week is young), even before the big event some observers were already noting subtle but important differences since Cook took over the CEO role in August 2011.
It seems inevitable that Apple will change under Cook's leadership. Indeed, he has said publicly that Jobs did not want the company always wondering, "What would Steve do?" Rather, he says, Jobs told him, "Just do what's right."
But Cook is a supply chain guy. (He served as Apple's chief operating officer, managing Apple's worldwide supply chain, since 2005. Before that, he was vice president of materials for Compaq.) His idea of "what's right" is bound to be different than that of Jobs, who was a design guy.
In a recent article in Fortune, "How Tim Cook is changing Apple," Adam Lashinsky points to several signs that supply chain issues have moved up in importance. "Tim Cook's stewardship of Apple is beginning to come into focus," he writes. While Cook is maintaining much of Apple's culture, "shifts of behavior and tone are absolutely apparent." Among them:
· Cook has tackled public criticism regarding working conditions and possible environmental problems at Chinese suppliers. Rather than trying to dismiss them, as Jobs did, Cook is working to address the problems. He personally visited the Foxconn Electronics Inc. factory. And Apple has finally joined the Fair Labor Association, which monitors the factories.
· Cook appears to be beefing up Apple's supply chain dramatically, perhaps in preparation for an Apple TV. The company has disclosed the value of its Chinese assets ($2.6 billion), and Lashinsky speculates that most of that is material and equipment Apple bought for its contract manufacturers. The company is "financing massive upgrades in its manufacturing capabilities in Asia," he writes. The article quotes David Eiswert, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, noting Apple's deep pockets and manufacturing prowess. "The Apple supply chain is doing things no one else can," says Eiswert.
· Cook is making sure supply chain management is involved at the highest levels of corporate strategy. The article quotes a former Apple engineering vice president. "I've been told that any meeting of significance is now always populated by project management and global-supply management... When I was there, engineering decided what we wanted, and it was the job of product management and supply management to go get it. It shows a shift in priority."
Meanwhile, one of Apple's chief competitors -- Google -- may be getting supply-chain religion. A recent article in Business Insider notes that Google recently hired Mark Randall, a supply chain expert who developed and managed procurement for the Amazon Kindle and Kindle Fire. As Google moves into building hardware, such as phones, its supply chain will be critical to its strategy.