vividly illustrates.

Apple’s
vision of technically elegant
computers and its freewheeling corporate culture
attracted some of the most
creative engineers in the
world, who went on to de
velop a string of smash
products including the Ap
ple II, the Macintosh, and
the PowerBook. As com
puters became commodi
ties, Apple knew that its
continued health depended
on its ability to cut costs and
speed up time to market. Im
posing the necessary disci
pline, however, ran counter
to the Apple culture, and top
management found itself frus
trated whenever it tried to exert
more control. The engineers
simply refused to change their
ways. The relationships with
creative employees that enabled
Apple’s early growth ultimately
hindered it from responding to en
vironmental changes.
Banc One is another company
that was hamstrung by its relation
ships with employees –in
zz