Jobs' Intense Involvement with the Macintosh

Long ago in the late eighties, Apple was one of the top places to work. Things have changed a lot and though Apple is still an exciting company, at least in field sales, it is one of the most challenging and difficult companies to endure in an industry known for tough jobs. An Apple field sales person is often caught between a very hard rock, Apple the company, and a customer who really would like to buy Apple products, but only if those products meet their needs. Resolving those needs and delivering those capabilities to customers are really how Apple employees grow, develop, and eventually end up leaving the company.

When you are part of something for so long, sometimes it is hard to see the changes which take place. There was a time at Apple when employee development was important at Apple. There were even courses for people who wanted to become managers. In those days it was no uncommon to think of Apple as a career. There was something of a development path for field employees. Those courses and many others disappeared in the nineties.

Internal Problems

Disappointing market performance was attributed to internal problems. Jobs and his director of engineering were missing schedules for crucial parts of the system. They were "months behind with a large disk drive that would help Mac run sophisticated software programs for business and make it easier for users to share information."33 In addition, Apple had no sales force with direct access to corporations. Unlike IBM, which had 6,000 to 7,000 direct salespeople, Apple relied on 300 manufacturers' representatives over whom they had no direct control. These representatives also sold the products of other manufacturers. In the early 1980s, Apple established a 60-person direct sales staff. However, soon after, the staff began to experience conflict with the independent dealers who still provided most of Apple's revenue. The