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苹果的秘密:狙击公司抗体,扶植产品创新
 作者: Philip Elmer-DeWitt    时间: 2011年08月26日    来源: 财富中文网
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史蒂夫•乔布斯和惠普CEO李艾科有何不同,且听豪洛斯•德丢娓娓道来。
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    周二,豪洛斯•德丢发表了一则名为“要径”的播客。该播客以2001年惠普(HP)联姻康柏(Compaq),苹果(Apple)发布iPod为起点,从文艺复兴时期的画作谈到了惠普首席执行官李艾科与TouchPad的夭折,其内容包罗万象,发人深省。

    但对于我来说,该播客的精华始于31分35秒,在接下来的5分钟,德丢阐述了公司抗体这一概念:

    以惠普为例,我认为这些依托于现行商业模式运行的大型公司难以接受新的事物。因此,这些公司在发展中会出现一些突兀、不合逻辑、违背常理、令人费解的摇摆和反复。惠普对(后个人电脑时代)的到来心知肚明,欣然接受,宣称愿意花费上10亿美元甚至20亿美元的资金购买必要的资产来渡过这个转型期。结果,公司出现了消化不良的症状,并很快出现了排异现象。

    在此我想借用“公司抗体”一词。

    “公司抗体”指的是公司内部的元素,它们如同有机体一样。其实体可以是人、预算、程序或规章制度的结合体。它们本身就是用来抵制创新,抵制核心业务的变化。它们这样做并不是因为糊涂,而是它们将新事物视为病原,视为破坏公司这个有机体的某种威胁,因此这些抗体行动起来,必要之时甚至联合起来将创新和变革赶尽杀绝。

    公司抗体的这种做法还会获得丰厚的报酬。他们的动机十分明确:“有人发号施令”。他们每年也会以此向老板邀功并获得加薪。其实,无论首席执行官如何高瞻远瞩,如果公司底层不能彻底领会并消化新事物,要实现宏伟蓝图也只能是纸上谈兵。如果新生事物誓要取代原有的核心业务,除非精神分裂,否则抗体不可能接受这种新生事物。

    在这种文化环境下,要保住像惠普touchPad这样极具威胁的创新,德丢说,必须将其圈养起来,并在四周筑上高墙,请专人看守(最好是首席执行官),射杀一切企图靠近的敌对力量。最典型的例子就是苹果的Mac电脑,当时公司内部认为这是苹果II代电脑这一摇钱树的杀手。史蒂夫•乔布斯曾试图加以保护,但战事愈演愈烈,最终,董事会摊牌反对,乔布斯败走麦城。

    诺基亚(Nokia)的故事如出一辙。德丢曾是该公司的分析师。当时诺基亚希望推出一款基于Linux系统的智能手机,该项目在实验室阶段一直安然无恙,然而正当该项目准备进军商业市场的时候,公司内部却响起反对的声音。最后,在寿终正寝之前,该项目以平板电脑操作系统MeeGo这一半吊子的形式出现。德丢说,这款新产品当时需要的是强权的保护。

    (新事物需要)来自公司最高层捍卫者的保护,这些捍卫者往往需要容忍新事物漫长的孕育期。这种类型的首席执行官可谓是凤毛麟角,然而这种特质也正是史蒂夫•乔布斯的神奇和奥秘之处。他是迄今为止我们知道的唯一一个具有精神分裂行为能力的人——一个能让病原与抗体在公司并存的人。

    我向各位大力推荐这部长达57分钟的播客。大家可以通过5by5 Network和 iTunes观看。德丢每日的新作尽在Asymco.com,敬请关注。

    In a wide-ranging rumination that takes its starting point in 2001 -- when HP (HPQ) was courting Compaq and Apple (AAPL) was launching the iPod -- Horace Dediu's Critical Path podcast Tuesday touched on everything from Renaissance painting to the death of the HP TouchPad at the hands of CEO Léo Apotheker.

    But for me the heart of the podcast is the five-minute segment that starts at the 31:35 point, when Dediu introduces the concept of corporate antibodies:

    In the context of HP, I would point out that these gigantic companies that are built on existing business models could not absorb the changes that were happening. This is why we're seeing these abrupt, illogical, irrational, inexplicable reversals. HP saw the writing on the wall, they saw [the post-PC era] coming and they said OK, we'll spend $1 or $2 billion to get the assets necessary to survive this transition. But you can see how hard it is to internalize that. And you see how it immediately gets rejected.

    There's a phrase I like to use: "the corporate antibodies."

    These are things inside the company, as an organism, if you will. These are entities -- be they people or budgets or processes or rules in binders. These are things that are designed to eat up innovation. To eat up changes to the core business. Not because they are stupid. But they see this newcomer, this entrant, as a pathogen. As something that's damaging the organism. So they act, sometimes even collude, to destroy it.

    And they're paid good money to do that. Their incentives are all very clear: "please do that." And they go to their boss every year and get a raise because they've done that. You have to understand that no matter how much the CEO has that vision, if the organization underneath has not been properly incentivized to absorb the change, it's almost impossible to build that kind of structure. It's schizophrenic to accept this intruder that's trying to take away your core business.

    For an innovation as disruptive as the HP TouchPad to survive in such a culture, Dediu says, it must be isolated, surrounded by an impermeable wall and protected by a gatekeeper -- preferably the CEO -- who will shoot anyone who comes near. A perfect example is the original Mac, which was seen within Apple as a pathogen set to destroy the Apple II, the company's cash cow. Steve Jobs tried to isolate and protect the Mac, but the pitched battle that followed led to a boardroom showdown that Jobs lost.

    A similar story unfolded at Nokia, where Dediu worked as an analyst. There a project to build a Linux-based smartphone was allowed to exist in the research labs, but was attacked from within as soon as it emerged as a commercial product. It finally surfaced in a half-hearted way as a tablet OS called MeeGo, before it finally got killed. It needed, Dediu said, someone with sufficient power to protect it.

    [It needed] this kind of champion at the very highest levels, someone who could endure the gestation for a long period of time. And that type of person is so rare as a CEO. Which is part of the mystique and magic of Steve Jobs. He's the only one that we know of really that is able to do these types of schizophrenic things -- like maintain a sustaining business and its disruption within the same organization.

    The full, 57-minute podcast is highly recommended. It's available through the5by5 Networkand on iTunes. You can follow Dediu's daily posts atAsymco.com.







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最佳评论

@关子临: 自信也许会压倒聪明,演技的好坏也许会压倒脑力的强弱,好领导就是循循善诱的人,不独裁,而有见地,能让人心悦诚服。    参加讨论>>
@DuoDuopa:彼得原理,是美国学者劳伦斯彼得在对组织中人员晋升的相关现象研究后得出的一个结论:在各种组织中,由于习惯于对在某个等级上称职的人员进行晋升提拔,因而雇员总是趋向于晋升到其不称职的地位。    参加讨论>>
@Bruce的森林:正念,应该可以解释为专注当下的事情,而不去想过去这件事是怎么做的,这件事将来会怎样。一方面,这种理念可以帮助员工排除杂念,把注意力集中在工作本身,减少压力,提高创造力。另一方面,这不失为提高员工工作效率的好方法。可能后者是各大BOSS们更看重的吧。    参加讨论>>


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