In history, the business had been successful for quite a while. Then what has happened when its legendary founder steps down?
We have several businesses to witness after the stepping down of its founder including Ford Motor (F, Financial), Walt Disney (DIS, Financial), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, Financial), and now Apple (AAPL, Financial), but the story of Apple in the generation without Steve Jobs is not written yet. The history has shown that it would not be the smooth ride.
Walt Disney (DIS)
Walt Disney died in 1966 and from that time on, the business had nearly 02 decades of unsettled leadership. Only when the talented CEO named Michael Eisner is being recruited from Paramount Pictures to be chairman in CEO in 1984, the company was brought back to its main core focus. He has led Disney getting bigger and bigger to become the media giant in his 20 years of leadership. Three hits is “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “The Lion King”. And currently, the biggest source of profit is coming from ESPN, resulted from the acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC. After Eisner left, currently Disney is under the leadership of Robert Iger, who made the deal buying Pixar of Steve Jobs for $7.4 billion.
Wal-Mart (WMT)
Sam Walton built the company from five-and-dime store in Arkansas with great passion. He often began working at 4.30am, and even after the long time of turning Wal-Mart into the retailer giant, he still visited his stores and stores of rivals, to soak up intelligence, dictating observations into the tape recorder. After he died in 1992, his successor David Glass continued with his success. However, Wal-Mart in the past decades moves towards sales gimmicks and even gets on more expensive stores remodeling. Let see how it can gain the back the “everyday low price” by cutting its costs.
Ford (F)
Ford began to lose its strength in the US market, compared with its competitor, General Motors, when Henry Ford handed over to his son. While GM offered cars in different styles, prices and color, Henry Ford kept sticking with the Model T black car. He retook the control after the son died of cancer, and then gave to Henry Ford II, the grandson. Ford II began the major restructuring for the company. He hired former GM executives and asked for the help from a group known as the “Whiz Kids”.
This group was in the Army Air Force known as Statistical Control, to coordinate all the operation and logistical information in the war. Those individual operate as one entity in the group focusing on different issues, one focus on reports for senior management, one on financial planning, one on facility and program plans and several others on administrative budgets and other issues. Seven of them went to senior management positions in Ford later on. They has helped the company to implement the management control systems in order to govern the company, keeping the cost under control and review strategic process, as well as the recruitment and training programs searching out and retaining talents.
After those moves, in 1949, Ford introduce the first group of post-war cars and in 1950, it passed Chrysler to become the no.2 auto maker in the US. Then after several decades of success and profitability, it began to have too many plants in the US which drives manufacturing costs higher and the luxury brands like Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo losing money. Then now Ford is in under the leadership of Alan Mulally, From Boeing. Mulally was hired to rescue Ford in 2008, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. He has cut brands, plants and staff to reduce costs, plowed the savings into cars and trucks that are now hot sellers. Ford has posted its eighth straight quarterly profit in the first quarter. And the profit of $2.6 billion was Ford’s best first quarter in 13 years.
Some of information has been taken from the article in the following link:
Disney, Walton, Ford, Gates: Tales of When Legends Leave
We have several businesses to witness after the stepping down of its founder including Ford Motor (F, Financial), Walt Disney (DIS, Financial), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, Financial), and now Apple (AAPL, Financial), but the story of Apple in the generation without Steve Jobs is not written yet. The history has shown that it would not be the smooth ride.
Walt Disney (DIS)
Walt Disney died in 1966 and from that time on, the business had nearly 02 decades of unsettled leadership. Only when the talented CEO named Michael Eisner is being recruited from Paramount Pictures to be chairman in CEO in 1984, the company was brought back to its main core focus. He has led Disney getting bigger and bigger to become the media giant in his 20 years of leadership. Three hits is “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “The Lion King”. And currently, the biggest source of profit is coming from ESPN, resulted from the acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC. After Eisner left, currently Disney is under the leadership of Robert Iger, who made the deal buying Pixar of Steve Jobs for $7.4 billion.
Wal-Mart (WMT)
Sam Walton built the company from five-and-dime store in Arkansas with great passion. He often began working at 4.30am, and even after the long time of turning Wal-Mart into the retailer giant, he still visited his stores and stores of rivals, to soak up intelligence, dictating observations into the tape recorder. After he died in 1992, his successor David Glass continued with his success. However, Wal-Mart in the past decades moves towards sales gimmicks and even gets on more expensive stores remodeling. Let see how it can gain the back the “everyday low price” by cutting its costs.
Ford (F)
Ford began to lose its strength in the US market, compared with its competitor, General Motors, when Henry Ford handed over to his son. While GM offered cars in different styles, prices and color, Henry Ford kept sticking with the Model T black car. He retook the control after the son died of cancer, and then gave to Henry Ford II, the grandson. Ford II began the major restructuring for the company. He hired former GM executives and asked for the help from a group known as the “Whiz Kids”.
This group was in the Army Air Force known as Statistical Control, to coordinate all the operation and logistical information in the war. Those individual operate as one entity in the group focusing on different issues, one focus on reports for senior management, one on financial planning, one on facility and program plans and several others on administrative budgets and other issues. Seven of them went to senior management positions in Ford later on. They has helped the company to implement the management control systems in order to govern the company, keeping the cost under control and review strategic process, as well as the recruitment and training programs searching out and retaining talents.
After those moves, in 1949, Ford introduce the first group of post-war cars and in 1950, it passed Chrysler to become the no.2 auto maker in the US. Then after several decades of success and profitability, it began to have too many plants in the US which drives manufacturing costs higher and the luxury brands like Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo losing money. Then now Ford is in under the leadership of Alan Mulally, From Boeing. Mulally was hired to rescue Ford in 2008, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. He has cut brands, plants and staff to reduce costs, plowed the savings into cars and trucks that are now hot sellers. Ford has posted its eighth straight quarterly profit in the first quarter. And the profit of $2.6 billion was Ford’s best first quarter in 13 years.
Some of information has been taken from the article in the following link:
Disney, Walton, Ford, Gates: Tales of When Legends Leave
