References

1. Spector, G (September 24, 1985). "Apple's Jobs Starts New Firm, Targets Education
Market". PC Week. p. 109.
2. Linzmayer, Owen W. (2004). Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the
World's Most Colorful Company. No Starch Press. ISBN 978-1-59327-010-0. Retrieved
April 15, 2014.
3. Apple Computer, Inc. Finalizes Acquisition of NeXT Software Inc. at the Wayback
Machine, Apple Inc., February 7, 1997. Retrieved June 25, 2006.
4. "The Lost Interview: Steve Jobs Tells Us What Really Matters". Forbes. November 17,
2011. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
5. "Apple Formally Names Jobs as Interim Chief". The New York Times. September 17,
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6. Levy, Steven (1995). Insanely great: the life and times of Macintosh, the computer
that changed everything. Penguin Books. p. 312. ISBN 978-0-14-023237-0.
 Theory 4

Theory (Explanation)

In the ancient time, the theory The general who is knowledgeable in military matter is te
controller of the fate of the people and the guardian of peace or advocate of crisis for the nation
is illustrating that when a general who has the knowledge in making military strategy can control
the life and death of their people. The general who is knowledge in making military strategy can
bring peace to their and also may bring crisis to their nation if they make any mistake in their
military strategy. Thus, the knowledgeable general plays a very important role for the army
during the ancient war.

This theory can also be practice in the business industries. In the business industries, the
wise leader of the company are making new business strategy to compete with other company to
gain more profit and increase the brand awareness of the company. This is the same like a
knowledge general making strategy to win their opponent during the ancient war times. By
having this knowledgeable people as leader, they can change the fate of their employees of the
company. Besides that, a knowledgeable leader of the company can make a company becomes
well- known and successful or even being defeated by other competitors and left out by the
business industries depend on their business strategy and decisions making.

Companys Practices

Apple Inc., a technology company has apply this theory. The co-founder, chairman and
chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc. from 1997 to 2011, Steven Paul Steve Jobs is an
example of a knowledgeable leader of the company. Jobs found NeXT Inc. in 1985 after his
resignation from Apple Computer Inc. which was later change the name to Apple Inc.. Five years
later, the workstation of NeXT Inc. was first released in 1990 with priced at US$9,999 which is
identical with Jobs first daughter, Apple Lisa (Local Integrated Software Architecture)
personal computer. In the same year, the second generation NeXTcube was also released. Jobs
touted it as the first interpersonal computer that would replace the personal computer. NeXT
Inc. transitioned fully to software development with the release of NeXTSTEP after sold only
50,000 machines in 1993. NeXT report its first profit of $1.03 million in 1994. In 1996, NeXT
was acquired by Apple Computer Inc. which is Apple Inc. today and was finalized in February
1997 which bringing Jobs back to the company he had cofounded.

Jobs became the CEO of the company. With the purchase of NeXT , much of the
companys technology found its ways into Apple product most notably NeXTSTEP which
evolved into Mac OS X. under the guidance of Jobs , the company increased sales significantly
with the introduction of the iMac in 1998. Since then, appealing design and powerful branding
have worked well for Apple. The company later diversified, introducing and improving upon
other digital appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player , iTunes digital
music software in the year 2001, and the iTunes store in year 2003, the company made forays
into consumer electronics and music distribution. They also open their own Apple retail Store in
2001. On June 29, 2007, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the
iPhone, a multi-touch display cell phone, which contained the characteristic of an iPod and with
its own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. While nurturing innovation,
Jobs also reminded his employees that real artists ship
 Steve Jobs said: I was worth over a million dollars when I was 23. And over ten million
dollars when I was 24 and over a hundred million dollars when I was 2. And you know, it wasnt
that important because I never did it for the money. I think money is a wonderful thing, because
it enables you to invest in ideas that dont have a short-term payback. At that time in my life, it
was not the most important thing. The most important thing was the company, the people, the
product we were making. And what were we going to enable people to do with these products.
So I didnt think about the money a great deal. I never sold any stock. I just believed that the
company would do very well over long term. (Steve, 1995). We can now see that Steve Jobs
does not think off only his company, he also think off the benefit that the consumers. Steve Jobs
has taken 13 year to transform Apple from a nearly bankrupt company in to one of the most
valuable company in the world and one of the key player in the technology market.

Advantages

One of the advantages of Apple Inc. applying this theory is the company had gain brand
loyalty from the consumers. Under Jobss guidance, Apple Inc. has become one of the trusted
brand in the world due to the unique Apple ecosystem which provides the users with the ability
to share their music files from their iPod to their iPhone to their other PC or Apple TV. Until
today, no other company can replace the unique Apple ecosystem even their rival Samsung.

Besides that, by applying this theory Apple Inc. also gain the advantage of good design
heritage. Since Steve Jobs return to Apple Inc., the company had been producing products that
are out of our expectation and amaze us with their invariable and advanced software. The outer
design of the devices are elegant and sturdy.

Conclusion

In the nut shell, the theory I have emphasised in this report is very useful in business
strategies. Having a knowledgeable leader in a company is very important because he or she can
help the company to become successful by using their business strategy to compete with other
competitors. Finally, I hope that every company can make use of the Sun Zi Art of War theory in
their business so that this masterpiece in strategies can be inherited to the next generation and
more people will get benefits from it.