Project: CEO Selection
Use the same organization you identified in the Week 1 portion of the project. (APPLE COMPANY)
Throughout this assignment, the critical importance of finding the right successor for the company’s CEO is paramount. The right candidate needs exemplary leadership, vision, and strategic planning abilities along with many of the other personal and professional qualities that have been discussed in this course thus far.
To begin finding the right successor, conduct a detailed analysis of the given organization’s current CEO, including the strengths, weaknesses, leadership and communication styles, and personal characteristics that make this leader dynamic and successful.
· What are the attributes of the current leader that you want his or her successor to possess? Why are such attributes necessary for a successor?
· What are the characteristics or traits of the current leader that you do not want his or her successor to possess? Why are such attributes not desirable?
· What other traits might need to be considered?
· Is there a job description available for your CEO? What are the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for the position?
Based on your research and answers to the above questions, you should be able to:
· Create a matrix or job audit form describing the ideal candidate to succeed the current CEO.
o What are the essential personal and professional qualities to identify in candidates (i.e., what must you find out about candidates)?
o What are the important but perhaps less essential qualities (i.e., what would be good to know but should be secondary issues compared to the essential qualities?)
· Describe in detail the methods and tactics you would use to identify, source, recruit, and screen candidates, both internally and externally, for the CEO position.
· Include strategies for identifying the candidates with the personal and professional qualities that you desire in the next leader for the company.
Submission Details:
· Support your responses with examples.
· 5-page paper. Cite credible sources in APA format.
· Post your response to the Submissions Area by the due date assigned.

^^WEEK 1 SELECTION AND ASSIGNMENT TO REVIEW^^^
Question 1
Succession plan is a necessary tool every company needs. A succession plan enables the organization to promote a talent approach culture by employing skilled workforce and the best talent. This paper will focus on Apple Company that has an elaborate succession strategy. Apple is also one of the leading electronic companies in the world.
Question 2
The mission of the apple company is “to bring the best user experience to its customers through innovative, hardware, software, and services.” The mission of the company is dynamic and subject to change.
The corporate culture of the Apple Company is the major driver of its success. The culture of the company focuses on developing and maintaining a commercial philosophy, beliefs, values and similar behavior among its workforce. The company has established a culture that reinforces human resource in attaining its strategic objectives. The cultural attributes of the company are aligned with the drive for innovation that is a major factor in market competitiveness. (Heracleous, L., 2013). Apple Company culture is based on creativity, innovation, top-notch excellence, secrecy and moderate competitiveness.
The leadership structure of the company is hierarchical, with remarkable divisional features and less powerful operational matrix. The feature of Apple corporate leadership structure includes spoke- and- wheel hierarchy, product-based divisions and weak functional matrix. The company has adopted democratic leadership mostly attributed to CEO Steve Jobs which was important in creating mutual understanding in the decision-making process. Currently Tim Cook has adopted quiet’ leadership style that is seen to be effective.
Question 3
The company has experienced a number of challenges resulting majorly from the competitiveness in the market arena. These challenges include maneuvering trade uncertainty. Trade barriers and uncertainty are particularly emanating around china and United States trade policy. The uncertainty has forced the company to develop plans on how to relocate some of the products from china to cut down the risk of trade tariffs. The company is also facing steep competition with the Qualcomm that has resulted into legal show down. The battles were as a result of patent fees and licensing rates, in which apple sued Qualcomm in three countries and counter suit by Qualcomm, accusing apple for trading secrets to Intel. The battles have damaged the prospects of the company as shareholders are held in panic.
Similarly, attaining iPhone unit sales projection has been a challenge. The company has been targeting to sell approximately 200 million units of its product. In 2019 the company shifted away from its unit sales and still got disappointment in meeting the set target. (Damanpour & Aravind, 2012). This short fall has lowered the shares of the company. Similarly, the company is facing another challenge of selling investors on the services story. Business analyst have pointed out that recent reports indicate that apple iPhone unit sale is obsolete, and it will take time for investors to internalize new regime. Evidence shows low demand on iPhone, the new regime is task to guarantee investors that unit sale is not the future for the company’s success. However, it will take some period of time to convince iPhone heavy investors to buy the narrative.
Finally, the company is also facing the new challenge of planning for the arrival of 5G network. The discovery of the 5G will upset the competitiveness in the global market of smartphones. They expect their rival companies Samsung and Huawei to deliver 5G enable phones. They can result to negative competition to the apple company since company’s projection in terms of growth will be low.
Question 4
After apple CEO Steve Jobs resigned, Apple shares dropped by 7% after the announcement. Although the decline was foreseen before the trading started and was suggested that Apple shares were switching hands for $365 each. The shares rose beyond $370 by daylight and were exchanging at exactly 0.6% down in early afternoon. The traders were digesting the effect of Apple losing its charming head, who had led the way since its close bankruptcy after returning to the company in 1996. He restructured the company to be the world most treasured company by market value. Steve Jobs was not only a visionary leader from a technology industry view but also a micro manager.
Apples competitors’ shares rose overnight, due to investors’ anticipation that Apple might trip after Steve Jobs resignation. Samsung electronics company shares recorded a 2.5% increase while HTC smartphone maker gained 1.35%. Apple Company appointed Tom Cook as Steve’s successor. He was best placed for the position because he was the company’s chief operating officer and he has been in day-to-day charge of Apple Company when Steve’s health needed prolonged absences. Steve Jobs had provided not only personal leadership but also strategic vision at the top of the company, as probably the most visible and well-known CEO of any technological company. Tim Cook will face some challenges stepping into these tasks, as a trusted pair of hand but hardly a charismatic or a visionary figure.
References
Heracleous, L. (2013). Quantum strategy at the Apple Inc. Organizational Dynamics.
Damanpour, F., & Aravind, D. (2012). Organizational structure and innovation revisited: From organic to ambidextrous structure. Handbook of organizational creativity.
Marengo, L., & Pasquali, C. (2012). How to get what you want when you do not know what you want: A model of incentives, organizational structure, and learning. Organizational science.