Manager’s Interview
The manager that I interviewed is the Marketing Manager at Apple Inc. His name is Rob Small. He is my former boss, as I worked for him two years ago, as a sales and marketing person. This is how the interview went:
Me: Good morning sir, and welcome
Him: Good morning, thank you
Me: Maybe you can start by telling me what your name is, and what level of management you are.
Him: My name is Rob Small, and I am the Marketing Manager at Apple Inc.
Me: How many employees are under your management?
Him: The number of employees that are under my management has increased, so much over the last two years. I cannot give you a definite figure, but I can tell you they are 10,000, and more. This is because under my department there are salespeople, advertisers, promoters, vendors, contractors, retail persons, among others, who can be counted in my department. Therefore, I can say, there are quite a huge number of employees under me.
Me: What is your role as the marketing manager?
Him: I can define my role in one word, a leader. This is because I believe in good working relationships. The relationship with my subordinates matters so much to me, as I like it when we work as a team. I ensure that I oversee their progress, motivate them, balance effectiveness, and encourage their development. This boosts my relationship with them, such that at the end of the day, we can achieve our set goals. Besides, I believe I have to liaison, this is because my department being the marketing one, I have to know what is going on out there, the new products being launched, and so forth, that way I can have a lot of information at my disposal, and hence keep it ahead of the competition. Besides, I monitor the progress in my department, so that I can gauge success. I, as well, act as the spokesperson to the company’s stakeholders, and on top of that, I allocate resources in my department and act as the negotiator in case anything goes wrong.
Me: What skills do you need to complete these roles?
Him: As a manager, you have to have skills, since many people look up to you. Thus, I have to engage in several skills for my department to be successful. One is the technical skills, for me to get the results that I need I have to learn the requirements of my job very well. Thus, I have to acquire the necessary knowledge as well as skills to achieve this. Two is human skills. I have to ensure that my relationship with others is at its top level. I ensure that I develop the skills of the people that I work with, and make them competent as well. I also ensure that their motivation is at its highest level, and their performance is evaluated and improved. Third, I have to apply conceptual skills. Thus, I have to study Apple at large, it’s potential as well as its processes. I identify any likely problems, or opportunities, I also make decisions where necessary, and as well, come up with any solutions where needed.
Me: What is your greatest challenge today, and over the next five years, or so?
Him: As you understand that Apple was recognized as the best company from 2008, the biggest challenge that I have now, and over the next five years, or so, is to keep this position. Apple was ranked the first position because of the products we came up with, and the way we marketed them. Thus, the greatest challenge, for me as the marketing manager is to keep up with the competition and maintain the number one position for our company.
Me: What is the most critical issue in the workplace today, and over the next five years?
Him: What I can consider the critical issue that we have in the workplace today, is the invention of a new product that will keep us at the top. As you know lately, we launched the iPad mini and the fourth-generation iPad, those two products have been doing very well in the market, but you know, still, our competitors like Google, Dell, among others are working hard to put us down. That is the critical issue we have in the workplace as we have to come up with a product that will still place us up in comparison to others, also, a product that will receive a good reception from our customers. This issue is making us hold board meetings now and then because we want the next product that will come out of Apple to sell us, even more.
Me: What is your strategic positioning?
Him: We as Apple, believe that the brand has to ‘go in before it goes on’. What I mean is that we use the brand as an integrated and systematic way of creating value. It is more of a method as opposed to a message. The operating brand at Apple makes it possible for us to achieve our strategic success. This we derive from our brand mission, as we believe that the reason we were created was to make products and not just products, but great products. This, therefore, makes us contribute significantly to the markets. Second, we use the brand approach, where we ask ourselves on behalf of the customer, what is it that we want? This way we can keep ahead of the competition as we set high standards, for our brands. We ensure that our brands help our customers connect in more meaningful ways.
Me: Would you mind giving us basic information about your company?
Him: Apple Inc., alongside its subsidiaries, designs, produces and promotes mobile communication as well as media devices, private computing products, along with transportable digital song players, globally. The company was initiated in 1977 with its headquarters being at Cupertino, California. Its founders were Steve Wozniak and Steven P. Jobs. Apple Inc is not just known in the world for its technology, but it is as well considered as the public company with the highest value. In the last ten years or so, using the iPod, the company has improved its music business significantly. This is with the help of the cell phone business, too. The iPad has as well enhanced the company’s media and entertainment world. iPad mini is our latest mobile device, and it has received a very good reception from the customers. About the employees, the company has more than 60,000 of them, as compared to last year’s 46,600.
The company contractors and temporary employees have also increased from 2,800 to 2,900. In comparison to 26,500 retail employees last year, the company now has 36,000 of them. In the fiscal year 2010, the company had 317 stores. At the end of the fiscal year 2011, the stores had increased to 357. There was also a significant increase in the employees working for every store to 100.8, from last year’s 83.6. The money spent on advertisements increased to $933 million, from last year’s $691 million. This is while dropping from 1.0% to 0.8%, as a revenues percentage. The expenses used for research and development increased to $2.4 billion. This is with a remarkable increase of 36%. However, a remarkable decrease was noted in research and development to 2.2%, down from 3% because of the percentage of the revenue. In the fiscal year that ended on September 29, 2012, the company noted a profit margin of 26.67%. This is with its revenue standing at 156.51 billion.
Me: How can one contact you, in case of anything?
Him: It is very easy to reach me. One can email me at, [email protected]. Alternatively, they can call me on, (02) 8987 8180.
Me: Thank you so much, sir, for having me, and thank you, for giving me some moment of your precious time.
Him: No, thank you, the pleasure is mine. I like it when a person is interested to know about my work since it is what I like doing the most.