(12)Steve Jobs and Entropreneurship

Abstract

With thepassing away of Steve Jobs, one of the greatest man ever in thetechnology realm, some found that they were at a loss to lose sucha great innovator. The only one Steve has passed away, but hislegacy will remain, which is the predominant issue to be discussedbelow. The information is based on a survey on the Internet by ourgroup members and analyze Steve Jobs` ingenuity andentrepreneurship on the basis of the info gathered via thequestionnaires on the Web as well as the knowledge we have learnedabout Steve Jobs which clarified the actuality as to the twoquestions: what his entrepreneurship was and how itevolved.

                 Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………… 4

Aboutentrepreneurship…………………………………………… 5

Researchdesign…………………………………………………… 5-6

Methodology………………………………………………………. 6

Result……………………………………………………………… 7-10

Discussion………………………………………………………… 11-15

Furtherresearch…………………………………………………… 16

Introduction

AboutSteve Jobs: Steven Paul Jobs was an American business magnate andinventor. He was the co-founder of Apple and served as its chiefexecutive officer from 1998 to 2011 until he announced hisresignation due to health problems. He passed away on October 5,2011.

Jobs'history in business has contributed much to the symbolic image ofthe idiosyncratic, individualistic Silicon Valley entrepreneur,emphasizing the importance of design and understanding the crucialrole aesthetics play in public appeal. His work driving forward thedevelopment of products that were both functional and elegant hasearned him many devoted followers. His success was not just out ofluck, but by a series of failure. He had a deep-seated interest intechnology when he was young which is in part because that hisfather was a man dealing with machines every day. In April 1 1976he launched the latter worldwide known Apple Computer Companytogether with his friends. No one had expected the Apple Company tobe a most valuable corporation in the world thirty six years later.Nor did anybody have ever assumed that Steve would someday be firedby the company he started and then he returned, rejuvenated thecompany again. By building one of the planet’s most successfulcompanies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of Americaningenuity.  By making computers personal andputting the Internet in our pockets, he made the informationrevolution not only accessible, but intuitive andfun.  And by turning his talents to storytelling,he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike.Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was hislast.  Because he did, he transformed our lives,redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest featsin human history: he changed the way each of us sees theworld.

1 Aboutentrepreneurship：Entrepreneurship is the process of exploring theopportunities in the market place and arranging resources requiredto exploit these opportunities for long term gain. It is theprocess of planning, organizing, opportunities and assuming. Thusit is a risk of business enterprise. It may be distinguished as anability to take risk independently to make utmost earnings in themarket. It is a creative and innovative skill and adapting responseto environment

2.  Entrepreneurships can befurther divided into more detailed parts as to innovation,adventure, cooperation, tolerance and the will tosucceed.

                           Researchdesign

Ourresearch is devised as a form of questionnaire which is classifiedin four dimensions.

 Considering that the Appleproducts are so popular nowadays, we care about how consumers orpotential consumers make their choices before they purchase Appleproducts, hence, the first question is” What the main factor it isthat affect you most when you decide to buy an Apple product?”; Aswith many other distinguished entrepreneurs, Steve Jobs was alsoabundant in some profound characteristics such as innovation,adventure, cooperation, tolerance etc.. So here comes the secondquestion as “Among these exceptional characteristics glittering onSteve Jobs, which one do you prefer ?”; It is well known that SteveJobs started his business in his parents` garage in California withno more than $1500, nevertheless 36 years later the small clutteredgarage now turns into the most valuable corporation in the world,thus, question arises: “What was the leading factor on which SteveJob’s success depended?”; Last but not least, that the AppleCompany has been competing and fighting with Microsoft for severaldecades is widely known.  Taking account of theCEOs of these two gigantic corporations, lots of people unusuallyfind it that there are too many similarities between Jobs and hiscounterpart, Gates. Both born in 1955, they experienced the boomingelectric technology and developed interest in computer science,which contributes to their starting business in the middle of 1970sand becoming extremely rich before their 30^th. Still thecompanies they set up decades ago are most influential corporationsin the world at present, so the last question come up with is aboutwhich one do people appreciate , Steve or Gates.” 

Methodology

Theresearch is based on an investigation which is conducted online.About 300 respondents participated in our research project. Sinceour topic is “Steve Jobs and entrepreneurships” that is a broadtopic and it is not an easy job to conduct the survey within thecampus or in Chengdu city, we decided to conduct the survey via theInternet expecting that the scope of the participants is broadenough. As mentioned above, the research is made up of 4multiple-choice questions,   andeach illustrates the result of public view on the subject we areresearching. Below are the links of our survey wasconducted:

http://vote.weibo.com/vid=1600893

http://vote.weibo.com/vid=1600881

http://vote.weibo.com/vid=1600933

http://vote.weibo.com/vid=1600909 

Result

Thesepictures illustrated below are the outcome of the survey which isthe first-handed information .

Thequestion is about which one you think is the most exceptionalcharacteristics Steve Jobs had as a successfulentrepreneur.  There are 5 choices to choose from,and each participant can choose no more than 2 choices, innovation,adventure, cooperation, tolerance, willingness tosucceed.  The detailed information is asfollows:

 

The mostdistinguished characteristics of Steve Jobs`entrepreneurship

Amount ofthe respondents: 62

Amount ofthe choices made by the respondents: 88

 

 

Characteristics             ratio3

Innovation                            50%

Adventure                            28.4%

Cooperation                         8%

Tolerance                             4.5%

Willingness to succeed        5.7%

Other                                   3.4%

 

 

 

 

 

Thequestion is about which one you think is the key factor on whichSteve Jobs` success depended.

 There are 4 choices to choosefrom, and each participant can choose only one choice from “boomingtimes”, “exceptional personalities”, “opportunity and luck” and“other”. The specific information is as follows:

Amount ofrespondents: 65

FACTORS                    ratio

Boomingtimes                   35.4%

Exceptionalpersonalities   53.8%

Opportunity andluck        9.2%

Other                    1.5%

The thirdquestion is about why you choose Appleproducts. 

There are5 choices to choose from, and each participant can choose no morethan 3 choices from “because they are products promoted by SteveJobs.”, “because I love Apple brand”, “because I love the design ofApple”, “because I feel cool using Apple products” and “other”.Here is the information below:

 

Amount ofrespondents: 120

Amount ofchoices made by the respondents:  164

 

Reason                               Ratio4

They arepromoted by Steve  5.5%

I loveApplebrand                15.9%

I love thedesign ofApple      43.9%

I feelcool using Apple         19.5%

Other                                  14%

 The question is about which oneyou prefer better, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. Here is theinformation:

 

Amount ofrespondents: 84

 

Person                                Ratio

SteveJobs                            57.1%

BillGates                             42.9% 

Discussion

Whentalking about Steve Jobs` legendary career, we are confused by hisperishing characteristics. He was a man “you can never work withhim twice”. On one hand, he was a man who was rebellious, stubborn,arrogant and particular about everything, however; on the otherhand, he was a genius, visionary, innovative, wickedly smart. Theseare the components of a great thinker. The paragraphs below revealthe issue that what was entrepreneurship of Steve Jobs and how itwas developed.

The firstquestion as to which one you think is the most exceptionalcharacteristics Steve Jobs had as a successful entrepreneur offers6 choices to choose from. Many a respondents chooses “innovation”,which accounts for 71% of all the respondents participated in. Yet,40% of the participants favor “adventure”, then the rest of the fewpeople choose other choices. So it can be read from the result thatthe most influential characteristics within Steve Jobs as anentrepreneur is innovation and adventure. As Steve Jobs has put it“you can`t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connectthem looking backward”, we look backward his life. Soon we find itthat this dots in his early life determined his success some yearslater Reed. For instance, he was not interested in the courseoffered in , a college which is most expensive then in America, sohe dropped out and continue to audit classes in Reed. One of thecourse he had took was calligraphy in which he learned about serifand san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space betweendifferent letter combinations, about what makes great typographygreat. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a waythat science can`t capture, and he found it fascinating. None ofthis had even a hope of any practical application in his life, but10 years later, when he was designing the Macintosh computer, itall came back to him. It was the first computer with beautifultopography and multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.At that time, no one had the thought that a machine should beartistically modified, but Steve did. He invented the idea of acomputer equipped with a mouse and being friendly, namely,graphical user interface which still shaped the contemporary pcindustry and his innovation shines.

The secondissue is about which one you think is the key factor on which SteveJobs` success depended. Most respondents (53.8%) think hisexceptional personality led to his success, while some (34.5%)believed that it is the booming times that contributed to hissuccess in that the 1970s is a suitable age to start business.Recalling what Steve Jobs had experienced in his early life, wehave to admit that no single factor can individually leading to hissuccess, but it is all the factors that collectively contributed tohis success including booming times, exceptional personalities，opportunity and luck. All these are the key components involved inhis feats. He was not a model boss or human being, tidily packagedfor emulation. Driven by demons, he could drive those around him tofury and despair. But his personality and passions and productswere all interrelated, just as Apple`s hardware and software tendedto be, as if part of an integrated system. He was obsessed to Zenwhen he was young which made him think different withothers.

He likedsimple stuff, believing that simplicity is the ultimatesophistication. He had an eye for fashion. Every time an Appleproduct was promoted, it would become a hit. Still we cannotdiscount the factor of times. He started his company in a garage in1976 when the computer technology is so prosperous. The IntelCompany invented the microprocessors which were suitable to installinto a personal computer. Steve foresaw the promising market inpersonal computer field, so he determined to set up his owncompany. after his company was set up 5 years, he was a billionaireand at then he was 25.

The thirdquestion comes as why you choose Apple products. When it comes toApple products, we often think them fashionable, cool and welldesigned. In our survey, 60% of the respondents favor the designmost when considering buying Apple products, 26.7% of therespondents think it fashionable and cool to have an Apple productand 21.7% of respondents just like Apple and they buy it. We knowthat Apple products stand for fashion  and youth.They are designed simply, but there is something behind,sophistication and technology. They are the smart devices combinedwith creativity and the most sophisticated technology. “This is acompany inventing the future.” It is not strange that Appleproducts are so well received.

The lastquestion is a choice between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. There is nodoubt that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are among the greatest CEOs inthe world. Too many similarities can be found between them. Theoutcome reveals that 57.1% favor Steve the rest favor Bill. Perhapsthe roller-coaster life of Steve is more inspiring than the lifeGates has leaded. 

Further research

We haveprepared for a long time for the research in which more than 300people have participated .Yet, we find some bugs in ourquestionnaires, such as in the third question many a respondentchooses “others”, but we cannot figure out what they are referredto. Given more time, we can design the question again to unfold theuntold truth.

References:

[1] Quoted from president Obama10/06/2011

[2] From Wikipedia

[3] Because each people can choose more than onechoice, only the number of choice made by those participants iscounted and the number of the participant is left out, whichexplains why our data is different from the info gathered on theInternet.

[4] Steve Jobs by WalterIsaaccson

[5] The commencement address delivered bySteve Jobs in June 12, 2005

[6] Dream like Jobs; succeed likeGates by Li Changxun Korean, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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