Apple Only Considering Outside Candidates for Senior VP of Retail Position

[everything-i]

Perhaps, but I don't buy the argument that Apple didn't know what they were getting when they hired him. The only hypothesis that makes any sense to me is that he was hired to make Apple's retail operation more efficient and profitable, which is not a surprising goal. This is why I say that strategic decisions come from the top, and it's the people who are hired to implement those decisions who get canned when the plan doesn't work out. Rarely does anyone at the top own up to a mistake.

These types of hire are done on vision. Browett would have given Apple a vision of a more sleek and cost effective retail operation and Apple will have bought into that. Unfortunately he did not deliver but rolled out the same crap that went down at Dixons in the UK. Everything he did was a PR disaster and that is not acceptable for someone in that position. If you fail to deliver what you promise as an executive then you should be fired and that is exactly what happened. I am not saying that there is not fault else where in the organisation for hiring this chap but he was a total disaster in that role.

 

[IJ Reilly]

These types of hire are done on vision. Browett would have given Apple a vision of a more sleek and cost effective retail operation and Apple will have bought into that. Unfortunately he did not deliver but rolled out the same crap that went down at Dixons in the UK. Everything he did was a PR disaster and that is not acceptable for someone in that position. If you fail to deliver what you promise as an executive then you should be fired and that is exactly what happened. I am not saying that there is not fault else where in the organisation for hiring this chap but he was a total disaster in that role.

Well, sure. It is probably never going to be possible to entirely tease out Browett's portfolio on taking the job, but I think we can make an educated guess. I think we can also safely assume that Apple knew his management history and still thought he was the person for the job. So to those who suggest that ejecting the Browett object returns Apple to its good old self, I say think again. One way or another, it was a strategic blunder on Apple's part. We can only hope the lesson (whatever it is) has been learned. Only time will tell.

 

[ChrisNH]

Problem is as much the store-level managers

The new head of Apple Retail will be a real swell guy, I'm sure. What he needs to do is whack some of the worst local store managers within the chain. One of the New Hampshire stores is run like a Banana Republic by the guy, who drives employees away and then spends on hiring events to backfill. He's no doubt 'proud' of big sales at his store...forgetting that just being on the Massachusetts border is the reason why. But I'm sure the entire chain has guys like this, who need to be sent packing.