Understanding Apple’s Organizational Structure
[Via asymco]

Apple has hired a new VP who will report directly to Tim Cook. Paul Deneve is cited as having responsibility for “special projects” and will report directly to Tim Cook.

The previous roles as a manager in luxury brand companies has led to a great deal of speculation about what new projects Apple could be working on that might also fit this new manager’s background and title.

The most commonly cited speculation is around the iWatch or TV product lines (with some surprised that he will not be heading Retail.)

Although reading “luxury product CEO” and concluding “new luxury products” seems logical, a little knowledge about how Apple is organized dispels this notion. And a little knowledge happens to be about all we have, as Apple’s organization is one of its most closely guarded secrets. Even employees at Apple have little idea of how the company is organized. What we do know is summarized into this org chart:

 

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We have heard al ot recently about Microsoft’s new re-organization. They are organizing around function, not devices.

I wonder where they got that idea from?

A 21st century company needs to foster collaboration and that is done by organizing around functions that everyone needs for each product. This ends up creating a lot of purposeful conversations about proper use of resources, etc. that often leads to much greater efficiencies than when things are simply focussed on a product silo.