Leander Kahney, the managing editor of Wired.com and author of the The Cult of Mac and The Cult of iPod books, has published a very well written piece of speculative commentary on Avon CEO Andrea Jung’s recent joining of the Apple Board of Directors on his Cult of Mac column at Wired. Citing the appointment of Gap’s CEO Mickey Drexler to the Board and the subsequent launch of the chain of Apple Retail Stores, Mr Kahney assures us that the induction of Jung is anything but an innocent attempt to bring a little diversity to the top level of management at the company.
The most major reason for her inclusion, according to Kahney, might be that Apple is looking to set up a door-to-door direct sales operation in Asian countries such as China, similar to the business model pioneered and very successfully implemented by Andrea Jung for Avon. Kahney writes:
Such a model would blend a low-cost sales channel — something Apple lacks in China — that could be operated to Apple’s high standards, with a unique word-of-mouth marketing mechanism. Apple has always enjoyed this type of user-oriented buzz, which is the most effective type of marketing imaginable, but has never had a system to exploit it. An Avon Lady-style sales operation might be a mechanism for profiting from that passion.How much of it is plausible is debatable, but there is no doubt that Steve Jobs has some elaborate scheme planned that requires the expertise of Andrea Jung. Of course, we’ll only know for sure when Jobs wants us to but it doesn’t hurt to speculate till then.
In my opinion, a direct sales approach would never work in India. If a person appeared on my doorstep trying to sell me a computer or a music player, especially from a company I’ve never heard of (Apple isn’t exactly a household name in these parts), I would probably just politely shut the door in his face. However, I neither know any Chinese citizens nor have I ever been to the country, so I have little idea how it might pan out in our neighboring country.
If you have any insight that can shed more light on this issue, please feel free to post your opinion.
Was it not more than a month ago people were bitching that Apple didn't have any women in high positions and that they were sexist?
Is it coincidence that Andrea also sits on GE's board, the parent company of NBC/Universal? Looks like Steve has them right where he wants them: in his back pocket.
Two birds. One stone.
The man is a genius!
As first reported in CARS (http://www.crazyapplerumors.com/?p=1013). Not the first time Moltz has been strangely right, but I'm still surprised every time.
@krye,
That's one opinion that few people in the world would challenge in this day and age. If Jobs isn't a genius, who is! :)
She looks like something Steve Jobs would create.