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Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company

Patrick McGee

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Summary

McGee examines how Apple built a manufacturing system in China and became dependent on it. The account draws on interviews and internal material. A licensed excerpt follows Steve Jobs’s demand for a glass iPhone screen, the resulting supplier work and the manufacturing capabilities built to meet the product’s launch needs.

  • SourceScribner: Apple in China · About the Book and product details: supply-chain creation, engineer deployment, dependency; author and ISBN
  • SourceScribner-licensed excerpt at China Books Review · How the iPhone was Made in China; Jobs glass-screen demand and supplier work; final paragraph licenses excerpt

Why read it Our view

Study the link between a product requirement and the suppliers, capacity and processes needed to deliver it. The iPhone screen case makes that link concrete. The wider company history also asks what a business gives up when it gains efficiency through deep reliance on one manufacturing network.

Written about

  • Steve JobsProduct-development and company-history subject
    The licensed excerpt follows Jobs’s glass-screen demand for the original iPhone and the supplier and manufacturing work it set in motion. McGee is the author.
    Source