Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Case Notes
Chapter 16: Marketing and Pitching Your Idea
Steve Jobs; Co-founder, and former chairman and CEO of Apple Computers
Summary
Of all the case studies in this textbook, perhaps no entrepreneur is better known than Apple’s
Steve Jobs, who is sometimes referred to as the “father of the digital revolution.” Along with
Microsoft’s Bill Gates, perhaps no one has had a more singular influence on the world of
Analysis
Jobs revolutionized and reinvented the world of computer marketing—and marketing
philosophy in general. Instead of trying to give the customer what he or she wanted (traditional
marketing approach), Jobs believed you could be even more successful if you showed the
customer what he/she wanted. This marketing paradigm shift elevated Apple into the enviable
position of dominating key digital markets due to their capacity to consistently create products
that were superior to anything the competition could invent—and that their customer’s truly
The essence of Jobs marketing strategy was to get customers thinking on a higher plane than
they were used to—and then to deliver products that still exceeded their expectations. He used
this strategy both externally with his customers as well as internally with his employees. For
example, just as he was always trying to get his customers to think bigger, grander, and more
Instructor Resource
Neck, Entrepreneurship, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Sample Answers to Case Questions
1. What were some of the successful pitches that Steve Jobs made during his illustrious
career with Apple and NeXT? Why were they successful?
Sample answer: His most masterful pitch at Apple, besides successfully selling famous
products like the Apple II, the iPod, or the iPad, was probably his ability to pitch
2. What was Jobs’ unorthodox marketing philosophy, and why do you think he was so
successful at “showing” the customer what they “wanted?”
Sample answer: Instead of giving the customer what he or she wanted, Jobs believed
3. What role do you think the principle of “marketing yourself” played in helping Jobs
overcome his initial failure with Apple to eventually regain the top spot at his old
company?
Sample answer: Jobs was a master at marketing both himself and his products. Despite
Had social media been around in the 1980s and 90s, how do you think Jobs might have
utilized it to further market his ideas and products? How might you utilize social media
to market your own ideas in today’s world?
Sample answer: Since this question is mostly theoretical in nature, open the question up
