9-486-083
REV: SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

TODD D. JICK
MARY GENTILE

Donna Dubinsky and Apple Computer, Inc. (A)
At 7:00 a.m. on Friday, April 19, 1985, Donna Dubinsky placed an urgent phone call to her boss’s boss, Bill Campbell, executive vice president for sales and marketing at Apple Computer, Inc.
Dubinsky, director of distribution and sales administration, was attending a management leadership seminar located more than two hours away. Her words were crisp and to the point: “Bill, I really need to talk to you. Will you wait for me today? I’ll be back at the office around 5:00.”
“Absolutely, I’ll be here,” Campbell replied, although he knew nothing about the purpose of her call. Dubinsky inhaled a deep breath. She felt the time had come to “bet her Apple career” on the ultimatum she was going to deliver to Campbell at the head office in Cupertino, California.
Still, she could hardly believe it had come to this. Her first three years at Apple, from July 1981 through the fall of 1984, were ones of continuous success with increasing authority and recognition.
She had refined and formalized much of the Apple product distribution policy, and she worked closely with the six distribution centers spread across the country.
Unexpectedly, however, in early 1985, Steve Jobs, Apple’s chairman of the board and general manager of the Macintosh Division, had proposed that the existing distribution system be dismantled and replaced by the “just-in-time” method. Job’s proposal would not only place all of Apple’s distribution activities under the supervision of the directors of manufacturing within the two product divisions— Macintosh and Apple II—but would also establish direct relationships between the dealer and the plant, essentially eliminating the need for the six distribution centers. Jobs claimed that this change would result in significant savings for