Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) tries hard to hide the fact that, deep down, it’s really just another corporate behemoth. The company will top $100 billion in revenue this year, and typically trades north of 13 million shares of stock each day.
Somehow Apple has managed to cling to its brand as a hip outsider in the business world, known as a company of innovators who have succeeded thanks to focusing on individual expression and creativity. But as the company continues to grow despite it’s already titanic business, the paint is starting to peel on that colorful corporate identity.
The clearest sign of Apple’s cult-like following may be at risk? A small effort to unionize employees – clearly setting workers apart from their bosses, not beside them
A recent Reuters report shows that an Apple Store employee in San Francisco is pushing to unionize retail workers in a fight for better pay and benefits. The concept of a union anywhere in the Apple corporate structure is a bit shocking, but particularly strange in these retail outlets. While the Apple Store is a small part of the company’s bottom line due to retail partnerships far and wide, it’s a big part of its branding mission. Apple’s some 30,000 retail employees at 325 stores worldwide are supposed to be ambassadors of the “cult of Mac,” with fierce loyalty for the company and its suite of gadgets.
And broadly speaking, many tech companies just don’t fit the model of a traditional union business where slow and steady wins the race. Agility in product development, staffing, marketing and a host of other areas are part of Apple’s DNA. Any unionization would harm that ability to stay on top of the fast-evolving consumer technology market.
It’s important to note that the actual approval of the union is a long-shot anyway, with the worker who prompted unionization talk admitting to Reuters that he doesn’t think he could find a store with over 50% support for the effort. And again, even if Apple sees a retail store union it wouldn’t be much of a drag on the company’s huge bottom line.
But it’s the rabid devotion of both consumers and employees that has led to Apple’s breakneck growth in the last several years. And from a brand loyalty perspective, the movement is certainly troublesome even if it’s fairly small.
On a basic level, Apple built so many loyal customers by positioning itself as more than just another corporate overlord. From its iconic “Mac vs. PC” ads to its focus on the form of its devices as much as function, this idea that you can be hip as well as productive is part of the reason top executives like Steve Jobs have become more rock stars than businessmen.
But as Apple continues to grow and gain influence – with Wall Street and small businesses as much as with artists and trendy teens – it’s going to be increasingly hard for the company to position itself as the cool kid on the fringe.
Like it or not, Apple is mainstream. And that means the same corporate shenanigans at other mega businesses could be coming home to roost.
Jeff Reeves is editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter via @JeffReevesIP and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.
