ironment (Hackett "Apple..." 3141).
Apple's problems have led to a crisis at the highest levels of the organization. The CEO, Dr. Gilbert Amelio, was asked to resign in mid-1997; since that time, Steve Jobs (a founder of Apple) has returned to guide the company, although he refuses to take the CEO job on a permanent basis. The company has sharpened its retail focus by limiting its core distribution to a single national chain, making it easier for consumers to locate Apple products, but the company continues to struggle to maintain a decreasing market share (Niemond "Apple..." 1083).
Each of the companies considered here can be evaluated from the standpoint of the value that the stock market places on the company's shares (all are publicly traded). This is because a company's stock price is indicative of what investors expect from the organization. Companies which are expected to do well from both a revenue and profit standpoint see their prices go up; the reverse is true for companies in trouble. The val
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