Jean-Louis Gassée, writing for Monday Note, talks about the road to success for Apple’s biggest (back in the early days) business outside the US, Apple France.

After sitting out for awhile, one very large chain couldn’t help notice how well their competitors were doing with Apple products and finally decided to play. A large order is placed, shipped, and immediately “pulled” by customers. A second order comes in. Logistics apologizes: “Can’t ship; credit hold”. “What, our credit’s not good?’” The indignant caller is transferred to Finance and is told that the chain’s reputation for cavalier treatment of payment terms has won them a low credit limit. Risk must be mitigated.

The call then comes to me. I know the caller from a previous incarnation and, using an analogy unprintable here, explain that we treat everyone the same: “We perform, you pay”. A check is promised, immediate shipment is demanded. We of little faith offer a different approach: We’ll dispatch one of Jean Calmon’s sales gents to collect the check and then we’ll roll the palettes out to the shipping dock.

And:

In 1985, with the victory over Big Retail in my portfolio, I was offered the logical next step: running Apple Engineering in Cupertino. Go figure.

Great read.