It's more impressive that Apple was able to do this. Apple had a couple dozen people. Radio Shack had thousands of stores and their own factories. And Apple's computer was better (though more expensive).
Apple was a garage operation whereas Tandy was an actual corporation at the time. What Apple was able to pull off was far more impressive at the time on top of having a better product.
Big companies are not faceless organizations, they are made up of people, and quite specialized. This was a freaking Leather Goods and retail Electronics parts business. Building a computer is no joke, and the handful of people at Tandy that pulled this together are quite impressive. And it is absolutely crazy that the person responsible did not get a VP role for creating 1/3 of the business, irrespective of the fact that it did not ultimately survive.
