Re: Another one bites the dust

Joe,

You said:
"By measuring success purely through 90-day profits, you lose sight of
everything other than what gets you the most profit in the shortest time
frame, as opposed to building a market base that will last for years.  Board
members don't even care about ten years from now; they care about how much
their stock options will appreciate this year, and whether they can get that
villa in Nice.  The iSeries is a strategic behemoth, but unfortunately the
90-day cycle only cares about the tactical gains."


Exactly !   I've been saying that for a long time.  MOST of those in US (and I 
suppose a lot of the "Western" world) management care nothing beyond increasing 
stock value short term to increase their own personal wealth by the time they 
plan to leave.  They won't be around in 10 years so why do they care what 
happens long term.  They care only about the here and now.  That's why they 
sell off the family silver (to Lexmark, Lenovo, Hitachi, etc.) to increase the 
short term stock price.  Yes, to a large extent that's the problem of a 
publicly traded company where some of the shareholders too usually want short 
term gain and you;re trying to please the stock pundits.  So there's no one who 
really cares and plans for the success of the company long term.

<< CANOWORMS *OPEN >>
To a large extent it's the same problem in politics.  Most of them could care 
less if Social Security collapses in 50 years - they'll have their money.  
Global warming (and I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the theories here so 
don't start a thread on that) is another thing a lot of politicians don't 
really care about.  Cities along the coast flooding in 100 years.  They won't 
be around to care and don't have the will to see anything through long term.
<< CANOWORMS *CLOSE >>

Neil Palmer, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
 
(This account not monitored for personal mail,
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----- Original Message ----
From: Joe Pluta <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 9:11:44 AM
Subject: RE: Another one bites the dust

From: Jones, John (US)

In other words, while vendors say they're in the business of selling
solutions, what they mean is they're trying to solve their revenue
problems v. our business problems.

We all hate the car analogy, but Toyota has become both huge and hugely
profitable by making cars that are more reliable than average and
selling them at a moderate price premium over the competition.  They
don't seem too concerned about parts profit after-the-sale or on
marketing customers to death to move to new cars every couple of years;
they're growing and profiting by delivering a very good product at a
reasonable price.  Their reputation is basically bulletproof cars that
don't need replacing as often as other brands.  Now, if you replace
"cars" with "systems" and "parts profit" with "IT services", what would
you replace "Toyota" with?

Ah, but John now you strike at the heart of the entire global economy, which
is the 90-day cycle of American stock-market-driven corporations and the
ten-year plans used by the Japanese.  American firms no longer care about
ANYTHING other than the next 90 days, and the stock market reinforces this
as do our own idiot, er, I mean INDUSTRY pundits who consistently wave
90-day sales figures in everybody's faces as if they meant something.  How
often do you read screaming doom and gloom when an iSeries quarter doesn't
meet expectations?  Even if the previous one was a banner quarter?

By measuring success purely through 90-day profits, you lose sight of
everything other than what gets you the most profit in the shortest time
frame, as opposed to building a market base that will last for years.  Board
members don't even care about ten years from now; they care about how much
their stock options will appreciate this year, and whether they can get that
villa in Nice.  The iSeries is a strategic behemoth, but unfortunately the
90-day cycle only cares about the tactical gains.

Joe