Bad Corporation, No Biscuit
Jul. 31st, 2011 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitouthttp://abovethelaw.com/2011/07/sue-a-giant-corporation-get-rewarded-with-audacious-criminal-charges/
I was Not Happy when I heard that Cisco was going to terminate Flip. Flip was a super cool product that had settled into a wonderful, steady growing niche. But because it was owned by Cisco, and Cisco needs Miracles on a Daily if not Hourly Basis, Cisco announced it was getting out of consumer electronics, including Flip (this wasn't even 2 years after spending almost $600 million to acquire Flip).
Large companies suffer from some weird dynamics. Notably, when you are operating from a really large base, massive absolute growth (another $100 million in selling something or other) can seem to be very tiny as percentage growth (if your revenues are $10 billion a year, say). The executives can have a lot of trouble figuring out how to deal with business units for similar reasons, especially if the business as a whole is a lot of small businesses being managed as a conglomerate, rollup or whatever. Generalizing above the unit level doesn't make much sense and paying attention at the unit level splits executive attention too fine.
However, distorting multiple justice systems to try to sit on a whistle blower -- in a way that pisses off judges in multiple countries -- is not a way to Succeed in Business. That's the kind of thing that makes people run from a deal with you.
I was Not Happy when I heard that Cisco was going to terminate Flip. Flip was a super cool product that had settled into a wonderful, steady growing niche. But because it was owned by Cisco, and Cisco needs Miracles on a Daily if not Hourly Basis, Cisco announced it was getting out of consumer electronics, including Flip (this wasn't even 2 years after spending almost $600 million to acquire Flip).
Large companies suffer from some weird dynamics. Notably, when you are operating from a really large base, massive absolute growth (another $100 million in selling something or other) can seem to be very tiny as percentage growth (if your revenues are $10 billion a year, say). The executives can have a lot of trouble figuring out how to deal with business units for similar reasons, especially if the business as a whole is a lot of small businesses being managed as a conglomerate, rollup or whatever. Generalizing above the unit level doesn't make much sense and paying attention at the unit level splits executive attention too fine.
However, distorting multiple justice systems to try to sit on a whistle blower -- in a way that pisses off judges in multiple countries -- is not a way to Succeed in Business. That's the kind of thing that makes people run from a deal with you.