Newsgroups: sci.environment,talk.politics.misc,alt.activism
From: mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman)
Subject: Re: Idiotic Japan Bashing
Organization: Oracle Corporation
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 22:08:01 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <1992Dec29.051805.18508@pegasus.com> tleylan@pegasus.com (Tom Leylan) writes:
>mfriedma@uucp (Michael Friedman) writes:
>>tleylan@pegasus.com (Tom Leylan) writes:

>>>In short they plan to exist 100 years from now, and they plan to serve
>>>their customers and to have employees and your stock certificates will
>>>still be worth something.

>>Well, if you call that a plan, then most companies and countries have
>>thousand year plans, not hundred year plans.  Of course, a plan that
>>simple and with that little detail is so useless that you might as
>>well not have it.

>That is simply not the truth.  I'll bet that there are few companies that
>plan to be around in one thousand years.  Many businesses not only plan to
>sell out but actively prepare for it.  One starts a company, goes public
>and sells out.

No Tom.  You go public or you sell it.  It is pointless to go through
the expense and hassle of going public if you intend to sell the
company.  

However, this does not apply to reasonably well established companies.
Most such companies are already public and do not intend to be
acquired.

>>A decent plan would identify key markets and technologies that the
>>company should get into.  For example, I have a 20 year plan for my
>>part of Oracle and another for my career.  

>Your personal prowess aside, simply writing a plan is as good as no
>plan at all.  I probably don't realize that Oracle is founded on a
>company with a 200 year history in database products or are you simply
>trying to convince us that a 10 year presence should elicit confidence
>in any "plan" that pops up in your boardroom ?

Why do we need a 200 year history to make a 20 year plan?  Also, it's
15 years now, not 10. 

I don't care if you have confidence in the plan.  It isn't public.  I
care that it tells me what the directions are that we should plan for.
It means that I know that I need to hire people with some experience
in those areas to do the work we are doing today even if they are not
the optimum candidate for today's work.  It means we have to develop
relationships with the companies that will be our partners when we
move into those new areas even if they aren't the optimum companies to
develop relationships with for what we are doing today.  

Also, I don't have a boardroom.

>You do not get it... it is clear and I'll stake my money that 100 years
>after Oracle is dead and buried that Matsushita Corp. is still around.

How do you plan on collecting?

>Oracle can't plan the next 100 years any more than a 5 year old can plan
>the next 20 years, that however doesn't mean that nobody can.

Mind explaining how anyone can?

Perhaps I might find your argument more convincing if you told me what
the elements of a 100 year plan should be.

So far you haven't.  Why?  Because once you start listing what should
be in it the idiocy of such a plan becomes obvious.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am not an official Oracle spokesman.  I speak for myself and no one else.
Newsgroups: sci.environment