Conference 7.286::digital

Here's the list.

_Fortune_ Managazine has a_annual poll where the ask 10,000 executives, 
directors, and financial analysts on which U.S. Corporation they most and 
least admire. Here's the top and bottom 10

10 Most Admired			10 Least Admired
---------------			----------------
 1. Rubbermaid			386. Digital Equipment Corporation
 2. Microsoft			387. Southern Pacific Rail
 3. Coca-Cola			388. Glendale Federal Bank
 4. Motorola			389. Continental Airlines
 5. Home Depot			390. California Federal Bank
 6. Intel			391. Leslie Fay
 7. Proctor & Gamble		392. Kmart
 8. 3M				393. USAir
 9. United Parcel Service	394. Borden
10. Hewlett-Packard		395. Trans World Airlines

Extra bonus for us down here in this way. We get to work for Digital and
fly on USAir.

TTom

    I'm surprised Intel made #6. I would have expected 5.99874.

    
    Any response from corporate?
    

    
    I do not remember who said it but "there is only one thing worse
    than being talked about:  not being talked about."
    
    Dan

                 ...we best start answering our phones better!

    Re: .5
    
    Thanks for the chuckle.
    
    bill

    	The intriguing thing to me was that I only recognised the names of
    9 out of the 20 companies listed, and some of those I only recognised
    because over the last 25 years I have on average spent a couple of
    weeks per year in the U.S.. I would never have heard of K-mart without
    the benefit of business trips.

    We're Digital and people admire us more than both K-Mart and USAir

    You don't have to admire us to buy the fastest workstations around...

    
    10th Bottom to 4th top in one simple takeover...
    
    I wonder if my new bosses will swap my DEC stock for Motorola stock.  

Here in the UK some of those are houshold names - but some I have 
never heard of.....

The one I thought showed the type of company you need to be to get 
admired was the No. 1 top of the list:

 	1. Rubbermaid     

I don't know what they do..... but a good guess would not be 
printable!!

    Indeed, you've just GOT to admire a company that dares to carry
    a name like that :-)

    But I do not believe that the name carries the same connotations
    in the US that it does in parts of Europe.
    
    C

    I wonder how *they* answer their telephones!!!
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

>                                -< Rubbermaid >-

    They make a wide variety of very high quality, rubber food containers
    for holding leftovers, juice, etc and other kitchen type rubber
    items like trashcans, spatulas, etc.

    US connotation: articles that keeps the wife happy
    European connotation: article that keeps hubby happy...

    
    Well, you can go ahead and blow it off, but its an 'attitude' which is
    keeping Digital from being considered a real player at times.
    
    Coupled with the continued exodus from engineering, which is
    NOT hidden from customers, since one day their dealing with engineer-A,
    and the next its engineer-B.  Its just one more item for the
    'NOT DEC List'.  (Yeah, they just don't listen, they still say DEC)
    

    .4
    
    I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said that.

    
    ....hello this is digital one of the least admired corporations in
    
    
    the world....how can we help you....hello....hello....hello....
    
    

    	As I have said before, if we are in a COMMODITY MARKET then this
    sort of thing doesn't matter. If we are really in a commodity market,
    then we can be rated worst employer in the world, zero stock price, in
    backruptcy court, and maybe even environmentally unfriendly, and people
    will still buy our stuff provided its price/performance is right.
    
    	Come to that, since it seems that I am not the only European who
    has not heard of all of the companies on the list, we could maybe just
    drop selling *anything* in the U.S.. That would cost us less than half
    of our revenue, and maybe save more than half of our costs. If we get a
    poor rating in the U.S., then sell elsewhere if such a rating is
    important.
    
    (I'm a bit dubious about the "environmentally unfriendly" bit, but as
    long as DEC doesn't do much manufacturing in Europe it is probably all
    right).

re .15:

Nit.  Almost everything Rubbermaid makes these days is plastic.

	Maybe we should change our name to "rubberdigit"?
	(Run that up the, er, flagpole...)

		Dick

    
    	Look at it this way. Now that we are at the bottom, we have no
    place to go but up. In any regard, I would sure like an Alpha Server
    that runs native Netware.
    
    		the Greyhawk

    
    -.1
    
    If you want an AlphaAnything to run native NetWare go talk to Novell.
    My understanding is *they* pulled the plug.
    Go figure.
    
    -Mike Z.

The most important thing we can do with this information is to benchmark against
our competition. The real question is, are we where we should be for this
industry with respect to them? We can ignore Microsoft, they are an obvious
statistical anomaly; Wall St. has to love a guy who's worth $7 billion on paper.

    I don't think anyone has posted the criteria for the rankings... from
    memory they were:
    
    	Innovation             (we would seem to be okay here)
    	Community Service      (past few years we've totally got out of this)
    	Environmental Concerns (we seem to have a good record here)
    	????
    and Ability to Attract and Keep Good Employees (Think we got a 
    							good mark here? :-()
    
Someone please fill in the one I'm missing.

    Profit?

    
    	How 'bout   Market share
    		    Growth
    		    Articulated Corporate Strategy
    
    
    
    		the Greyhawk (and getting grayer everyday)

    
    re.23
    
    They used to say/think that at another computer company I worked at.
    
    
    Besides up...there is out.
    
    But at least it's Friday.
    
    

    I dug the article in USA Today out of the trash... here's the text:
    
    	"Among the categories in which companies were judged: management,
    	 quality of products and services, innovation, community or 
     	 environmental responsibility, and the ability to attract, develop, 
    	 and keep talented employees"
    
    Re: Profit:
    
     I would bet if a company were ranked high in most of the
    above, especially management, innovation and employee development, that
    the profit would take care of itself.

    I wonder if Palmer is checking the CEO compensation of the bottom 9
    to see if his pay is in line.  Could be time for another raise!

    RE. The criteria. Let's see...
    
    Management - Yep, hit a core competency there. Shoulda done good there.
    
    Quality of Products and Services - OK on the products and what services
    we still offer are OK, a bit pricy, but OK.
    
    Innovation - What else would you call it when a company with less than
    5% market share trys to create a 64-bit market in the midst of a 32-bit 
    world. OK, so some other catchy words and phrases come to mind, but
    there aren't criteria categories for those. 
    
    Community involvement or environmental responsibility - I say giving
    almost 50,000 people more time to spend in their communities but
    relieving them of the need to go to work shows real commitment.
    
    Attract, develop and hold good employees - I say giving almost 50,000
    people more time to spend in their communities but relieving them of
    the need to go to work shows real commitment. Next question please.
    
    So how'd we miss the top ten, with winning answers like these? The
    answer must be that they didn't understand our answers. We need to
    explain it better. See, if all these people don't have to go to work any
    more then you can have two crossing guards at each street corner and
    then...
                                              
    -OFWAMI-

    New Strategy:
    
    Notice that Intel and Microsquish are in top 10. Also, Motorola, who
    will make Alpha chips for us when they buy Queensferry FAB.
    
    These three are major suppliers to Digital. [I guess we use loads of
    3M Post-its too ?]
    
    We should give a free Rubbermaid voucher to each customer who buys
    our stuff. A spatula for a PC. An entire kitchen full of stuff for
    a Turbolaser. That should do the trick. Maybe.  :-(
    
    
    AW

     WORLDWIDE NEWS                                               Livewire
    
        1   Palmer responds to negative 'Fortune' article (16-Feb)

    OK!!  Let me understand this.... 
    Motorola, Intel, Dec?  That would put us up in the top three. However
    this wouldn't be a sound move.  We would have to hire all the people we
    let go and then our communities would suffer.  Our children would no
    longer have crossing gaurds to protect them.  !!!NOT PRUDENT!!
    
    Will someone please find the Rubbermaid........
    What if we become...DigiterRubb?

    I'm glad that Bob Palmer responded so quickly to the article.  My
    only concern is that the response focuses only on financial performance
    and technology and says nothing about the personnel issues that
    are going to be the key factor in the survival of Digital.  
    
    We have gone years without a positive sign of commitment to the
    employees of Digital.   Not even a token effort that might cost 
    some dollars now but reap longterm benefits.  Like what, you say?
    
    	How about:
    
    	A promise that medical insurance costs will not increase next
    	year...
    	
    	or 	
    
    	A voucher redeemable for 75% off the price of a DECpc...
    
        or
    
    	Stock options for everyone with a target price of $70 
    
        or
    
        A turkey  :-)
    
    
    	  
    

    re .33
    Motorola will be making Alpha chips at SQF?!  I know they agreed to
    pick up the AMD contract, but I seriously doubt they'll be making
    Alphas.  Where did you hear/read this?  It certainly wasn't mentioned
    in any of the releases about the SQF sale.  KB

    re .37
    
    suggest you read 3536.10
    
    

> Note 3704.37 by PCBUOA::KRATZ
>
>    re .33
>   Motorola will be making Alpha chips at SQF?!  I know they agreed to
>    pick up the AMD contract, but I seriously doubt they'll be making
>    Alphas.  Where did you hear/read this?  It certainly wasn't mentioned
>    in any of the releases about the SQF sale.  KB
    
    
    We have the right to some number of wafer starts per week for
    something like two years.  This is part of the sales agreement.
    They will be making Alpha and PCI chips for us during that time.
    
    -Bruce
    

    re.36
    
    geee....don't forget "profit sharing".
    
    or...would that be too long of a wait.
    
    

    The fortune list means less when you look at the way it's put together.
    10000 executives were polled for their list of 10 companies in their
    own industry they feel are worthy of emulation. Even making the list
    at all meant someone in the industry put us on their top 10 list. Also
    this survey was taken months ago, pre-FDIV so that's why Intel is where
    it is. 

    
    Doubtful the average reader will see it that way.
    
    If you make the "bad" list, it kind of sticks in one's mind.
    
    
    
    

And you know we'd be puttin it in our ads if'n we had come out in the
good 10.

I read Palmer's reply. Lame, at best. "Yeah we sucked, but we don't suck
that bad now."

TTom

Worldwide News                                                         LIVE WIRE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Palmer responds to negative 'Fortune' ...                      Date: (17-Feb-95)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

             Palmer responds to negative 'Fortune' article
 
         (The cover story in the March 6 edition of "Fortune" magazine
   features America's most admired corporations.  Digital placed 386th
   out of 395 overall and 10th among the 10 companies in its category in
   the "Fortune" survey.
         (The data for the "Fortune" article was collected beginning in
   September 1994, prior to Digital's improved earnings and aggressive
   advertising.
         (Following is the text of President Robert B. Palmer's letter
   to senior managers responding to the "Fortune" article and providing
   information that reflects Digital's much-improved performance since
   the "Fortune" poll was conducted.  The text of the letter may be used
   with accounts and partners who express concern about the perceptions
   the "Fortune" article may create.  A related article will appear in 
   "Digital Today," U.S. edition, Feb. 20, and in the next edition of
   "Selling News" [U.S.])
 
         Attached for your information is a copy of Fortune Magazine's
         annual "Most Admired Corporations" article.  This cover story
         is based on a survey of executives in Fortune 500 companies
         and reports their perception and ranking of 395 American
         corporations.  The study began and was largely completed last
         September, although some study results apparently trickled
         in as late as November.
 
         Digital finished 10th of the 10 companies in our category
         and 386th overall.  While this is obviously unwelcome news,
         it probably should not be surprising, since the survey was
         conducted at what was certainly a low water mark for Digital.
         You may recall that last September our stock was trading in
         the mid $20s and that we had not yet reported even our first
         quarter earnings. Analysts were almost universally pessimistic,
         and media coverage was quite negative.  Also at that time, our
         new business model was still under construction and months
         from implementation.
 
         Since last September, we have announced and begun to implement
         many of the details of our new business model, brought 
         exciting and award-winning new products to market, made
         tremendous progress in cost reductions, reported encouraging
         results for not one, but two, quarters, seen our stock price
         rise about 40 percent, and repositioned the company with
         aggressive new advertising.  And, not surprisingly, media
         and analyst opinions have measurably improved.
         
         But despite all this, some employees and customers will read
         this article as news, and we will find ourselves dealing anew
         with many of the questions we hoped were behind us.
         Communications will do a preemptive article on this topic in
         the next issues of "Digital Today" and "Selling News," and
         will respond quickly to any additional media inquiries on
         this topic.  Our position will be that the article contains
         somewhat dated information that does not take into account
         the great progress we have made in the last four to five 
         months.  If you are faced with similar questions, I invite
         you to supply your own examples.
         
         A company's reputation is slowly and painstakingly built 
         but can be quickly diminished by adversity.  This story is 
         a sobering reminder that our reputation is largely shaped
         by measurable results, and it should remind everyone in
         Digital of the importance of achieving those results --
         this quarter and beyond.
 
         Regards,
         Bob

                       FOR DIGITAL INTERNAL USE ONLY

    .....RE .44  NOT IMPRESSED............
    
    HORNET
    

I've been doing product outsourcings.  One major partner recently commented
that Digital doesn't have business plans, Digital has financial plans.  This
comment seemed ever so applicable after seeing Bob Palmer's response and
reading that the financial metric to be used will be cash flow.

Jim

    Lets face it.
    If the same survey was carried out using ten or fifty thousand Digital
    employees,the results would probably be the same or close.In
    fact,didn't we do a survey that asked whether we admired Digital(but in
    a little more detail-like 'is stealing another managers revenue a core
    competancy that you admire....') 
    And weren't the results roughly in line with Fortunes?And what did we
    do about it?Probably lots,but other notes would imply that *maybe* the
    morale issue is fixed but certainly the admiration one isn't.
    Still,I am relieved to see that the new organisation chart is shaping
    up..

    
    
    I don't know if I would agree with the moral issue being fixed..
    
    Rick

    
    ....MORALE....we don't need no stinking morale!!!
    
    hornet

    I would like to respond to the rebuttal, and maybe, just maybe 
    someone with title that has more than 2 syllables will read, and
    re-act at a level that I can see.
    
    I am a "call screener" in the Colorado CSC.  And I get to talk
    to customers not only from specific geographies, but from all over
    the country.
    
    And they "customers" are not happy!!
    
    I have tried to write this next paragraph about 5 times and I am
    still not sure where to start.  It seems whatever I put down in 
    words will generate "labels" and again NO POSITIVE ACTION;
    " Other than SLT and others are meeting to discuss the current situations
    and trying to establish or find a means to resolve the negetive
    impact being felt by the customers".
    
    So, instead of writing an article stating what I know is a fact from
    personal expierence, I will challenge anybody who can make change
    in the way we do business, at the customer level, to sit with 
    me for at least a week to hear, see and feel the NEGATIVE impact
    that our customers are getting, feeling and hearing.
    
    Any Takers?   or doesn't anybody walk the talk?
    
    
    Jeff

    
    	Couldn't agree with Jeff more.
    
    	It is a story that is being repeated every day in the field without
    	corrective action or focus. 
    
    	But then, as a sales rep, my goals and my managers' goals are not
    	the same.
    
    			the Greyhawk

    re: -.2
    
    I've always found that systems designed by management never work if
    they don't involve the end users (no real surprise here).  I've been
    "talked at" by various levels of management but have yet to see anyone
    ever stop in and perform some analysis.
    
    IMHO, the best way to determine what's eating at the customers would be
    sitting next to Jeff for awhile.  "Whatever it Takes", right?  Or have
    they already done this and the problem is the manner in which we answer
    our phones? :^]
    
    								Tex

    
    	Tex, your perceptiveness is beyond comprehension. I now know why I
    like you, and Roelef, and Harry, plus several others so much. 
    
    	Why is it that the simpliest solutions defy management's logic?
    
    
    		the Greyhawk 

    .53
    Because your talking mgmt here.

    Oxymoron, like "military intelligence" or "government planning".  
    
    Y'all are slippin', Greyhawk.  :^]
    
    								Tex

    
    	It must be because I get to spend the next two days in meetings
    with all of them. I just get so pumped....
    
    		the Greyhawk

    'tis a bit hard to contain one's excitement when you're in a
    business-speak feeding frenzy...
    
    Mgt: "Corson, there is goodness in that and I value your opinion.  Let me
    point out that the short-term objectives you've described are valuable,
    but in broader context may not be synergistic with the direction we, as
    Digital, are taking as a whole.  Now, if we can interface with Planning
    I think...."
    
    Corson: "Look, all I said was 'I gotta pee, back in a moment, OK'?"
    
    Mgt: "I understand your concern on this issue, believe me, and let me
    tell you I'm with you on the objectives 100%.  Prioritization, however,
    is paramount to implementation of...Um, excuse me.  What are you doing
    with my coffee cup?"
    
    Corson: "Fulfilling one short term objective and one long term dream."
    
    							:^] Tex

    re .57:
    
    Thanks. I needed that!
    
    8-)
    
    ...tom

    Yo Tex, you've got me cryin' on the keyboard here! :-) :-) :-)
    
    Harry
    

    Tex..!! 
    
    
    Thats about the size of what we hear around here..except sometimes
    It's "I can actually manage you and your job...Oh, what is it you 
    do again?"
    
    I don't need to know what you do, only what the biznizz goals are.
    
    
    You BET!!
    
    Tex, again ya hit the hammer with your thumb, or is that hammer and
    nail...Oh well I really don't need to know the specifics...
    
    Thanks for the HUMOR!!
    
    
    Jeff

    
    	Tex -
    
    	Now my curiousity meter has hit 11.
    
    	And, what praytell, did Mr. Manager *DO* with that coffee cup?
    
    	You are tooooo much....
    
    		the Greyhawk_who_is_in_virtual_hysterics

    Greyhawk...it's important to point out to management that, as we've
    often been told, perception *is* reality, thusly if he perceives his
    beverage as Lemon Mocha there should be no problem...
    
    (further suggested reading: "Dogbert's Clues for the Clueless")
    
    							Tex
    
    PS: I'm gonna be up in the Great Frozen North, home of the perpetrators
    of the Great War of Northern Aggression (1860-1995) around March 26th,
    way it looks, specifically at MRO working with Kris Guerin & Dave
    O'Brien on an internal software upgrade.  Now, I don't know where y'all
    are from, but it shouldn't matter, as those Union states are about the
    size of our airport anyway.  Anyone got a spare set of Long Johns and
    some time for a sit down, I'd love to meet y'all for a long-haired,
    whiskey-drinkin', politically incorrect evenin' of swappin' lies.
    
    Can someone suggest somewhere I won't get kicked outta too quick?

    
    	Tex -
    
    	VMSmail me off-line. I can't think of anything that be more fun...
    
    
    		the Greyhawk

Tex:

> Can someone suggest somewhere I won't get kicked outta too quick?

  Texas?

                                   Atlant

    
    
    >> Can someone suggest somewhere I won't get kicked outta too quick?
    
     The CommonWealth of Virginia of course!
    
    -Mike Z.
    

    Slip over to Belgium, we tolerate all sorts here!
    
    Cheers, Laurie$game_for_a_beer.

    Sounds great!  Where's the bridge?

Underneath the tunnel to the other REAL beer country

Alan

    
    	I didn't know Tex was coming to Wisconsin ;-)
    
    
    		the Greyhawk_who_parties_with_cheeseheads_all_the_time