Since 2001, when the tech slowdown hit countries in the West, high-tech
industries have experienced one of their most economically depressed peri
-
ods. An upturn in all sectors began in late 2003, but the telecom industry
and the computer industry were still lagging behind; their profitability
owing more to cost cutting than to revenue expansion. The technology
recovery is far from being solid and in any case, the projections of unlimited
growth are over. Famous firms at the beginning of this decade, such as
WorldCom, Qwest, Marconi, or NTL, or stellar dot-com companies, such as
WebVan, 360networks, or Boo.com, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
or imploded while thousands of lesser-known companies have disappeared
from the market altogether. More or less, all of those high-tech companies
had forgotten about the reality of the market and of their customers.
Obsessed with technology, especially the Internet, they had unrealistic
expectations about the market’s acceptance of their products. Their business
plans anticipated revenues and costs that were far too high for any company
to attain or sustain. When sales failed to materialize, these high-tech firms
were not able to cover their costs, and soon folded.
At the same time, many customers, notably large corporations, have
started to take their revenge on high-tech vendors. They no longer accept
innovations or updates like they did in the 1990s. Now they wait to replace
existing equipment in an effort to reduce their investment in technology.
Consequently, life has become very tough for a large majority of high-
tech companies, whose revenues, profits, and number of employees have
plummeted.
However, in the middle of this economic storm, some firms have man
-
aged to survive and even thrive by exploiting their competitors’ failures.
Companies such as Nokia, IBM, Cisco Systems, Samsung, SAP, Yahoo,
Vodafone, Amazon, eBay, and many others are stronger and in some cases
even more profitable than before the Internet crash and the following
downturn. The third edition of this book explains to the reader how these
companies managed to survive and to grow in this hostile economic envi
-
ronment. To put it briefly, those successful high-technology companies do
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment