To: Amy J who wrote (92135 ) 11/12/1999 3:20:00 PM From: Windsock Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 186894
How Intel Played It Right: From Businessweek > Commentary: How Intel Played It Right > Nobody has ever called Intel Corp. a pushover, especially in legal > matters. But the combative chip giant was more helpful than hostile when > the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into its business > practices in 1998. Intel quietly complied with the FTC's subpoenas and > strove to keep the investigation out of the limelight. In the end, the > case was settled before it went to court, just nine months after it was > filed, on terms judged favorable to Intel by most analysts. The key > victory: Intel avoided being tagged a monopoly. > Too bad Microsoft Corp. didn't follow the same strategy when it tangled > with the feds. From the start, Microsoft has alternated between > high-handedness and naivete in its dealings with the government. When the > feds charged in late 1997 that Microsoft had violated a 1994 consent > decree regulating its software-licensing practices, the company countered > by mocking Attorney General Janet Reno publicly. When antitrust > investigators launched their probe, Microsoft chose to drag its feet > instead of cooperating. > CHILDISH TRICKS. Worst of all, Microsoft tried to finesse its way through > a landmark federal court proceeding, marshalling doctored demos, equivocal > testimony, and a squirming deposition by Chairman William H. Gates III. > The results are now apparent: Judge Thomas P. Jackson did not buy > Microsoft's performance. > More than anything, the outcomes of the cases against the twin titans of > technology underscore the difference between aggressiveness and arrogance. > Intel is incomparably ferocious, but Chairman Andrew S. Grove and other > managers have known setbacks and tough times--among them the company's > wrenching 1985 decision to exit the memory-chip business and the > snowballing public humiliation of the Pentium bug in 1994. Those > challenges taught Intel if not humility, then at least some savviness in > navigating crises. And they've reinforced that compromise can be smarter > than holding out for total victory. > Microsoft, by contrast, suffers from a youthful cockiness that it should > have outgrown. Its reaction to the antitrust case 'was that of a child in > a supermarket who flings himself on the floor, kicking and screaming, when > his mother says he can't have a piece of candy,' says Paul Saffo, > director of the Institute for the Future. Microsoft seemed to view the > case as an affront, a roadblock to be overcome with the same potent mix of > bullying and spin control it uses so effectively in the market. > It didn't have to be this way. After its brush with trustbusters in the > early 1990s, Microsoft could have adopted an antitrust compliance program > similar to the one Intel has employed for a decade. More importantly, it > could have treated the consent decree as a wakeup call to create a more > mature and cooperative corporate culture. Instead, like kids who think > they've snookered the grownups, Microsoft pushed the envelope even further > in its dealings with customers and rivals. > MANNERS COUNT. Intel, of course, is no wallflower. But by playing it cool > and agreeing to concessions, it escaped its brush with the FTC unharmed. > The chipmaker 'adopted a very professional and cordial tone' throughout > the legal battle, says Richard G. Parker, director of the FTC's Bureau of > Competition. Contrast that to Microsoft. Having now been labeled a > monopoly, the software maker faces an uncertain future. It is more subject > to follow-on civil suits from aggrieved rivals. Any attempted settlement > with the government now starts from a seriously weakened legal position. > And if Microsoft fights on, it faces the threat of structural remedies, > possibly even a court-ordered breakup. > Gates and team might have avoided much of that if they had shown less > hubris. Like a child prodigy, Microsoft is all brilliance and energy, not > yet possessed of wisdom. The next few years may help it grow up. > > By Andy Reinhardt >