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To: Michael H who wrote (37145)	12/29/2000 4:40:00 AM
From: Bruce Brown	Respond to of 54805

Michael, you're right on track with your tornado thoughts. It is akin to Henry Ford's famous (yet paraphrased by me) tornado strategy saying: "You can have any color Model T that you want, as long as it's black." Eventually, the cycle expands to offer other colors, versions, features, better service, better maintenance, etc... . BB

To: Michael H who wrote (37145)	12/29/2000 8:54:46 AM
From: DownSouth	Respond to of 54805

Good clarification on Moore's "Inside the Tornado" strategy, Michael. ARBA is having the problems very typical of software companies in a race to meet the competition. Delivering buggy versions with major enhancements is par. It is usually caused by a few important customers demanding promised changes on promised dates. This is disturbing to those trying to implement (been there, done that), and in the implementor's eyes the company is a failure. However, if the vendor is meeting the needs of the few companies that are driving this troubled version, and if the vendor cleans up the major problems in a timely manner, they usually are in a better position than if they delayed delivery until the software was less faulty (been there, too). My advice is to take a longer look at ARBA, despite lkj's vigorous and informed opinion.

To: Michael H who wrote (37145)	12/29/2000 9:05:51 AM
From: Mike Buckley	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 54805

What ARBA is doing seems to be to deliver a unfinished product to win customers over C1 and take care of product improvements later. I don't have an opinion about Ariba's product but I've enjoyed following the discussion. From an outsider's point of view, I get the feeling that some are thinking Ariba is using the correct strategy while others think not. My take is that, if Ariba's product is truly inferior to others' products, it's not a question of whether Ariba is executing the proper strategy as much as whether or not they are executing that strategy as well as their competitors. Clearly, none of the procurement products are wholly refined products at this stage in the adoption life cycle. But if the tornado is in progress (as I think it is) and a particular comeptitor's product is shipping as fast or faster than Ariba's, and if the competitor's product is indeed far superior, and if a competitor's value chain above and beyond the customer portion of it is far superior, Ariba will have a tough time of it in the future. --Mike Buckley

To: Michael H who wrote (37145)	12/29/2000 10:03:18 PM
From: lkj	Respond to of 54805

Ignore the customer means, don't diversify your product for a speciality market, deliver a standard product, tell your customer to eat or die. Hi Michael, Thank you for explaining what "ignoring the customer" means. From what I have seen, I would say that Ariba is doing a great job at ignoring the customers. This strategy may be fine when there is no strong competitors. In the B2B market today, there are many stronger competitors such as Oracle, i2, Siebel, SUN, and BEA. And an even more important issue is whether the procurement-focused B2B strategy will really deliver the efficiencies that corporation are demanding, or maybe a fulfillment-focused B2B solution will really do the job. I believe in the latter, which is the most important reason as to why I think Ariba will not be a crucial player in B2B. Regards, lkj