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To: Art Bechhoefer who wrote (18319)	1/19/2001 11:57:50 AM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Art, responding to your Xerox comment: It still hasn't occurred to many of the Connecticut based Xerox executives that other company products, particularly at the low and medium priced parts of the market are simply less expensive and work better Well MAYBE there's one or two, but I bet everybody else at Xerox is quite aware of the situation. I will state a couple of "facts" that might pertain: At least as early as the late '60's there was (maybe still is) a competitive evaluation section within Xerox that evaluated most if, not all, competitor offerings. Not only was the purpose to see if competitors violated Xerox patents, but also to perform comparison tests - features and quality and reliability and service - between Xerox and competitors. Report results often went to all levels of the management structure, including the CEO. By the early '80's it was well known at Xerox that competitor products (substantially equivalent in performance/quality) were being sold in the marketplace at prices for what it cost Xerox just to manufacture theirs. That fact was used for years to galvanize employees for corporate-wide quality initiatives to reduce mfg. costs, and imo, to prepare employees for what would be the unpleasant direction required to compete - reducing admin. costs -SGA - outsourcing, reduction of benefits, consolidations, etc. Still, through the '80's and '90's, it is my belief that Xerox executives at all levels believed that sales could not be made on the basis of price alone -- Xerox was not competitive on price. Thus an emphasis on all facets of customer service (designed installations, service guarantees, etc.), as well as emphasis on product features. So it is my opinion, it is not that, as I infer from your post, that Xerox executives far away from Rochester NY are unaware of issues who are the problem or that such people (if they exist) are symptomatic of Xerox ills. The people are very aware. But being aware and attempting desperately to fix critical issues -- that may not be enough at all given Xerox problems with debt, with core business markets (high volume copying/duplicating) stagnant (and being attacked by competitors), with growing markets (distributed printing and personal laser/ink jet printing) ably served by others. Paul Senior