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To: andreas fauler who wrote (2275)	1/14/1998 1:09:00 PM
From: Pierre-X	Respond to of 9256

Re: Specialization You said: ...the more a company is specialized on customers and products, the bigger is the risk to fail! So ... would you characterize Coca Cola as a risk company, teetering on the brink of failure? How about Intel? They're pretty specialized on customers and products. You cite IBM, which is hardly a specialized company. Their confusion of focus is precisely the reason why I avoid investing there. specialists love things they know well but they usualy don't like the change On the contrary, successful specialists are the instruments of change. PX

To: andreas fauler who wrote (2275)	1/14/1998 2:41:00 PM
From: Stitch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9256

andreas, I couldn't disagree with you more. I can think of way more examples of companies that failed because they tried to be all things to all people. There are only three basic strategys available to an enterprise. Broad Line, Low Cost/technical Leadership,/ or Niche marketing. I suspect the Hall of fame is way more populated by the last of these then the other two. Try reading Porter on niche marketing. Also, try to think of the cornucopia of succesful entrpraneuership that has drive the U.S. to such a preeminent position in the world today. Try to remember what has happened to all those big, multinational, conglomerated, multidivivional companies of the 50's. You ended your pedantia with "specialists love things they know well but they usualy don't like the change." A non sequiter if I ever saw one. Today's really succesful companies (and best investment opportunities) are focused on doing one thing especially well and regularly "eat their young" to bring out improved versions. If they don't they die. Flexibilty has nothing to do with multiple product lines. IMHO, Stitch