What do Ferrari, VMware, Apple and Sybase have in common?
By Ross O. Storey
03 Feb 2009
One of my favourite movies is The Life of Brian produced in 1979 by the British comedy team Monty Python. At the time, critics described it as ‘a motion picture destined to offend nearly two thirds of the civilized world, and severely annoy the other third’.
The song, which was the finale of the movie, was ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’, and if you want a bit of a chuckle, you should check it out and listen to the lyrics.
The reason I raise this, is that the song could very well be a good theme to the current economic downturn. It seems that every day in the past few months, we have been bombarded with negative stories about job losses, restructuring and falling profits.
So much so, that it would be very easy to overlook some recent successes which demonstrate that yes, some enterprises are indeed still doing very well, despite the credit crunch. In the interests of balance and maintaining a positive outlook, I want to highlight some of these successes here:
Ferrari: While many US car makers saw profits and sales plummet in 2008, Italian luxury car manufacturer Ferrari bucked the trend and recorded its best year for sales, earnings and profits. This prompted one industry observer to say that “Everyone wants to save money and cut costs, but nobody wants to cut back on value’. This observer said: “Value is always assessed by the buyer not the seller. If you are a ‘value’ product or service, and can show that value from the perspective of the customer, they will always find the money. When you are a premium value product and you charge appropriately, the number of customers you require is nowhere near as large.” Perhaps there’s a message here for senior IT executives too. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo told the end of year media conference that: "Enzo Ferrari said to me in the 1970s fuel crisis we would always find 1500 people crazy enough to buy a Ferrari. Adjusting the numbers for 2009, I think that we'll continue to find 6000 people crazy enough to buy a Ferrari."
VMWare: Virtualisation solutions provider VMWare achieved annual revenue growth of 42 per cent in 2008 to $1.9 Billion. Paul Maritz, president and chief executive officer of Vmware said that his firm’s customers “continue to make VMware a strategic priority because our solutions – used by more than 130,000 customers – help reduce capital and operational costs”. “In 2008, we made strategic investments in our technology, partnerships and business operations that position us well for 2009 and beyond,” continued Maritz. “We are making solid progress on our three key initiatives to build on our virtualization leadership in the datacenter, the cloud and on the desktop. We are executing on our product roadmap, strengthening our ecosystem of partners, and bolstering our management team – both globally and operationally. VMware is well-prepared for the opportunities and challenges ahead.” For the first quarter of 2009, VMware is planning for total revenues of approximately US$475 million. Is they key to Vmare’s success making ‘strategic’ investments when everybody else is cutting back?
Apple: In the fourth quarter of 2008, Apple reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone—which sold more units than RIM. Mac computer sales reached an all-time high. In its latest results, Apple posted a record US $1.61 billion profit on $10.17 billion in revenue. While many of the other consumer-facing tech companies are missing their targets and suffering falling revenues decline, the apple tree continues to grow, and, despite the premium prices of Apple products, the firm is gaining market share in almost all of its product categories.
Sybase: This enterprise infrastructure and mobile software provider has just announced its best quarter and year in the company’s history, with its 2008 full-Year revenue having increased 10 per cent on 2007, driven by database license growth of 28 per cent and Messaging Growth of 29 per cent. Sybase Chairman, CEO, and President, John Chen said: “We are extremely proud to deliver our first-ever quarter exceeding $300 million in revenue, as well as record results for our fifth consecutive quarter and second consecutive year. The market is responding well to our market-leading mobility and analytics technologies, which has enabled us to gain market share. Sybase's success is driven by our consistently strong execution, compelling product portfolio, and long-standing fiscal conservatism.
Mr Chen said that, entering 2009, Sybase’s competitive position and financial foundation are as strong as they have ever been.
“This is the result of judiciously investing in our Unwired Enterprise strategy, together with our ongoing efforts to streamline operations and prudently manage company assets. Even as the macro environment holds uncertainty, I am optimistic in our continued ability to execute well,” he said.
There is an old adage that ‘success leaves clues’ and I am sure there is plenty to learn from the above examples. No doubt there are many other success stories being submerged in the current doom and gloom sludge. Perhaps the message for enterprises is: focus on quality, go the extra mile to please your customers, adopt ‘fiscal conservatism’, set your prices to match your high standards and employ consistently strong execution.
Ross O. Storey, currently the Managing Editor of Fairfax Business Media Asia, is responsible for the editorial content and production of MIS Asia, CIO Asia, Computerworld Singapore and Computerworld Malaysia magazines.
