Cisco CEO in The Economist: “Our pieces are all tied to the network”
In this week’s print edition, The Economist focuses on Cisco as part of a package on why ‘Big is back.’ An interesting and intelligent read, what I like best about the story is it’s clear look at how Cisco focuses on two things with near maniacal focus – innovation and operational excellence.
The story takes deep look at Cisco, both at the market adjacencies we aim to serve and how we are organizing the company. It makes clear what we know – it’s tough and a work in progress – while making clear also that in order to succeed, change is the only constant.
The piece states that moving into new areas for Cisco “are best seen as a portfolio of business bets, much like those of diversified companies such as 3M and General Electric (GE). Yet Mr Chambers is keen to point out how Cisco’s collection is different. “GE’s is comprised of individual pieces. The light-bulb group doesn’t tie into the jet-engine group,” he explains. “Our pieces are all tied to the network.”
The closing paragraph best sums up the article:
“Given its track record with other institutional innovations such as acquisitions and outsourcing, Cisco has a good chance of coming to exemplify a new world of “co-ordinate and cultivate” in the same way that GE stood for “command and control”. If this does not come to pass, it will not have been for want of ambition. After all, Mr Chambers’s goal, as he recently put it, is nothing less than for Cisco to become “the best company in the world”.
We are obviously pleased that there is a lot of interest in what we are doing at Cisco and strive every day to listen to customers and deliver the best possible technology and innovation that we can. We’d love to listen to you too…what’s your perspective?
Posted by Terry Anderson at 08:17AM PST
thanks
Marc Musgrove Aug 28, 2009
You can also listen to the article as an audio feature here on the Economist website (under Editor’s highlights): http://bit.ly/2tNket
Alternatively, you can download it here as an mp4 if you are an Economist subscriber:
http://www.economist.com/audioedition/