Lotus Case Study :: essays research papers

Executive Summary & ProblemsIn The Beginning white lily Development Corporation was created by Mitch Kapor, a packet designer whose initial goal was to develop a sophisticated spreadsheet program. The company was founded in 1982 and its headquarters based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.In 1983 lotus created the basic sea wolf application, 1-2-3 DOS for the IBM PC, catapulting them into the largest software company in the world. Lotus was noted as being one of the finest franchises in their business sector.The Rise and Fall Up to 1983 Lotus operated in a largely college industry were only a handful of companies created killer apps such as WordPerfect.Between 1983-1986, Lotus had created Symphony and Jazz which were the first fully integrated application programs to combine word-processing, spreadsheets, graphics, and database management. However, the market responded negatively to the introduction of these products. During 1986, Imitation by Borland and the limited success of Symph ony and Jazz prompted newly take president Jim Manzi to approach product development in at a new angle. Jim Manzi began an acquisition program that would give Lotus, products in every applications category, ultimately resulting in Notes. . Competition Heats UpCompetition in the industry was intense during 1990. Borland and Microsoft had both emerged as large competitors of Lotus. Each had develop duplicate versions of Lotuss 1-2-3- program. The popularity of Microsoft impress the industry when the company introduced a bundled suite that included its spreadsheets, word processors, graphics package, and database manager. There strategic approach to software development and marketing led to a growing market partake for the company. Initially Lotus did not write a version of 1-2-3 for Windows because they did not want to help Microsoft build their contribution brink and attain market acceptance. However, over time Lotus could not ignore the growing success of Microsoft so they event ually rushed a flawed a version of 1-2-3 for Windows to market in 1991. The release of the product caused Lotus great embarrassment, because they reacted to the situation instead pf being proactive in the beginning they made a decision and introduced a product that was not ready for market. Lost OpportunityIn 1990 Lotus made an attempt to gain a significant share of the network application industry by initiating merger negotiations with Novell. The merger of the two companies would have created the largest computer software company in the world. The combined sales for Lotus and Novell in 1989 were $978 million, compared with Microsofts $804 million during the same year.

Eastern Airlines Facing Bankruptcy :: essays research papers

Eastern Airlines Facing BankruptcyIn 1986, Eastern Airlines was in desparate trouble. The fourthquarter of 1985 had shown a $67.4 million loss, and financially expertshad told straight-from-the-shoulder Borman, president and chief executive officer, that theairline had three choices 1) a 20 percent pay cut for all union andnoncontract employees. 2) Filing for Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) or 3) Sellingthe airline. On February 23, 1986, Easterns board of directors met to decidethe fate of the company.hotdog Borman, quickly left his home in Coral Gables to Building 16at Miami International Airport that Sunday evening, to discuss plans on savingthe airlines. The board of directors had set for dinner followingafternoon session and was scheduled to convene at 730 p.m. At the earliermeeting, Wayne Yeoman, senior vice president for finance, had spent most ofthe time outlining the details of Texas Airs offer to buy Eastern. FrankLorenzo and Frank Borman had been talking since December originall yabout consolidating the computerized reservation systems, then , asEasterns problems deepen, about a possible sale.As Frank entered his office, he found his his loyal excutive assistantWayne Yeoman and Dick Magurno, Easterns senior vice president for legalaffairs. For about 20 minutes the three discussed the fourthcoming meetingand the prospects for saving the airline. Negotiations were going to keep downaround for ALPA and TWU but no break from the IAM. The IAM would not budgesince Charlie Byran, head of the machinists union, stood firm against a 20percent wage cut.At 730 the board meeting began with the discussion of the Texas Airoffer, concentrating on some of the conditions attached to the buying of thecompany. More talk and hours dragged on. Finally word got out that ALPA wasnearing an agreement. The meeting recessed for an hour.During the recess Frank needed to get Charlies surport on the 20percent pay cut, otherwise the company was going to sold. He told Charlie tocome up to his office. Frank told Charlie, " weve been at this since 83 andyou have to recognize it cant go on. I have every reason to believe that thepilots and flight attendants are going to give us what we need. I know itsmore difficult for you because your contract is not open. But I know youhave a sense of history. We have a very ripe opportunity to cure this airline,and if you just understand this, in the long run youll come out a stronger,more admirable person. Choose the harder right sort of of the easier wrong, and