Memos Replaced by Oral OK and a Sharp Pencil

"At CA memos have been replaced by brief face-to-face discus- sions and an oral OK. Russ: “I mean, it’s not so structured in"

"CA’s approach is not quick and dirty, however. It is more like quick and briefly noted. Just as Tony insists the company bal- ance its radical operational side with the kind of highly conserva- tive financial structure that in 1991 held $250 million in cash, Charles knows CA’s very informality demands an accurate and completely up-to-the-minute record of what is going on."

"Poor CA, it didn’t have a pricing committee. Instead, it was compelled to limp along relying on one man with a sharpened pencil. This single individual has the power to set up a price structure and the same power to alter it when a client comes in and says he wants to pay 15 percent down in U.S. currency, with the rest over three years in 40 percent dollars and 60 percent a mixed basket of Portuguese escudos, Italian lire, and Belgian francs—and would it be possible to package the software with another program and pay for that at a 20 percent discount (though the discount does not normally apply to the second program), but beginning 180 days after installation and payable entirely in Swiss francs indexed to today’s dollar—franc rate so long as the spread between the current and later rates does not exceed 10 percent?"