Compaq

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Signature MoveThirteen-Hour Meeting as Onboarding Ritual

Relationship LeverageFoxconn's Loss-Leader-to-Lock-In Playbook

Risk DoctrineTacit Knowledge as Accidental Export

Competitive AdvantageApple Squeeze: Invaluable Experience Over Margin

Identity & CultureVerbal Jujitsu Procurement Culture

Signature MoveDesign the Impossible Then Manufacture the Impossible

Signature MoveFifty Business Class Seats Daily to Shenzhen

Operating PrincipleZero Inventory as Theological Doctrine

Strategic PatternUnconstrained Design Not Cost Arbitrage

Cornerstone MoveSecret $275 Billion Kowtow to Keep the Machine Running

Signature MoveSilk Tie Competitions to Train Negotiators

Cornerstone MoveScrew It, iTunes for Windows

Cornerstone MoveBuy the Machines, Own the Factory Floor Without Owning a Factory

Signature MoveDrive Off the Cliff to Prove the Brakes Don't Work

Cornerstone MoveTrain Everyone Then Pit Them Against Each Other

Risk DoctrineRule By Law as Corporate Leash

Decision FrameworkBig Potato Small Potato: Positional Power Over Fairness

Cornerstone MoveEquity Stakes for Distribution Leverage

Competitive AdvantageCableLabs Royalty-Free Standards Play

Cornerstone MoveStock Architecture to Lock Control

Competitive AdvantageBlackout as Franchise Leverage

Capital StrategyTax-Sheltered Growing Annuity

Capital StrategyInsurance Company Capital Over Banks

Signature MoveNever Bet the Whole Farm

Strategic PatternWarrants as Industry Coordination Currency

Decision FrameworkEmpathy as Negotiation Architecture

Signature MoveThrow the Keys on the Table

Signature MoveOwn a Small Piece of a Winner You Can't Run

Operating PrincipleDecentralized Cowboys with Centralized Benchmarks

Risk DoctrineWhat If Not as Decision Filter

Strategic PatternScale Economics as Survival Doctrine

Signature MoveAsk One Sharp Question to Crack Open Intel

Signature MoveCash Flow Not Earnings as Currency

Cornerstone MoveBuy the System, Pay With Its Own Cash Flow

Identity & CultureIntrovert's Edge Through Listening

Primary Evidence

"Cook departed into a senior position at PC wholesaler Intelligent Electronics, bringing order to a distressed business with bloated costs and wasted assets. In 1997 he graduated into a vice president position at Compaq—a dream role. Compaq, whose origins trace back to three friends scribbling their business plans on a napkin in a Houston pie shop, was the first company to clone the IBM PC in 1982. By 1997 it was King of the Clones, with $34 billion of revenue. Cook had been there only a matter of months when recruiters from Apple began calling. He demurred, so they delivered what was quickly becoming a signature move: They offered a personal interview with Steve Jobs."

Source:Apple in China

"As the excitement over high-speed modems made headlines, I got a call in December 1994 from John Doerr, a Silicon Valley investor at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, renowned for his Midas touch with start-ups in the computer industry. He backed Compaq, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, and later, Amazon and Google."

Source:Born to Be Wired

Appears In Volumes

Apple in China Born to Be Wired