At 2:18 PM 12/4/95, Ed Carp wrote:
That's always a tough position to be in. If Netscape or Microsoft knew what was the "right" thing to do, I don't doubt that they'd be doing it.
That's one of the most politically and socially naive statements I've ever heard. Corporations *never* do the "right thing" unless it will increase their profits. Remember, corporations are in business to make money by providing a product or service that people will pay money for. Whatever gets in the way of that will fall by the wayside. That's an economic fact of life.
I can think of many cases where companies chose courses of actions that seemed to be motivated by choices about what is right and what is wrong. Viewing the "profit landscape," corporations have to balance movement to the "locally most profitable" regions (fertile valleys) or to movement further out into even more profitable regions. It is just not that case that all corporations make decisions about what is the "most profitable," at any cost. They have Boards of Directors with influence, and they have various sorts of "mission statements." This applies to small businesses as well, where the owners often make decisions about which markets to compete in based on their own personal moral choices. Vegetarian restaurants, for example, choose not to offer meat, even when market studies indicate their patronship would probably increase. I also know of electronics companies that, for various reasons, refuse to bid on government contracts. (Partly they fear sinking into a bureaucratic mess, partly they don't want to do military work.) Finally, many companies understand the value of "good will" (as we discuss so often in talking about reputations) and think carefully about how their actions will be perceived _long into the future_. It is the belief, I think, of most of us that Netscape will have its reputation diminished if it acquiesces without a strong fight to government plans for GAK. In this sense, if we are right, Netscape's longterm profits may be affected by their choice. --Tim May Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."