On Dec 9, 2003, at 9:39 AM, Tyler Durden wrote:

Well, I wouldn't apply the word "oppressive" across the board to the cultures of big companies, but the fact is that modern American coporate culture more often than not imitates a top-down, 'statist' culture that is so universal we rarely recognize it.

Yes, a company/corporation/enterprise is owned by its owner(s). Sometimes that owner is a single person, sometimes the owners are a family, sometimes the original owners sold pieces of ownership to other people. Sometimes the net result is that millions of individuals own small pieces of the company. In any case, either the single owner or the small group of owners or the large group of owners then chooses some method by which decisions are reached on what products to sell, how to make them, and so on. The difference with government is that we do not have "polycentric" governments. We have a single entity, a single "corporation," which brooks no competition, which brooks little or no "shareholder dissent." Many here miss this point and focus on the superficial aspect that corporations typically have a hierarchy and that this hierarchy supposedly makes them like governments. Yes, in this respect. But the tens of thousands of corporations, the ability to form new partnerships, new companies, new corporations, and for some of these entities to become as large as past corporate giants, is what makes all the difference.

For instance, high-level strategic decisions are made almost entirely in the vacuum of power. And often, that's appropriate. But many times, the actual people who do the work and know the most about the subject are completely out of the loop. Silicon Valley at its best operates in a very different way...companies are far more driven from the product/technology/service perspective, instead of imagining that balance sheets can make a Lucent into a Cisco. (And at its best, if some hot engineers along with a couple of useful management types feel strongly enough about a missed opportunity, they just split off and start doing it.)

Having worked at the largest Silicon Valley company, I can assure you that its management methods and its corporate set up is not nearly as different from the Rest of Business as you fantasize that it is. And being a shareholder in a bunch of non-Silicon Valley companies, I can also assure you that their 'high-level strategic decisons" are NOT "made almost entirely in the vacuum of power." Sure, some non-SV companies make colossal mistakes. So do a lot of SV companies--I could launch into a list of the Big Errors of the past 20 years, but why bother? History gets written by the winners. So people know about Intel, but not about AMI or Monolithic Memories or Intersil. So people know about Apple, but not about Convergent or Fortune Systems or Processor Technology. So people know about Sun, but not about Apollo or Daisy or MAD Computer.

Retail is the absolute worst. FOr whatever reason (and I don't believe it has anything to do with competitiveness), big CD or Book chains never empower or reward employees on their ability to purchase books for their store that sell well. In fact, almost zero real purchasing decisions are done locally.

This is silly, socialist nonsense. I know some of the book buyers at the "Borders" store in Santa Cruz (the very one that the "anti-bigness" lefties tried to ban from opening in Santa Cruz). Not only do they have a "local authors" section which is larger than the similar section at the "local" bookstore, but they have a sophisticated system for re-ordering books based on sales. If a title sells, they know it. And can order replacements. So, what's missing? Local authors?--check. Books that sell?--check. A wider selection of books than the 'locally-owned" store?--check. The selection of books at the Borders in Santa Cruz is wider than the selection at the other bookstore. For example, history, or the Greek and Roman classics. I was looking for a book on the pre-Socratic philosophers recently (Heraclitus and that cohort). The locally-owned bookstore (which I like a lot, by the way) had a small selection of classsics, less than a shelf or two. No pre-Socratic philosophy that I could find. So I went down the street to Borders. A floor to ceiling (well, top of their shelves, which are tall) selection of books on the Greeks and Romans, including two of the standards on the pre-Socratics, plus a couple of books just on Heraclitus. An experience I've had many times. Borders usually has it, the smaller bookstores (in Aptos, Watsonville, Capitola, and S. Cruz) tell me "No, but we can order it for you." Gee, I can order it myself, too. Now tell me that Borders is deficient in selection? And the Barnes and Noble stores I sometimes go to over in the Valley are vast collections of books as well. This is the real reason why the smaller stores are complaining. Exactly what was heard 60 years ago when "supermarkets" came to town and the small grocery stores faced competition. Exactly what was heard 30 years ago when Wal-Mart and their type came to town and the small "five and dime" stores faced competition. Corporations have sales tracking software out the wazoo. If it sells, they buy more and sell them. Sounds like they're doing precisely what their owners want them to do.

But nobody seems to notice...we're completely used to being passive cogs in a big, fat machine-state. So in a sense, it's gone way beyond 'repression'...no need for that rat-cage around our heads anymore.

You silly Bolshies are obviously on the wrong list if you think strong crypto is going to help your cause. Feh. --Tim May --Tim May "The State is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else." --Frederic Bastiat