CBM Red Ink
Before I start on this long message, I'd like you to take it with a grain
of salt. Judge us on our actions and not our words. There will be
checkpoints along the way for everyone to determine how well we're
doing/conforming to the plan.
The following is excerpted from my notes of Commodore's business meeting
held July 27-28 in PA:
The bottom line will be to increase revenue; for this first year from 160M
to 270M (increase of over 70%). (All figures run from Jy89-Ju90.) Number
of employees available for field and suport will go from 112 to 215 head
count. Marketing will get new staff, and advertsing will increase from
1.1M in 1988 to 16M in 1989. Innovation and quality: CATS is now part of
the US company, products will be market and not product driven (ie: you get
what you want), accelerate development of needed products, increase yield.
For example, work has increased on providing network solutions; recently
Ameristar was bought by Commodore for their networking solutions. Also, to
be hired will be a VP of Customer Satisfaction. Amiga will be Commodore's
strength and focus for the long term. It is our only unique product, and
thus it is the most defensible in the way of proprietary technology.
The selling channel will be enhanced and expanded. All dealers will be
evaluated for their performance, and new methods of distribution developed.
VAR, OEM, and high end mass market will be strengthened. By high-end I
mean those who provide support and do not discount (like Sears, not like
Toys-R-Us). There will also be added safegaurds against grey marketing (by
the way, we've caught the dealer selling to Montgomery Grant (they're gone)
and a letter went out to all dealers from MG (and a warning letter from us)
for bids on Amiga.
Plans to enter new markets: Education, Government, and Multimedia are our
three foci. The former and latter are under way. In fact, do you realize
that none of our competitors has a coherent and affordable solution that
addresses education in the years to come? This is clearly something we can
re-capture, since we do have an upgradeable and affordable computer
established.
Since Harry Copperman began with Commodore about 2 months ago we've noticed
a lot of change both corporately and politically. Morale is a lot better
and things are done more professionally. I'm not saying that there aren't
mistakes made, but that's a learning curve. Here's some more changes:
Howard Diamond was brought on as VP of Education, and is starting to build
a national education support/sales group. Implementation of this group
begins in 10-14 days.
Lloyd Mahaffey joined as VP of Marketing less than 10 days ago, and has put
into place a structure for effective communication to the press, public,
company, and engineering. He has also committed to a large marketing
budget (see above) and will increase head count for marketing operations.
Bob Larsen is VP Consumer Products, and will reform and increase this
sector to create demand through advertising. He'll also have enhanced
products to work with that won't interfere with the dealer product line.
Conditions at Commodore are improving. New equipment, new surroundings,
growth and expansion are under way. Many old-timers at CBM report never
having seen so much enthusiasm and developments happening before.
Please feel free to ask me for clarification on any point brought up here.
I am sorry that I have been out of touch lately, due to my traveling. When
I'm in town I do try to be regular (I've set myself up here!), and WHap
lately has not been helping me (it corrupts the msg file). However, when
responding, please do not use the past as rhetoric, since I will not
address it that way. As I've said, I should have news in as little as 10
days about developments. Enjoy! andre