<html><body><div>I worked for Wang Labs for a number of years. As the company grew they continued to handle payroll in a manually intensive fashion, having to hire more and more payroll personnel as the work force grew, until the head of payroll had enough employees to force Wang to make them a Vice President. The company could have outsourced payroll at a fraction of the cost. You didn't need statistical analysis to decide to automate payroll. Wang Labs failed because it mistook its temporary dominant position in word processing for something permanent. </div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>Soviet factory managers were never incentivized to operate efficiently. Compare that to modern China where suppliers are continually pressured to reduce their costs. </div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>Richard </div><div><br>On March 24, 2021 at 2:23 PM, Wesley Brodsky via reading-group <reading-group@lists.nesfa.org> wrote:<br><br></div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="msg-quote"><div>Hello Everybody;</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div>I thought this has some similarities to “The Shockwave Rider”; which we are reading. If it asks you to sign up for a subscription, click “Close” in the upper right. Click “Read Full Article” when scrolling down. The URL might get split in transmission, and require pasting back together.<br><br><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/24/opinion/was-soviet-union-an-idea-ahead-its-time/?s_campaign=8315" data-mce-href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/24/opinion/was-soviet-union-an-idea-ahead-its-time/?s_campaign=8315">https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/24/opinion/was-soviet-union-an-idea-ahead-its-time/?s_campaign=8315</a> <br><br>Wes Brodsky<br>"It is of the utmost importance that Concepts not trouble you with silliness or complications, unless you are searching for really difficult work."; Giordano Bruno (1582)</div><div class="_stretch"><span class="body-text-content">_______________________________________________<br>reading-group mailing list<br><a href="mailto:reading-group@lists.nesfa.org" data-mce-href="mailto:reading-group@lists.nesfa.org">reading-group@lists.nesfa.org</a><br><a href="https://listsmgt.nesfa.org/mailman/listinfo/reading-group" data-mce-href="https://listsmgt.nesfa.org/mailman/listinfo/reading-group">https://listsmgt.nesfa.org/mailman/listinfo/reading-group</a><br></span></div></div></blockquote></div></body></html>