[nesfa-reading-group] The Shockwave Ride

[Richard Schwartz]

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.   


Soviet factory managers were never incentivized to operate efficiently.  Compare that to modern China where suppliers are continually pressured to reduce their costs. 


Richard  

On March 24, 2021 at 2:23 PM, Wesley Brodsky via reading-group <reading-group at lists.nesfa.org> wrote:


Hello Everybody;


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.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/24/opinion/was-soviet-union-an-idea-ahead-its-time/?s_campaign=8315  

Wes Brodsky
"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)
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