American History 1988
Chapter 214 - 208 Breaking Through the Ceiling

Chapter 214: Chapter 208 Breaking Through the Ceiling

"Does he really have Irish heritage?" Dean paced back and forth in the room, holding the phone.

This seemed too coincidental, and he was somewhat skeptical of this claim.

"According to our investigation, there’s a high probability," Anthony Kennedy’s analytical voice came through the phone.

"His great-grandmother, Hattie Hayes, had two Irish parents, and his great-grandfather had an Irish father.

His mother’s family name is Cassidy, which is one of the most common surnames in Ireland.

Though there are no definitive documents to prove this, he probably has some Irish blood."

"Alright," Dean grudgingly accepted this, "so should I meet with him?"

"Dean, 80% of the Irish Americans are Democratic Party voters.

Even though Bill is not yet sure he can win the primary, since he has gone to Silicon Valley, it’s customary that you should meet him.

We are all Irish people, and Irish people unwaveringly support their own. We stand united."

This was the reason Anthony Kennedy had called Dean, someone was sending him a message.

"OK, I got it. If we hit it off, I’ll give him some support."

What is a political speech? It’s just fundraising, Dean knew all too well.

"Good, when you come to the East Coast next month, I’ll introduce you to the Knights of Equity," said Anthony Kennedy.

Now Anthony Kennedy was also one of Byte Company’s silent shareholders, and he wanted to recruit Dean into their group of Irish people.

After hanging up the phone, Dean sat alone in the chair by the window, lost in thought for a long time.

As Byte Company neared its IPO, his on-paper wealth was getting closer to being realized, and all sorts of people and matters were gradually approaching him.

He had always been extremely cautious about political involvement, but many things required his early consideration whether he liked it or not.

The call from Anthony Kennedy had taken him by surprise. The Irish label could certainly bring him some leverage, but obligations came with it as well.

After the Great Famine in Ireland last century, countless Irish immigrated to the Americas.

America was a primary destination where many Irish found work as dockworkers, shipyard and steel factory workers.

And these job-providing places were mainly located in big cities.

Therefore, the destinations for Irish immigrants were largely focused on America’s large and mid-sized cities.

Such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other major cities.

Especially on the East Coast, where there was a substantial number of Irish descendants.

They entered various social fields and gradually became part of the elite.

Coincidentally, Democratic Party strongholds and supporters were in large and mid-sized cities, while the Republican Party concentrated in rural areas.

Therefore, the political inclination of Irish descendants in big cities was unsurprisingly towards the Democratic Party, which was also one of the reasons Anthony Kennedy hoped Dean would support Clinton.

Besides the common Irish heritage, aligning political inclinations was also a reason.

"Care for a drink?" Jennifer Connelly, clad in a thin long dress, leaned on the doorway, swirling a glass of red wine.

Dean snapped back to reality and smiled at her, "Of course."

Jennifer Connelly had been staying with Dean for some time because he needed her to remind him of things to take note of during TV appearances.

Seeing her alluring figure, Dean decided to savor the visual feast before him before pondering over the exhausting subject of politics.

...

"You were born in Cleveland?"

"Yes, Boss, but I grew up in West Virginia."

"Oh~, that’s pretty good too." Dean nodded with satisfaction.

He hadn’t expected that the Senior Global Market Executive recommended by Valentine would have such strong connections to Ohio.

"OK, John, first of all, welcome to Byte Company.

As you can see, we’re gearing up for a big play, and you’ve come at just the right time!"

"It’s an honor for me, Boss."

John Chambers had successfully passed through the interviews at Byte Company, and Dean was very fond of some of his management ideas.

"Tell me, what are your plans for the European market?" Before heading out, Dean wanted to discuss this topic with him.

"Setting up our European headquarters, especially the customer service department, must come first."

"And why is that?"

"A business can’t afford to lose touch with its customers. After-sales service has always been one of Byte Company’s hallmarks."

"Good, we’re on the same page." Dean highly valued Byte Company’s investment in after-sales service.

Especially since the Teams software adopted an annual subscription model, if customer service couldn’t keep up, how could Byte Company attract customers to continue paying for their software?

Besides research and development, after-sales was Byte Company’s second biggest expense; it even became part of the product sales.

"Regarding product development for the European market, do you have any suggestions?"

John Chambers was to be the executor for the global market, and Dean had high hopes for him.

After a brief moment of consideration, John Chambers gave his answer.

"My suggestion is to listen to the customer’s needs. Whatever the customer needs, we develop.

For instance, localization for different countries, small features that customers ask for, Teams software should be promptly updated to include them."

This was the experience John Chambers had accumulated at IBM and Wang Computers, where everything should be customer-oriented.

IBM, because it failed to value consumer opinions, gradually abandoned the personal computer market.

As a result, the size of the PC compatibles market is now almost surpassing the mainframe market.

IBM virtually handed over this lucrative segment to numerous personal computer manufacturers.

Keep in mind that in the early ’80s, IBM’s PC compatibles were even more popular than Apple computers.

The second case is that of Wang Computers, where John Chambers once served as the Executive President of the Americas.

But as Wang retired and his son took over, the company also gradually lost touch with its customers.

Consequently, within a few years, Chambers had to personally lay off more than 4,000 employees.

These lessons all told Chambers that ignoring customer needs nearly sealed the company’s fate.

"John, I really appreciate your management proposals, so go ahead and implement them.

If Byte Company can’t provide for your peace of mind, then Byte can’t call itself an international company."

Since Byte Company was planning to conquer the global market and was also preparing to go public, Dean was ready to delegate authority.

Especially for senior managers in overseas markets, they should have sufficient autonomy.

Dean believed that as professional managers, they also had the ability to make good use of the authority in their hands.

"I’m flying to England next week, and I’ll be spending most of my office life there this year."

"Good, but before that, let me first introduce you to the future development strategy of the company."

Recently, Dean had been contemplating this issue; he wanted Byte Company to have a longer-term future.

"John, do you know what Byte Company’s main businesses are now?"

In the office, Dean handed a company internal introduction to John Chambers.

"Instant messaging software Teams and the nascent IP telephony business.

There’s also digital audio development technology, the first application of which was the 3Com 3+Sound series sound card."

It was evident that Chambers had done his homework; his knowledge of Byte Company was thorough.

"If you had to rank these three businesses, which do you think has the most potential?"

Dean had spent over a month organizing them and had come up with expectations for the future.

But before that, he wanted to hear Chambers’ opinion.

The latter seemed surprised by Dean’s question and hesitated for a while before his face showed uncertainty.

"John, I’d rather hear a true assessment, as this will benefit Byte Company’s long-term future."

Encouraged by Dean, Chambers finally spoke freely.

"If considering just the current status, of course, the market for Teams software is the largest.

Because there is such a demand from enterprise users, and Byte Company just happens to have a relatively mature product.

But looking forward, say ten or twenty years, I’m more optimistic about the latter two because their potential is infinite.

IP telephony is limited by infrastructure and currently can only conduct business in specific regions.

But when everyone has access to the internet, it will explode with huge market demand.

As for digital audio technology, I prefer to see it as multimedia technology.

If the internet backbone’s transmission speed is fast enough, they will eventually replace the position of textual information today.

But that assumes the network is liberalized—and frankly, I’m not sure about the federal government’s attitude toward the internet.

So this is just my guess; they may not turn out as I think, they could be the complete opposite."

"Fantastic!" Dean was about to applaud and cheer for Chambers.

This was the only industry executive among the Silicon Valley crowd he’d met who had such high hopes for the internet.

"What about Teams, what’s its future outlook?" Dean couldn’t wait to hear the assessment of it.

"I’m not sure," shrugged Chambers, "I don’t know if there will be more revolutionary communication technologies in the future.

But regardless, there will be a place for office software in the field.

However, due to targeting enterprise users, its market size might be capped by a ceiling."

"John, it’s rare for you to speak so candidly. But during this critical period of Byte Company’s IPO, you can’t say things like this in public."

Dean laughed and joked with him; at the moment, everyone was hyping Byte Company’s innovations, and being negative was absolutely not allowed.

"I promise, Boss!" Chambers also held Byte Company options, and no one would want to mess with money.

"Now, let me tell you about how Teams is going to break through its ceiling limitation?"

Dean had pondered this problem for a long time, and now he finally had a vague direction.

"Breaking through the ceiling of Teams software?" Chambers was interested in the topic and also excited.

Perhaps this star founder was about to come up with another mind-blowing idea.

Chambers was full of anticipation; this was why he left the decaying Wang Computers, craving for brilliant new ideas.

"To break through the ceiling limit of Teams is simple—it’s about developing its derivative markets.

Or maybe more accurately, developing the ecosystem for the office sector."

Just an instant messaging Teams alone certainly wouldn’t allow Byte Company to stand shoulder to shoulder with Oracle or Microsoft.

Dean needed to paint a bigger picture, to charm even more people.