Motorola: F*&ked Company?

Back during the end of the.com days -- you know, when you could actually get to work on the 101 without hitting a traffic back-up -- I took solace in the fact that I not only still had a job, but that I could see the inside rumors about how most of the companies in the sector were falling apart by reading F*&ked Company, a website that featured gossip about layoffs and other comings and goings of .bombs. I decided to check back in on the site the other day to see if it was still around, and I discovered that they've now taken to posting on the Global 2000 as well. Since the Metioms, Commerce Ones and Covisints of the day have long since bit the dust, I guess they had to diversify their portfolio of coverage.

Since I'm not a subscriber to F&*cked Company, I thought that I’d make my nomination public for one firm that should be on the list -- Motorola. According to Global CPO, "Two years after shaking up his supply management staff, Motorola CEO Ed Zander says the company’s drive to profitability will be based on improved cost performance, not revenue growth.” Doug Smock, who I had the pleasure of catching up with at ISM and who edits and publishes Global CPO, goes onto note that "the irony is that Zander canned CPO Theresa Metty after he took control of Motorola and replaced her with a manufacturing executive lacking experience in supply management. Metty had been one of the country's leading CPOs, and the leading authority on improved costing through reduced design complexity, one of the biggest problems Motorola faced in its cell phone cost structure."

No doubt, after firing Theresa and backing themselves into a cost corner, Motorola definitely deserves to be on the list -- and maybe even to make the hall of fame.

- Jason Busch