h a period, having become a cash cow as opposed to being a growth company. In my history of technology investing which goes back 35 years, I have never found a growth company that has not hit a wall somewhere in the growth process.

What happens is that companies at some point tend

At one time Dell Computer was one of the extraordinary growth stories in America. Michael Dell could do no wrong. There then comes a time in every entrepreneur’s career when he or she has to recognize, it’s time to step aside and let new, historically proven managers come in and run with the ball.

Michael Dell stepped down two years ago, and turned the ball over to Kevin Rollins who runs the company on a day to day basis. Dell either has to be kicking himself in the butt for turning the reigns over to Rollins, or be happy that he himself is not on the firing line at the moment.

Dell was innovative in selling directly to the consumer as a business model. It worked brilliantly for years. The firm had no equal in the direct to consumer market. Dell also was encouraged to sell big time to the corporate market. All great technology oriented growth companies hit walls. My work shows that it tends to happen about 7 years or so into the growth process. The exceptional growth company can take longer before it hits the wall, and has to reinvent itself. The word reinvent is the correct one to use.

Microsoft has now entered such a period, having become a cash cow as opposed to being a growth company. In my history of technology investing which goes back 35 years, I have never found a growth company that has not hit a wall somewhere in the growth process.

What happens is that companies at some point tend

h the ball.

Michael Dell stepped down two years ago, and turned the ball over to Kevin Rollins who runs the company on a day to day basis. Dell either has to be kicking himself in the butt for turning the reigns over to Rollins, or be happy that he himself is not on the firing line at the moment.

Dell was innovative in selling directly to the consumer as a business model. It worked brilliantly for years. The firm had no equal in the direct to consumer market. Dell also was encouraged to sell big time to the corporate market. All great technology oriented growth companies hit walls. My work shows that it tends to happen about 7 years or so into the growth process. The exceptional growth company can take longer before it hits the wall, and has to reinvent itself. The word reinvent is the correct one to use.

Microsoft has now entered such a period, having become a cash cow as opposed to being a growth company. In my history of technology investing which goes back 35 years, I have never found a growth company that has not hit a wall somewhere in the growth process.

What happens is that companies at some point tend

at the moment.

Dell was innovative in selling directly to the consumer as a business model. It worked brilliantly for years. The firm had no equal in the direct to consumer market. Dell also was encouraged to sell big time to the corporate market. All great technology oriented growth companies hit walls. My work shows that it tends to happen about 7 years or so into the growth process. The exceptional growth company can take longer before it hits the wall, and has to reinvent itself. The word reinvent is the correct one to use.

Microsoft has now entered such a period, having become a cash cow as opposed to being a growth company. In my history of technology investing which goes back 35 years, I have never found a growth company that has not hit a wall somewhere in the growth process.

What happens is that companies at some point tend

wth companies hit walls. My work shows that it tends to happen about 7 years or so into the growth process. The exceptional growth company can take longer before it hits the wall, and has to reinvent itself. The word reinvent is the correct one to use.

Microsoft has now entered such a period, having become a cash cow as opposed to being a growth company. In my history of technology investing which goes back 35 years, I have never found a growth company that has not hit a wall somewhere in the growth process.

What happens is that companies at some point tend

h a period, having become a cash cow as opposed to being a growth company. In my history of technology investing which goes back 35 years, I have never found a growth company that has not hit a wall somewhere in the growth process.

What happens is that companies at some point tend to rest on their laurels, their past successes and glories. They become so committed to what they are doing, that they become incapable of seeing the next revolution sneak up behind their backs and challenge them for supremacy. It always happens and it’s always the same way with the same result. Never have I seen a single growth company that could reinvent the revolution. It’s always some new kid on the block that spearheads the next new thing.

The consumer has probably now reached a stage where he wants to walk into a store and see what he’s getting for his money as opposed to just reading specs on his computer and talking to an outsourced person in India who is absolutely clueless about American culture.

In the last five quarters, Dell has missed on the estimates that it has given Wall Street. In the last quarter there has been a 51% decline in quarterly profit, and now a recall on 4 million laptop batteries to boot (no pun intended). This is not the way to run a major Fortune 100 company. Things always get worse before they get better

When a growth company hits the wall and starts to decline, the decline usually