Whether you consider the winds of change blowing through the nation to be fresh breezes or just more Foggy Bottom hot air, you have to agree there's something happening out there. From technology to trade, change is in the air, and "something different" is more than just the byword of the day.
What better example of this is there than corporate America, which is being restructured from the inside out? Small is again beautiful, at least when it comes to today's business climate. Let's face it, when a tiny, three-person company like HighText Publishing in San Diego can gleefully boast in its press releases that its "1992 profits were larger than the combined profits of IBM and General Motors," you have to take notice. Meanwhile, big business, still reeling from excesses of the '80s, continues to "downsize," the politically correct way of not having to say, "We're sorry for eliminating your job."
As part of this era of corporate restructuring, there's a rapid move from relatively expensive permanent positions to hourly paid part-timers, temps, and contractors. The advantage for the employer is that there's no company-funded medical insurance, no union hassles, and no severance pay. The advantage for the employee is...well, give me a few minutes to think about that one. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 70 percent more part-time workers in the work force today than 20 years ago -- one in five of today's civilian workers are part-timers.
But disillusionment is a two-way street. Whether of their own volition or not, workers are leaving big companies in increasing numbers to start their own businesses. Go to any city large companies call home and you'll find small businesses springing up all over town. Although it readily admits good data is hard to find, the most recent Labor Department estimates indicate about 270,000 people nationwide left large companies to set up shop on their own. This number was up nearly 100,000 over the previous study in January 1990. There are, of course, many factors contributing to these statistics, the least of which are massive layoffs since the 1990 study. (It didn't ask why those people left.) About the only real thing you can say is that, for one reason or another, workers are finding running small businesses a viable alternative to working at large corporations.
In addition to restructuring, businesses are also refocusing, especially in the defense industry, where the end of the Cold War threw open the door to the cold reality of much smaller markets for military-targeted products. Consequently, businesses are scrambling to develop new, nonmilitary markets and products -- they're looking for the Tang or Teflon of the '90s. For example, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, home to SDI and similar research, is now producing instructional software and videos for elementary-school children on subjects such as computer ethics and security. Although better examples doubtlessly exist, the LLNL's public-service efforts are nonetheless symbolic of changes occurring on a much wider scale.
In the coming months, high tech may be more affected by change than other industries. The University of California-Berkeley's Laura D'Andrea Tyson, President Clinton's choice to head up the Council of Economic Advisers, will likely see to that. Tyson's appointment has mainstream economists in a tizzy because she considers silicon chips to be inherently different from and more important than, say, potato chips. In Tyson's mind, high tech deserves special favors and support along the lines of subsidies, duties, and market-sharing. In short, Tyson has no intention of letting what she considers essential new technologies be overrun by unfair overseas competition. This has free-trade economists and foreign trading partners alike twisted in all sorts of knots.
While these are a few examples of the changes we're witnessing daily -- and I'd like to know what you think are the most-significant others -- here's the sort of change I'd like to see more of: In a recent court case, the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Corporation sued Marvel Comics for violating the Hell's Angels registered trademarks, both the friendly "death head" logo and the name "Hell's Angels." The comic-book publisher had, it seems, used the club's name and logo without permission in a comic-book series. Instead of a protracted court battle, however, the parties settled out of court. Under the terms of the agreement, Marvel is donating $35,000 to the Ronald McDonald House, a charity for children who have cancer.
It's a pitiful state of affairs when a bunch of scruffy, tattooed, renegade motorcycle outlaws actually set a good example for the button-down collar, pin-striped suit-set in the computer industry. What if Microsoft, Borland, Apple, Stac, Unix Systems Labs, and other industry litigants called a truce, laid off lawyers instead of engineers, and then divvied up the savings in legal fees amongst their favorite charities, where the money could do some real good.
Now that's what I'd call a breath of fresh air.
Copyright © 1993, Dr. Dobb's Journal