Cisco, RIM and the Lure of the Consumer Market

What is it about the mass-market consumer space that attracts so many business-savvy companies and ultimately hobbles or even dooms them? There are companies, like Apple, that obviously understand consumers and consumer marketing strategy and then there are companies like Cisco and Research in Motion (RIM), which clearly do not.
News that Cisco is laying off almost 9% of its workforce is black mark for CEO John Chambers, a man whom leaders at smaller companies have all but worshipped. I don't know for certain that the cuts will come primarily in Cisco's consumer business, but the missteps that have led up to this news have been in the consumer space.
Cisco and RIM's travails are most interes... »read more

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