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"Microsoft hires Wal-Mart Chief Executive" - Anyone else find the irony in this?
Before today had you compared Sam Walton and Bill Gates, the only real similarity you might have found was money; and that'd be despite some off-the-record snide remarks I've seen comparing the two. But today that bridge has finally been completed, they are separate no more.
Today we learned that software giant Microsoft has reached outside of IT and into the cut-throat world of retail shopping to appoint its next chief operating officer; and like the rest of us... they've gone to Wal-mart.
Yes that's right, Microsoft has gone and plucked up someone from good ole' Wally-World, a company accused of killing local business and famed for its non-unionized workforce. Kevin Turner was on Thursday named the new Microsoft Chief Operations Officer, or COO. Suddenly the similarities don't seem as vague or do they... hrmm - killing smaller businesses, pushing them out of the market... I know this... I know I've seen this somewhere. Hrmm
Turner, who is a 20-year Wal-Mart employee, recently served as president and chief executive of the retail giant's $37 billion Sam's Club warehouse stores. Microsoft's chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in a statement, "More than ever, Microsoft’s growth opportunities abound as a result of our strong product innovation pipeline. Kevin’s leadership of global technology, sales, marketing and services will help ensure we harness this potential and fully realize the growth opportunities before us.”
Growth opportunities? How big are those pants getting?
Many view the move as long overdo. Microsoft's COO post has been vacant for about three years now, ever since the previous incumbent Rick Belluzzo left in the spring of 2002. Turner will now be responsible for strategic and operational leadership of Microsoft's sales, marketing and services professionals and Microsoft's fulfillment and IT operations.
This news wasn't the first of its kind either. Former Wal-Mart executives have been making their way around the tech scene as of late. HP just pinched ex-Wal-Mart CIO Randall Mott from Dell.
And all humor aside in this article, if you'd call it that even, from a business standpoint it seems like a pretty smart move. If your looking to push products, a retail giant CEO is the way to go. Clearly Wal-mart is a successful retailer past and present. At the same time you have to wonder if the tactics used by Wal-mart will now show up at Microsoft. Microsoft has a long history of pushing the "little guy" out... something many anti-monopoly groups have used to go after the software giant. Many might argue Microsoft is treading on thin ice as it is, and a new marketing strategy might only put more weight on an already fragile situation. I'd even be so bold to say that if Microsoft made a strong push to oust Google from its search domain hold, and/or attempted to push Firefox back into its den, that the company would really open itself to lawsuits and monopoly charges all over again.
when you're on top, it's an easy way to make yourself a target. Microsoft has now added more attention to themselves by adding another controversial company's leader to their own leaning tower. One can only wonder how much weight the tower holds before it falls. Tread lightly... the ice has a new crack.
-The Register Contributed to this article.
John C. Derrick
Founder
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