Sun Microsystems
Business NegotiationsAdina Goerres2015843014Sun Microsystems faced an apparently impossible marketing problem a year after its launch. Competitor Apollo, the leading workstation manufacturer, is on the verge of signing a contract with Computervision that would effectively lock Sun out of the crucial industrial market.Does Vinod Khosla have a real chance at changing Computervision’s decision? Does Sun have a better product? Can Sun be regarded as a reliable longterm vendor? Compared to Apollo, Sun Microsystems looked everything but fit for the job. The product they were building was as different as could be from the advanced mechanisms that Apollo designed and build their successful company on. Where Apollo had their own domain network and operating system, Sun relied on existing technologies to support its product. Additionally, people in the industry didn’t believe in Sun’s product and even called it “stupid”. But the competitive advantages, such as manufacturing and product costs were on Sun’s side. Compared to Apollo, they were operating a smaller team with more efficiency in regards to operations as well as production and cost of goods sold. That is why its product could definitely compete with Apollo and should have been considered more closely. The fact that Sun was a small company compared to Apollo, shouldn’t have made Computervision shy away from the opportunity and forgo the chance of changing the future and creating something extraordinary.
How should Vinod Khosla respond to Computervision’s president? What should his long-term and short-term objectives be? Specifically, what should he offer to Computervision? Vinod Khosla’s mission in this situation should be to be as honest and humble as possible about Sun and its product, while stressing the present and future benefits of a potential cooperation between Sun and Computervision. Very obviously Apollo is considered the better option, as it is a trusted and stable company that has an established product and reliability in its operations. Compared to Apollo, Sun is a weak company, albeit strong on the product end. The problem here is, that the politics and inflexibility of big corporations are overpowering what could have been a great cooperation in the long run. Surely, there would be more difficulties initially as Sun doesn’t have the same resources and power as Apollo. On the other hand, the company has great potential and could develop into a huge success. Therefore Khosla should focus on comparing the costs and benefits and proving that the benefits outweigh the latter. In the short term this will be the only way to convince the president. In the long term it is important to tackle problems within Sun to guarantee that Computervision has made the right decision. If Sun were offered the chance to work with Computervision, it would have to put forth the greatest efforts in order to meet standards and more than satisfy its customer. Khosla will specifically have to offer rights and options for Computervision in order to ensure their trust and hand them some power in Sun’s operations. This will benefit both Computervision and Sun, if the cooperation is successful.