Sas Institute: a Different Approach to Incentives and People Management Practices in the Software Industry
INDIVIDUAL CASE ANALYSIS
On
SAS Institute: A Different Approach to Incentives and People Management Practices in the Software Industry
Prepared by
Varun Kumar Pedapati
Fit with the Environment
Strategic design is a fundamental task of organizational life. Jim Goodnight, the co-founder of SAS designed his organizational structure in a unique way that made his company stand apart from the rest. Since founded in 1976, they had been using the same organizational design. But with such an organizational structure, the big question lies whether SAS can retain its employees and customers forever.
One of the key systemic factors in SAS institute’s success was that they valued “Customer Satisfaction and Feedback” more. The use of “ballots” and frequently organizing user group conferences to gather customer feedback made them actually upgrade their products to meet customer needs. They actually gave customers what they need.
“Goodnight noted that the company would not turn down a product idea if it seemed to be a good one, even if it didn’t tightly fit the existing product line” (The SAS Institute, 1998: HR-6, pg. 3) One good example of this was the development of video games, which was totally different from their major product line” statistical data analysis “. SAS was also into publishing and selling manuals and books, which was quite unique for a software firm.
David Russo, Vice President of HR at SAS commented about Jim Goodnight “If it’s a choice between making X dollars per sale and having more people have the software, he would rather have the software everywhere. “(The SAS Institute, 1998: HR-6, pg. 4).He obviously made it clear that company did not care about the amount of revenue gained by selling products, but wanted recognition and customer satisfaction.
Strategic Principles
Every company runs on certain principles. SAS too had a few but certain set of unique principles. The first principle was “treating
On
SAS Institute: A Different Approach to Incentives and People Management Practices in the Software Industry
Prepared by
Varun Kumar Pedapati
Fit with the Environment
Strategic design is a fundamental task of organizational life. Jim Goodnight, the co-founder of SAS designed his organizational structure in a unique way that made his company stand apart from the rest. Since founded in 1976, they had been using the same organizational design. But with such an organizational structure, the big question lies whether SAS can retain its employees and customers forever.
One of the key systemic factors in SAS institute’s success was that they valued “Customer Satisfaction and Feedback” more. The use of “ballots” and frequently organizing user group conferences to gather customer feedback made them actually upgrade their products to meet customer needs. They actually gave customers what they need.
“Goodnight noted that the company would not turn down a product idea if it seemed to be a good one, even if it didn’t tightly fit the existing product line” (The SAS Institute, 1998: HR-6, pg. 3) One good example of this was the development of video games, which was totally different from their major product line” statistical data analysis “. SAS was also into publishing and selling manuals and books, which was quite unique for a software firm.
David Russo, Vice President of HR at SAS commented about Jim Goodnight “If it’s a choice between making X dollars per sale and having more people have the software, he would rather have the software everywhere. “(The SAS Institute, 1998: HR-6, pg. 4).He obviously made it clear that company did not care about the amount of revenue gained by selling products, but wanted recognition and customer satisfaction.
Strategic Principles
Every company runs on certain principles. SAS too had a few but certain set of unique principles. The first principle was “treating