It's always calmest … in the eye of the storm

NetApp’s proposed acquisition of Data Domain a few weeks ago has created a storm flurry of activity by our competitors – as well as on various industry, financial and vendor web sites.  Much like a hurricane, the further you are from the center of the storm, the more damage you will suffer.  Unless of course you are merely an outside observer completely beyond the reach or consequences of the storm.

Notably, those organizations just outside the eye of this storm run a significant risk of injuries and casualties.

Puppet or Master?

NetApp continues to control the action by making the opening move; and then shifting the playing field from the opaque financial counter-offers of the first week, over to the tangibles of corporate strategy and culture last week.  This week will no doubt bring new developments.

Despite the conveniently timed EMC charm offensive in the media and their corporate blogs, is there *really* any doubt about which company is better to work for?  Fortune Magazine already answered that via their scientific Great Places to Work study.  Even EMC agrees!

Worldwide phenomenon

Here’s a concise list of how NetApp ranks as an employer worldwide, with comparable EMC results included for reference.  The contrast between EMC’s contrived / conveniently timed multi-media assault and NetApp’s objectively ranked / globally consistent phenomenon couldn’t be clearer.

Which is better?  Feel free to draw your own conclusions! :)

2009 Great Place to Work Institute WW Rankings

EMC

NetApp

Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked EMC Ireland #31 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked EMC #71 Listed but not Ranked

United States — 1st place in FORTUNE magazine’s 2009 “Best Companies to Work For” Australia — 2nd place in Best Companies list compiled by the Great Place to Work Institute Australia UK — 4th place on the “Great Place to Work” list by the Great Place to Work Institute United Kingdom Germany — 9th place in the “Best Workplaces in Germany” by the Great Place to Work Institute Germany India — 9th on the “Great Place to Work” list by the Great Place to Work Institute India (#4 in IT industry) Europe — 11th place on the “Great Place to Work” list by the Great Place to Work Institute Europe France — 14th place in the “Best Workplaces France” by the Great Place to Work Institute France Netherlands — 11th place in “25 Best Places to Work” by the Great Place to Work Institute Netherlands 2009 Other Employer Rankings: India — 14th place in the “Best Employers in India” study by Hewitt Associates US Regional Rankings: Washington DC — 2nd Place on the 2009 Best Places to Work list by the Washington Business Journal Massachusetts — 46th place on the overall list and was listed as number 20 on the Top 40 Small Workplaces list of 2008 Top Places to Work in Massachusetts in The Globe 100’s Top Places to Work magazine. Research Triangle Park — 2nd place on the 2008 “Great Place to Work” list by the Triangle Business Journal in the large company category in the Triangle area.

Comments

[The Observer]

EMC's true culture is well documented via the littany of lawsuits levelled against them over the years. Here's a representative overview:

http://www.diversityinc.com/public/2451.cfm

Apparently misogyny and racism are some things Tucci and his merry band of bloggers conveniently left out!

[Roger]

Robin over @ StorageMojo also covered this quite thoroughly in a related blog posting

http://storagemojo.com/2007/09/12/emcs-page-1-wall-street-journal-story/

[Mike Shea]

Thanks Val - That was the "Easy Button"

[Mike Shea]

Nice Post Val. But I am confused about something – did you mean “Charm Offensive” or “Offensive Charm”?

Joe Tucci – the Eddie Haskell of IT.

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Eddie-Haskell-Can-Teach-Us-About-Business&id=2319998

[steve]

Interesting list Val. I had a look at a couple of the lists here - including the Fortune Top 100 and Data Domain weren't listed on either of the lists that I checked. What does that say about them - Data Domain must be a bad place to work as well. Do you really want to introduce their terrible culture to infect NetApp?

[Val Bercovici]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for sharing EMC's true feelings about DDUP's employees. Unlike EMC though, NetApp welcomes our friends @ DDUP with (proven) open arms.

We also understand that at the time of the surveys in question, DDUP was too small to qualify.

I encourage other EMC commenters to subjectively debate their true corporate nature (against scientific, objective evidence) here on my blog.

[steve]

I think you missed my sarcasm. The point is that not ranking on any given list can mean a) you didn't rank or b) you weren't part of the survey. I suspect that DDUP has an excellent culture - irrespective of whether they qualified to be in any survey.

I think it's a little too early to be saying "NetApp welcomes our friends @ DDUP" - the fat lady ain't sung yet!

[Manfred]

Steve - your logic RE: GPTW is as flawed as EMC's is regarding SPC. Every time a scientific and independent result is released showing EMC deficinecies, you discredit the messenger instead of attempting to improve your products or company.

Shameful, but predictable.

[DDUPer]

@steve - if you think EMC will be getting any productive DDUP employees should you win this bidding war, I've got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

With the forced 5% pay cut, aggressive non-compete clause and renowned crappy east-coast culture, EMC would win nothing more than a shell of a company for your $2B+.

NetApp and other Valley employers will get the best DDUP employees for free if they "lose".

[steve]

@Manfred - actually, I don't think I was discrediting the GPWT Survey at all. There is no argument from me that NetApp would be a great place to work and you deservedly won top spot in the survey. What I don't know is who else was in the survey. DDUP weren't due to their size (not sure if that excluded them from all the surveys quoted or not). But their absence from the survey and therefore their "No Rank" position says nothing about their culture - in this case it says there weren't in the survey. Are there only 100 companies in the world with an acceptable culture - of course not, there are 10's of thousands. Did the GPTW Survey look at all of them - of course not. No-one would contest that NetApp is a great place to work but I think it's a little arrogant to suggest that since NTAP are on the list and one of their competitors isn't, then surely that competitor must be a bad place to work. I don't agree with the logic.