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Inside Cisco

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Inside Cisco

The Real Story of Sustained M&A Growth

Wiley,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Forget the technology, Cisco’s real business is M&A.

Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

There’s no reason to beat around the bush: This is not an objective history of Cisco. It is an unabashedly adulatory look at one of the most influential companies of the New Economy. If you’re looking for a critical assessment of Cisco’s business model and execution, look elsewhere. That does not mean that you should ignore Inside Cisco, however. On the contrary, getAbstract.com strongly recommends this book for its detailed dissection of Cisco’s acquisition methodology, from its target identification and selection to integration and employee retention. Anyone in business would do well to read this book, study these processes and make them their own.

Summary

Technology Titan

Since its founding in 1984, Cisco has become the 800-pound gorilla of the networking and communications industry. It has sustained 40% annual revenue growth for years, and even with the current dip in the economy and the busting of the tech bubble, it is rich in cash and well positioned to prosper in the future. In an industry known for its quick turnover, Cisco is known for retaining its employees. It has made many of them, as well as its shareholders, very, very rich.

One of the keys to Cisco’s success is its clear corporate strategy. Starting with its goal of tying the world together with Internet technology, Cisco is committed to being its customers’ sole end-to-end source for all their networking needs. It is absolutely committed to this horizontal business model and avoids getting into other areas. Under the leadership of CEO John Chambers, Cisco also maintains a relentless focus on customer service and satisfaction. It is committed to open standards and is technologically agnostic; it avoids preferring one technology over another. Whatever customers want, Cisco will try to provide it. Cisco, which uses its own technology internally, aims to ...

About the Author

Ed Paulson is president of Technology and Communications, Inc. He is the author of 10 business and technology books, including the The Technology M&A Guidebook. He is currently a visiting professor of Business at DePaul University.

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