Not Fred's Fault

It's easy now to shake your head and wonder why top executives at Wang Laboratories, Inc. didn't see it coming. The once high-flying Wang, whose stock hit $43 a share in 1983, lay nearly in ruins by 1989, when its stock plummeted to $5.75 a share. Wang currently trades at approximately $3.50 a share.

The story of the company's rise and fall is one of technical innovation, arrogance and nepotism, and its main character--the revered Doctor, An Wang--is at the center of it all. It's a "classical tragedy, " writes Charles C. Kenney, who took two years off from reporting on business issues for The Boston Globe to pen the history of the company in a book due out in March.

Computerworld staff writer Kim S. Nash recently talked with Kenney about how far the mighty have fallen.

Q Was the decline of Wang Labs Fred Wang's fault?

A People who understand that company do not point to Fred Wang. They all--every one--point to An Wang. The evidence is overwhelming.

Q What was An Wang's fatal flaw? Arrogance?

A He was getting older and thought the company was so well-established that it couldn't be knocked off track. He had been so right so often that he came to believe he would make few mistakes. Arrogance is dangerous in the leader of any company, but it's particularly dangerous in the leader of a company in the most competitive industry in the world.

Q When did the company's decline begin?

A You can trace it back to 1981, when the Doctor took himself out of the most important job in the company: head of development.

Q Which is, coincidentally, the year the personal computer was introduced.

A Symbolic, isn't it? Thirty years after he starts his business--he goes for three decades as a true visionary--IBM introduces the personal computer, and his vision is blurred.

The Doctor was extremely stubborn. By that point in his career, he had become a dangerous deity, which undermined the entire operation. Arrogance crept into the organization and...