Over forty years ago, one of the great British electronics majors was in talks with one of
Arrangements had been pretty much finalised when the British company asked if they could send over a four man team to meet the
The first meeting was arranged for a Friday night which miffed some of the
At the dinner one of the British execs asked: "Tell me, what exactly is a semiconductor?"
The
The merger was called off which was a pity for the
The
MORAL Don't send a fool on a delicate mission..
I know UK top executive have a reputation for dimness, but - please, please tell me this didn't really happen. It is a joke, isn't it?
Peter, I'm afraid it's true, Charlie Sporck, the CEO of the US company in the fable, tells the story in his book 'SPINOFF'. The UK company was Plessey. Sporck and Plessey's boss, Sir John Clark, had had several conversations before this incident took place, and were on the verge of agreeing a deal, but the Plessey board thought they should send over a delegation to check the National guys out. Unortunately the delegation included this idiot.