When I first met JV in his first week at Xerox, I told him that we had to focus on revenue first and foremost. His answer: "I disagree. We'll fix cost and if revenue improves, it will be gravy." It was clear to me at that point that he did not have any serious intentions of investing in revenue growth. Shortly thereafter, the BS about "Tech Powerhouse" started and thank God, I left for a better career opportunity.
When the stock price took a large hit in Q2 because of disappointing revenue performance, they started throwing incremental commissions to the sale force despite having said before that the old comp. scheme was too generous and rewarding the wrong behaviors (i.e., churns vs. growing install base). There are a few comments on this site from sale folks saying that this is going to be their best compensation year in a long time while revenue is declining at ~9%!
When overly generous sales comp will no longer be sufficient to boost short term revenue, they'll start cooking the books. JV often refers to what he has on the 'left door' to massage results. SEC, be aware and investors, stay away!
Despite all of this, I am hearing that Q3 revenue continue to s— big time. Anyone has further insights on this?