Controlling your own success factors
Intuit seems to be doing well as it focuses on its core businesses according to the WSJ yesterday but it is not home free yet since Microsoft continues to breathe down its neck especially since the Redmond giant acquired Great Plains.
The renewed focus on small business represents a bit of a back-to-basics approach for Intuit and Mr. Bennett. When the CEO was recruited from GE's GE Capital unit two and a half years ago, Mr. Bennett recalls telling Intuit executives, "I don't know what e-finance is."
So Mr. Bennett set about instituting more discipline and focus in Intuit's core businesses and dismantling or selling off unprofitable Internet businesses, such as the online-mortgage business, which he calls a "disaster." Similarly, the online-insurance business was generating sales of $5 million a year but losing $10 million.
"I hate businesses where I can't control my own success* factors," says Mr. Bennett. Now, "I like our strategy."
*Random Note: Yes, www.success.org is the website for the...wait for it...The American Success Institute. Must enroll ASAP.