SAS Institute (SGS Case: HR-6A)

Perspective: Reading this case, I had to remind myself that the employees that Goodnight is employing, are highly educated, very well compensated individuals. Their production is also very high, and throwing $25,000+ in annual benefits is a drop in the bucket for the amount of annual production and revenue they produce for the company. When the average salary of an employee is $25,000 or less, it becomes much more cost prohibitive to provide employee benefits as extensive as SAS is providing.

Private vs. Public Companies: Dr. Goodnight is exactly right with his business philosophy of long term profitability vs. short term profitability. SAS Institute has been able to effectively make the long term capital investments necessary to maintain its competitiveness over other companies due to it being a privately held company with no public stockholders demanding steadily increasing quarterly earnings.

Having a Plan: Or should I say the lack of having a plan. Dr. Goodnight’s plan reminds me of the “Invisible Hand.” I would have to say its more of being in the right place at the right time.

I would conclude, that based on the period of time, and the type of industry, SAS Institute hit the “Perfect Storm.”