By taking a consistently negative attitude toward the competition, a vendor becomes increasingly insular. That's not good for business.

Microsoft, through the proliferation of Windows, has been the conventional vendor that most of those businesses turn to. Microsoft has done pretty well at it. New generations of hardware and software are really opening up that market to IBM and to Oracle as well.

I think the U.S. was so insular in the 1990s, and I don't know if it was 9/11, but there was something that opened it up.

A business plan is like a war plan, when you competitors know about it, it's no longer of any use

Each could make a case. For the vendor, it's not just about the price but also what each bidder can bring to the party.

When you consider the sum total of the negative attitude toward my government, it makes a lot of sense for me to exit the scene if Liberia is to live.