ABSTRACT
States-a big market. The market was moving away from big, cumbersome systems to smaller, flexible web-based systems and SAP needed an injection of innovation. One firm they acquired was an Israeli-based company doing web-based applications, and headed by Shai Agassi, a younger brasher man who had founded multiple companies. (Not that the CEOs were shy either: Mr. Plattner once mooned the crew of Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s yacht during a race.) They took to Mr. Agassi, who was one of the few to argue back after Plattner criticized his software during a first meeting. They put Agassi in tough management positions in their web-based acquisitions, responsible for hundreds of SAP staff. Agassi pitched idea after idea to the German CEOs, only to be rebuffed repeatedly. Finally, one of his ideas caught Plattner’s attention. As Agassi said, “it was the first time he didn’t say it was stupid; he actually put his glasses on.” This idea became SAP’s NetWeaver-specifically meant to be web based and more easily updated than traditional SAP software. Mr. Agassi was given more responsibility and control and all this was part of the CEO’s plans to make the firm less German.
