ABSTRACT
An executive from the large global software supplier SoftCo emails one of his most loyal and influential customers to report to him the publication of some recent industry research. The message is brief and written in an informal style and it is clear the author is happy to convey the information. The email describes the release of a new ‘Magic Quadrant’, which is a form of market analysis produced by one of the largest information and communication technology research analysts. It is an attempt to compare and rank software vendors and their offerings according to a number of predefined measures. It comes in the form of a box with an X and Y axis (labelled as ‘completeness of vision’ and ‘ability to execute’). Inside the box, there are a further four squares into which are placed the names of several vendors. These vendors are not randomly placed – each of the squares is individually labelled (niche player, challenger, visionary and leader) to show that the position of a vendor in a particular square signifies something (i.e. that a vendor is perceived to be performing well or not). The reason for the email message is that this particular software vendor has jumped from one box to another. Whereas in the previous year it was described as a ‘niche player’, it is now said to be a ‘challenger’. In addition, as the email message describes, this is thought to be good news, very good news indeed.
