Kocher's strategy for Micron's rebound

NAMPA, Idaho -- Joel Kocher's red Porsche was a familiar site on the streets of cosmopolitan Austin, Texas. Now as a resident of rural Idaho, Kocher's transportation is still red -- but the sports car is history. Kocher now drives a Dodge Ram pick-up truck.

"Don't need a Porsche here," says Kocher. "I laugh every time I climb into the truck."

	Joel Kocher is trying to add new life with a new product line at Micron.
	Joel Kocher's resume.

Kocher has left some other things behind as well. Known as a master showman when motivating his troops, Kocher has toned down the act somewhat. "I've chosen not to implement the fatigues," says Kocher, referring of his practice of dressing up himself and his executives in battle gear.

Instead, Kocher has appealed to employees directly with regular breakfast meetings to discuss the company's goals, performance and whatever else is on their minds. That is a new practice at Micron Electronics Inc. (MUEI), where meetings between rank-and-file and management were few and far between, workers say.

Kocher's appealing to their pocketbooks as well. In September, Micron will start a bonus plan tied to the company's ability to keep inventory fresh, a key contributor to success in the direct sales model.

Not that Kocher's Barnum and Bailey bluster has dulled. At a recent employee meeting, Kocher imported a local high school marching band to add "um-pa-pa."

Micron's relatively new management team is also getting the Kocher treatment on the intricacies of the direct model, such as the need for hot-off-the-presses data on how the company is performing.

Executives hold a daily 8:30 a.m. meeting where the company's previous day's sales and other measures are reviewed and, if need be, fixed. And managers are constantly consulting alphanumeric pagers that buzz them throughout the day with the figures from the field.

"Joel has his finger on the pulse of the business more than any other person I've seen," says Mark Gonzales, vice president of worldwide marketing.

Says analyst John Dunkle: "He has pretty good track record, and is viewed internally as extremely bright."

But not all has been Porsches and roses in his career. Kocher's two-year stint in the mid-1990s at networking provider Artisoft Inc. (ASFT) was a disaster. So bad that he's expunged mention of that company in executive bios ever since.

What happened? He's not talking. But clearly the move into a software company for a life-long hardware man was not a good match.

Speaking of Steve Jobs
Kocher is much more loquacious on his move in 1996 to Power Computing Inc., the first and largest maker of Mac clones. That is, until Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) discontinued licensing the Mac OS and bought Power's assets for $100 million last year. Kocher resigned before then, over a dispute in strategic direction with Chairman Stephen Kahng. Kocher says Apple Interim CEO Steve Jobs' actions in effect shut down the cloning business, and while Apple's financial picture improved, it has all but killed the future of the Macintosh market.

"Steve Jobs has definitely succeeded," says Kocher. "Apple's customers have higher prices and slow time to market" for new products.

One person who knows Kocher well is Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer Corp. (DELL), where Kocher spent seven years in a variety of sales and marketing roles. Dell suggests he's not overly concerned that Micron will be nipping at his success anytime soon.

"They're there, along with Gateway and a lot of other direct companies . . . but we certainly hold our own against those companies," says Dell. On Kocher, Dell acknowledges even less. "Joel left our company four years ago; I don't really have much more to say than that."

But if Kocher can get Micron running again, Dell may have a lot more to say in the not-so-distant future.