Cadence Design (A)
Question 1
A.)Joe Costello
He is determined in seeking justice as shown by his resilience to pursue the case he had lodged against six of Avant!’s executive members using Cadence Design Systems software without authorization form the company. The six executives who were also former employees of Cadence had in different occasion stolen from their former employer. Despite the fact that everyone was telling him to drop the suit, he did not to down since he was determined to get justice from the courts. His determination made even his own board to lose patience with him. His efforts were rewarded in May 21, 2001, when Avant! and its executive were found guilty of stealing software used to develop microchips from Cadence.
In addition, he exhibits corporate integrity. From the interview, which he was interviewed, it is evident that his critics were wrong to allege that he was seeking courts help in dislodging Avant! from being a competitor in business. It is evident that one of the reason Mr. Castillo was pursing this case was to make sure that there is respect for corporate trade secrets. He did hope that through the success of his case against his former employees, the rampant lack of corporate integrity in Silicon Valley would be pursued by the authorities to ensure that such actions are condemned and get the necessary punishment.
B.) Gerry Hsu
Hsu was a former employee of Cadence and current president of Avant! is manipulative. This elaborated when he deals with the case against him and other five executive members. Using all means, he succeeds in assembling a team of attorneys’ whose main aim was to frustrate the case since he knew he stood little chance of winning the case. His lawyers succeed in making three judges to withdraw in a raw from listening to the case. In order to get public sympathy his company formed a foundation that would be giving scholarships to students as well as helping the older generation in society. The irony of it is that much of the funds were used to advertise rather than giving the actual help. To make sure that no stone is left unturned Avont! hired Mark Fabian who had helped the Clinton administration, through the Whitewater scandal.
Moreover, he is not open- straight person. This can be indicated by his action of giving his son and Noriko Ando a former flight attendant hefty salary that can only be equaled to that of senior executives in the company. In addition, he ran the property as if it was personal property. It is on record that Avont! did business with companies, which were closely Mr., Hsu, have significant shares.
On the positive side he is hard working, a strategist who has a clear picture of what he wants. In fact, the success of Avont! is attributed to his hard work rather than the software stolen from Cadence.
c.) Former and potential customers of Cadence and Avant!
Some of the customers are concerned about the integrity of buying stolen technology as evidenced by Mr. T.J. Rodgers, founder and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor concurrence. In fact, others are in support of the suit, Vincent Solito one of Cadence clients says that if the case succeeded then it serve as an example.
However, others seem uninterested to an extent that some accuse Costello of wasting time instead of working hard in the marketing front. A customer at chipmaker at one point engaged him at a heated e-mail message saying posturing in the courts is waste of time.
d.) Avant!’s auditors
The internal auditors seem to lack credibility as evidenced by the many flaws discovered by KPMG which it he external auditor for the company.
e)Avant!’s Lawyers Seem to lack professionalism, as they were much more interested in delaying the case from taking place rather than defending their client. For instance, they ran scorched earth policy, which made three judges to withdraw from listening to the case. In addition, they carried campaign outside the court against Cadence, which is against the practice of law.
