Culture clash at SAP

"Americanization" may spell trouble for German software giant's global designs

Will greater speed jeopardize quality? Will SAP abandon its tried-and-true proprietary ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) language? Do customers even want all the new stuff?

SAP announced it was acquiring a couple of small software companies this week: CRM vendor Wicom and identity management solution provider MaXware. But the big SAP news is that details of the company’s recent turbulence and Shai Agassi’s departure are finally starting to come to light.

Just as Daimler-Benz recently decided it had overreached with its Chrysler acquisition, it seems the SAP home office in Walldorf, Germany, is grappling with backlash from its recent aggressive workforce globalization. A deep dive by The Wall Street Journal last week revealed the cultural and business tensions that have played out behind the scenes.

Rewind to 2001. SAP acquires Agassi’s company, TopTier Software, just as it’s becoming clear that the Internet will threaten SAP’s proprietary, self-contained software suite business model. Agassi convinces then-CEO Hasso Plattner to pour resources into NetWeaver and to start investing in lighter-weight Web-based software products with faster product cycles.

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