By Julie Bort
Network World, 04/29/02

Most productive companies View other lists NW200 main story

We all know fanatic members of the PDA religion who incessantly preach how the device saves time. Well, here's a reason to believe: For the second year running, Palm has been the most productive company on the Network World 200, defined by revenue per employee. And the runner-up is rival PDA maker Handspring.

The 1,311 Palm employees produced an impressive $1.2 million apiece in fiscal 2001, as a statistical average. Of course, each of them is issued a free Palm handheld, says Judy Bruner, CFO for the company.

"They quickly come to appreciate that they now can stay connected to their e-mail and company databases and be productive inside and outside the office. Handhelds become more than a perk — they become indispensable," Bruner says.

Bruner also attributes Palm's high productivity to its use of outsourcing and its avoidance of custom coding. "We spend less to implement systems and less to support them," she says.

Last year, Palm topped this list with $1.1 million per employee, with 951 employees.

But high productivity doesn't always mean a healthy bottom line, as Palm's $357 million loss for fiscal 2001 put it No. 160 in profit. This in spite of revenue that rose 47%, bumping it from rank 67 to 53. It also didn't save the CEO. Carl Yankowski resigned in November.

Handspring's productivity is nearly as impressive. Its 425 employees each accounted for almost $873,000 in revenue. Handspring was also the second-fastest-growing company on the NW200, growing fiscal 2001 revenue 264% to $370 million from $101 million. This boosted its rank 73 spots from 170 to 97. Yet, it too saw red, with a $126 million loss.

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