dgp
...at&t was never set up to operate a business. It was set up to operate monopolies over various political boundaries (state lines usually). Competence was not considered important.
...the operating companies would buy tools such as a pair of diagonal pliars that could be bought anywhere else for five bucks but they would buy them from Western Electric for Twenty or so bucks. That is one of the ways that money was moved from the operating companies to the owner company.
...when they found themselves in a position where they had to actually compete with other companies based on the quality and or the price of their product, they were unable to do so, and no one in management knew why. They were doing the same things they had done when all they had to do for a price increase was to go before the public service commission to competition. Nothing worked and the people in charge had ego's that would not allow them to admit their lack of knowledge or ask for help.
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