Vantive Corporation, the Santa Clara, California-based company which sells customer support and sales force automation software, has warned investors that its second quarter to June 30 will be a disappointment. But the news may have come a little late for some, with the shares having already fallen from $25 to $15 in the last few days. Vantive’s revenues have grown at over 100% a year for the last three years, from just $10m in 1994 to $117m in 1997. But in the second half of this year, Vantive anticipates growth of only 20%. After a thorough review, CEO John Luongo is blaming the slow down on execution problems amongst the North American sales team. Vantive looks to have suffered the recurring fate of rapidly expanding software companies, where sales executives become disrupted and de-motivated by having their territories carved up to accommodate more and more staff. No one at Vantive was available for comment.
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