This article implies that employing more people per dollar revenue is inefficient. However this is only true for comparisons in a particular industry segment.
Starbucks' revenue per employee is less than any of those but it doesn't make it less inefficient, just a different model.
If you flip the logic round and apply it to customers, 37Signals looks very inefficient. Oracle has few high paying customers whilst 37Signals has many cheap ones.
Comparisons of rev/customer or rev/employee are always interesting but only meaningful in a single industry segment.
Starbucks' revenue per employee is less than any of those but it doesn't make it less inefficient, just a different model.
If you flip the logic round and apply it to customers, 37Signals looks very inefficient. Oracle has few high paying customers whilst 37Signals has many cheap ones.
Comparisons of rev/customer or rev/employee are always interesting but only meaningful in a single industry segment.