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ASK Computers was a company that produced software for use in business ASK Computers settings, particularly manufacturing. Its most significant program was called ManMan, an abbreviation for manufacturing management, which allowed small manufacturing companies to plan such things as the purchase of materials and production schedules. It was a major advance because such tasks had been performed by only large mainframe computers.
In the late 1980s, ASK began to see its market share erode as businesses cut back on their expenditures. Its financial picture was further weakened when it lost control of a subsidiary it had bought. In addition, it suffered a series of embarrassing revelations and allegations that some of its senior managers were engaged in improper activities.
The company was founded in 1972 by Sandra and Ari Kurtzig, a California couple who invested $2,000 of their savings in the start-up. They used the initials of their names and their home address as the location for their new business, which they called ASK Computer Systems.
Initially the firm developed software for use in a number of different business applications. In 1978, however, Kurtzig came up with ASK’s most significant product, a program for the Hewlett-Packard minicomputer that permitted small manufacturing companies to manage their operations. The program allowed companies to plan such things as the purchase of supplies and production schedules, something that had previously been done only on larger mainframe computers.
To increase sales of the ManMan program, ASK acquired a company that designed microcomputer based programs with business applications for use with personal computers, and renamed it ASK Micro. It pushed to sell its top seller, Accounting Plus, and hired sales personnel to supplement distributors who had been selling the program. This move backfired, and the company ended up losing a substantial amount of money.
In 1984, ASK planned to offer a version of its original product, ManMan, for about one-third of its previous price. This change was made possible by the introduction of lower-priced minicomputers from Hewlett-Packard and Digital Equipment Corporation, the two hardware manufacturers for which ASK had developed software. This move was intended to protect ASK’s market share with smaller businesses and emerging middle-range manufacturers. However, the lowered price did not boost sales, and by 1985 ASK’s market share was beginning to erode. In addition, Kurtzig and her family began selling off large blocks of their stock holdings in the company, a move that led to a shareholder lawsuit.