Cisco: 'The Best Company for the World'

On Nov. 5, Cisco Systems (CSCO) was among the first companies to announce financial results including the catastrophic month of October. It wasn't pretty. While the company barely beat earnings estimates, CEO John Chambers predicted sales would decline in the current quarter by as much as 10%—the first time since the dot-com bust. But Chambers was careful to stress that he remains more committed than ever to Cisco's sweeping emerging-markets push. "Over time we expect the majority of the world's GDP growth will come from the emerging countries," he told analysts. "In expanding these relationships during tough times, our goal is to be uniquely positioned as the market turnaround occurs."

Senior Editor Peter Burrows spoke with Chambers earlier this summer, to get his perspective on why Cisco has been successful in emerging economies—beyond just China and India—and on the special influence he hopes the company can have by helping to bring the benefits of the Internet to millions of people.