The Tough Choice Facing SAP's New Leaders: How to Cut Costs

As a rule, it's a good sign when a struggling company invests for the long term, emphasizing research and development over cost-cutting, and customers over Wall Street. SAP, the giant German software company that replaced its CEO in a management shakeup over the weekend, seems to be veering down that sensible path.

In SAP's case, however, a hard look at costs might be unavoidable. Expenses are way out of line compared to those of rivals such as Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG)