They remove their 10% bottom performing sales people each year, as sales people are paid to bring in orders, and if they do not, then their contract is clear about the consequences.
If a sales person knows they will be removed for low returns, they may resort to getting sales at any price by promising things that cannot actually be delivered and 'bigging up' the ability of the company/product. Some sales people will say anything to get a sale. For 28 years, I worked in the Telecoms world purchasing equipment and services, so I was 'sold at' by many.
Anyone in industry would rate Cisco at the top of the companies to work for, and they qualify as being great.
As you say,
GrahamO, "the definition of what makes a great company is obviously open to interpretation".
TrakBall
You get an unsatisfactory annual review from your supervisor. At that point your supervisor or manager must develop a Performance Improvement Plan with specific and measurable goals. In other words, do this and this and if you maintain other performance issues, you will get a satisfactory job rating.
In theory - yes. I have seen the process used to get rid of people unfairly and to promote the incompetent. As with any system devised by one human, another human can subvert it!