Motorola, Inc.
Sabrina Harris
Professor Turner
Business 499 Business Administration Capstone
November 12, 2011
ABSTRACT
Motorola, Inc. began as Galvin Manufacturing, started in 1928 by Paul and Joseph Galvin after they acquired battery eliminator operations from a bankrupt Stewart Storage Battery Company. Galvin used the advancing technology as the ground work for their new product, the first car radio named the Motorola in 1930 followed by the police cruiser radio in 1936 and in 1937, the home radio was introduce (Michael A. Hitt, 2011).
Galvin Manufacturing expanded their product line in 1940 which included two-way communication devices, with the first product being the walkie-talkie, a product that was used by the military. Galvin created a separate product division and a sales subsidiary which became Motorola Communication and they leveraged their experience with the two-way radio used by the military to introduce its commercial line of vehicular FM two-way radio system and equipment in 1941. In 1947, Galvin officially changes their name to Motorola, Inc.
Detrola, a supplier to Ford Motor Company was acquired in 1947 and Motorola entered into the market of selling televisions with their product the Golden View VT71, which sold more than 100,000 televisions in the first year. In 1954 Paul Galvin reorganized the company into product line divisions as a result of the company expanding beyond its existing structure. Motorola acquired General Instrument Corporation which allowed them to further advance into the digital market as GIC was the company that developed all digital high –definition televisions technical standard (Michael A. Hitt, 2011).
Motorola partnered with Cisco Systems in 2000 to expand into the UK and in 2004 the RAZR was introduced with a huge success and it sold over 750,000 units in the first 90 days. Motorola reorganized again 2007 to realign its business into three operations; Home and Network mobility, Enterprise mobility and Mobile Devices.
1. Describe the salient opportunities and threats that exist in Motorola’s external environment.
Motorola has an opportunity to develop new technology and they has succeed with the new RAZR android, a smartphone that promises to be as popular as the first RAZR however, this RAZR is built with all the latest applications and software (BBC Technology, 2011). Motorola is extremely successful in the Asian areas; the American Broadband Industry has numerous opportunities for Motorola to pursue with their ability to progress in technology, and the rapid growing cellphone industry will continue to grow as new technology is introduced to customers. The latest threat to Motorola is the law suit the Intellectual Ventures has filed which accuses Motorola of using its technology to perform file transfers, update & remote data management and other functions on some of its smartphones (BBC Technology, 2011). 2. Describe the company’s most prominent strengths and weaknesses
Motorola has several strengths and weaknesses to include; a. Motorola has a strong brand with a proven track record for reliability. b. Motorola is one of the leading providers of wireless technology and communication. c. Motorola has always been on the leading edge of technology. d. Motorola has strong competition with the launch of the new iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy both smartphones come with numerous applications that are standard to the phone. e. Motorola with always be forced to grow with the technology due to the changing needs of the consumer. 3. Describe the advantages and disadvantages associated with each of Motorola’s strategic options.
The strategic option that Motorola may adapt is:
Advantages
a. Re-evaluate the management style of the company, which has the advantage being up to date with the trends and industry within the industry. b. Research and develop products with the latest technology, the advantage of the strategic option is Motorola will strengthen its brand as having a reputation of remaining o the cutting edge of technology. c. Application and software on the Motorola products should be user friendly with an interface that the average consumer can operation with ease, which has the advantage of consumer loyalty as items which are user friendly, will make a consumer more likely to buy the product.
Disadvantages
a. The disadvantage to re-evaluating the management style is there will always be an employee or customer that is resistant to change which has the potential to create division among the employees and distrust of the customers. b. Research and develop products with the latest technology can be a disadvantage as the company will find itself in a constant competition which requires an employee to work hard to develop the latest technology and this environment can become stressful. c. There in my opinion is not a disadvantage to having applications and software that is user-friendly as the customers require an easy to use device. 4. Describe how the corporation’s strategy and organizational structure can be designed to solve the company’s strategic issues.
A corporation’s strategy and organization structure can be designed to solve a company’s strategic issues by re-evaluating the company procedures and policies, introduce an incentive for the creative ideas of the employee and develop an educational training program for the employees. 5. Explain how Motorola should proceed. a. Motorola should research and analyze various companies in the industry to gain information on the type of training and development program will be created for the employees. b. Motorola should create a creative development division responsible for creative development of products. c. Motorola should create a creative incentive for employees to express their ideas and if their idea is chosen they receive reognition.
Bibliography BBC Technology. (2011, 10 7). Retrieved from BBC Mobile: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15212599 Michael A. Hitt, R. I. (2011). Strategic Management Concepts & Cases. Mason: Cengage Learning.
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[ 1 ]. General Instrument Corporation
[ 2 ]. United Kingdom 