Motorola Business Organization Must Keep an Eye

Motorola

Business organization must keep an eye on the threats and opportunities present in their external environment. With this analysis, they can strategize to encounter the potential threats with their strengths and core competencies while avail the attractive opportunities to grow in the industry in a more competitive fashion. The success and sustainability of an organization largely depends upon the effectiveness of its corporate wide strategies and organizational structure; both must be aligned with its day by day changing business requirements (Mu-hlbacher, Dahringer, & Leihs, 2006).

This paper acquaints the reader with the external environment and corporate strategies of a renowned multinational corporation -- Motorola, Inc. It starts with a brief description of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses, and then explains the most important corporate strategies that are implemented to operate and compete in a challenging business environment. A set of recommendations is also proposed which can be helpful for Motorola in solving its strategic issues and environmental challenges.

SWOT Analysis of Motorola, Inc.

Motorola, Inc., which is now divided into two independent companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions is an American multinational corporation mainly engaged in the manufacturing, promotion, and sale of highly advanced cell phones, smart phones, tablet PCs, wireless broadband networks, radios, cable television systems, etc. Since its inception, Motorola has always tried to offer the highest quality products which not only match the requirements of its customers, but also give handsome returns on its investments. The business operations of Motorola have expanded to all the corners of the world. Therefore, it has to analyze the Global external environment which consists of opportunities and threats as well as its own internal environment in the form of strengths and weaknesses (Paley, 2006). The following section briefly explains the SWOT Analysis of Motorola which is helpful in understanding its internal and external environment.

Strengths:

Motorola is the pioneer in brining the most innovative cell phones in the world markets. At present, it has been offering a wide range of high quality and advanced telecom products and services to its customers all over the Globe. Innovation is considered as the biggest strength and a core competency of Motorola. The second major strength is the brand image which it has developed over years to become one of the most competitive organizations in the telecommunication industry. Motorola products are not premium-priced; means they are made to cater the needs of all the income groups of the society. This is the reason why Motorola has emerged as a fair-price brand among the general customers. Another big strength of Motorola is its robust manufacturing capability. It has installed the most advanced plants and machineries to manufacture the smartest and the most modernized telecom products (Kurtz, MacKenzie, & Snow, 2010).

Weaknesses:

Despite having a number of strengths and core competencies, Motorola has some weaknesses and shortcomings in its product design and business processes. One of the major weaknesses which Motorola has observed during the last decade is a significant decline in the sales of its smart phones. This is because Motorola smart phones are not user friendly which have reduced the level of their acceptability among potential customers. A considerable percentage of consumers have also reported some technical faults in Motorola phones which has also hampered its brand image and the re-sale value of its phones. Motorola was a market leader in innovation, but it ignored the importance of continuous improvements in its business processes which was taken as an edge by its competitors. Now Motorola has lost its top market position which can only be attributed to its fewer R&D expenses than its top competitors (Paley, 2006).

Opportunities:

There are a lot of opportunities for Motorola to grow in a competitive way and revive its market leadership in the industry. There are various un-reached potential markets which can be targeted to gain a higher market share and strengthen the brand image. It can expend more on Research and Development section in order to improve its current business processes and bring innovative features in its products. Further, it can make strategic investments in manufacturing smart phones that are the need for Today's young generation (Kurtz, MacKenzie, & Snow, 2010). Potential customers can be attracted to buy Motorola products if effective promotional campaigns are run on different marketing mediums. Motorola can give emphasis on the process and product designs in order to enhance the level of acceptability for its products among their potential customers.

Threats:

Motorola operates in such an industry which is highly exposed to rapid technological changes and variant consumer preferences. The biggest threat for Motorola is the top-notch competitors in the telecommunication industry; including Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Apple in the cell phone market, and Verizon, Vodafone, and AT & T. In network services. These competitors are expending a large portion of their budget on R&D and promotional activities which helps them in snatching Motorola's customers. The different economic, environmental, social, and political forces present in the Global business environment are also making it difficult for Motorola to operate profitability and competitively. Moreover, day by day increasing raw material, fuel, and technology costs are a big threat for the profitability of the company (Paley, 2006).

Advantages & Disadvantages of Motorola's Strategic options and Recommendations Thereon

One shortcoming in Motorola's strategic decisions is the less expenditure on Research and Development section than its competitors. Motorola was a market leader in the past, but it failed to maintain this position when it unnecessarily relied on a few successful products. It did not give importance to innovation and continuous improvement in business processes. Moreover, Motorola does not expend a considerable portion of its budget on marketing or promotional efforts of its products and training and development of its staff. It results in steady or no sales growth and poor job performance by the staff. Motorola also adopts a retrenchment strategy for its low-performing business units instead of supporting their growth through different revival strategies and tactics. All these things are a negative sign for Motorola's competitiveness in the telecommunication industry (Mu-hlbacher, Dahringer, & Leihs, 2006).