Motorola international business strategy and operations

Motorola- International Business

Motorola, since it first entered the electronic market as the world leader in the field of communication technology using mobile phones, has up until today maintained its status as a leader in the manufacture of mobile phones, pagers, microchips that can be used in computers as well as for other purposes, and automotive semi-conductors. Though Motorola has indeed been facing stiff competition from the Japanese, and it has been pushed literally into the background on many occasions when the Japanese, especially during the 1980's and early 1990's began to flood the U.S. market with high quality and low costing cellular phones, when the demand for these devices was just catching up in the U.S.A. Even though Motorola headed the cellular phone revolution in the U.S.A. during that period, it was not able to catch the chunk of market that it deserved because of the phenomenon of Japanese cellular phones and pagers making their entry into the same market at the same time.

Motorola did not take things lightly however, and decided to fight back and capture the lost market. This resulted in the managers of Motorola creating two strategies on which to base their fight: one was to learn more about the Japanese competition and the second one was to compete with them armed with inside knowledge about them. This led to the development of certain broad goals, including that of improving the quality of the cellular phones they were manufacturing, then lowering costs considerably, after which they would automatically regain their lost market share. Managers were then sent out, in order to learn more about the Japanese methods of operations that they felt were excellent. The budget was considerably boosted up along with the R& D. Department, and employee training was given more importance and trainees were sent abroad for this purpose. In a nutshell, the entire operations of Motorola were given a boost from top to bottom, and when it was discovered that the company had actually forgotten the old traditional methods of doing business, it was decided that these methods would be thoroughly researched and included in the new modus operandi. (Motorola)

The Motorola Company was originally known as the 'Galvin Manufacturing Corporation' when it was founded in the year 1928. One of the first products manufactured in this unit was the 'battery eliminator', after which the company has been steadily expanding over the years and is now not only known for being a virtual leader in broadband technologies, and in wireless and embedded electronic product manufacture, but is also recognized for its qualities of a dedication to ethical business practices and also for its creative and innovative ideas. By the year 1994, Motorola had manufactured the world's first 'commercial digital radio system' that actually combines paging, data communications, voice dispatches, and also wireless telephones in one single unit. In 1996, the world's smallest 'wearable' cellular phone was manufactured, and by 2000, it was decided that Motorola would merge with 'General Instrument Corporation' and provide the service of video and voice and data networking for cable and Internet and high-speed service connections.

In 2001, the Motorola v60 phone was introduced, and this boasted of providing Internet access, voice dialing and several other facilities, and in the year 2004, the Company was recognized for its invaluable contribution to the world of Information Technology. MTV Networks, Europe granted several awards for this achievement, as did France and other countries all over the world. The latest development is that Motorola received a contract of $329 million from the Commonwealth of Virginia for the purpose of the manufacture of a statewide multi-agency radio system. (Motorola History)

In October 2003, Motorola was awarded the prestigious International Headquarters award. In the presentation speech, the Chairman of economic development at Motorola Mr. Teo Ming Kian declared that throughout its more than 75 years of history in the communication business, Motorola has always been setting new standards and new trends. Singapore was chosen as one of its regional offices in 1984, and since then the relationship has been growing steadily. Motorola will now concentrate on Asia, he said, and the different strategies that different states across the nation will work better with have been thoroughly researched and implemented by the Company, and this, in fact, is one of the reasons for its continued success all over the world. (Motorola awarded International Headquarters Award)

Motorola has demonstrated, in its quest for a place in the International and Global markets of today, a shared vision and a good working relationship between the customers and the suppliers and the Motorola Company as such. The company states that the products that it manufactures are some of the best and the finest in the whole world. Some of the strategies that Motorola has been following for its continued successes are to work with certain important selected customers and certain suppliers for the purpose of improving the performance through the methods of diagnostic evaluations from time to time, by customizing educational and training programs for the employees of Motorola, and by developing continuous support programs by the system of offering full systems solutions wherever and whenever necessary.

The company is even today still demonstrating rapid growth and also continued improvements that it has been showing from the time of its inception more than seventy-five years ago. More than 20,000 associates are being hired every single year in order to cope with the increasing size of the company and it's branching out all over the world. Today, in order to get the employees fully trained and equipped with thee proper knowledge of the workings of the company within the shortest time possible, some of the training required for these new associates is being imparted through a system of interactive sessions through CD-ROMs, the Internet, through the system of wireless data, and a lot of other emerging technologies. (Career Fusion)

Motorola has in recent years demonstrated an interest in continuous improvement, and in the process of applying various statistical methods and techniques for the purpose of the improvement of the working of the company. One of the methods of achieving this is the method that other companies elsewhere in the world have been showing a keen interest in; the method of 'Six Sigma'. (Implementing Six Sigma) The core of the Six Sigma method is actually nothing but a sound and firm decision-making process that can be used by any company or organization wherein it can be produced and also reproduced innumerable times within the organization. Execution is also given an upper hand and the methods of efficient and effective execution are explained in a manner that a company that would want to improve its working to generate more profits would find it an extremely useful tool.

The Six Sigma method also stresses on the need for the company to maintain continuous innovations within the organization and to involve the employees in this, so that they become more productive and the ultimate result would be that of the success of the company. The DMAIC roadmap of this method, that is, the 'Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control', are the tools that are offered to the management of the company. The first three, that is, define, measure and analyze are the decision-making processes that are stressed upon. The first step towards solving a problem is to actually define it. This is exactly what would be done during the implementation of the Six Sigma Plan. Once the problem has been defined, the process outputs that result would be measured with ease, and the problem no longer seems insurmountable. When the inputs and the outputs have been measured and analyzed, then the cause and effect relationship becomes clear and obvious, and improvements can be based on the findings. (Six Sigma methods and Tools)

In a case study of Motorola, it is clear that when it comes to the problem of managing software licenses, Motorola has been a good example for its strategy of effective management and continued improvement. It was in the year 1998 that the company decided to centralize its licensing systems worldwide. Since it was a very difficult proposition, the company turned to the software asset management solution provider Samsuite for a solution. This program provided Motorola with the advantage of central licensing, and this was filed under Samreport, from where it was easily accessible to all the management of the company. Hundreds and thousands of reports can be created and filed with Samreport, and since all the data is run as 'usage' during the night only by Motorola, this becomes very advantageous because a lot of data becomes crunched. (Case study, Motorola)

It is a fact that several individuals have been filling cases against cell phone manufacturers including Motorola, stating that the usage of cell phones has the propensity of causing cancer, and that the cell phone manufacturers should have conducted intense research before embarking on the manufacture of these dangerous devices. As far as Motorola is concerned, the issue is whether these lawsuits of cell phones causing dangerous emissions that could cause cancer would in fact affect their business of manufacturing these cell phones. How did Motorola react to the issue and what was the strategy adopted by the company when it was faced with these charges, and how did Motorola bear up under such pressures? (Motorola and Cell Phone Radiation)

The system of M-Commerce of today is another area in which Motorola will base its future development strategies on. What is M. commerce? It is a system that entails the use of mobile telephone communications networks to conduct business transactions that involve the passing of information from one point to another, the using of the communications between various individuals, and the issuance of payments for these transactions. When mobile phones are not used, palm tops can be used instead, and 'geographic positioning' and 'location capability' units are being added to these devices so that the transactions involved in m-commerce would become even easier and simpler. (Configuring M. commerce Portals for Business Success)

Motorola as everyone knows, is one of the first manufacturers of communication devices that use 'embedded technology'. This is one engineering feat that has not yet been rivaled by any other company. While the communications segment of embedded technology is met with new emerging standards every day, Motorola has in fact managed to keep pace with these changing standards, with the aid of a large number of well researched and well investigated future oriented goals and strategies used by the management of the company. (Standards Participation Critical to Future Design Success)

To go back to the lawsuits filed by individuals against cell phone manufacturers claiming that cell phones were causing cancer, it was discovered that Motorola, the key player in the industry, sought to protect its business interests. It was in 1993 that David Reynard from Florida first filed a suit against the cell phone manufacturer, NEC Corp, for having caused the fatal brain cancer that his wife had suffered greatly from. The case caught the fancy of the media, and the death of Mrs. Reynard generated an unwarranted lot of interest. It turned into a political issue with a Representative of the Democrats; Edward J. Markey held several hearings on this case. The cell phone industry however, did not take any chances, and went about immediately setting up a $25 million, six-year research project named the 'Wireless Technology Research', as prompted by the 'Cellular Telecommunications Industry association'. In the more than fifty case studies conducted by the WTR, it was found that only three out of the fifty were in any way even remotely associated with cancer. The results were inconclusive, and when the Food and Drug Administration released a notice that it was reopening studies on the emissions from cell phones and the risk of cancer from these emissions, there was an international uproar. (Motorola and Cell Phone Radiation)

The conclusion arrived at was that all cell phones would be accompanied with appropriate literature on the 'specific absorption rates' that that particular cell phone would provide, and that the stamp of approval of the FCC would be prominently displayed on all cell phones from thenceforth. Motorola was definitely affected by all this bad publicity, and though the link has never been proved, Motorola is not lying down and taking it easy. The company has developed certain effective strategies in order to deal with the problem, and the first step that it took was to identify the sources of threats as the persons most likely to take action, and the persons least likely to take action. Once this was done, Motorola found it possible to take several non-market actions in order to protect itself and continue with the profitable business of the manufacture and sale of cell phones and other communication devices.

The three fold objectives of Motorola in confronting the problem are: to prevent the introduction of unfavorable and unsatisfactory legislation so that the company's good will and reputation would be maintained, to take the necessary steps needed to protect itself from any sort of future liability litigation, and to ensure that the media does not, in the future, incite any more unfounded fears about the usage of cell phones, in the minds of the general public. This sort of defensive action is considered by many as being better than an offensive action, but the problem is that a defensive action will have results in the future and not in the present. However, Motorola has taken this issue seriously and will develop more strategies as and when required to deal with such issues even as they occur. (Motorola and Cell Phone Radiation)

The concept of m-commerce is one that is an emerging technology. It uses the information from transactions conducted via cell phones and other mobile telecommunications networks. The success of m-commerce will rely on the ability to better connect end customers and service providers through the m-portal. The strategies that will ensure this success must be a blend of personalization, of content and of permissions, and all the various companies that manufacture cell phones and other types of communication technology must ensure co-operation for the purpose of the development of creative and efficient m-portals. Motorola, as one of the companies that manufacture communications equipment, along with others like Nokia and Samsung, are in the process of working out the different strategies for the future that would involve the development of standard devices for m-commerce transactions.