Quantum Corporation Case Analysis Current

Quantum Corporation Case Analysis

Current Situation a. Past Corporate Performance

According to Quantum's "Corporate Backgrounder" Web page (2008), the Corporation was founded in 1980, since which it has become the leading storage company offering services such as backup, recovery, and archive computer functions. In August 2006, the company became the largest independent supplier of its type of solutions by acquiring the Advanced Digital Information Corporation (ADIC). Because of its focus on limited number of services, the company has been able to develop a leading level of expertise in the fields of backup, recovery and archive solutions.

Quantum's service is very relevant for the rapidly evolving technological world of today. Its expert personnel continually update their skills and knowledge in order to help customers find the best possible solutions to their storage needs. The company's innovation and platform independence are therefore customer-driven and specifically designed according to the changing needs of the customers. This provides customers with a sense of trust in a company that provides expertise and targeted solutions, systems, software, devices and services, all aimed towards providing customers with the solutions that they need.

As the largest supplier in its field, the company incorporates the largest range of disk-based backup and duplication/replication solutions. It also provides tape automation, tape drives and media. It also provides technology to facilitate shared workflow and intelligent archiving.

In terms of its customer base, Quantum provides services not only to large corporations, but also to smaller businesses and organizations, from Global 200 enterprises to remote offices. Its solutions are also provided to government agencies, media and entertainment companies. Quantum furthermore provides it service to the educational, science, engineering, and financial sectors throughout the globe.

From its beginnings nearly three decades ago, Quantum corporation has grown to provide its services on a global scale. In addition to the excellence of the company's products, the excellence and expertise of its personnel provides all customers with the specific solutions that they need. This places Quantum in a favorable position in the marketplace, and makes them a sought after company for data storage solutions. In addition, the size of the company, the global presence of its employee base, and its Internet presence make access to its services and support easy to obtain.

b. Current Mission, Objectives, Strategies

Quantum Corporation has historically achieved a very high level of customer service and product quality. Its current mission is to continue this and maintain its position in the global marketplace. According to the "Corporate Backgrounder" Web page (2008), this is currently achieved in practical terms by the company's high level of service and support in 180 countries and more than 350 strategic stocking facilities throughout the world. This provides both immediate and effective solutions to customers when they need it.

In keeping with current technological developments, the company also makes extensive use of the Internet in order to monitor Quantum systems via intelligent diagnostics data. This enables the company to service equipment from a remote location, thus reducing management time, improving reliability, and allowing faster turnover time of services to customers.

By means of value-added services such as StoargeCare Guardian, iPlatform and iLayer, Quantum's strategy is therefore to provide services that are not only fast, but also of high quality, including sufficient customer care strategies to ensure that customers have indeed found the solutions they were looking for. For this, the company has been rewarded by acknowledgements such as the NorthFace Scoreboard award from Omega Management Group, and the STAR Award for Best Practices by the Service & Support Professional Association. The Corporation furthermore actively participates as a member of TSANet.

In order to help reach its goal of global presence in addition to excellence in technology and service, Quantum makes use of strategic alliances and partnerships with the most prominent names in the computer industry, such as Apple, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, IBM, Microsoft and Symantec. These partnership are ensured by means of the Quantum Alliance Reseller Program, by which resellers and distributors are offered the opportunity to increase their sales of the corporation's solutions, tape libraries, autoloaders and other products. In this capacity, the corporation has also received several awards.

As mentioned, Quantum Corporation operates on a global scale, with its worldwide headquarters in San Jose, California. The company's employees are numbered at around 2,300 around the world. It publicly trades on the New York Stock Exchange under QTM, with its revenues totaling $976 million at the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2008.

Corporate Governance a. Board of Directors

Quantum's "Corporate Profile" Web page (2008) provides information on the Board of Directors for the company, consisting of experts in their respective fields. The Board consists of Rick Belluzzo, Paul Auvil, Michael Brown, Tom Buchsbaum, Ed Esber, Liz Fetter, Joe Marengi, Bruce Pasternack and Dennis Wolf.

Rick Belluzzo joined the Company as Chief Executive Officer during September 2002, and became Chairman of the Board in July 2003. From September 1999- May 2002, he was employed in a senior management capacity by Microsoft Corp. From January 1998 to September 1999, Mr. Belluzzo served as Chief Executive Officer at Silicon Graphics, Inc., prior to which he was employed by Hewlett-Packard. He is on the board of directors of PMC-Sierra and JDS Uniphase.

Paul Auvil began his career at VLSI Technology, where he was employed for ten years, after which he spent four years as the Chief Financial Officer for Vitria Technology. From August 2002 to July 2006, Mr. Auvil was VMware, Inc.'s Chief Financial Officer, after which he became the entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark Capital from October 2006 to March 2007. He has been the Chief Financial Officer of Proofpoint, Inc. since March 2006.

Michael Brown was the Chief Executive Officer at Quantum from September 1995 to September 2002 and Chairman of the Board of Directors from May 1998 to July 2003. He is currently the Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.

Tom Buchsbaum became an independent consultant, and has served as such since March 2005. His career includes companies such as Dell, Inc. And Zenith Data Systems. He currently serves as an advisor for Blick Holdings and the Advisory Board of Augmentix Corp. He is the lead independent director of the Board and also serves as a member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, as well as the Audit Committee.

Ed Esber has been a General Partner of the Halo Funds since December 2006. He is also a member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and the Audit Committee.

Liz Fetter has had prominent positions at companies such as QRS Corp, NorthPoint Communications, and SBC/Pacific Bell.

She is currently on the board of directors at Symmetricom, Inc. And is the Chair of the Leadership and Compensation Committee at Quantum.

Joe Marengi has been a venture partner for Austin Ventures since August 2007. He has also served in prominent positions at companies such as Dell, Inc., Hovnanian Enterprises. At Quantum, he is on the Leadership and Compensation Committee.

Bruce Paternack has served on the boards of companies such as BEA Systems, Symyx Technologies and Codexis Inc. He is also on the board of trustees of the Cooper Union, and is a member of Quantum's Leadership and Compensation Committee.

Dennis wolf was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of MySQL AB until its acquisition by Sun Microsystems. He was also employed by companies such as Omnicell, Inc., Apple Computer, and Sun Microsystems. He is currently on the board of Codexis and the Chair of Quantum's Audit committee.

b. Top Management

Quantum is led by Rick Belluzzo, Chairman and Executive Officer, Barbara Barrett, Bill Britts, John Gacek, Shawn Hall and Jerry Lopatin. The executive leadership team is committed to the company's current and future success via securing a strong basis for meeting customer needs and building long-term value for shareholders.

Rick Belluzzo, is responsible for Quantum's overall business strategy and direction. As such, he ensures that the company remains in a leadership position in terms of its backup, recovery and archive products and services. Customers and shareholders are provided with long-term value by means of the strategies implemented by Belluzzo.

Barbara Barrett has been the vice president of human resources since 1999. She is experienced in telecommunications and utilities, and has provided services such as compensation and training to HR companies.

Bill Britts has been the executive vice presidents of sales, marketing and service at Quantum since August 2006. He came to this position when Quantum acquired Advanced Digital Information Corp. (ADIC). He has held many leadership positions as executive vice president in sales and marketing.

Jon Gacek is the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Quantum. He has previously served as chief financial officer at ADIC and audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He is also on the board of directors for Loud Technologies, Inc. And House Values, Inc.

Shawn Hall serves Quantum as vice president, general counsel and secretary. He joined the company during 1999, and came to his current position in 2001. He had previously worked at law firms, specializing in mergers/acquisitions and corporate finance.

Jerry Lopatin is the senior vice president, engineering at Quantum, having joined the company in March 2008. He served in a similar capacity at ONStor, and previously worked at companies such as Iomega, Samsung Electronics, IBM.

III Opportunities/Threats

According to Quantum's Web site (2008), it is in a very favorable position in terms of opportunities. By nature, the it world is developing with increasing rapidity, with computers and software developing almost more rapidly than companies can upgrade. Quantum's position is then such that it can make use of this phenomenon by providing companies with solutions that are effective for their changing needs. Change is therefore the main driver of opportunity for the company.

A further driver of opportunity is development. First-world companies are increasingly developing sophisticated it software, as mentioned above. With this, the sophistication of storage needs is increasing. Quantum's team of innovation experts then have the opportunity to remain at the top of their industry by providing targeted solutions for each company's unique needs before competitors have the opportunity to do so. Development is also an opportunity in terms of third-world countries. As first-world countries are becoming increasingly involved in providing solutions to third-world hunger and poverty, the third-world countries are also increasingly becoming a market for computer technology. As such, this is becoming a growing market for expansion of Quantum's products and services. This can at first be done in conjunction with partners already involved with Quantum in the existing locations of business, with the possibility of later expansion. The remote function of Quantum's services can be useful in this regard.

Because the company functions on a global scale and is currently the largest of its nature, there are not great threats from new entrants. While the market is fairly open to new entrants, Quantum's sheer size, expertise and market position make it unlikely for these new entrants to pose a problem. There is also no threat from the nature of the industry, as the computer and information industry continues to grow without any signs of decline. Because of the nature of its service, Quantum is therefore in an extremely fortunate position in terms of high opportunity and low threat.

IV Strengths/Weaknesses

Quantum's greatest strength lies in its size and its capacity as global service provider. Its position and reputation provide a strong basis from which to conduct current and future business. The company's human resources also serve as a strength. Its management structure is made up of a number of experts in their respective fields, and its employees are hired for their expertise in the services they are required to perform.

Another strength is the company's online capacity. Customers may expect near-immediate service and resolution of its issues via various Web-based solutions. In addition to the company's remote assistance function, its online presence, information, and contact capacity is also of top quality. Customers have near-immediate support either via online displayed telephone numbers or email addresses.

Although mainly seen as a strength, Quantum's size can also be a potential weakness. Excessive size means that there is diminished control over the services provided by the company's many branches. Customer service breakdowns may for example occur in remote locations beyond the control of management. Furthermore, hiring and firing practices may become inconsistent across the various branches.

Another potential weakness is Quantum's limited business focus. While this has been a strength to date, with Quantum developing top expertise in the functions offered, this could also mean an increased threat from new entrants. Limited functions could for example be copied, improved upon, and offered at better prices, posing a threat for Quantum.

V. Analysis of Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats

Quantum's strengths and opportunities appear to far outweigh its weaknesses and threats. As mentioned, the company is positioned extremely well to continue and expand its products and services. Its greatest strengths include the quality of its products and services, the expertise of its personnel, and its rapid and excellent level of customer service. These strengths are accompanied by the opportunities presented by the nature of the it world, the development of new software, and the increasing involvement of third-world countries in computer software and it. These all provide opportunities for growth and expansion.

The strength of quality is accompanied by the potential weakness of product and service focus. This could result in an increased threat of competition, although maintained quality will mitigate such a threat.

In terms of personnel and customer service, this strength is accompanied by the possible weakness of company size. Quantum's increasing size may result in the threat of compromise in terms of human resource excellence. Many branches across the world is a factor that may result in difficulty to control the human factor, and the company's reputation may suffer as a result. This does not however appear to currently be the case.