Motorola Swot

Motorola Inc.

Company overview:

Motorola is a leading provider of wireless communication devices, Enterprise mobility solutions and end-to-end broadband systems for homes. The Fortune 100 Company is based in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Apart from being known for their innovation and R&D facilities their robust manufacturing capabilities have made a mark in the world’s tech arena.

It has a strong global presence with centers in over 70 countries and is named as one of America’s Most Admired Companies by the fortune magazine.

The major chunk of its business is the mobile services segment, raking in over 52% of its net sales. Although USA is its largest market about 65% of the segment’s sales are outside the US.

Its endless list of customers includes the big names in the Telecommunication industry such as Verizon, Sprint-nextel, Tmobile, China mobile, and Comcast. The company has reported sales of $36.6 billion for 2007, a drop of about 15% from its 2006 sales, largely due to its loss in the mobile devices segment. They are even looking at the developing WiMax market which could be a huge cash generator for them in the future.

Currently the company is exploring ways to accelerate its mobile devices business and bring it back on track as a profitable entity, they are even considering selling the entire division, the final decision is yet to be made.

SWOT analysis:

Strengths

-Big Brand.

-One of the best R&D facilities.

-Solid manufacturing.

-Variety of products to keep them in the game.

-Excellent marketing.

-Six Sigma.

Weakness

-Declining monetary resources due to non profitability.

-Products lack the slick and fashionable appeal.

-Too much reliance on their phone Moto Razr.

-Products lack user centered design.

Opportunity

-Extremely big Asian Markets.

-WiMax has a huge potential and Motorola is one of the first few movers.

-The American broadband market.

-Cell phone sales will exceed one billion handsets a year by 2009.

Threat

-Nokia’s ambitious plans for US markets.

-Losing out world share to Samsung.

-LG planning to take on Motorola.

-Competition from WCDMA as an alternative for WiMax.

Strengths:

Big Brand

Motorola is huge when it comes to Brand name; well known in almost every household as the pioneers in wireless technology. As inventors of technology, they are known for their innovations in every sector of telecommunication.

Its famous signature “Intelligence everywhere” and the company logo, have built up an enormous brand identity.

People know that if something has the word Motorola inscribed on it, its good!

Top class Research and Development

The company is known for its superior R&D; with facilities all over the world they invest billions in this area. This is their asset and it ensures that the products are up to date with latest features.

The expenditure of the company in R&D has been constantly increasing form 3.6 billion in 2005 and 4.1 billion in 2006 to 4.4 billion in 2007.

Current development in WiMax has also guaranteed their success if the technology gets popular.

Solid Manufacturing Facilities

They have huge handset manufacturing centers in China, Brazil, Singapore and India.

Their main design, integration, manufacturing and distribution centers for the Network enterprise unit are based in Illinois, Arizona, Texas, China, England, Israel, Malaysia and Germany. Their home solution units are in Taiwan and Mexico.

Their global network of suppliers is also one of its major strengths. Its ability to meet the customer demand is admirable.

Variety

The company produces a wide range of products and is extremely diversified in their product line-up. They offer services to various other industries and apart from wireless communication devices they are also leaders in home communication and entertainment equipment. This makes their customer base very wide giving a chance to explore the markets further.

Excellent Marketing Strategies

The company uses all sorts of media like Internet, Radio, Television and Promotions. They have an excellent network of outlets i.e. if you need to buy a Motorola it’s easy to get one.

The have chosen Soccer star David Beckham as their global brand ambassador, hoping to woo the young guns the world over.

Six Sigma

Motorola is a follower of the famous six sigma methodology, in fact they developed it! Need we say more!

Weakness:

Losing sales

Motorola sales have been in a constant decline over the last one year; they have lost market share from 22% to 12.1% now which is almost half from the previous year!

Other manufacturers are flooding the market with their equipment and Motorola’s rising inconspicuity could go against it.

Design: Handsets lack style and sleekness of their competitors

In a fashion conscious market today Motorola still hasn’t been able to come up with another wonder like its MotoRazr. They have a limited range compared to its competitor Nokia which has been coming up with hundreds of futuristic models of different shapes

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