Motorola (Moto 360) Research Paper

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Motorola (Moto 360)

Introduction to company

Motorola is one telecommunications company that has always been a leader in the development and launching of trendsetting innovative products. Its rich history is characterized by numerous achievements as the pioneer of several technologies. While several corporations subscribe to the notion that churning out ideas is the instrumental factor in coming up with revolutionary products, Motorola has always focused on the big picture - the essence of their business (Strategic Direction, 2010).

For close to eight decades, the company has spearheaded several innovations in the field of telecommunications and as a result achieved great successes like their feat of being the company that made the equipment through which the first words from the moon were transmitted. It was also the leader of the cell phone revolution having developed DynaTac, the first cell phone that was handheld. Motorola is also credited for being the first in delivering the first all-HDTV technical standard as well as the WiMAX mobile handoff (Motorola Annual Report, 2007).

Motorola provides several services and develops many solutions and technologies including wireless accessories, cell phones, digital entertainment devices, data and voice services as well as wireless access systems (Motorola Annual Report, 2007).

The main Motorola mobile products are cell phones, Bluetooth devices, two-way radios, portable energy systems and IDEN technology. Motorola also develops products for governments and institutions. Such products include biometrics, computer aided dispatch systems, records management systems and integrated information management. Home networking solutions and Motorola Networks are also some of the major product offerings of the company (123Helme, 2014).

The Company's History

The company was started in 1928 by Paul Galvin. It was then called Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. Motorola has since grown into a large global company with several competitive product offerings targeting consumers and large organizations. With sales of $42.6 billion in the year 2006 and an employee roster of not less than 60,000, the company's size is indisputable (Hyder, Burrows & Mackinnon, 2008).

The first production line at the company was focused on battery eliminators. These devices allowed people to plug their radios directly into wall sockets. This effort had succeeded the company's attempt to produce storage- batteries. With the growth of the market for battery eliminators, they saw an opportunity to capture the young market and the company, under the "Motorola" brand, started production for car radios. The years that followed saw Motorola also start producing home radios and police radios. Motorola's Walkie-Talkie was a key communication gadget during World War 2. Motorola acquired Detrola, a competitor in the car radio business, and made themselves the main suppliers for Ford, American Motors and Chrysler who were then the three biggest car makers in Detroit (Hyder, Burrows & Mackinnon, 2008).

After the war, Motorola shifted its strategy and began to focus more on the production of advanced technology. The company sold most of its consumer production lines and began making semiconductors and transistors. The 1978 purchase of Universal Data Systems and the 1982 purchase of Four - Phase Systems was geared towards giving the company capacity to perform distributed data processing. Distributed data processing involves the analysis of data by the use of national computer networks. The purchases also came in handy in its cellular phone network which began operations in 1983. Taking advantage of the existing trade policies in the 1980s, Motorola made use of its economies of scale, advancement in technology and experience to position itself as a pager and cell phone giant (Hyder, Burrows & Mackinnon, 2008).

Organization of Company

Motorola is a technology company and produces products for Communications Equipment Industry. There are three business lines i.e. Mobile Devices, Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Home and Network Mobility. Its Mobile Devices department produces and sells handsets and accessories while Home and Network Mobility produces, sells and also services digital entertainment devices, digital video, broadband access infrastructure systems and related voice and data customer premise equipment to other telecommunications companies. Enterprise Mobility Solutions designs and produces, sells and installs and also services digital two-way and analog radio, data and voice communications systems and products for wireless broad band systems, private networks and end - to- end enterprise mobility systems for various institutions such as governments and safety agencies as well as commercial enterprises in various sectors such as transportation, retail, manufacturing, utility and health care (Motorola Annual Report, 2007).

Motorola were the original developers of Six Sigma and one of the main competencies of Motorola is operations.

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Unlike other technology companies, Motorola runs its own assembly and production lines and produces 70% of its products in-house. Only 30% is outsourced. Most technology companies outsource most of their manufacturing. Motorola has direct suppliers totaling to 5800 and records an annual expenditure of $11.3 billion paid to these suppliers (Georgieva, Owen & Shiverick, 2010).

Motorola radically transformed its supply chain when it introduced Android phones as the new efforts targeted a market they had not previously pursued. Further, there were challenges in continuing to distribute RAZRphone while at the same time introducing other suppliers as well as SKU's into the new model. To implement their plan, the company successfully adopted build-to-order processes which allowed them to effectively move products in the supply chain more quickly and respond to customer demands and needs accurately. The inventory of the mobile segment effectively reduced by half between 2008 and 2009 (Georgieva, Owen & Shiverick, 2010).

Strategy of Motorola Company

The company aims at being the leading provider of handsets and mobile products to consumers worldwide. To achieve this goal, the company will simplify product platforms, improving their mid-tier and high end products, and also cementing their foothold on the main markets. They took considerable steps in the year 2008 to make wireless phones easier to use. While at it, they have also reduced the size of the devices and the associated costs (Motorola Annual Report, 2008).

Simplification of product offerings is a key part of any company's business strategy. The number of product platforms that Motorola support has seen significant decrease in the recent past. The company now emphasizes more on smartphone and 3G devices and also focuses on CDMA and iDEN. The company is currently working hard to implement plans to streamline both software and hardware platforms so as to simplify their product platforms as well as the structure of the systems. The hardware platforms will make use of fewer suppliers of chipsets for the handsets and Android will be paid more attention to in the software platforms. Apart from Android other considerations are Windows Mobile and P2K which is a creation of Motorola. Windows Mobile is created by Microsoft while Android is platform that has been developed by Google. The company also seeks to pay more attention to CDMA software platforms and iDEN technology (Motorola Annual Report, 2008).

These strategic moves will afford Motorola the opportunity to advance its Mobile business as it lays emphasis on innovation and development and also adapting and responding to the rapidly changing and competitive marketplace. It is expected that the need for data focused devices is expected to grow exponentially with the market now evolving to march the new needs being born due to converged wireless devices, internet on mobile devices, and use of social networks, messaging and navigation. The new devices offer customers unique experiences and require different solutions such as the development of useful applications and provision of unique services. Motorola aims at utilizing the new wave of smartphones to provide its customers with feature packed phones capable of performing computer functions like browsing the internet and sending email. For a considerable period, the company's focus will be the development of architectures around the Android OS. With the entry of new Windows Mobile generations into the market, Motorola has plans to increase the focus it has on Windows Mobile too (Motorola Annual Report, 2008).

Motorola Today

The company's strategy is to provide products that will make the life of the modern mobile person much easier, improve their communications options and engage them. It has invested in such technologies like R&D to ensure that it maintains its leadership in spheres like imaging and scanning engines. The company is not resting on its laurels either when it comes to shaping the future of technology. Effort has been made to ensure that its product lines stay ahead of peers so that they are capable of producing new innovative products for the next generation. Motorola aims at offering the best services and products so as to achieve its goals of retaining and capturing new markets and consumers. Providing a wide range of new products helps in customer retention as the company affords its customer base a wide variety of products to choose from ( Motorola Solutions, 2013).

Strengths of the company

Motorola controls a huge portion of the market for its core business and this has tremendously helped the brand. It is.....

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