Strategic assignment analysis on: Industry life cycle framework for Mobile Phone Industry

The concept of strategy

Strategic formulation plays an important role for the organizations to gain competitive advantage and sustainability for long run of business. If the organization stops making new strategic dimensions and formulation then it may have a negative effect on the organizations sustainability. To keep the organization competitive and efficient it is very essential to make effective strategic planning and implementation (Abraham, 2006). There are various kinds of strategies which may be adopted by the organization like product differentiation, process differentiation strategy and others. Due to increase in competition in market the organization need to keep on coming up with new products and value addition in the products, in the same way the process modification and process improvement is again a kind of strategy that leads to the increase in profitability and efficiency for the organization (Brewster, 1997).

Apart from these two dimensions of strategies, one more strategic dimension can be seen as service differentiation because it is one of the most effective part for the organization to keep their customers satisfied by providing them effective and efficient services whether it is before sales of after sales service (Ansoff & McDonnell, 1990). Until and unless the customers are not satisfied with the kind of service we provide till they are using any particular product of the company they will not be satisfied customer of that particular product or brand. So to make them satisfied and loyal towards the brand, organization needs to provide them effective services. This is the most important upcoming strategy that is being followed by most of the organizations to seek long term sustainability in the market (Ansoff & McDonnell, 1990).

It is not only for the organizations which are in service industry but also implies on those players which are in product and process industry. As the service is one of the most important and required part of each and every industry which cannot be avoided or overlooked by the organization, otherwise the competitor’s will grab the opportunity and will overtake the brand (Collis, 2006).

So it is very essential to make some strategic changes in their industry framework to make themselves competitive and sustainable.

Here, we will be taking into consideration of Mobile phones industry and how the strategic formulation and changes make the industry more effective and what else can be done by adopting various other dimension of strategic management to make an effective and integrated industry framework to make the Mobile Phones industry more sustainable for the long run.

Tools of strategic management:  goals, values and performance

Tools and techniques of strategic management have their own importance while planning, formulating and implementing the strategies (D’Aveni & Gunther, 1995). If all the tools and techniques are not being used and utilized effectively then it may hamper the result and outcome of the strategic implementation. To avoid any kind of inefficiency it is very essential to make effective use of goals, values and performance parameters while formulating any strategy for the organization. These are the essential and fundamentals objective of the organization that needs to be followed and taken into consideration while making new strategies (David, 2006).

Goals: What are the goals and objective of the organization that should be reflected from the strategies? How to make the effective use of strategic management to make the organization more focused towards the goal of organization and vice versa. These are various points that must be considered by the managers while approaching new strategies for the betterment of process of organization. Until and unless the goal/objective is clearly defined it won’t be possible to make an effective move towards the strategic formulation (D’Aveni & Gunther, 1995). To understand the goal is one of the most important tasks of manager for the effective step towards the strategic planning and formulation.

Values: Values, beliefs and ethics are the most basic particulars of the strategic management. These are like branches of a tree which makes the tree more strength and shows the growth of a tree. Same way these tools are like strength of an organization and show the growth of an organization in terms of effective corporate governance and effective strategic formulation and implementation (Grant, 2010). It is very essential for the managers to understand the values and ethical aspect of that particular industry, society, economy where they are working. Then only they can make an effective strategic move.

Performance: To perform is the end result of any strategy. Until and unless the performance is enhanced the strategy is of no use for the organization point of view. The top management only looks about the increase in performance. So the performance is again an essential tool for the strategic management (Abraham, 2006). Performance measurement and judgement and how to enhance the performance of team and whole organization is dependent on their strategic formulation and implementation. So it becomes tougher for the managers to make any strategy by taking into consideration all these aspects and tools for the betterment and effective utility of the strategic management (Brewster, 1997).

The analysis of industry and competition

The Mobile phones industry is considered as one of the most emerging industry in the market. To understand the industry in depth, we will be discussing the internal and external environment of the industry. That will provide and in-depth knowledge about the workings and competition in the industry.

1. Internal

There are various conditions and their effect on the production and manufacturing and it is very much required to understand those aspects to make an effective strategic framework for the sustainability and competitive advantage.

Companies should focus on the following six factors:

• A technical economy: Technology plays an important role in mobile phones industry, due to dependency on new and upcoming technologies day by day. The companies need to invest a huge amount of money in R&D (Ford & Saren, 1996).
• Managerial economies: Management is one of the most important and basic aspect of any organization, to make a better and authentic work environment the management practices should be effective and this leads in utilizing the resources effectively and to make new strategic objectives to service protocols for the consumers.
• Financial economies: Mobile phone companies borrow lots of money to purchase capital in order to create products for consumers. That required a huge amount of investment and that leads to the finding of various funders who will be funding to the companies.
• Marketing economies: Marketing is one of the required parts for the mobile phones companies to make an effective and integrated penetration in the market (Fleisher, Craig & Bensoussan, 2007). They come up with new technologies and features in their product but to make the customers understand the need and requirement of that particular feature in device, they need to go for marketing, ad campaigns and all.

2. External

External environment has again a huge impact on the mobile phones industry and organization. To understand the external environment happening and competitors move and to make an effective strategy to beat the competitor’s is very much required at this era of tough competition.

• Mobile phone companies have licensed franchises that operate to sell products and services to consumers.  They have a network that connects them to manufacturers, service carriers, and main corporate officer that is the backbone of the stores and products it sells. This is a kind of integrated sells and service network that helps the organization to make an effective viewpoint in terms of availability of products and services to the reach of customers.
• The mobile phone companies works closely with service carriers to provide phone service such as clear phone calls, not lost calls, and good receptions.

To gain the competitiveness among the firms, it is very essential to make a better understanding among the stakeholders and the firm (Fleisher, Craig & Bensoussan, 2007). If all these aspects will be taken into consideration and in a strategic manner then it is sure certain that the organization will grow exponentially and sustainability won’t be a tough task for them to gain. 

Internal environment of the firm: organisation and management systems

The organization and management system is again an important aspect for the growth of the firm. If the internal work environment is not effective and efficient then it will lead to the inefficiency in the process and that will hamper the productivity of the organization. To avoid these kinds of inefficiencies within the organization, it is very essential to implement an effective management system that will divide the tasks and responsibilities accordingly to the various departments of organization (Grant, 2010). Until and unless the internal environment is good enough, the organization won’t be able to be competitive and effective in terms of productivity, performance, efficiency and various other aspects. There should be an effective implementation of the authority that could enhance the internal work environment of the organization. Management has a great role in the effective implementation of the strategies that will ensure the effective work environment within the organization (Grant, 2010).

To avoid any kind of conflict, to implement various rewards systems, to implement various bonus and perks system, these all are the basic duties of the management that will have an impact on the employee’s performance. The mission and vision implementation to make the employees more focused towards the common objective of the organization. These are the various aspects of management that is required to be fulfilled for the competitive advantage of the organization (Mischlewski, 1995).

The nature and sources of competitive advantage

After the globalization, the competition became tougher due to increase in competitors in market. To cut the competition it is very essential to gain competitive advantage for the long run of business and sustainability (Fleisher, Craig & Bensoussan, 2007). Competitive advantage can be gained by various ways like effective strategic formulation and implementation, performance measurement and enhancement, learning techniques, effective training to the employees and various reward system in the organization (Mischlewski, 1995).

Mobile Phones industry is at mature phase of its life cycle. Now every person has a mobile handset in his/her hand. That shows the kind of growth and market potential the mobile phone market has. This is one of the fastest growing markets and the growth can be seen with our own eyes. The market started around few years back and now it is one of the most acceptable device in the market. Mobile phones have changes the whole communication scenario. Now we need not to think about our relatives and friends, it is just on the reach of our one click that could have been possible by mobile phones only.

There are many small market players coming day by day that again gives a clear picture about the kind of market demand for mobile phones and they all are sustaining in the market due to variation in the market potential and customers.

At this phase of mature stage the mobile phone industry should be more careful to keep them sustainable and competitive. This could be possible by the strategic transformation in their product, processes and also in the services (Mischlewski, 1995). Product and process transformation is very easy to implement but now the need of service transformation. This is one of the most important aspects for an organization to keep it sustainable and competitive that was being avoided earlier by most of the organizations in mobile phone industry. But with the increase in competition among various market players, to attain the sustainability and competitive advantage they have come up with new strategies and service transformation is one of the best example of the strategic management that has helped a lot to this industry to keep it sustainable.

Business strategies and industry evolution

Business strategies depend on the kind of industry in which the operations are being done. Depending upon the various aspects of operations and process the strategic formulations may vary. It is very important to make an industry analysis before making any strategic decisions or changes within the organization. To make an effective strategic decision, this will be helpful for the organization point of view (Hoskisson, 2004).

Product transformation: Production transformation and differentiation is one of the most common techniques being used by most of the firms. Everyday new mobiles phones with some add on features are coming in the market. This is just an example of product differentiation strategy.

Process transformation: Process transformation and restructuring is being done to make the process differentiation within the organization, it is a kind of upgradation of process to make the organization more effective, optimal and increase the quality concerned.

Service transformation: This is the new approach of strategic framework that is being adopted by various firms like Motorola, Nokia, Apple, Samsung and others. They are now looking towards the service aspects and their increasing need due to the dependency of the customers on these devices. If the service is not good and on time, they will be directly making a negative impression in consumer perception. That is a loss for the organization. This can be reduced and even stopped by adopting service transformation business framework by the organization.

These are the various strategic frameworks that help the organization to gain competitive advantage and sustainability.

 Business strategies in different industry contexts

Business strategies vary depending upon the kind of industry and the products or services in which the industry is dealing with (Hoskisson, 2004). If the industry is indulge in product manufacturing then there must be some different strategy. For service industry there shall be different strategic framework. So depending upon the industry and its internal and external environment the strategic dimensions and framework is being prepared and decisions being made based on these dimensions.

Depending upon the market growth, competition, internal and external environment, stakeholder’s relationship and various other aspects, the strategic dimension may be decided and implemented within the organization, but the main objective of business strategy to increase the profitability of organization (Ghemawat, 2001). Few implement transformation strategies, few implement diversification strategies and few implement expansion strategies. So depending upon the industry need and requirement the business strategy is being decided and further being implement.

Current trends in strategic management

Current studies explain an effective result regarding the business unit strategy and the firms performance. Depending upon the requirement of the firm’s growth and profitability, the management should form the strategies and after the effective testing it should be implement to the organization (Grant, 2010). Until and unless the whole things is being analysed and judged on an integrated framework of real world phenomenon, the management won’t be able to perform their task effectively. So it is very essential to go through each and every context of the industry which may have an effect on the industry performance and considering all the aspects like internal and external environment, relationship with stakeholders, suppliers, buyers, capital requirement and funding issues and many more (Grant, 2010). These all things are required to be discussed and analysed effectively to understand the whole situation and then only the strategies should be formulated and implement. These aspects are important for an industry or a firm for the long run of business and growth.

Conclusion

The discussion shows the importance of strategic tools and techniques for the effective utilization of resources within an organization depending upon the kind of industry in which the organization is dealing with. Here in reference with Mobile phones industry, it is quite visible that there is strong competition among the market players due to the increase in demand of mobile phones across the world. Only using the product differentiation or process differentiation will not make an effective advantage for the firm but to seek a long term growth and sustainability the firm should come up with some different strategy that can be service transformation and differentiation. The service is one of the most effective tools that may attract the customer to be stick with particular brand. Until and unless the customers are not getting the effective service on time they will not be interested in buying any new product from that particular brand. So it is totally a loss for the organization. To stop this loss the organization need to be more effective in terms of strategic framework and techniques. The organization should keep on thinking about the new model and framework for the competitive advantage and sustainability.

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