Global Strategy at Motorola

Essay by bcayapanUniversity, Master'sA+, July 2006

download word file, 13 pages 3.8

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, semiconductors and advanced electronic systems, components and services. Major equipment businesses include cellular telephone, two-way radio, paging and data communications, personal communications, automotive, defense and space electronics and computers. Motorola semiconductors power communication devices, computers and millions of other products. However, in the early 1980s, the onslaught of Japanese firms penetrating the U.S. market with low-priced, high-quality mobile telecommunication devices shook Motorola from its complacency in being "the No. 1." Faced with aggressive Japanese companies, Motorola began a serious effort to address the competition and reinvent itself from top to bottom.

This study had identified Total Customer Satisfaction at the forefront of Motorola's goals. Specific objectives are: 1) to achieve Competitive Advantage by becoming Best in its class, 2) to regain lost market share and expand globally, and 3) to achieve Superior Financial Bottomlines and improve Shareholder Value.

The study focused on satisfying the customer satisfaction by meeting the specific objectives. Foremost was to modify the organizational direction of Motorola towards a Quality Path. "A product with superior quality makes a satisfied customer." Hence, the study aimed to establish a Total Quality Improvement for Motorola. Methods employed in developing a Quality Improvement Program were: 1) an appropriate Training and Education Mix, 2) Benchmarking and Best-Practices Modeling, and 3) setting attaining a new standard of quality known as the Six Sigma Quality. Six Sigma is a quality measure of near perfection: 3.4 Defective Parts Per Million (DPPM). Motorola achieved Six Sigma quality excellence and was awarded the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award in 1988.

Other initiatives undertaken to deliver quality and customer satisfaction were: 1) Total Cycle Time Reduction, 2) Product, Manufacturing and Environmental Leadership, 3) Profit Improvement, and 4) Empowerment for Members of the Organization. Finally,