MBA Essay-5:

If you could be the leader of an organization, what organization would you choose, and why? What changes would you make to enhance the organization and what current strategies would you retain?

Upon receiving my Master’s degree in Telecommunications Management from Stevens Institute of Technology in Jan, 20xx, I joined xxx, China’s largest telecom vendor listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and worked as project manager at its Asia-Pacific Department based in Singapore. By the end of the year, I quitted. A love-hate feeling was what my eleven-month professional experience cultivated in me for this technical giant.

I believe that technology alone does not necessarily make a company eternal winner in the rapidly changing market. Strategy is the ultimate winning factor. With the perspectives I have developed through my corporate strategy consulting at SDR Consulting Ltd since early 20xx, I would like to be the leader of xxx because an insider’s knowledge of its strategic problems convinces me that improvements in xxx’s corporate strategies will make it run faster in the highly competitive global marketplace.

For the global telecom industry, the period 20xx-20xx is a wintry season. However, xxx’s CDMA and PHS business, activated in 20xx when they were generally considered dubious technologies, achieved an amazing 40% growth rate for two consecutive years in 20xx and 20xx. In 20xx, the revenue from PHS along contributed to 1/3 of xxx’s total revenue. However, xxx itself was plunged into a wintry season since early 20xx when PHS and CDMA on the domestic market rapidly shrank. Thanks to its intensified R & D on such candidate technologies as CDMA2000, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA and to the Chinese government’s demonstrated support for TD-SCDMA, xxx is able to win more contracts.

In 20xx, after a long series of most rigorous tests, xxx became a global strategic partner of Vodafone as provider of 2G GSM mobile phones. Vodafone network covers 26 countries. In addition, Vodafone also provides network services with other cooperative partners in 31 countries and Vodafone’s total number of global users reaches 1.79 billion. ZET now provides several millions of mobile phones custom-made for Vodafone. This strategy of expanding international market is certainly in the correct direction, but so far, xxx’s cooperation with the world’s top 10 mainstream operators has only been focused on low-end products and in newly-developed markets in less developed countries. Strategically, xxx should intensify its R & D efforts so as to compete against international rivals like Motorola, Ericsson, Alcatel-Siemens and to break into the high-end market. On the other hand, as xxx’s aggressive pricing is squeezing its profit margins, it should take serious efforts to enhance its profitability by improving operational efficiency and management to reduce the high cost associated with increasing international operation.

xxx has long prided itself on an organizational structure characterized by “Divisions”, each division endowed with a high level of autonomy. However, with the expansion of the corporation scale and the changes in the telecom market, such an organizational structure exhibits increasing evils. Internally, with different product lines grouped under different divisions, it is difficult to coordinate individual divisions, resulting in the reduced efficiency in resource allocation. Externally, customers both as home and abroad demand not just a single product, but an integrated solution. The barriers between existing divisions have prevented the quick response necessary for total solution. A major organizational change would be to establish a Matrix System dominated by functional subsystems—Marketing, R & D, Logistics, Sales. Rather than defined by the product line, the new structure should be defined by workflow and functions. This will make possible a market-driven strategy that will make the corporation better able to respond to the diversified needs of the customers on a timely basis and to enhance competitiveness.

At present, xxx has virtually all the telecom technologies in the world and R & D has been indiscriminately carried out in each technology. This has resulted in the loose distribution and waste of resources and in the lack of core technology. The future product R & D must be premised on sufficient commercial evaluation dominated by customer demands and centered on a limited number of key fields.

At this critical phase of getting out of the depression, the best strategy might be an employee incentive program that helps stabilize the labor force and enhance morale. The top management is to be excluded from this program. A 5% of the total volume of the company’s shares can be allocated to employees on key positions, who are mainly R & D personnel that account for 60% of xxx’s 4000 employees. Another 5% is to be reserved for other employees and newcomers in the near future. This would bring all the employees into concerted efforts.

The merging between Erickson with Marconi, between Alcatel and Lucent, and between Nokia and Simens has completely changed the conventional pattern of the telecom industry. The gap between those international giants and xxx has been further widened. In order to develop itself into a world-class company, xxx has yet to undergo important transformations and accelerate its growth.