In today's changing economy, organizations must develop strategies to survive the constant change that industry has seen in the last three decades. Newer technologies are created that help to boost market leaders beyond expectations. To survive, companies must first start from the inside and develop mission statements and strategic visions. Chairman, President and CEO of America Online Stephen Case was very good at his job and helped to make AOL one of the most dominant Internet providers in the market.
To have a good mission/vision, you need strength. Stephen Case showed this in his mission/vision of where AOL needed to go. He wanted AOL to become the most respected and valued company connected to the Internet. He did this by informing and entertaining his subscribers with new and innovative creations (i.e. Instant messaging, You've Got Mail!, etc.). Case made clear where the company needed to go with his amazing goals and objectives:
Become the dominant supplier of Internet access to homes and businesses.
Form an on-line community where people around the world can gather together and reap the benefits of the entire Internet.
Case was also very clear in his strategic vision of the company. He wanted to continue his rapid advertising strategy to bring in as many subscribers as possible. Also, he wanted to broaden his business through joint ventures and acquisitions (i.e. CompuServe, Netscape). He also made clear that to continue growth, AOL must provide every possible interactive service (to make subscribers feel they are getting what they are paying for) and maintain flexibility when it comes to changing technologies.
Case was a very strong supporter of finding market domination. His biggest move was when he announced that AOL was going to merge with Time Warner for an estimated value of $106 billion. This shocked the technology world as well as stock holders of AOL, because they felt that AOL was on the right path and didn't necessarily need to merge with a cable/media consortium. Case felt that gaining access to more than 10 million cable subscribers (major bases in NYC, Houston, and Tampa) was a plus, because this could coax them into switching their ISP to AOL. Plus more revenue would be generated due to Time Warner's major acquisitions (i.e. Warner Brothers, TNT, HBO and more). Also, Case would be able to have access to the more than 100 magazines that Time Warner controlled.
Both, vision and mission statements provide purpose to organizations. Therefore, they should set the foundation for the strategic planning process. However, if and organizations strategic direction evolves, leaders should consider revising the organization’s mission and vision
By the acquisition, Comcast was clearly investing in content; this is a huge transformation for Comcast. This acquisition signals that they want to get bigger ...
Robert Zimmerman, the senior vice president of business development, for American Cable Communications (ACC) was in the process of looking for a potential acquisition target for ACC. In December 2007, Zimmerman remember a presentation that was made recently by Rubinstein & Ross (R&R). R&R was a boutique investment bank that was well known for doing deals in the media and telecommunications area. During this presentation it was suggested that ACC buy out AirThread Connections (AirThread) which is a large regional cellular provider. The current industry of these companies were moving more toward bundled service offerings and by adding AirThread it would help ACC cover an area of service it does not currently offer. In order to determine if the acquisition should be done an analysis needs to be done.
The proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable would make it the largest provider of cable in America and give it unprecedented market power and allow it to continue to pursue profits and the cost of consumers. While it would not be a monopoly, it would be giving the company dangerous power. Already Comcast has control of one of the largest media providers in America, NBC. It has significant control of internet as well, and has made Netflix pay Comcast to have faster speeds. The question now isn’t if the merger will be bad for business, it is if the United States government will make the right choice for
...ide whether it should be getting better at what it is already good at or whether it should be looking toward higher order capabilities that are beyond the old. The strategic vision of AT&T must be adjusted to reflect their intent of being ‘boundaryless’ and to become the leader in the infocom industry. It must become the companies culture.
As stated by Simpson (1994), the intent of a company’s vision should be to move forward and create enthusiasm amongst employees. Masco Cabinetry’s vision faltered in the early days of the recession. The vision created by its previous president was “One brand in one out of every two homes” (Employee Handbook, 2012). This vision, at the height of the recession was meant to create energy and drive, the opposite happened as many employees felt the goal was too lofty given the state of the economy. Today’s executive team is hard at ...
Dignan, Larry, “The Day Ahead: Dot-coms grow up, chief execs step out,” www.zdnet.co.uk, Online, May 2003, Fool.com, “Amazon’s CEO Letters,” www.fool.com, Online, May 2003, www.fool.com/server/foolprint.asp?file==/news/foth/2002/foth021119.htm
On December 14, 2000, the Federal Trade Commission approved the planned merger of AOL and Time Warner after both companies pledged to “protect consumer choice” both now and in the future. The AOL Time Warner merger was approved by the Federal Communications Commission on January 11, 2001, and is the biggest merger in corporate history, then estimated at a total market value of $350 billion. The merger created a ‘powerhouse’ of new and traditional media. AOL Time Warner has led the union of the media, entertainment, communications and Internet industries. Throughout the years the face of media and entertainment industries has changed drastically as a result of increased technology. The popularity of newspapers gave way to other forms of media and entertainment such as magazines, television, cable, music, and most recently the Internet.
Apple’s business strategy under Steve Jobs was well executed. Apple was very cautious about the release of its mobile and tablets. Therefore, Jobs allowed long development cycles that encouraged anticipation and displayed new innovations with each release. A report showed that Steve Jobs strategy was to develop and sell brand new, innovative products of which blended art and technology to provide simple and streamlined user experience. This business strategy made Apple a booming company for smartphones initiating the launch of the first iPhone in 2007 (Apple Business Strategy Under Steve Jobs, n.d.).
We intend to exploit our leadership role by continuing to target and enter segments of the communications market that we believe will experience rapid growth or grow faster than the industry as a whole....
Prior to 1995, AOL was very successful in the commercial online industry relative to its competitors CompuServe and Prodigy primarily because of its pricing rate structure which was the easiest for customers to understand and plan for ahead of time. CompuServe and Prodigy offered the same pricing as AOL for its standard service, but, charged additional fees for premium services and downloading which made it more difficult for customers to anticipate their monthly spending.
Before a leader can be successful and before goals can be set, a vision is needed. A vision is something you want to achieve or accomplish, something you want for the future, and it is the most important thing for a successful leader to have. Without a clear vision, leaders will have problems inspiring others, and employees will have a difficult time being motivated due to not knowing what they’re working to achieve. Clark (1997) states that “As a leader, you have to get your followers to trust you and be sold on your vision” (p. 1)...
Steve Jobs one of the founding fathers of Apple Inc used strategic planning to his advantage by making Apple’s mission a simple one- bringing easy to use computers to the general market, revolutionizing the computer market. In 2007, after thirty years, the organization changed its name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc., this was a significant move because the organization became more independent, and it was no longer known as a vendor to Macintosh personal computer line (Yoffie & Slind, 2008). This strategic move paid off; a year and half later, Apple Inc.’s third quarter net profit of $1.07 billion on a $7.46 billion in revenue (Yoffie & Slind, 2008). SWOT Analysis of Apple, Inc. Strengths (Competitive Advantage)
As a leader it is important to have a vision and a goal, but it is even more crucial to have followers who trust in your vision and goals. Trust is developed by displaying positive energy and attitude. Having a goal and a vision helps an organization move into the future. Without a goal or a vision an organization is going nowhere. It is bound to fail. The six steps of goal setting are vision, goals, objective, tasks, timeliness, and follow-up. Creating a mental picture of how the organization will look like in the future is the vision. When an organization has a vision, it is looking for change, growth, and improvement for the future. This vision of the future is challenging the present processes at an organization. This challenge is the first step in the process of great leadership. Leadership starts with a vision. Even Thomas Edison had a vision, a theory that gave us the light bulb. When setting goals, it is important to make sure that they are realistic, attainable, improving the organization, and having as many people involved as possible. Goal difficulty, goal spe...
Apple Inc. is a multinational company, based in America, which innovate, develop and sell personal computer its software named Macintosh and various other products like the iPhone and the iPad. In 1976, Steve Jobs started the apple era and the business has grown rapidly to one of todays’ iconic inventors of consumer electronics. Despite the company operates in a wide field of products, Apple is handling every of their products as a separate business unit, but with a similar and recognisable design. This report will focus on Apples last invention, the iPad, and analysis its position within the market and future perspectives (Apple Inc., 2012).