Friday 28 October 2011

The end of the 'Sony Ericsson' Affair

This is a good case study of JV that never really worked as expected. One of the most interesting pieces of information was the fact that Sony was reluctant to link the handsets to the rest of its products which are very successful, fearing that Ericsson would had been benefited. This is also a very good example of how companies seeks to develop synergies based on their core competence. Sony has a great range of unique resources and core competences which should be linked to the handset.
It is quite interesting that when this JV was established the handset industry was not linked to any of other products by Sony.

Some articles for the full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15473954; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15285258

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Nokia bets on Windows Phone future

Quite a few interesting lessons from Nokia's new strategy:
i) new strategy was developed by the new CEO which links to leadership styles;
ii) Nokia seems to be trying to develop a new segment in the market, which is a gamble, but its potential 'billion people';
iii) interesting to note how Nokia tries to differentiate from direct competitors with services (think VCA);
iv) Nokia's new strategy is based on a strategic alliance. This strategic alliance is particularly interesting because Microsoft does not have its own handsets (in contrast to Apple and Google).

Nokia bets on Windows Phone future

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has launched two new smartphones based on Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7.5 operating system.
The Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 mark the beginning of Nokia's fightback against Apple's iPhone and rivals using Google's Android software

Read the whole article at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15459118

Monday 3 October 2011

Amazon unveils £130 iPad rival

The 'battle' of the tablets has some very interesting points (from strategic management). Although, the tablets are not technologically superior to existing devices (ie laptops), they are entertainment items, and Apple has create a new segment in the market. The success of these products lays with the complimentarities that are to be developed with the rest of the products (ie iPad and iphone). Amazon offers the new tablet as 'ungrade' to kiddle which quite dominant in its market. Amazon seeks to establish synergies between the Kindle Fire and its e-books, mp3s businesses. It is quite interesting that Amazon is expected to seek access to the mobile handsets for greater coverage of the market (as Google recently did with buying Motorola's handset business unit). Also, amazon's strategy is a very good example of 'low cost leadership' as it is losing about $50 per device.