Restructuring the Siemens Company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Restructuring the Siemens Company - Case Study Example There are a number of definitions of corporate restructuring ranging. Froud (2000) defines restructuring as the collective activities that involve the introduction of financial instruments, dissolution, increasing equity ownership and reduction of corporate assets. Usui (1996) defines restructuring as activities that a corporate engages in when under pressure, Bowman (1999) on the hand states that restructuring involves the reorganisation of division, streamlining of operations and spun offs with the aim of improving performance and restructuring is the utilisation of assets in a more productive way in order to improve share holder returns. Bowman (1999) states that there are three modes of restructuring which include portfolio restructuring, financial restructuring and organisational restructuring. Portfolio restructuring include those actions aimed at changing the asset mix owned by a firm and they include spin offs and sale of assets. Financial restructuring on the other hand are those actions aimed at changing the capital structure of a company and they include leveraged buyout and debt equity swap. Finally organisational restructuring involve changes in the organisation structure of the firm and they include redesigning and employee downsizing. Restructuring has both negative and positive impacts. Positive impacts include enhanced productivity, reduced production costs and increased shareholders' wealth and Negative impacts include lay offs. Bowman (1999) states that performance is determined by market performance and accounting performance. Market performance relates to change in the share prices of a company after restructuring while accounting performance relates to changes in profit, return on investment and equity. Restructuring in the Siemens Company: Restructuring of the company started in 1966 whereby the company the company organised its production into division and there was decentralisation of control, this was aimed at improving the response to consumer requirements, the division included data system, power engineering, electrical installation, medical engineering, components and electrical installations which all worked independently, Siemens (2009) states that sales during these years ranged at DM 10 billion a year and employment was approximately 270,000 employees. Further restructuring efforts were evident in the year 1969 when the company made it possible for employees to purchase shares at discounted prices. In 1990 further changes were implemented, the seven units were further divided into 15 units, (Siemens (2009)) Before 1990 over 60% of Siemens consumers were public institutions, this protected the company from fluctuating prices in the market and product prices remained relatively constant, privatisation of public institutions began in the 1990's and this led to a decline in domestic sales, because the domestic market was already saturated the company opted to expand its market size by investing abroad, in 1985 domestic sales amounted to 53% and only 10% in the US and by the year 2001 domestic sales am

Employing Strategy in a Competitive Environment Assignment

Employing Strategy in a Competitive Environment - Assignment Example Google’s income still mainly comes from only one source; that means that the company is lacking in product integration. Google has also been on the receiving end of litigation from competitors such as ‘Yahoo!’ and Microsoft. In addition, Google has a lot of competition from a different search engine, Baidu, in China- which is potentially its largest market (Wheelen and Hunger, 2010). Google has also faced accusations of the intrusion of privacy of personal accounts. Google has to look for other ways to make money other than depending on advertisements (Salis, 2009). Diversification will ensure that its profits are not affected even when it is involved in suits initiated by its rivals over different products. Google also has to ensure that it remains at the front of cutting-edge technology in terms of its offerings because its rivals have invested a lot of capital in coming up with offerings that will dislodge Google from its position as the foremost search engine. Google should also invest more in informing customers of its product offerings. It would seem that there are Google has numerous products such as Google+, which mostly remain unknown by its many customers. Even if people know about them, they are unsure of how to operate them. This means that there is a need for more extensive advertising in order to reach customers. Competitive Advantages over Rivals Google enjoys a number of competitive advantages that have propelled it to the front of the search engine market. Google allow customers to be able to access websites in a direct and easy manner. The other search engines often have different advertisements and other offerings that users have to navigate through before reaching their preferred websites. Google has also invested a lot in ensuring that users can surf through different pages at a fast rate. Every search allows the search engine to ‘acquire’ more abilities; thus allowing it to deliver different results at a fa ster rate (Levy, 2011). To duplicate such operations, Google’s rivals would have to undergo a lengthy re-structuring process. Google also allows its users to be able to make money through the ‘Google AdSense’ program - which is something that is not offered by other search engines (Wheelen and Hunger, 2010). Google also provides analytics tools for its customers that can make different search words more comprehensible. For instance, a word like ‘script’ has different connotations; with each meaning being of great significance to a definite group of people. Google also has additional operations such as book and music applications. Competitors Microsoft Corporation is a global corporation which deals in the information technology industry and is one of Google’s main competitors. Google has cornered the market in software by investing in the transaction of software services. Moreover, it still has a lot of work to do to move clearly ahead of Micr osoft. One way in which it can do this is by increasing the rate at which new innovations are made. Google needs to take advantage of collaborative arrangements such as teamwork in realizing objectives so that new products are created at a faster rate. In addition, Google has to further diversify its portfolio so that it has other sources of income and is not just dependent on web advertisements. This will also attract investors who may be reluctant to invest in a company, no matter how