Xerox: Adapting to the Turbulent Marketing Environment Case Study

This case describes a manager Clendenin’s use of the Multinational Development Center to enhance the efficiency of Xerox’s worldwide logistics and inventory management. He has done this though the development and implementation of a wide range of improvements in multinational computer and management systems.

Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP) are two of the most influential companies in the PC market. The CEO of HP requires an understanding of how dells strategy allows it to achieve a competitive advantage so that he/she can counteract it. This report has been carried out to provide the CEO with the necessary information to do this. Therefore the objective of the report is to provide the CEO with detailed information on Dell as a business and its strategy. In order to achieve this, first the main strategies of Dell and how they provide competitive advantage will be identified, then the business models and e-business initiatives used

Changing Market Conditions In the early 1990's, while technological innovation continued to drive the company's success, many business units were being forced to compete on other dimensions. In consumer product lines, low prices, broad availability and ease of use had become competitive requirements. Lew Platt, HP's current President and Chief Executive Officer, once acknowledged the importance of improving customer service and responsiveness, We're not doing as good a job in order fulfillment as we need to. In fact, it's where we get our lowest marks from customers. We have to be a lot easier to do business with. Improvement in order fulfillment will strengthen HP's competitiveness, increase customer satisfaction and reduce expenses, so this is an

Koala Tech, Ltd., produces office equipment for small businesses and home offices. Some months ago they started selling PFS 1000’s, which are a multi-function color printer, color scanner, color copier, and fax machine all in one. The PFS 1000’s originally received praise on its functionality, price, and innovative design. These accolades combined with Koala Tech’s reputation quickly led to a high demand for PFS 1000’s, which also created a backlog (Meredith & Shafer, 2013). Nevertheless, Koala Tech’s plant has been unable to meet this demand. So, Koala Tech’s president, Nancy Samuelson, is concerned about the backlog and has applied pressure on the plant manager to increase production. Conversely, the president has suddenly shifted gears since

Kodak is making history. In 2010, we made real progress toward becoming a profitable, sustainable digital company. We enjoyed a record level of digital earnings from operations and produced promising results from the four engines of our digital growth strategy – Consumer Inkjet, Commercial Inkjet, Packaging, and Workflow Software & Services. As a group, revenue from these product lines increased 18% last year. Our strategy is working. We are using our competitive advantage at the intersection of digital imaging and materials science to pursue large markets in need of transformation, such as commercial printing. We are gaining market share and building growth businesses with exciting potential. During 2010, we achieved a number of milestones: • Sales of printers and ink collectively in or Consumer Inkjet business grew by 35% • We surpassed our unit placement goals for commercial digital inkjet presses, and we shipped our first PROSPER Presses, which feature continuous inkjet technology

The PC group within HP PPS has been refocused around customer needs. The PC group changed its product line which had a stronger focus on product design. New business models have been the focus of the print group. Business models such as Ink Advantage, is a program designed to target price-sensitive customers in emerging markets. Ink in the Office is an initiative of the print group that targets business customers. The group has expanded differentiated services and solutions by leveraging HP's portfolio of hardware and software, including combining multifunction printers with Autonomy management solutions to develop cloud-based document management services (HP,

2. Acquisitions Staples’s revenue was twice the OD’s revenue, OD could merge with Office Max in order to compete with Staples at the same level. In addition, after that the alliance could integrate the source effectively and efficiently and cut more operating cost.

Xerox hopes to avoid mistakes of the past by having “a system to prevent technology from leaking out of the company”, according to Robert V. Adams, president of XTV. They have a $30 million dollar fund to support this intrapreneurial activity. It has supported a dozen start-ups thus far, only two having failed. These are extremely promising numbers, with 83% of ventures coming to fruition.

We live in a world where, because of the Internet and the Web, we can communicate with someone in Africa or Asia as easily as we can communicate with someone in the office next door. A company like Xerox represents businesses all over the world, and the diversity of its employees is a big plus. Acknowledging our differences and

To account for their miscalculation in film sales, Kodak is undergoing a massive digitally based shift. Kodak plans on building a stronger base in its consumer, medical, and profession imaging products. However, this shift does not come without a price tag. Kodak’s projected spending could reach as much as $3 billion in future investments to aid the shift. With these investments Kodak claims a tremendous turnaround in revenue. Kodak anticipates reaching $16 billion in revenue by 2006 and $20 billion by 2010. To pay

It was soon apparent that there was not much profit in just selling computers, so Cohn undertook to tram Pam and himself in the installation and service of NovellTm computer networks. This broadened the base of the business considerably, In order to further use his resources, Colin became the local Xerox distributor and EduComp became the sales agent.

While Kodak has historically been a well-established brand name in the marketplace, it struggled to find a niche when the industry morphed from a film-based market to a digital-based market. Kodak has struggled to successfully evolve its film-based business structure to the new structure of digital-based technology, which has allowed for competitors to enter the market, decreasing Kodak’s market share. Competitors (such as Canon Inc., Fuji Photo Film Co., Hewlett Packard Co., Nikon, and Sony Corp.) have posed major threats to Kodak’s livelihood. Kodak faces a 5% drop in film sales (2001-2003) and a 3% reduction in overall revenues over the same time period. In addition, revenues and net income are expected to be fairly flat (or decrease) in future estimates. Kodak faces much pressure to revitalize their business through digital imaging, a radical innovation, or risk being eaten alive in an industry they thought they controlled.

Financial Research – The Xerox and to make the current profit targets meet with Wall Street's expectations. In addition, Xerox specifically adopted the measures of "return on equity" and "profits standardized" to

Major advantage with this option is the fact that Xerox operates in the market it fully knows, dominates and controls. As a market leader, having gained clear edge over main competitor IBM, Xerox can consolidate its position with the introduction of innovative new product "Book-In-Time solution" that could significantly reduce the publishing costs.

Companies over the last decade, has recognized that their survival to a lesser or greater extent, depends either entirely or partially to appropriate information system. It is established, based on lesson learned from both failed and successful organizations, that an information system strategy are to support or aligned with, business strategy. Similarly the business strategy can influences the choice of Information System used in the organization. A business strategy entails futuristic organizational planning that result in companies gaining competitive advantage. It is direct linked to supporting area such as marketing, procurement, and information system. The case of Comair airline, even after acquisition by Delta