Reflection Essay on Business organizations

Business organizations today operate in an environment that is characterized by intense global competition.

A sound strategic management perspective is imperative for any enterprise to achieve sustainable strategic competitiveness and earn above average returns. Business leaders need to adopt a new mind-set that values flexibility, speed, innovation, integration and the challenges that evolve from constantly changing conditions (Hitt & Duane 2006: 2-10).

Intel Corporation of the US is the world’s largest semiconductor company. Paul Otellini is its Chief Executive Officer and Craig Barrett is the Chairman, Board of Directors.

Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. It unveiled its new branding and marketing strategy in the year 2006. It included a new logo and tagline “Intel leap ahead” in accordance with the changing times (Edwards 2006: 43-53).

Today Intel is the leading manufacturer of high quality processors, chipsets, motherboards, adapters, Ethernet controllers, micro controllers, PCI bridges, storage systems etc. for a wide range of applications like desktop, laptop, servers and workstations, networking communications, consumer electronics, health care sector and entertainment industry.

A vision is a road map showing the route a company intends to take in developing and strengthening its business. Well-conceived vision statements are distinctive and specific to a given organization. (Thomson, et. Al., 2006, pp. 15-20).

The vision of Intel Corporation is “At Intel, we constantly push the boundaries of innovation in order to make people’s lives more exiting, more fulfilling, and easier to manage. Our unwavering commitment to moving technology forward has transformed the world by leaps and bounds.

We are a company that’s always in motion, fuelling an industry that never rests. We inspire our partners to develop innovative products and services, rally the industry to support new products, and drive industry standards. We do this so that we can collectively deliver better solutions with greater benefits more quickly”.

Through its vision statement Intel Corporation has set a very clear and convincing road map for its sustained growth and success.

An organization’s mission is the very purpose or the reason for the existence of the organization. The mission statement of Intel is very well conceived and defines the fundamental reason or unique purpose of its existence.

It sets the company apart from other firms of its type in the semiconductor industry. It also promotes a sense of shared expectations in its employees and it also communicates a positive image about itself to important stakeholders of the company like its shareholders. Objectives are the end results of all the planned activities of a given company.

The objectives of Intel Corporation are to extend leadership in silicon and platform manufacturing, deliver architectural innovation for market-driven platforms and drive worldwide growth. The achievement of the objectives so stated by Intel Corporation will definitely result in the fulfillment of its mission statement.

Scanning of the external environment helps the companies to understand and analyze external strategic issues and factors to identify the opportunities and threats facing it.

The factors having the greatest impact on the company’s strategy-shaping mainly pertain to the company’s immediate Industry and the environment in which it operates. Intel Corporation is a leading player in the semiconductor industry which comprises of all organizations that are engaged in the design and manufacture of semiconductor devices.

Currently in the semiconductor industry the threat of new entrants is low as the entry barriers are high. The industry is characterized by rapid technological advances, continuous product innovations, economies of scale in manufacturing of the products and strong learning/experience curve effects driving down costs continuously.

The inter firm rivalry is high and there is intense competition between the major players in this industry like Intel, Samsung, Texas Instruments, ST Microelectronics, NXP, Freescale, Infineon etc. The threat of substitutes and the bargaining power of the suppliers in the semiconductor industry is low.

As the industry sells to a small number of very large customers who buy in very large quantities the bargaining power of the customers is very high. The relative power of the other stake holder that is the government is high as the U.S. government regulates exports and certain uses of some types of semiconductors due to their potential use in military applications.