“Nokia Struggles to Undo Blunders in U.S.”

NyTimes.com provides an interesting article titled “Nokia Struggles to Undo Blunders in U.S.” by Kevin J. O’Brien. The main focus is obviously on the Finnish company, Nokia. In Europe, Asia and Latin America it is known as an “undisputed powerhouse”. On the other hand, in the United States that is not the case. The most recent figure is from this past June, leaving Nokia’s share at a low of 7 percent.

BB&T, GXS to Deliver Financial Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management is the effort to improve the quality in which a company provides its product to its clients. It is based on three factors Strategy, Production and Logistics. Each of these steps provides a way for a company to be more efficient. BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust) has adjusted its supply management to its customers a more efficient way of doing all of their banking worldwide with real-time invoices and payment options online.

Bankruptcy is a probably path for General Motors Corporation.

Bankruptcy is a probably path for General Motors Corporation. The company needs 4.6 billion US dollars in the second quarter alone in order to keep operating. Insiders believe the company would recover decently in minimal time with little expenses and disruption to its image and revenue. In reality, however, this assumption is a bit farfetched considering what we’ve seen in recent times.

Lenovo changes its Business Structure

Brian Kraemer reports about Lenovo, a computer company. Recently, after the CEO resigned during Lenovo’s first quarterly loss in three years, the company decided to introduce two new business structures. The company feels that by restructuring itself, it will have more leverage over similar markets that are separated geographically but still share market dynamics that impact customers, the products sold and marketing strategies. The goal of the company is “to create a faster, more streamlined organization that can adapt quickly to target strong growth opportunities while more effectively focusing resources on our core business.”

Pfizer and Wyeth re-organization

According to RTT News, drug manufacturing company, Pfizer, recently bought out Wyeth, another pharmaceutical manufacturer. Pfizer is one of the major pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world. The headquarters are located in New York City with their research headquarters based in Connecticut. Pfizer is responsible for producing several of the most popular prescription drugs on the market today including, Lipitor, Lyrica, Diflucan, and Zithromax, just to name a few.

Company Structure: GM

Each business and company is organized in a specific way in order to gain the maximum success possible. The specific company discussed in this article is Opel, the GM subsidiary located in Germany. Gm has many structural divisions of their company and Opel is only one of many. When there are divisions of global business organization “Leading corporations enhance their performance by building organizations that respond flexibly to market change and reflect the company’s strategic shifts”.

“How Fiat found its sweet spot”

Back in January of this year, Italian automaker Fiat announced a deal of investment within American automaker Chrysler of between 20 – 55%. Although this deal has not yet taken place, this article explains how the current CEO of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, has restructured the company and hints that Fiat’s successful organization might influence Chrysler’s future. By the early 1990’s the Fiat Company was over diversified and failing from a burdensome management structure.

“Smart Management for Tough Times”

Successfully managing companies through difficult times can present obstacles not dealt with in everyday managing. Managers must be prepared with strategic plans and smart alternatives in order to correctly respond to current business atmospheres. Especially during times of economic downfall, such as our current situation, managers are forced to get creative with solutions to keep their businesses afloat. CEO of Cisco Systems John Chambers experienced this in 2001 when after a substantially successful year at Cisco, the networks stock dropped 86% and thousands of employees were laid off.

Facebook’s New Friends Abroad

In an article published May 14, 2008 on Businessweek.com, Catherine Holahan writes of the opposing strategies used by social networking sites MySpace.com and Facebook.com to expand into the international market. Expanding globally has become a priority for both networking sites, as usage in the initial target market of consumers, 18-34 year olds, is expected to reach its maximum potential growth in the recent future. Facebook.com’s strategy focuses on quick translation of the U.S. home market website into different languages, permitting the company to reach new international users faster. On the other hand, MySpace is taking its’ time moving into foreign markets, sending employees overseas to establish country-specific offices and build relationships with local advertising agencies.

International Company: Fidelity

Fidelity is a large group of international companies. FIL Limited, or FIL is a privately owned investment management company belonging in the Fidelity group. It is the ultimate holding company of the Fidelity Group and its structure will be discussed in this blog.
FIL Limited operates in twenty-three countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It manages its work from these twenty-three different offices, and employs over four thousand people.