Assignment: Week 17

1.Can you think of an organisation that has implemented a ‘high risk strategy’ that has resulted in success (why was it high risk at the time and why was it a success – was it good luck or good judgement)?

According to me, Vodafone is one of the companies who have implemented high risk strategy to gain success in its field.

Vodafone Group plc is the second largest mobile telecommunication company primarily established in Britain with London as its headquarters.  It operates its networks in more than 30 countries with partnership networks of additional 40 countries.

Vodafone has the target of becoming one of the world’s top five brands. To attain this target, it has been expanding its global presence through dual branding exercise with 30 other companies around the world.

Vodafone’s strategy is to grow through geographic expansion, acquisition of new customers, maintenance of existing customers and increasing its services through innovative technologies.

The strategy of Vodafone was “high risk strategy” as it included rapid expansion, investment on new geographical regions where estimated outcomes weren’t certain.

This strategy of Vodafone succeeded as it has been the market leader in UK since 1986 and currently the second largest mobile telecommunication company in the world. (businesscasestudies.co.uk,2013)

2. Now, do the same for an organisation who embarked on a high-risk strategy that resulted in some sort of failure (why was it high risk and why did it fail – bad luck or poor judgment?)

According to me, Nokia’s “High risk strategy” has backfired to itself causing the whole company to fail.

Nokia Corporation is a multinational communication and information technology corporation having its headquarters in Espoo, Finland. It provides telecommunication network equipment and services, internet services, including applications, music, media, messaging and map services.

Nokia has been operating its sales in more than 150 countries worldwide generating annual revenues of around 30 billion pounds. In terms of unit sales, Nokia was the world’s second largest mobile phone maker after Samsung.

In February 2011, Nokia made a strategic decision of replacing Symbian system with Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating systems, in motives of gaining their shares in the smart phones market. This decision didn’t went well with the company as delay in the launch of the new products caused further loss in its already down sliding mobile sales. Eventually, Nokia who held the position of the world’s largest smart phone manufactures at the beginning of 2011 ended up to be the tenth largest at the end of 2012.

 References:

Online available at : http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/vodafone/the-advantages-of-sponsorship/vodafones-corporate-strategy.html#axzz2nArO0PVX [Accessed on 25^th Nov, 2013]