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Example research essay topic: Weighted Score Strategic Factors - 1,151 words

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The initial demand for Visor was strong and the company was overwhelmed with the order fulfillment process. In the summer of 2000, Handspring went public with an initial public offering price of $ 20 per share (Hunger & Wheelen, 2004, Case 11, p. 11 - 7). A few months later, its stock price soared to $ 95 per share. As a result, Handspring gained tremendous prestige in the PDA arena throughout 2000 and the beginning of 2001. Unfortunately, Handspring was soon confronted with steep competition from rivals such as Palm and Microsoft.

Thus, Handspring was forced to engage in a price war with them in order to secure the PDA market share (Hunger & Wheelen, 2004, Case 11, p. 11 - 7). Pricing wars with Palm had a substantial impact on Handspring's return on investment. Handspring's Consolidated Statements of Operations showed the end of 2001 's fiscal year at a net loss of $ 125, 963, 000, and a net loss of $ 1. 21 per share (Hunger & Wheelen, 2004, Case 11, p. 11 - 14). While Visor sales were high, net profit was down.

To cope with the declining sales revenues, the overcrowded PDA market, and a number of external and internal factors, Handspring had to reinvent its strategies and products to achieve their mission of greater future profitability. The following SWOT Analysis highlights Handspring's resources and competencies as well as its deficiencies: External Factor Analysis Summary (EFAS) External Factors Weight Weighted Score Comments Opportunities O 1 o& # 61472; Market expansion 0. 05 2. 0 0. 10 Expand beyond consumer market O 2 o& # 61472; New marketing campaign 0. 15 2. 5 0. 38 Designed to educate and acquire new consumers O 3 o& # 61472; EAP program 0. 20 5. 0 1. 00 Enterprise Alliance Partnership O 4 o& # 61472; Increase distribution channels 0. 05 2. 5 0. 13 Near, Wireless Knowledge, and etc... O 5 o& # 61472; Operating system development 0. 10 2. 0 0. 20 Compete with Palm and Microsoft products Threats T 1 o& # 61472; PDA competitors 0. 15 3. 5 0. 53 Palm, Sony, Blackberry, Nokia, Microsoft. T 2 o& # 61472; Price competition for Treo 0. 05 1. 0 0. 05 Well positioned-no pressure from competing products T 3 o& # 61472; Worldwide market share decline 0. 10 1. 5 0. 15 Less than 15 % of total worldwide market share T 4 o& # 61472; Visor line product termination 0. 05 4. 0 0. 20 Lack of growth, being phased out. T 5 o& # 61472; Cell Phone Corporations 0. 10 3. 0 0. 30 Competition with already established cell phone market.

Total Scores 1. 00 3. 04 Internal Factor Analysis Summary (IFAS) Internal Factors Weight Weighted Score Comments Strengths S 1 o& # 61472; Treo products 0. 20 5. 0 1. 00 Strong brand recognition S 2 o& # 61472; Visor products 0. 05 2. 0 0. 10 Strong initially, but declining steadily. S 3 o& # 61472; Portability and versatility 0. 10 4. 5 0. 45 Pocket size, function expansion modules. S 4 o& # 61472; Character recognition engine 0. 05 2. 5 0. 13 Innovative feature S 5 o& # 61472; Experience of executive management 0. 15 1. 5 0. 23 Veterans of the handheld computing industry Weaknesses W 1 o& # 61472; Insufficient mobile phone market knowledge 0. 05 3. 0 0. 15 Unable to compete in smart phone market due to lack of experience W 2 o& # 61472; Sluggish sales / profitability 0. 15 2. 5 0. 38 Continuous net loss since its inception W 3 o& # 61472; Stock performance 0. 05 2. 5 0. 13 Unfavorable for shareholders W 4 o& # 61472; Operating system incompatibility 0. 15 2. 0 0. 30 Incompatible with Microsoft operating system W 5 o& # 61472; Slow growth 0. 05 3. 0 0. 15 Only experienced an approximate 20 % growth Total Scores 1. 00 3. 00 Strategic Factors Analysis Summary Matrix (SFAS) Strategic Factors Weight Weighted Score Short Intermediate Long Comments S 1 o& # 61472; Treo products 0. 15 5. 0 0. 75 X Strong brand recognition S 5 o& # 61472; Experience of executive management 0. 10 1. 5 0. 15 X Veterans of the handheld computing industry W 2 o& # 61472; Sluggish sales / profitability 0. 10 2. 0 0. 20 X X Continuous net loss since its inception W 4 o& # 61472; Operating system incompatibility 0. 10 2. 5 0. 25 X X Incompatible with Microsoft operating system O 2 o& # 61472; New marketing campaign 0. 10 2. 5 0. 25 X Designed to educate and acquire new consumers O 3 o& # 61472; EAP program 0. 15 5. 0 0. 75 X Enterprise Alliance Partnership O 5 o& # 61472; Operating system development 0. 10 3. 5 0. 35 X Compete with Palm and Microsoft products T 1 o& # 61472; PDA competitors 0. 10 1. 5 0. 15 X X Palm, Sony, Blackberry, Nokia, Microsoft. T 3 o& # 61472; Worldwide market share decline 0. 10 2. 0 0. 20 X X Less than 15 % of total worldwide market share Total Scores 1. 00 3. 05 One of Handspring's greatest competitive advantages is the company's executive management team. Its founders Jeffrey Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky, and Ed Colligan were pioneers in the handheld computing business. In addition, they were instrumental in reviving the handheld device industry (Hunger & Wheelen, 2004, Case 11, p. 11 - 1).

Handspring introduced its next generation handheld innovation, the Treo Communicator as a horizontal growth strategy (Hunger & Wheelen, 2004, Case 11, p. 11 - 7). Horizontal growth (Hunger & Wheelen, 2004, p. 142) is defined as increasing the range of products and services offered to current markets. In other words, the company attains profitability by expanding sideways at the same location on the industry's value chain (Hunger & Wheelen, 2004, p. 142). Treo is a multi-function device that serves as a full-featured mobile phone, Palm powered organizer with wireless email, text messaging, web browsing, and even a digital camera (Palm, 2005). In addition, Treo comes with a thumb-touch QWERTY keyboard that is designed to quick search contact information by typing only the initials (Palm, 2005). Furthermore, Treo's integration feature allows the user to check his or her calendar while talking on the phone, dial calls directly from the contact list, or take a picture and email it without any interruption (Palm, 2005).

Thus, the Treo product line quickly became one of Handspring's most valuable assets. At the same time, Handspring was also confronted with external threats that could corrupt its survival as well as new opportunities with very promising potentials. A number of similar products manufactured by rival companies had emerged and made the smartphone market more competitive than ever. Some of Handspring's major smartphone competitions wer...


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