Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to Human Resource Management of Sony Ericsson - Case Study Example

Strategy and Change Management: Assessment The purpose of this study is to look into the changes that have transpired into the human resources strategy of Sony Ericsson. It is a common knowledge that Sony and Ericsson are separate entities that are manufacturing different electronic gadgets, specifically Ericsson wherein it specializes in mobile phones. With this, it is a common knowledge that these separate entities do have different Human Resource Management styles and the fusion of these two companies gave birth to a new Human Resource Management scheme that would cater the interests of this company now rolled into one. This paper will focus and look into SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis with regards to Human Resource Management of Sony Ericsson in penetrating and merging different personnel in forming the venture that set a new trend to mobile phone industry in the world. Introduction When Sony and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson have made ties in 2001, to produce cellular phones, there were a lot of tremendous changes that transpired between these companies that are now one. Though these companies have their similarities in terms of products they produce, Erricson is limited in producing telecommunication devices while Sony produces a wide array of appliances and electronic gadgets. Upon analyzing the nature of the products these two produces, one might say that there are also differences in the number of employees and the management of staff these companies have. If we are to analyze, the differences between these two companies could be easily traced. Ercisson has its specialization while Sony deals with general production of different electronic Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 2 devices and appliance. If we are to deal with the kind of manpower of these two, Erricsson has a more complicated and specialized staff because it deals with a particular product. In this case, one might conclude that detailed manpower specializing in every spare part and division is evident in the rank and file of this company. On the other hand, due to the fact that Sony produces several appliances, it has a complex staff because it deals with the general structure of the appliances that they produce does have similarities with several brands of appliance and in this case, they also employ people with general knowledge and does not require specialization since the production of the company deals with general application of appliances that are being produced since the make-up of these products are similar with other appliance products. When these companies ventured into one, there are changes that have been made. In this case, such changes include changes in strategy and approach of Human Resource Management. If there is indeed a change for Human Resource Management, therefore, the perfect pendulum of such a change is the SWOT analysis to test whether the changes in Human Resource Management is in accordance and jive with the vision of the company. In this particular case, this study will look into four key aspects of this kind of analysis. This would ensure whether the said move of these ventures with regards to its Human Resource Management Schemes would be an effective move if we are to deal with the effectiveness and welfare of the Human Resource in the company. Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 3 Company and Management Background of Sonny and Ericsson as separate entities Ericsson is a well-known company specializing in manufacturing mobile phones. The company enriched and employs people who are specializing in cellular phone technology as well as semi-conductor. In this case, the company is particular to the Human Resources which specialize in a certain field with certainly, a particular need. The website of the company ericsson.com (2007) described the company as "Ericsson is a world-leading provider of telecommunications equipment and related services to mobile and fixed network operators globally. Over 1,000 networks in 140 countries utilize our network equipment and 40 percent of all mobile calls are made through our systems. We are one of the few companies worldwide that can offer end-to-end solutions for all major mobile communication standards. Through our Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications joint venture we offer a range of mobile devices, including those supporting multimedia applications and other services allowing richer communication. We invest heavily in R&D and actively promote open standards and systems. Also reflecting our ongoing commitment to technological leadership, we have one of the industry's most comprehensive intellectual property portfolio containing over 20,000 patents" In the passage alone, it suggests that the company is indeed one of the frontlines when it comes to production of mobile phones. The company indeed showed its excellence in the field of mobile technology. Upon analyzing this kind of technology that the company provides, one might conclude that the manpower that this kind of company employs are caliber ones and in line with this, the thinking that the Human Resource Management of the company is also a competent one. Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 4 If we are to deal with the kind of management that Ericsson implies with it's employee, ericsson's website further stated that ""At Ericsson, we utilize our resources globally, promote global networking, and expect our employees to work across organizational and national boundaries. We encourage international careers and job rotation to reinforce our global approach.It begins with an environment that energizes your efforts to build success. Your workplace should reflect the company's true nature as a global laboratory of diverse talent and challenging tasks. It should highlight the value of teamwork and reward its execution. With our focus on innovation, this works to everyone's advantage. We will relentlessly invest in your competence. We will make every effort to ensure that you are offered challenges and are able to grow and develop in your role. As performance drives your career, compensation will reflect your accomplishments. Ericsson empowers you to think, to speak, to navigate, and to contribute to success in the best possible ways. At Ericsson, we expect you to strive for excellence, act in accordance with our values and have meeting customer needs as your first priority. We understand that you have expectations in return. Explore Our Rewards and Competence Development offering - let us prove how Ericsson is committed to Taking You Forward (ericsson.com 2007)" If we are to analyze, the company focuses on how its workforce would further work effectively with several options and schemes that are being introduced by the company in order to persuade its workers to do more. In other words, the company has does well when it comes with its Human Resource Management. Also, the company is very much particular in handling its manpower. Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 5 The powerhouse Sony electronics has established its name in producing a wide variety of electronic gadgets and appliance. It is one of the most prestigious and highly respected multi-national companies not only in Japan but also in the whole world. The said company is also considered as the major profit maker of Japan. This means that above the quality which is being presumed that companies ensure it, is the quantity of the produced products, meaning it employs people who could do more than those who could do better. Also, due to the fact that the company has numerous factories and stores around the globe, the management of the said company with regards to its policies and human resource are autonomous as the company gives full responsibility to the unit heads with regards to imposing such delegation as the company's press release in 1999 stated that "Each network company will be delegated with authority from the corporate headquarters, and will pursue the management of their respective business domains as self-contained, autonomous business units. To enable each network company to operate autonomously, essential support functions and R&D laboratories will be transferred from the corporate headquarters to each unit. In addition, companies and divisional companies will be newly formed under the network company structure In order to pursue Value Creation Management, the Management Committee of each network company will be responsible for setting management policies and strategies and will act as a deliberative body. Members will consist of network company officers and company presidents( sony.net 1999)" Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 6 In this case, it is observed that the kind of management of Sony with regards to its employees is somewhat passive and on the other hand has full confidence with regards to the heads of different departments. Analyzing their status as separate entities would further give us and show their discrepancies with regards to the Human Resource Management of these two. However, one cannot deny the fact that the need for the fusion of these companies in order to contain and further give justice to the venture. In analyzing this, there must be a compromise and adjustments between these two companies with regards to its Human Resource Management in order to formulate a management scheme that would fit and cater the interests of these two companies. Company and Management Background of Sony Ericsson Venture At first, the venture seems too shaky and unstable due to the fact that these two companies have different market targets as well as they have different culture as well as workplace. Also, their discrepancies in workforce are evident and in this case, it needs an immediate solution to address this. In this case, there are a lot of critics who have attested to the instability of the venture Sony Ericsson. Hunt (2006) further stated that " Sony Ericsson has had structural and cultural problems since its beginnings, which has led to financial problems. As an article in Business Week explains, "Unifying two product lines and different engineering cultures took longer than expected" (Reinhardt, Djemai 68). Furthermore, production delays and fierce competitors have caused even more problems. After recent news of Sony Ericsson's profit, leaders discussed changes that were key to the financial success. The company "cited Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 7 improved sales in Japan where it has released several models, including phones with built-in cameras" (Moore). Sony Ericsson may have experienced its first profit, but company leaders are looking ahead to keep out of the red." This premise alone dictates the difficulties that the said companies have difficulties in its operation regarding the cultural and workplace differences of its manpower. In this case, it is very important to draft and formulate things that are beneficial to the people concerned regarding how these Human Resources can be managed in a way that is beneficial +to everybody with lesser compromise and sacrifice for the betterment of the workforce. To make sure that the company would get uniformity within the management, in 2003, it selected UNC Kenan-Flagler to formulate uniformity. On its September 1, 2005 news, kenan-flagler.unc.edu have stated that "As part of an initiative to provide that direction, senior management at the mobile phone handset maker wanted to energize the organization by fostering a new management culture - one that would drive high performance. It selected UNC Kenan-Flagler to design a custom Executive Education program that would develop and inspire three layers of managers." Furthermore Joe Wray the Human Resources Vice President (2005) remarked that, "Our original objective was to design a leadership development course that would cascade down to all management within Sony Ericsson and create a common language of management," Wray said. "We've accomplished that. This common language includes the infrastructure for culture, alignment of organization objectives, and management of performance to drive high output." Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 8 In this case, the management re-educates its top brass or the upper level managers to influence the people and employees within the company. With such a development the company is geared to lead its human resources in a new perspective. In this case, the venture opted to educate to who are in the top level of management and later would influence those who are under their responsibilities and the personnel in the rank and file category. However, such a development in the Human Resource Management Scheme of Sony Ericsson must be placed under the SWOT analysis in order to asses how effective the said move is. SWOT Analysis of Sony Ericsson HRM/ Roles and Description of the process In order to look into the changes that transpired with the venture of Sony Ericsson with regards to its workforce, looking into the Strengths of its human resources is vital in order to analyze the strong points of the people working in the company as well as the management scheme that was introduced. The first thing that one must know is the strength of Sony Ericsson's manpower that is working under the venture status. This kind of analysis would further know how effective this people are working under one company. In a management perspective, one of the strength of Sony Ericsson is its treatment towards its workforce. The venture believes that in order to eradicate divisiveness among its members, it is important to treat the personnel and the employees fairly in order for the workers to feel that they are working under one company and not from separate entities. Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 9 Roles and Perspective of Key Players Furthermore, the website sonyericsson.com (2006) stated that "Fair treatment of the workforce, proactive environmental conservation and hands-on community involvement are fundamental to Sony Ericsson's vision for a sustainable future. By integrating sound ethics into all aspects of the company including Human Resource management, product design, supplier requirements and community outreach programs, Sony Ericsson is helping to build a cleaner, safer and more enlightened world" In this case, the strength of this management scheme focuses on the unity and oneness among its workforce to function more and feel that they are not working and workers of neither Sony nor Ericsson but they are workers of Sony Ericsson. Instilling to the mindset of the workers that they are one is a big help in achieving the oneness of the employees and the Human Resource in general. As the old saying goes that every man has its weakness, so is a venture or a company. Due to the fact that nobody is born perfect and companies or ventures are run by humans who are prone to commit mistakes, imperfection is a thing to deal with in looking into the weakness of Sony Ericsson as a tool to asses how it copes with its weakness. The common and focal point of this study is to look into the differences of the venture as well as the inability of it to deliver the goods as well as work-related problems that are being looked upon in order to know the waterloo of the management scheme. Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 10 Critical Analysis and Evaluation In dealing with the venture's weakness, as sated in the earlier premise of this paper, the work culture of the personnel coming from different entities are the main reasons why there are still differences within the umbrella of the company. However, due to the merging of these two companies, the volume and quantity of the market has been expanded and with this, it is hard to maintain only rank and file employees due to the fact that mass production comes into picture when this venture arises. In this particular case, the said venture has to expand its human resource. However, due to the small quantity of willing and able people to be an employee as well as lack of expertise of some, the management of human resources was not limited within the umbrella of the said company but it now has to outsource and seek technical and support staff from agencies. The next thing that one must look into is the opportunities and in this case, there are a lot of financial experts that conclude and remarked the potential of the venture to penetrate a large number of markets. To further improve its human resources, the venture have realized that it also, must improve its products and the venture have seen it in introducing features which are new to the market. To add to that, Ericsson's website further added that "Through our Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications joint venture we offer a range of mobile devices, including those supporting multimedia applications and other services allowing richer communication. We invest heavily in R&D and actively promote open standards and systems. Also reflecting our ongoing commitment to technological leadership, we have one of the industry's most comprehensive intellectual property portfolio containing over 20,000 patents(ericsson.com 2007)" Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 11 Change Agents from the authors perspective The last thing to consider is the threat in the venture with regards to its management scheme towards its employees. It is important to consider that threats could be a big issue with in the operation of the company, particularly, if it comes from Human Resource. As of present, the only seen threat of the company is the divisiveness of the people plus the fact that some might sell or give confidential information to the competing company and to add to that, patents and intellectual properties are also factors to look into. The website further theregister.co.uk (2006) claimed that "However, it can also use its patents to trade with other handset makers in royalties' deals, and so the higher the value of its holdings, the lower the overall licensing burden for Sony Ericsson. Even without the bartering factor, the balance for the Swedish giant is shifting towards boosting its patent strengths anyway. In the past two years it has greatly expanded its activities in technology licensing, including the marketing of reference platforms to Sony Ericsson rivals, and while its joint venture focuses on the high end of the market - and so is less sensitive to royalty costs than the phonemakers chasing emerging economies - there is also a real option for Ericsson to quit handsets altogether, and one that we would expect it to take up in the next few years" In this case there are still a lot of problems and that must be looked upon and be addressed when it comes to the aforementioned problems. The analysis on different issues concerning the venture is still a big issue to be discussed and tackle. Strategy and Change Management: Assessment 12 Conclusions/ Lessons Learnt: Personal and Organizational Like any other business venture, Sony Ericsson is a shaky venture that is still under experiment and under observation. Due to the fact that the demand is quite high with limited workers, the move and idea of outsourcing is an important move in order to compensate and be able to meet the demands of their target market. The mere fact that the fusion of this two has been anticipated, the venture must live up to the expectation of the public in terms of having and securing products that are above par with its competitors. In this case, it is important to make sure that the important element in production must not be taken for granted, and that is human resources. If one has to analyze, the human resources is the most important part in producing goods for the sake of the company regardless of nature such as joint venture. In this case, the move of Sony Ericsson to further strengthen its manpower as well as to eradicate different cultures of which the origin of these entities before entering into venture, is an important move to further instill uniformity and oneness among its employees as well as to avoid divisiveness which delve into stereotyping pf the employees of their origin. The simple logic here dictates that these things are internal matters that are in need to be addressed and in Sony Ericsson's case, so far it made a significant leap in securing and uniting its manpower to work and function as one. Reference: 1) ericsson.com (2007) Corporate Information. Opened May 13, 2007, URL available http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corpinfo/index.shtml 2) ericsson.com (2007). Investing in You. Opened May 8, 2007 URL available http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/careers/investing/index.shtml 3) sony.net (1999) Sony announces Organizational Structure for new network companies. Opened May 8, 2007 URL availablehttp://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/199903/99-038/ 4) Hunt (2006) Sony Ericsson. Opened May 14, 2007 URL available http://academic.udayton.edu/BradHume/phone/corp/corporations/HTM/SoEr.htm 5) Moore (2003). "Sony Ericsson Finally Hits The Black." Information Week 6) Reinhardt, and Djemai (2002). "Sony Ericsson: 'In Big Bloody Trouble'" Business Week Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. U of Dayton 7)kenan-flagler.unc.edu (2005) Executive Education Helps Sony Ericsson Reach Potential Opened May 9 2007 URL available http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/News/DetailsNewsPage.cfmid=2696 8) sonyericsson.com (2006).We care about the people and the environment. Opened May 14, 2007, URL available http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jspcc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&template=pc1_5&zone=pc&lm=pc1 9) ericsson.com (2007) Ericsson - the leading telecom supplier. Opened May 14, 2007, URL available http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corpinfo/index.shtml 10) theregister.co.uk (2006) Ericsson goes war with Samsung. Opened May 14, 2007, URL available http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/07/ericsson_samsung_war/ Read More