Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation - Case Study Example

First and Entrepreneurship and innovation ZTE business model A formerly Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation, ZTE is now the world leading operator of carrier networks, telecommunication and terminals the headquarter of which is located in China. Performing its activities in more than one hundred countries around the world, ZTE provides population with wireless exchange, access, data telecommunications gear, it also produces and distributes mobile phones and provides telecommunications software. Both Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges list ZTE as China’s biggest company in telecoms equipment. The company owes its popularity and success to the greatest talents that it nurtured that is why the employees benefits and thus career development are paid big attention. Such policy toward employees allows the company to continue its growing and development. ZTE Corporation also thinks what is best for its shareholders, so the investments made in the company activities were made not in vain. Speaking about the social responsibilities, ZTE acts proactively to satisfy the community with its needs and thus respond to the most critique considerations. Having the most complete telecommunications product line in the world, ZTE covers wireless networks, core networks, access and bearer networks and also services and terminals markets. Along with it, the development capability and customer-oriented strategy that the company conducts, as well as the market-driven strategy, allow ZTE to be able to develop and produce the best market-leading technologies in wireless, access, data and telecommunications software. These expert solutions enable the company to meet the needs of customers across the globe. Once the company have realized the potential of the wireless and broadband networking for the global stage, it have opened new opportunities for ZTE in its ability to support transmission infrastructure, which is aimed to maintain demand for smart devices and intelligent network. As a new wave of the company’s activities, it should pay attention on reinvention of its activities to be able to use such opportunities at its best. Analysis of the business environment For businesses, the positive environment predetermines its success. That is why, political, social and technological factors can greatly affect the way companies run their activities. Thus in 2012, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence reported about the threat toward the U.S. national security from the ZTE company side. ZTE stated its own equipment did not threaten the U.S. national security as its all equipment was assessed by the U.S. Security Assessment Laboratory and supervised by the U.S. Government. Such political situation, as the company stated, was directed against ZTE’s activities and despite the conducted investigation, the company’s status did not suffer. However, such situation was no an obstacle for ZTE to hold its activities in the United States as U.S. never lowered its guard against Chinese firms, but wanted to have an access for their hi-tech opportunities. Along with it, the euro-zone debt crisis, together with uncertainties in its economic recovery, will play at hand for the ZTE Company within this area. ZTE’s products are more competitively priced and thus are more appealing to its customers. What is also interesting, that for ZTE the biggest concern is not the probability to lose the U.S. market, but the fact that U.S. allies will follow the suit. Beside the political forces that influence modern businesses, social life and global economic development undergo huge changes, which include a serious impact on the development of communication technology. Thus, more consumers think over the social impact of the money they spend and more people are ready to support those retailers who adhere sustainable laws and practices. Thus, ZTE Corporation owes its success within China and on the global scale thanks to its great efforts to remove global digital gap and reached incredible outcome in the process of changing industrial into prosperous information society. Such social satisfaction and ability to meet the needs in the technological sphere makes ZTE a leader in the information industry and Chinas largest communications equipment manufacturer. Key areas of the business The central idea in the new global strategy that ZTE announced in 2014 is the belief in helping consumers and stakeholders that fully embrace the mobile-ICT era. In all key areas that ZTE operates, it strives to deliver customers increased quality of life and higher productivity presenting its innovations in such areas as smart pipes, mobile devices, cloud-based services and Big Data infrastructure systems. The company said that the enabler@M-ICT strategy forms efficiency of its assets in telecommunications, enterprise ICT and terminal devices. It generates bigger value for the company and its customers. To keep abreast with the time and new needs of its consumers, ZTE should intensify its all efforts to develop and implement newest technologies for cloud-based services systems. Thus, it developed IPTV and Smart Cities, data center, storage, virtualization and Big Data infrastructure solutions. For its smartphones and devices, ZTE should also commit to improving of these gadgets and offering the best experience and performance for users and consumers around the world. The company stated that by 2015 it aims to ship more than eighty millions of smartphones a year. Such initiative will give the company a reduction in the price of basic and mid-range devices and increase its marketing of higher-end devices. Experts consider it will allow the company to increase its investment in research and development talent as well. To implement the enabler@M-ICT strategy, the company should reorganize itself into business groups and divisions that will help ZTE to increase operational agility and effectiveness. Such divisions as operator solutions, enterprise and mobile devices are already help the company in such strategy. Operator solutions focus on serving larger-sized markets and geographic regions. They would help operators to develop and innovate new services and business models. Notwithstanding the fact that recent developments in managed services operations were focused on growing the service offerings, it allowed ZTE to generate increased value and profitability. Enterprise business should be aimed on industry verticals, such as energy, transportation, public utilities, financial and internet. For ZTE this means the implementation of Smart City and U-Safety products. Since mobile devices focus on user-centric innovations in tablet computers, smartphones and wearable devices, for ZTE it will mean to put all efforts to design and create user’s software and applications in order to offer an integrated experience for the Mobile-ICT era. ZTE should also strengthen its e-commerce and retail channels such as mobile devices business transitions from a B2B to a B2C business model in order to finish its dependence from operators that promoted and distributed ZTE’s products. ZTE growth The enormous growth of the ZTE Corporation is determined by the company’s business model and strategy. ZTE’s partnerships with the U.S., inside China and on a global level and further investments led to its success and innovation. Such products as Blade, Grand X and nubia was a top provider of smartphones in the U.S. market with a market share of more than seven percent, which was higher than any other Chinese company had in the U.S. However, that does not mean that within the U.S. ZTE have no rivals. Thus, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile collaborate with ZTE ranking it second company in market share in the U.S. prepaid market. It is also worth saying that ZTE’s share of the on-contract market is steadily growing. The Chinese company is actively continuing its cooperation and unions with the others businesses in the U.S., including technology firms Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Google and Microsoft. It enables the company to generate more than seventeen billion dollars in revenue to the U.S. technology industry. These are the benefits obtained in purchases and licensing fees. Operating in the research and development centers in the U.S. such as Austin, San Diego, San Jose, North Carolina and New Jersey makes the ZTE Corporation to provide employment for eighty percent of the total headcount employees in the U.S. market. The only recommendation for the company within such operating is that ZTE should pursue its collaboration with the U.S. partners in order to commit its deepening of the partnerships and alliances made by President Carter foundations. It will enable technology industries in the U.S. and China to move forward thus the technology development to carry out by ZTE. Such collaboration will help to support the growth of the company’s carrying on business globally. Only such strategy will increase ZTE’s products and services popularity, which are now sold in more than hundred countries around the world with sixty millions of active users. Innovation of ZTE Due to the rapid changes in technologies, there have been estimated a considerable impact on the way the retail businesses operate. The society have also noticed that huge potential and increased its demand from the retail store’s performance. These demands and needs undermine traditional ways of doing business and thus force retailers to adapt their operations to more progressive competitors. ZTE stands ahead in the line of the producers of innovations. Thus, it made the United States to witness the manifestation of the worlds first smart-pocket projector. Twelve cm along each side and three cm thick, the ZTE’s LivePro represents a built-in hotspot on Android interfaces with the intuitive touchscreen display that allows consumers to beam media content from the internet to eight external devices. The new device was voted as one of the best in the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas in 2014. Its developer and manufacturer, ZTE combines Silicon Valley technology with in-house innovations, increasing its business in China and the world market. Since the Corporation is the one of the fastest-growing manufacturers with the affordable mobile devices in the US, such strategy allows the company to satisfy the quality need and the need for good price. According to its chairman and CEO, ZTE gets exactly what it want as it develops and designs its products for all customer segments. However, to stay on the top, ZTE should increase the variety of its products along with those it already created. To achieve this, the company should launch new models of smartphones, tablets and other customized communication equipment. U.S.’s fourth-biggest smartphone vendor, ZTE should continue collaboration with Qualcomm, Microsoft, Intel and Google as it will determine the raise of its market share in such criteria as carriers, retailers and end-consumers. These will also bring tremendous opportunities for the company and value for its loyal consumers and those who invent ZTE’s products at first time. References Company overview, ZTE official web site, Available from http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/about/ Read More