FREE ESSAY ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Overview of Communications Industry
One of the fastest growing industries in recent years has been the communications
industry, particularly the cellular and personal communications industry. This global
explosion of technology has spread, rapidly linking both highly industrial areas as well
as that of the third world and emerging countries. The deployment of wireless
communication has been readily accepted in remote and previously somewhat isolated
areas.
The emergence of specialized companies in this field has produced numerous competitors
for this market. The communication companies such as Harris, Nortel and Ericsson are all
competing in this market for renewed company growth and prosperity. The effect of
competition in this global marketplace is such that in order to remain recognized in
these markets firms are required more than ever to establish a presence in these new
markets and rethink as well as redefine the way in which they do business.
The buzz word "Hyper" has been used in conjunction with these companies, and has been
associated with three main functions which have changed and evolved with the new business
logic. These are;
1)Hypercompetitive Sales
2)Hypercompetitive Engineering
3)Hypercompetitive Marketing
Hypercompetitive Sales 
The trend in company policy in the past was to win every possible sale at any cost. All
prioritization of the firm was a function of the current deal. Large established firms
such as Nortel were seen as being the best simply because of their size. When a firm's
primary focus is on sales and revenue alone, it leads to a fragmentation of reserves
within the organization. This effect was seen and experienced first hand by Nortel
directly when with Globalization, little regard was given to direct support of their
product in countries where it was used.
The new focus of Nortel, Harris and Ericcson has been on the importance of not winning at
any cost, but in order to maintain and grow within these new markets, a focused strategy
was required. Along 
with this came a discrimination between strategic and opportunistic customers. The effort
to simply sell had now evolved to a point where customer focus was of high importance.
Hypercompetitive Engineering 
The evolution of competition within the industry brought a new business thinking. Rather
than trying to simply outdo the competitors accomplishments by adding product features,
regardless of whether the target customers requirements were met or not, thinking
changed. The way in which Harris overcame this was to engage the R & D functions in order
to establish more of a cross functional consensus to establish products and features on
priorities where they should be. This valued customer approach through development was
one way in which these firms sought to maintain sustainability and hence a form of
loyalty within their customer base.
A valuable learned lesson by Harris was the development of the Globestar radio platform
which was the first common platform on the market. The radio system was unique and had
many software features. This however was one of the problems in that many of the features
it offered were not really critical or seen as essential in the eyes of most of their
customers. 
Hypercompetitive Marketing 
The "me first" mentality and often the "me only" mentality was one which was common prior
to this evolution. The mentality of playing hardball via contractual and on
non-contractual basis helped build a feeling within the customers that these firms were
not to be trusted since they worked in a very one sided nature. Globalization of the
communications market brought with it the need to establish in country partnerships and
alliances. The cross functional approach of using local suppliers for both support as
well as service was essential.