Case Study Report: HTC Corp

Analyze the business operations, strategies, methods of the HTC Corp

1. Introduction

HTC Corporation was established in 1997 and reached a great height by 2009 to become a pioneer in the field of Smartphone manufacturing that runs operating system of Microsoft Windows mobile. The company functioned in two major segments that is the manufacture of the smartphones and mobile phone operator business. The discussion is based on the strategic action of the company to become a market leader and the analysis of the strategic operation

2. Historical strategy of HTC

The initial focus of the company was on the laptop however it diversified into devices. HTC employed a competitive plan that differentiated itself through providing the operator of mobile phone a customized mobile phone that provided better return in comparison to the ODM business.  The cost for the R&D led to the increment in the unit cost.  The phone segment being dynamic in nature forecasted the growth of the Smartphone to penetrate the market that led to the evaluation of the strategy (Mulyana & Wasitowati 2021).

Different competitor in the mobile industry attained cost advantage and economies of scale in component price. HTC came forward with the brand strategy in 2007 in Europe and Asia where it acquired Dapod that had a formidable presence. HTC further penetrated into the Chinese market however due to the disturbances in the US the company faced major challenges.  The differentiation strategy of the company becomes more prominent on the consumer market. HTC major investment was in R&D that led to creation of the further product innovation. The further innovation and differentiation plan was established to introduce a shift in the structure of the industry. In 2006, the company collaborated with search engine for creating a handset to work on Android. This created lessening of the license fees thereby leading to lowering of the cost to the company. Further, the company focused on the market penetration through the establishment of the successful product and directed the resources in the competitive area.

HTC diversification strategy entered into an organic strategy thereby exploiting the product that is existing. The companies vouch to expand in the Chinese and US market that was part of the global market penetration. Moreover, issues pertaining to economies of scale in unit pricing that proved to be challenging (Mulyana & Wasitowati 2021).  However, costs were reduced through the part of the value chain that resulted into the configuration of the value chain.

The main strategy of innovation and emergent technology is the reflection of the social value creation. The organization comprises of an extensive research and development that strives to provide innovative products for meeting the customers demand in a technological dynamic industry. Diversification is a major element when it comes to corporate strategy and reflects a move away from the single industry and a link with different organization that HTC accomplished with Google.

3. Business Operations

HTC was able to maintain, as well as create superior skills and resources that shed light on the skills and resources in collaboration with a strong position. The operations of the company strived to enhance the position through the initiative of branding. The only point of concern is the lack of strategy when it comes to the US market penetration.

Coming to the functional organization structure, the company follows a top-down organizational flowchart. As per the functional structure, the organization elements are segregated into smaller groups depending on specific functional area like finance, marketing and IT. The functional structure implementation is justified as a major specialization for the department that helps the employee in focusing on the work. This structure helps the operation and enhances the level of productivity through specialism (Moslehpour et al 2019).  The organization operates on the global front and hence HTC is recommended to utilize a structure that is centralized instead of a decentralized one.  A centralized stricture is more beneficial for the business as it helps in making business efficient depending on the mission and vision. The implementation of a structure that is decentralized can be negative for the operations as different opinion from different people can lead to complication in the process of decision making.

The new strategy of the company reflected on branding and marketing the handset under the name. The main factors traced are emerging technology through investment in R&D, brand marketing efficient distribution and corporate link ups with different global operators. The open work environment helps in encouraging creativity, as well as innovation thereby utilizing resources (Moslehpour et al 2019).  HTC deals with a single product and comprises of same strategies at the business level. The initial stage of the process at the corporate level undertake differentiation focus thereby collaboration is witnessed at the entry point followed by the environment. The increment in the business competition of smartphones in 2007 led to the increment in the features of the smartphones and thereby the company came up with different brands. To enhance the customer satisfaction many strategies like reduction of cost, integration of product and innovation was brought forward.

4. Methods of the HTC Brand

The movement of the element of the value chain to China led to reduction in the overall cost. However, the target market is the high end smart-phone; the company requires evaluating the production cost and lessening the further cost in times of recession (Moslehpour et al 2019).  To ensure competitiveness the company needs to ascertain subsidiaries in different countries and helps in further integration. From becoming an international organization, HTC requires to become transnational. HTC requires to exploit the potential economies scale in every activity, balance the scale with strategic operational and benefit from the experience through innovation and reduction of cost. One of the major competent areas is the experience of the user that projects 80% customer satisfaction of the products of HTC. The brand name is one of the vital factor and HTC needs to continue the marketing of the brand. The industry backs up different firms due to the skills to differentiate between the business and the users who are casual but does not back up smaller firms the industry is rival as competitors wrestle to attain a top position (Guo & Ni 2021). Furthermore, HTC is required to differentiate into the market for the casual users and leads to reduction of the unit cost that expands partnership and strives to be innovative for securing itself as a major smart phone company in the world.

The business model is based on the premise that it provides value to the consumers. The network partners operate such values and hence lead to profit making scenario for the overall business. The business model helps the company to be active and thereby help in avoiding the threat from the rivals. To build profit and survive in the arena of cut throat competition the business is open to the concept of innovation thereby creating collaborative and sustainability framework. The business runs on four innovative models that is his leadership, strategy, industry and the business. Such innovation will lead to success in a different manner and enhance the competitive advantage of the industry (Guo & Ni 2021). Hence, the company will function and generate profit  thereby sustaining the operations for completing the work in a just and fair manner.  The function level strategies of HTC were coordinated with the business strategy and corporate level. The tool signified that corporate business is needed to build a competitive advantage with the help of innovation, values from customer, and efficiency that can be witnessed in the light of the internal discounts. The starting phase utilizes up to 5% of the budget that is set for the research on an yearly basis and hires engineers. The company even maximizes the technological advancement of the competitors. Another stage is to focus on the creation of the values for customers and development of an integrated program to ensure a good impression on the udders by the creation of new features.

Conclusion

The company might contain the resources from investors for implementing the strategy of branding. However, it is questionable that whether HTC will be able to fulfill the vision of attaining a leading position in the market.  The new branding strategy will lead the investors to retreat.  Furthermore, the organization comprises the power to get an additional capital.  Additionally, HTC will consider the operational issues that arise from the brand name like the support services, sales and marketing. Moreover, the current leverage is with the association with Google and created an effective product that might not be sustainable eventually.

References

Guo, Y. and N.I., J. (2021). A 6Ps-Based Analysis of HTC Company’s Marketing Strategies in Mainland China. Chinese Business Review, 20(3), pp.100-105.

Mulyana, M. and Wasitowati, W. (2021). The improvement of collaborative networks to increase small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance. Serbian Journal of Management, 16(1), pp.213-229.

Moslehpour, M., Chau, K.Y., Dadvari, A., Do, B.R. and Seitz, V. (2019).  What killed HTC and kept apple alive? brand sustainability comparison of two Asian countries. Sustainability, 11(24), p.69-73.