Journal Articles
The Samsung Electronics factory in Thai Nguyen, in Northern Vietnam, employs more than 60,000 people. Its three canteens serve some 13 tonnes of rice a day. It churns out more mobile phones than any other facility in the world. It and Samsung Electronics’ other factories in Vietnam produce almost a third of the firm’s global output. The company has invested a cumulative $17 bn in the country. But Samsung is as important to Vietnam as Vietnam is to it.
Dong-In group is a contract manufacturer of outdoor gears and equipment for leading global outdoor companies. It provides complete manufacturing services to many global companies. Established in 1992, in Seoul, Korea, its headquarters is based in Gimpo, South Korea. The company has a highly automated aluminium forging facility in Gimpo, seven factories in the Philippines, and one in Vietnam. Within the Philippines, there are six manufacturing plants and one warehousing and fabric cutting service provider for the factories. The facility in Vietnam is also a manufacturing factory. The company has been looking forward to moving up the value chain by taking up a larger share of the outdoor gear manufacturing supply chain. This is crucial if the organization wants to gain competitive advantage and have a sustainable business model. Being renowned worldwide for its excellence in low cost manufacturing, the next step is to add more value for the customers (i.e., outdoor companies). With this intention, the CEO of Dong-In is in the process of identifying what parts of the product development process he can acquire next and what are the challenges that he would face in doing so.
Globally, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) are popular among subscribers in established MVNO markets of America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, where regulatory authorities have allowed them to operate. Their revenues and subscribers have grown fast during the last few years. Globally, MVNOs had 134 million customers, with a revenue of more than 25 billion USD in 2014. The Indian government intends to allow MVNOs in the Indian telecommunication market. The government’s approval to allow MVNOs will open up new opportunities for firms that intend to launch MVNOs. Given the impending introduction of MVNOs in India and its importance, this research article focuses on determining the key factors that will influence MVNOs in India. The study also attempts to identify inter-linkages among various factors and develops a model that would be helpful for industry and academia in getting a better understanding of factors that will drive MVNOs in India. Grounded theory was used to identify the key factors and total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) was used to understand the hierarchy among various factors and interpret the relationship among them. The identified factors were empirically validated using factor analysis. Key managerial insights were obtained by developing a model for the set of factors, specific to the Indian context. The hierarchical model developed during the study provides a better understanding about relationships between various factors of interest. The research findings can immensely benefit potential MVNOs in identifying the areas they should focus on in the Indian context. Findings report that factors, such as reservation of spectrum capacity by the government, spare radio spectrum, differentiated value-added services (VAS) offered by MVNOs, willingness of mobile network operators, competitive intensity, wholesale tariff regulation, MVNOs’ business strategy and retail tariff, will play a key role in MVNOs’ success in India.
Zeng M (2018) Alibaba and the future of business. Harvard Business Review, Sept–Oct Issue.
Alibaba hit the headlines with the world’s biggest IPO in September 2014. Today, the company that has a market cap among the global top 10 has surpassed Walmart in global sales and has expanded into all the major markets in the world. Founder Jack Ma has become a household name. From its inception in 1999, Alibaba experienced great growth on its e-commerce platform. However, it still did not look like a world-beater in 2007.