Otro

The most powerful way to prevail in global
competition is still invisible to many companies.
During the 1980s, top executives were
judged on their ability to restructure, declutter,
and delayertheir corporations. In the
1990s, they’ll be judged on their ability to
identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies
that make growth possible—indeed,
they’ll have to rethink the conceptof the corporation
itself.
Consider the last ten years of GTE and NEC.
In the early 1980s, GTE was well positioned to
become a major player in the evolving information
technology industry. It wasactive in
telecommunications. Its operations spanned a
variety of businesses including telephones,
switching and transmission systems, digital
PABX, semiconductors, packet switching, satellites,defense systems, and lighting products.
And GTE’s Entertainment Products Group,
which produced Sylvania color TVs, had a position
in related display technologies. In 1980,
GTE’s sales were $9.98billion, and net cash
flow was $1.73 billion. NEC, in contrast, was
much smaller, at $3.8 billion in sales. It had a
comparable technological base and computer
businesses, but it had no experienceas an operating
telecommunications company.
Yet look at the positions of GTE and NEC in
1988. GTE’s 1988 sales were $16.46 billion, and
NEC’s sales were considerably higher at $21.89
billion.GTE has, in effect, become a telephone
operating company with a position in defense
and lighting products. GTE’s other businesses
are small in global terms. GTE has divested Sylvania
TV and Telenet,put switching, transmission,
and digital PABX into joint ventures, and
closed down semiconductors. As a result, the
international position of GTE has eroded.
Non-U.S. revenue as a percent oftotal revenue
dropped from 20% to 15% between 1980 and
1988.
NEC has emerged as the world leader in
semiconductors and as a first-tier player in telecommunications
products and computers. It
has...