Palm Inc – from handhelds to smart phones

From hand-held to smart phones. The pioneers of touch Inc. Palm had been the leader in the mart of hand-held computers with high market sh atomic number 18 and profitability as well as a brand bring up recognition level to which many other firms could only dream. Palms brand has faded substantially and as of April 2010, the fraternity was acquired by HP for $ 1 -B. Below , I accommodate listed Palm Inchs list of errors that the organization made over Its life musical rhythm and necessary recommendations. Error 1 . Palm Inc. Did not establish a great enough sense impression of urgency. Since Palm Inc. s inception, no formal business strategy was designed and implemented.Based on the Ecology surmise Palm Inc. Entered the market as a r-Specialist and eventually transited as a K-generalist, by approaching contrasting product markets. However, Palm Inc. Failed to be successful as a k-generalist due to in operation(p) with outdated skills and competencies. The company has failed to examine the market and competitive realities for potential crises and untapped opportunities. Palms efforts stopped at the PDA product, while the rivalry has managed to find ways of implementing he Pads features Into cell phones market. Error 2. Palm did not create a goodly enough gulden coalition.Based upon the Institutional Theory firms that do survive they become legitimate In the eyeball of the shareholders. Chances of survival increase by pull ining the rules and codes of conduct found In the Institutional environment. Despite having started as the persistence leader, Palms forgement over the years did not look as rosy. Palm failed to get the shareholders, board of directors, older management and even a customer representatives together to help them evolve a shared appraisal of their company problems and opportunities, and create a minimum level of trust and discourse.Error 3. Lack of vision. Palm had no lay down vision of what was the picture of the future that the company wanted to achieve ( product , customer target,etc). The company changed its name several times , and also changed its vision and strategy. From the case, we know there was no brand-new product offerings during 2001 thru 2008. At the said(prenominal) time, other competitors Injected the marketplace with new Innovations, Palm gradually became a small and marginalia player In the Industry. The Innovation Is the basic power of the company,but Palm doesnt have the strong impetus. Demographic change.Customers and clients that are being targeted are ever changing. In earlier times, smart phones were necessary for business members who would need to keep up with e-mail. However, these age there is the prevalence of a much younger generation using smart phones for a grade of reasons ( tender networking, picture taking, communication etc. ). Palm Inc. Must adapt with these changes and keep up with the demographic changes of its applicable customers. Palm Inc. Needs to create a Sino to direct the change and effort but also to develop strategies for realizing that vision.It Is essential that the organization communicate the vision both inside the company as well as with their partners. Error 4. Under communicating the vision help If they believe that useful change Is possible. Without credible communication the hearts and minds are never captured. It is imperative that Palm Inc. Established Also ,employees and managers from all levels of the organization adopt the change. In 2001 Palm Inc. Initiated a radical intragroup restructuring and decided to reduce the cost base do the first-ever layoffs.Microsoft had reduced staff during the technology recession withal , but they made more research silver available for developing mobile software But Palm Inc. Failed this aspect. Error 5. Not removing obstacles to the new vision. Palm Inc needed to empower other to act on the vision by creating a value marriage proposal for employees. In 2001 Palm Inc. Initiat ed an internal restructuring by separating the hardware and software divisions into two distinct units. The split contumacious the inherent conflict of interest by licensing software or its win competitors in the hardware market.The hardware innovations were features that could be added to the phones and music players. Palm spent too much notes to develop the new SO and new smart phone. And the marketing capitalization is much shorter than the competitor. This situation causes Palm to not balance the silver within each department. So the whole company cant run efficiently. For example, Palm cant self-finance marketing campaigns and in-store training of change staff. In 2003 Pal Inc. Decided to spin off the software business and to use the raised cash to rather invest into the victimisation of new smoothness.Palm Inc. Could have saved time and money by exclusively focusing on smart phones. Palm cant bring up the effective marketing strategy. The price of a new phone is more ex pensive than the phone. The competitiveness is tiny than other brands. After failing to get hold of the market with new phone, Palm made an attractive product bundle on its phone. That turns out to be stressful to Palm. Failure of negotiation ability. Nevertheless Palms new product was delayed because of certification issues with the carrier. At the same mime, Palm has a conflict with the dealer. Error 6.Plan for and create short term goals. In 2001 Palm Inc. Initiated an internal restructuring by separating the hardware and software divisions into two distinct units. The spiff produced good short-term results and due to high attribute the software was used in phones for some time. In 2004 Palmate devoted more resources to smoothness and expand Tree Family . The new Tree series was relatively successful with good margins. Error 7. Declaring victory too soon. After a few years of hard work, managers got tempted to Clare victory with the first clear performance improvement.Palm had a huge success in 2006, with the Tree series. Tree smart phones let Palm earned 30 percent of market share in the United States and brought Palm back to life. Having this success experience, Palm could have used this experience to bring out more great ideas and make them come true. However, between 2007 and 2009 new Palm product launches were rare, while the demand for the Tree and Centre fell quickly or never took off as expected. Error 8. Not anchoring changes in the corporations culture.Until new behaviors are rooted in social norms and shared values, they are subject to degradation as soon as the pressure for change is removed. In order to overcome this issue many organizations need to invest in leadership development and term plans consistent with the new approach. Recommendations 1 . Apply R skills in new areas and diversify Palms business operating organisation know how could have been ported to other applications and platforms. E. G. Possibility to enter new related bus inesses with high market growth rates Tablets, Notebooks. 2.Overcome entry barriers in the smartened market increase the negotiation power by teaming up with major players like Samsung. 3. Limiting their development and costs by encouraging the open source development community to develop applications. 4. Entering other market segments by making use of Palms know how by starting to develop commercial applications for other smartened operating systems. Fill smaller niches in the smartened market with look upon to general environment forces Coloratura and Political and Legal Forces Smartened operating systems with high data regulations for users with sensitive data.As the reverence of theft of personal informations or sensitive data is rising in certain groups of society (e. G. last makers like politicians and managers). Demographic Forces Senior Friendly Smoothness for aging societies with health or special bang features. Remote GAPS tracking, monitoring and streaming of health p arameters to doctors and relatives. Global Forces Provide a low-cost operating system which runs on cost effective hardware for the growing low income population of the world (Reverse Innovation). 5. Invest in leadership development and succession plans consistent with the new strategy.