Brief Description
Verizon Wireless is a wholly owned American company that offers wireless products and services. The company has over 150 million subscribers making it the largest wireless telecommunication provider in the U.S. The holding company is Verizon communication INC. Verizon wireless was found in 2000 following a joint venture of Bell Atlantic and Vodafone. Bell Atlantic later changed its name to Verizon Communication Inc. Verizon communication became the sole owner of Verizon Wireless when it acquired the 45% stake held by Vodafone. Verizon wireless a national network that covers 98% of the U.S population (Verizon, 2017). The company offers mobile phone services using different devices.
Verizon Wireless faces two major issues that affect its leadership position. The two factors have led to a decline in the revenues and stock prices for the company. The stock price, for example, has shed about 20% of its value. The company faces pricing pressure as other major carriers engage in a battle for market share leading to price wars. The company initially opted to compete on a strong network but lost a significant market share to T-Mobile who offered their customers more data for less. Another issue that affected the performance of the company is cord-cutting. Many companies in the industry have experienced a significant increase in cable cancellation. Verizon was negatively affected given that its FIOS business accounts for 10% of its total revenue. Cable cutting continues to be a significant issue as customers shift to online video streaming using services like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. The trend is expected to continue into the future as more than 10.8 million customers are expected to cancel their cables in the next five years.
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Current Corporate Culture
Verizon Wireless has continued to enjoy significant growth and market leadership in the past. The company boast of a strong network unrivaled by its competitors and reaching 98% of the U.S population. The company uses its culture to ensure high-quality products. The culture has contributed to the competitiveness of the company and its strategic success. the culture establishes a set of beliefs values and principles that affect the behavior of its employees. The culture encourages employees to support high-quality efforts which have enabled Verizon to attract more customers and keep of competition. The organizational culture plays a significant role in decision making throughout the company. The culture has led to the decline in the performance of the company since it has limited the motivation for maximizing output. The company does not encourage high productivity. The culture does not also promote flexibility and a responsive organization (Hashemi, 2016).
Areas of Weaknesses
Verizon has many strong points that have contributed to its leadership position in the industry. There are however weaknesses that have contributed to the issues identified earlier. The culture of the company dwells on the quality of the products and services. It places more emphasis on quality as a competitive edge against its customers. The culture does not promote productivity and therefore employees are not fully exploited. The company does not compete on price and therefore it charges higher prices than its competitors (Alvesson, & Sveningsson, 2015). Similarly, some customers have complained of receiving different answers from different customer service agents if they make multiple calls. The company is also unable to diversify its operations allowing competitors to eat into its core business activities.
Proposed Solution
Verizon Wireless should diversify its operations by offering online video streaming platforms like Amazon and Netflix. Similarly, the culture of the company should be adjusted to make it more adaptive to ma changing environment. Similarly, it should be possible to make decisions quickly which can be achieved if the structure of the company is adjusted to reduce the span of control. The company should also include performance-based measures which will motivate the employees and encourage productivity. The company should also address its cost structure to ensure that it can focus on quality and cost leadership.
References
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress . Routledge.
Hashemi, M. S. (2016). The effect of infrastructure, corporate culture, organizational structure and information technology on Competitive Intelligence in Organizations. Human Resource Management , 3 (3), 43-50.
Verizon. (2017). Verizon Communications Inc: SEC Filings. Retrieved from http://verizon.api.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EdgarPro.dll?FetchFilingHTML1?SessionID=FRlEUt5uc_BhJfJ&ID=12574605
