Strategic Management: A Taiwanese story about strategy andstructure Before 2000 the Taiwan-based company Acer had competingstrategies. For 15 years one part of the firm had been buildingcomputers for other PC sellers who would put their own labels onthe machines, while another part sold very similar computers underthe company’s own brand. The latter strategy was predicated ondirect sales to consumers, which had brought the firm into directcompetition with companies such as Dell. However, in 2000 the firmdecided to adopt a new business strategy in order to increase itsglobal market share. Acer’s manufacturing division was made anindependent company (Wistron) and this enabled a smaller and morenimble sales firm to emerge. The strategy based on direct sales wasdiscarded and replaced with a strategy focused on selling as manylow-cost laptops and netbooks as possible to consumers but via anetwork of partners and retailers. A new logo was adopted toreflect this new strategic direction, which had proved verysuccessful despite the industry downturn. By 2008, Acer hadreplaced Hewlett-Packard as the market leader in Europe, theMiddle-East, and Africa, partly as a result of Acer’s success inthe booming netbook market. This strategy enabled the firm tobecome the world’s second largest PC vendor. However, in 2011tensions at board level over the firm’s strategic directionculminated in the resignation of Acer’s CEO Gianfranco Lanci. Thedifference in opinion appears to be about whether the firm’s futurelay in PC’s or mobile devices. Acting CEO J.T Wang announced thatthe PC would continue to be the firm’s core business. In 2009 thefirm entered the smartphone market with the launch of fourdifferent smartphones and the promise of more in the pipeline.Unlike Apple, which was focused on developing one phone only,Acer’s strategy is based on targeting each of its phones at adifferent market segment. In march MODULE FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMANRESOURCE MANAGEMENT TOTAL MARKS 60 MARKS 2011, Acer announced thatrevenue projections for the first quarter in 2011 will fall shortof expectations by about 10% due to weaker demand in the PC marketin the US and Europe. (Source: New York Times, 2009, BloombergBusiness Week, The Financial Times, PC Pro)
Questions
Discuss the purpose of Strategic Human Resource Management fororganisations today. In your discussion, identify whichorganisational strategies have been employed by ACER over theyears, justify your answer using evidence provided in the casestudy and discuss how these organisational strategies affect the HRstrategy.
