Strategic Choice: Foundry Networks, Inc

Foundry Networks, Inc.

Strategic Choice: Foundry Networks, Inc.

The initial steps in strategic planning have been conducted for Foundry Networks, Inc. (Foundry). The mission, vision and value statements for the organization have been identified based on their existing statements. Foundry's internal and external environments have set the stage for the development of the strategic objectives and now a further discussion of differentiating between generic and grand strategies as they apply. Using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis plus the strengths and weaknesses, how they affect Foundry in meeting the long-term objectives will be explained within this paper.

Generic and Grand Strategies (General)

Generic Strategies

Long-Term strategies should be based on seeking competitive advantage based on three generic strategies. They should strive for overall low-cost leadership in the industry, strive to create market unique products that will support a wide range of customer groups and strive to appeal to different groups of consumer while focusing on cost differentiation (Pearce, 2004). This generic strategy is tied to the company's mission statement and defines the goals of the company as well as gives the company direction towards reaching its goal. To reach the grand strategy Foundry must understand the long-term objectives in a generic sense.

Grand Strategies

Grand strategies defined are the long-term plans of a company to increase their competitive advantage. This should set long-term objectives that outline the progress towards the end state company goal's. These should be measurable and set milestones that will assist Foundry in meeting both the progress of short-term objectives that build up and pave the way for meeting the long-term end-state.

Generic and Grand Strategies from a Foundry perspective

Generic Strategies

Mission Statement, Vision and Values revisited

 Mission: Innovating high-performance networking solutions that address the needs and requirements of today and tomorrow's network infrastructures.

 Vision: Commitment to continuous innovation with end-to-end networking solutions that lead the industry from the enterprise edge to service provider core back to the desk top.

 Values: Integrity, openness, and provide the most cost effective solution for the customer.

Grand Strategies

SWOT Analysis (Reviewed)

In planning a long-term strategy it is important for Foundry know its position in the internal and external environments. A number of external influences outside of a firm affect the strategy that managers choose to adopt. The external pressures can be categorized by the proximity to the firm as well as the firm's ability to make an impact on those influences. The operating environment, to include competitors, creditors, customers, labor, suppliers, are the most common external factors that can be influenced from within a company. The industry environment when broken down includes, entry barriers, supplier power, buyer power, substitute availability, competitive rivalry and are more difficult to change. The third category includes the factors that are least able to be manipulated. This category includes the remote factors such as the economy, society/demographics, politics, technology, and the ecology (Pearce and Robinson, 2005). Depending on the size of the firm, market, and types of environmental factors, the firm will have varying capabilities of effecting change but must take into consideration each of the factors. Some of the factors mentioned will influence the end-state more than others and will vary from one company to another. The purpose of any environmental scan both internal and external is to evaluate the forces influencing a company and to determine which forces can be influenced and how to design a strategy to achieve optimal end-state. The following will provide an environmental scan from the perspective of Foundry Networks, Inc. (Foundry), in order to establish a basis for recommended long-term objectives.

Internal Environment

Foundry's internal environment includes several aspects of the mission statement and values statement. In order to maintain and expand the current success Foundry will consider the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are present in today's market environment. A SWOT analysis is one way to demonstrate and define current internal and external environments of Foundry's Broad Band strategy.

SWOT Analysis

External Environment

The external environment is comprised of influences outside of the company's boundaries. External environment issues demand flexibility within an organization. The external environment includes aspects of the industry, raw materials, human resources, financial resources, market conditions, technology, economic conditions, government, socio-cultural, and the international market. The factors are consolidated into three main areas, remote industry, external industry, and the operating industry. These areas will have an impact on the success of Foundry development and employment of Broad Band technologies.

Remote Factors

The remote industry factors include economic factors, social factors, political factors, technological factors and ecological factors. The economic conditions of the countries that Foundry conducts business will play a large role in the Broad Band success story. Implementing a marketing strategy without consideration of the laws and regulation governing the telecommunications market would lead to internal economic failure. The government of the USA may set allowable frequency band management while in Europe or Asia the bands will differ, taxes, supply and additional cost via tariffs. The governments of countries where Foundry equipment is made tend to have minimal regulations governing standards; however where the equipment is marketed has strict as well as varying requirements that have to be met. If Foundry is not able to meet these requirements and are still sold, the company must pay extensive fines. Due to tough environmental requirements in the US and European Union, Foundry's strategy must include the production of specially marked and tested equipment that