Case Studies Archives

Consistency Drives Success at Telus

The Canadian telecom giant transformed its business by adopting a clear, stable approach to strategy and culture.

The First Customers

In a new market, you need to secure a foothold. World domination can come later.

Telenor’s Third Way

Telenor has experimented for years with ways to spread best practice between its foreign subsidiaries. Will its new knowledge sharing model work better than the old one?

Ringing the changes

With slow growth in its core European market, mobile phone giant Vodafone must focus its attention on emerging countries and new data services.

The Whistle InterJet: The First Internet Appliance for Small-to-Medium Size Businesses (A, B & C)

To overcome sales growth problems in the US, California-based, venture capital-backed start-up Whistle Communications looks at developing a number of strategic partnerships in Asia. While the product (the first Internet appliance for small-to-medium size businesses) attracts interest from numerous high-profile companies, Whistle must weigh the short-term gains against its long-term goals. Professor Ha Hoang and Michel Darnaud explain more in this new Case Study … [ Read more ]

Content: Case Study | Authors: Ha Hoang, Michel Darnaud | Source: INSEAD | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, International | Industry: Telecommunications

NTT DoCoMo i-mode: Creating a solution for the masses

The Internet: wow, what a great concept! And wouldn’t it be even better if you could access it from your mobile phone? Kouiji Ohboshi, chairman of the Japanese telephone giant, NTT DoCoMo, thought so. But back in the early days of 1999, it seemed that few others agreed. In this story of a contrarian business leader, Professors W. Chan Kim, Renée … [ Read more ]

SingTel (A): Newfound Status; SingTel (B): Taking Control

From state-regulated monopoly to pan-Asian powerhouse, the Singaporean telecom SingTel has come a long way. In this two-part case study, Research Fellow Sarah Meegan and Professor Peter Williamson focus on SingTel’s mobile operations, asking you to consider the firm’s history, its acquisition of Optus, and the challenges it faces in managing its network of partnerships and executing its regional strategy.

MobilCom AG: Countdown to Liberalisation

MobilCom has an ear for its business – the reselling of mobile phones – and its sharp senses have also picked up on a diversification opportunity in Germany. Should this young, successful company plunge into the action, or is the deal too much to handle too fast? In their case studies, Erol Ali Dervis and Professor Laurence Capron explain how this company handled those questions. … [ Read more ]

From Vertical to Virtual: How Nortel’s Supplier Alliances Extend the Enterprise

To grow a new fiber-optics business at Internet speed, the Canadian giant gave up manufacturing and turned its vendors into strategic partners.

Content: Case Study | Author: Lawrence M. Fisher | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Industry Specific, Operations | Industry: Telecommunications

Webraska: Evolving with the Wireless Market

Webraska is a young, high-tech wireless company, which is left drifting in the wake of the troubled telecom industry in early 2001. It faces important strategy choices and must decide whether and how to adapt its business and revenue models in an uncertain market. Iwona Bancerek, Beatrix Biren and Professor Christoph Zott guide you through one of the first-ever cases written on wireless business in … [ Read more ]

The Optical Networking Industry (A) (B)

The Internet revolution burst on the scene, bringing new industries and overhauling existing ones. With the stock market euphoria of 1999 and early 2000, it seemed these tech-oriented firms could do no wrong. In fact, in 2000, despite the reservations of certain analysts who downgraded the stock of Nortel and Cisco, their share prices continued to rise. But with the arrival of the stock market … [ Read more ]

Content: Case Study | Authors: Marie Carpenter, William Lazonick | Source: INSEAD | Subject: Industry Specific | Industry: Telecommunications

Process Re-engineering at GTE: Milestones on a Journey Not Yet Completed

In this inside look at a process re-engineering program, Charles R. Lee, the chairman and C.E.O. of the GTE Corporation, describes the radical changes being made at the company’s Telephone Operations unit in anticipation of open competition in the telecommunications industry. In an accompanying piece, re-engineering guru Michael Hammer provides his expert view on GTE’s progress.