Business Analysis of Google and Nortel

Business Analysis

Team C analyzed two internationally known technology firms: one that has succeeded and one that has failed within the past five years. The successful company chosen was Google and the failed company chosen was Nortel Networks Corporation, also known simply as Nortel. From this analysis, the team members were able to determine several key indicators for both the failures and successes of each business as well as the role of organizational structure and leadership. The team then also developed a plan to implement change that would prevent impending failure and revamp the failing business.

Companies

Over the past several decades, advances in technology have been staggering. Two companies in particular are internationally recognizable for their mission and vision in technology. Nortel’s mission was to “create a high-performance 21st century communications company driven by empowered employees with a passion for delighting customers and driving business results” ("Nortel", 2007). At one point in history, Nortel was serving nine out of ten Fortune 500 companies. Their vision included a commitment to power innovative technology to solve problems and create opportunities for their customers. Their main goal is to achieve this was through a concept known as hyper-connectivity in which “anything that can be connected to the network will be connected- encompassing person-to-person communication, person-to-machine, and machine-to-machine” (“Nortel”, 2007).

Since founded in 1998, Google’s mission has been similar in that they strive “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” ("Google", 2014). Part of Larry Page’s, Google co-founder, vision for the company is to develop the...

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