Discuss the Legal Battle between T-Mobile and Sprint
Vision and Market Strategy
Some commentators argue that, to create competitive advantage, an organization’s
vision and strategy must be unconventional, perhaps even counterintuitive, and must
also be distinct from those of other companies. Michael Hay and Peter Williamson
(1997), for example, note that visions have an external and an internal dimension. The
external dimension concerns a shared view of the outside world: how markets work,
what drives customers, competitors, industry dynamics, macroeconomic trends, the
impact of geopolitical events. Most car tire manufacturers, they note, such as Goodyear,
Michelin, and Bridgestone/Firestone, have a market vision that sees the large car
manufacturing companies as their main customers, where large market share and high
volumes are the way to drive down costs. In contrast, the comparatively unknown Cooper
Tire and Rubber Company had a different market vision. They decided that, as
Americans were holding onto their cars for longer, the independent replacement tire
outlets were their main market.
Hay and Williamson (1997) argue that having a well-specified external vision helps
to identify how the company will grow and compete. Only then can an internal vision be
developed, pointing to the capabilities that need to be acquired to compete, and also to
what the organization seeks to become. External and internal dimensions of the vision thus
have to be aligned.
Reference
Ian Palmer, Richard Dunford, and David A. Buchanan (20--). Managing Organizational Change: A multiple perspectives approach. Third Edition
Additional references for paper
T-Mobile and Sprint Begin Court Battle to Defend $26 Billion Merger
T-Mobile and Sprint win lawsuit and will be allowed to merge