NBC Company

Introduction

Modern businesses make every effort to maintain and attract new customers in order to foster there growth and enhance the chances of profitability within there particular industries.

Competition affects almost all modern businesses and organizations including NBC Company are increasingly facing challenges as a result of the ever changing external and internal environments. Due to business changes in contemporary business, there is emergence of new opportunities and strengths that businesses have to take advantage of them in order to increase their productivity of their operations.

However, there exist new threats and weaknesses to modern businesses which makes the operations of these businesses more cumbersome and hence if not carefully taken care of may lead to reduction in productivity and hence a decline in revenues of businesses. This study is dedicated to shed more light on the analysis of internal and external influences of NBC Company. This will involve in-depth analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that NBC Company which is one of the largest television networks in the United States is experiencing as a result of competition from other companies.

NBC History, Development and Growth

The NBC Company is regarded as the largest Radio and Television Network with its main headquarters in General Electric Building in New York, United States of America. It is peacock logo that has eventually made the network to be referred to as Peacock Network. History reveals that this network was formed in the year 1926 by a company referred to as Radio Corporation of America which is commonly referred to as RCA. It was actually established by David Sarnoff. In the year 1986 General Electric was given the mandate to take control over the NBC through acquisition where Bob Wright to the time of his retirement where he gave his powers to Jeff Zucker. Research indicates that currently the network is under the famous NBC Universal which is reported to be a unit of General Electric and Vivendi.

Research indicates that NBC has a great market whereby it reported that it has been available over one hundred million households. The slogan of the company is called Chime in; research reveals that NBC chimes came as a result of key 6th triad advocated by the famous musicians then. In essence the chimes of NBC Company are the G-E-C sequence which has really attracted very many people (NBC, 2008). Further history reveals that NBC has utilized several logos; however, all the logos that the company has used mainly comprised images of peacocks. NBC Company is not only in the United States of America, it has embraced the concept of diversification; for instance NBC has its other branches in Canadian cities such as Toronto, Minneapolis, Fargo, Montreal, Windsor, Boston, Ontario, Edmonton, Montreal and Montana among other cities which uses NBC’s   Satellite dishes and television lines suppliers.

 However, NBC growth over the past years have been boosted by its advanced Satellite dishes and sophisticated cables which aid in receiving the signals of NBC’s clearly. Moreover, the NBC’s favorite programs have been televised in many cities outside United States and include programs such as O’Brien Late Night, NBC news among other programs. Further NBC in the year 1995, entered the Asian market as it started NBC Asia channel which covers Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia and the channel aired programs similar to those televised by NBC Europe which gives it an added advantage since its brings favorite programs such as Tonight Show closer to NBC fans in Asia. NBC also have diversified to Australia, Philippines, Guam, Netherlands, Germany, and Bermuda among many other countries.

NBC Current Market Position

NBC Company faces stiff competition for market share from its main rivals i.e. CNN, BBC, CCTV among other television network providers in the television network industry and therefore it has to redesign its objectives in order to remain successful and international in scope. Businesses have evolved and therefore different organizations are embarking on strategies to attract and retain there customers in order to survive in the ever changing business environment. With the help of SWOT and Porter’s five forces such problems can be easily solved if and only the management of the NBC Company formulate viable strategies that will result in attaining set objectives. The main objective of this study is therefore to analyze the business environment in order to design action plans that will ensure the success of NBC Company for example how the company can reach to a wider market in the television industry as well as airing quality and attractive programs.

SWOT Analysis

By use of SWOT analysis, situation analysis is very decisive to NBC Company and can be analyzed in two aspects; analysis of external environment and analysis of internal environment. Usually external environment analysis discloses the firms’ opportunities and threats that are either present or potential, whereas the internal environment analysis discloses the firms’ strengths and weaknesses that are inherent in its business settings.

Internal Factors

The major endeavor of any company including NBC Company is to make best use of profits so as to give the best probable returns to owners for the capital they have devoted in the firm. In order to realize this objective, firms must be effective and efficient in its production purposes. For that reason, any firm including NBC Company relies on its internal features for resourceful and successful operations. Research indicates that the main internal fundamentals comprises; physical resources and equipment, financial strength, competent personnel, production and operations, and market competence. Such features results to either strengths or weaknesses of NBC Company (Anthony, 1998).

NBC Strengths

Strength in this context can be described as distinguishing competence that a NBC Company can do comparatively better than its rivals and which the company has and enhance the accomplishments of the set objectives. NBC Company has a strong brand name that aids the corporation to have a competitive advantage when compared to its rivals in the television network industry. The company’s programs and features are well known and therefore it is best placed than its rivals.

The other strength is that of best marketing network that have made the company in the past to do well in its operations; for instance it has invested in Asia, Australia, Canada and other countries. NBC Company has opened numerous branches and thus it has reached to a wider market without any problem. The company has the most excellent distribution channels that have been a strength that has appreciably assisted the company to control the television network market for a long time over the past.

Another strength associated with NBC Company is the capability to spot the market segments and hence an excellent competitive position of the company. NBC Company has a lot of customers that it has been serving over the past when compared to its rivals which have not been able to secure large market share. Also NBC Company has a strong financial base thus it has embarked in the future in developing core operating units that have aided the company to achieve organized firm structure. (Anthony, 1998)

Weaknesses of NBC Company

A weakness in this context can be described as any feature of NBC Company that hinders the company from achieving its objectives in the television network industry. More often than not, it entails NBC Company assets, resources, and potentials. Most up-to-date research reveals that NBC Company is faced with a small number of weaknesses that has hindered company’s success in the television network industry.

The first weakness reported of late is that of airing of programs which are considered to be immoral in the society for instance “Tonight Show” is said to be not suitable for children thus has left its customers dissatisfied and has opted to watch other programs offered by its competitors which are deemed suitable to children. The other weakness is that of NBC Company policies, measures, and guiding principles which are reported to be weak since in some market segments the company has performed poorly. Such regulations have been directed to the human resources, that is, the workforce and the management team have been performing disappointingly of late in their respective responsibilities of production of suitable programs to be aired by NBC Company.

Negligence on the side of the marketing executives has been pointed out and reports suggest that they have not come up with suitable marketing strategies to deal with the ever increasing competition in the marketplace in terms of quality programs in the television network industry.  There has been a spat that the programs that the NBC Company is currently airing are not educative, an issue which has led to declining of its market share. Also the systems of production, controls, and work methods have been under scrutiny in the past few years for such poor performance. There have been allegations that the work methods used are not expedient in the company and therefore they need to change if they need to cope with change and the ever increasing rivalry in the television network industry (Cullen and Boteeah, 2005).

External Factors

External factors are usually divided into micro and macro environment. Micro environment is about actual and political transactions used in NBC Company and its environment in day to day activities of the company that include; customers, suppliers, intermediaries among others. On the other hand macro environment is about external higher order forces which do not affect NBC Company dealing as yet or directly but may do so in the future. External factors may include; economic, technological, competition, political/legal, and social-cultural factors. However, external environment of NBC Company may be explicitly explained when opportunities and threats are considered.

Opportunities of NBC Company

An opportunity in this aspect can be defined as any event, development, or a feature of the external environment which creates conditions that are favorable or advantageous to NBC Company in relation to a particular objective or set of goals to be attained. It is an attractive venture for NBC Company operations which if exploited will lead to a significant upward change with desired results such as increase in profits margins, market share and growth.

There are many opportunities that exist for NBC Company in relation to emerging markets all over the world in the television network industry. There are great emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and Australia, Netherlands, South America among other countries. There is great investment demand in these places that NBC Company can maximize on it. There is significant increase in the demand for NBC’s Programs which creates a great opportunity for NBC Company to expand its television network investments.

The technological innovation, for example, that of e-commerce should be utilized by the company in order to result to expansion of the market share of NBC Company thus increasing its profits and enhancing growth in the television network venture. Since NBC Company is among the largest television network provider, its competitive advantage allows the company to penetrate to more new markets than its rivals. If NBC Company can fully utilize this it will have the upper hand in terms of competition and explore new markets and profit margins will shoot up thus gaining more power to compete globally in the television network industry. NBC Company can also utilize its opportunity of strong financial base and embark on acquiring new machines such as satellite dishes and more sophisticated cables that will aid in production of quality programs.

Threats of NBC Company

A threat can be referred to as an environmental development or event which will present problems or challenges likely to hinder the achievement of NBC objectives, for example, competition, high interest rates, government legislations, declining real income among others. NBC Company is now facing stiff competition from its main rivals such as CNN, BBC, CCT among others thus there has been a drop in the market shares thus a reduction of its profits. The marketing strategies of NBC Company need to be reviewed in order to cope with the increasing competition in the television network industry. For it to continue succeeding both locally and globally, the marketing managers have to incorporate recent technological innovations like utilizing advanced satellite dishes that cover a wide area.

There are times when government regulations may hinder the operation of the organization. This can also be termed as a threat. Under this, NBC Company over the last few years in some cities in Canada have been experiencing challenging times whereby some states have passed laws that do not favor watching programs of NBC Company as a result of misunderstanding that the programs are not educative.

Other threats include increased barriers in trade; for instance, it has become hard for NBC Company to operate both within and outside the US because of the quality of its programs. There have been stringent regulations regarding to airing of programs. Another threat that has hindered the success of the company of late is the ever decreasing income of the consumers; thus cannot get access to channels offered by NBC Company. This may have arisen because of the increase in inflation and high interest rates thus raising the standard of living and hence cannot afford to purchase the dishes of the corporation (Anthony, 1998)

NBC Current Analysis

NBC Company has responded well in terms of new technologies that come up as a result of globalization such as satellite dishes and cables. The company has utilized the use of online marketing and also incorporated the use of new technologies in production and operations activities which have seen significant increase in productivity i.e. reaching to a larger audience in the television network industry. NBC Company generally has responded well to globalization by opening subsidiaries in many countries thus increasing its market share and hence profitability of the company.

Nevertheless, there has been a considerable criticism that NBC Company management has failed to be effective and efficient in its business activities because they have practiced unacceptable managerial activities of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. The company has not ensured that the respective managers of respective departments are well equipped with human, technical, and conceptual skills that give them an opportunity to integrate the managerial activities above in order to produce results expected from their departments that meet the changing needs of clients in the television network industry. The absence of such skills by managers has led to the NBC Company performance decreasing in some of its potential markets.

NBC Company has been criticized for not building a strong human resource relationship with its entire workforce who has failed to enhance the success of the company. They have not achieved effectiveness and efficiency because they have not developed their staff through training and have not adopted proper compensation systems that have in turn demoralized the employees in their work. Such employees have not been able to cope with effects of competition form CNN, BBC and other television network providers.

Decisions regarding to employees, operations management, and the marketing decisions have not been constantly revised by the management of NBC Company in order to match international standards that will foster success in television network business environment. For example, employees have not been properly trained to cope with new changes like introduction in technology such as satellite technologies. Further, marketing strategies developed does not ensure fair competition in the television network market, and the products (programs) of NBC Company have not been developed and designed to meet required international standards.  (Mark, 2001)

Corporate Strategy and Structure

Corporate strategy is a plan of action in which NBC Company will have to utilize in order counter the competition from its rivals such as CNN, BBC, CCTV e.t.c. and in the process attain a significant market share in the television network market arena. Since NBC Company is a big multinational media firm in the world it has in the past chosen to compete across entire market in television network industry. However, this strategy has not gone on well with the company in that in some places particularly in Australia it has lost ground in terms of market share. Therefore, the best corporate of NBC Company is to compete in particular segments only that will perform better more than its competitors. To achieve this, market segmentation should be carried out by the company prior to marketing activities. Market segmentation involves identifying those target markets that the company will do well. It is only through this strategy that NBC Company can ensure its survival ability in the television network industry. This is because through market segmentation the company will only specialize in few and potential target markets that will yield good returns and also it will require little resources to compete in the segments than competing across the entire market. The management of NBC Company should ensure that the target market selected provides an opportunity of accessing the market information required in order to save time and financial resources (Grant, 2005).

The company too may focus on market penetration strategies whereby it will be involved in provision of television programs similar to the programs offered by its rival firms like BBC and CNN in the television network industry. Such a strategy if it succeeds will lead to large market share in that the company will maintain the old as well as attracting the new customers.

Identification of portfolio plan too for the company will be an important corporate strategy too for NBC Company in that, the management will be able to identify those subsidiaries that are not performing well in the market. Such a strategy involves classifying the branches of the company in to four groups as follows. The first group is that of a star which symbolizes a branch that does well and is said to have large market share in a growing market. The strategy adopted is that of building the business unit. The other group is question mark or problem child, which is a branch of the company characterized by declining market share in expanding industry. The strategy is that of harvest or divest to other markets. The third group is of cash cow which is characterized by low market share but in a growing industry. Cash cow normally sustains other branches because its cash flows are constant. The strategy associated with cash cow is harvest. The fourth group is that of the dog whereby the business unit in question has low market share in a declining industry. Such a business requires a lot of financial resources and time thus losses are experienced. The strategy for such strategy is to divest to other branches or business units in order to avoid losses.

Recommendations

For NBC Company to remain competitive in the television network market it has to improve on some areas of its managerial activities. Even though NBC Company is accredited with success in its business undertakings there are various improvements that the company needs to embark on so that it can enhance its continuity and survival in modern television network business. NBC Company needs to understand clearly the aspect of management science. NBC Company should integrate the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling functions of the organization in order to boost the company’s organizational effectiveness by producing quality programs. Proper training to all managers and the employees should be conducted in order to avoid any conflicts that may arise in the course of the television network operations of the company. The respective managers with the executive officers should work together especially in the areas of decision making in order to improve the company’s network operations. (Grant, 2005)

NBC Company should also utilize opportunity of its strong financial base in exploring more television network markets. The amount of revenue that NBC Company collects presents an opportunity to develop unique and presentable programs that will give a competitive edge of its competitors like CNN and BBC. This means that NBC Company requires undertaking out an extensive research on identifying new markets and the programs that sells more in those places. In order for NBC Company to get access to more new television network markets, the company should encourage the use of e-commerce that is; the company should fully utilize the use of internet technology in exploring television network market online.

NBC Company composition should be clearly defined such that the management functions within the company should be carefully designed to fit the way business is done in the company. For example the employees should know what they are expected from them in the course of their duties and who are their supervisors. Such a move will lead to reduction of conflicts between management and the employees in the company because the company structure will be clear on how things are done in the company hence the employees will concentrate in their work well. The company should also come up with structures that motivate employees in the workplace (Sparrow and Hilltop, 1994).

Conclusion

Research indicates that the primary goal of any business including NBC Company is to increase its market share in its industry in order to increase sales which in turn lead to an increase in profit levels. For NBC Company to attain such objectives it should be efficient and effective in its television network programs. Business environments keep on changing and NBC Company has to adjust to any changes in the television network market place. Such changes may be brought about by globalization or saturation of home markets among other factors. Therefore, through marketing research, NBC Company must efficiently plan for its future by incorporating all the anticipated changes in business environment as well as ensuring that the target goals of the company are achieved with ease.

Reference

Anthony C. (1998): SWOT Analysis; An explanation of the S.W.O.T. Analysis process;

New York; Macmillan Press, pp 34-45

Brandenburger, M. and Nalebuff, J. (1995): The Right Game. Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review pp.58-67

Cullen, J. and Boteeah, K. (2005): Multinational Management. A strategic Approach, 3rd Edition, Mason; Thomson South-Western, pp 53

Grant, R. (2005): Contemporary Strategy Analysis: – Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford pp 28-40

Mark, D. (2001): Human Resource Management and organizational performance; 3rd Edition of the Institute of Management, Washington, U.S, pp 74

NBC, (2008): Company Overview. NBC Universal: Retrieved from, http://www.nbcuni.com/About_NBC_Universal/Company_Overview/Overview02.shtml, accessed on 5th December 2008

Sparrow, P. and Hilltop, J. (1994): European Human Resource Management in Transition: New York, Prentice Hall, pp 47-75