Mediatek Case Analysis

78-631-01

Shanzhai! MediaTek and the “White Box” Handset Market

Case Analysis

Instructor: Dr. Jonathan Lee

Group 7

Farhana Afrin 104484876

Li Pan 104474921

Cicong Wang 104465404

Shakih Wolid 104436615

Rui Gao 104469789

Key Issue

Essentially, the main issue faced by MediaTek is whether they should try to grow by moving upmarket pursing tier-one brands like Nokia or Samsung to supply with their chipset or if they should remain in its current positions and sell their products to the Shanzhai White Box market. If the tier-one brands use MediaTek chipsets, then MediaTek most probably will have to do business on those companies’ term. Therefore, MediaTek must decide whether doing business with tier-one brands is actually viable in form of technical demands, price and terms.

Internal Analysis

VRINE Model Analysis

Resources and capabilities | Valuable | Rarity | Inimitability | Non-substitutability | Exploitability |

Location | | | | | |

Business know-how | | | | | |

Customer Base | | | | | |

Technology | | | | | |

Comment | Valuable | Fail to achieve | Fail to achieve | Substitutable | Exploitable |

* Value: MediaTek has achieved success by manufacturing a chip that not only customizable but also affordable to the cell phone companies with resolving issues, at the same time it also ensures excellence in products. It is very ideal for the white box phones because it is easily modifiable that is also a key point that creates the value of the chip set. It’s less expensive with joining to a slightly less advanced technology, but packed with features that are only one to two years off cutting edge. MediaTek has a strong sense of the market to meet the demand that also creates value of it. If MediaTek moves to the 3G technologies it will create more value in the tier-one.

* Rarity: MediaTek has created a strong market demand for their products with...