Moto

Case 1

Motorola Analog Division: Development of a Shared Global Vision

Ralph Krueger and Corinne Pfund

Motorola Analog Division

In the beginning of May 1993 Alison Palmer, consultant for organizational effectiveness in the human resources department of Motorola’s semiconductors sector, was looking out of the window of the airplane that just left Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. She was on her way to Manila, where the fourth phase of the visioning process would occur. As the plane was penetrating the clouds, Alison reflected on the process the Analog division, part of Motorola’s Semiconductor Products Sector, had done to design and create a new global vision for the division. She was partly responsible for initiating this change and she thought of the process as a success. In the third meeting that had occurred in Toulouse, France in October 1992 the shared vision had been finalized. The development process of this shared vision had been unusual because it had directly or indirectly involved all managers and employees of the Analog division around the world. She was thinking back to how the idea of developing a global vision had begun almost one and a half years earlier.

This case was written under the supervision of Dr. David O. Braaten, associate Professor, and Dr. Robert T. Moran, Professor of International Studies at the American Graduate School of International Management. This case has been prepared as a basis for discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Names of the people have been disguised to preserve confidentiality. The authors would like to thank the Motorola Analog division for its cooperation. Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Inc.

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Copyright © 2007 Elsevier, Inc.

The History of Motorola

The company was founded by Paul V. Galvin in 1928 as the Galvin Manufacturing Corp. in Chicago. Its first product was a “battery eliminator” that allowed consumers to operate radios directly...