act, whereas Microsoft, by contrast, has been outsourcing in China over a three-year period and has invested more than US$750 million in R&D, Motorola ôhas been courting China since 1968, having invested some US$3.4 billion in manufacturing and R&D facilities in the countryö (4). Motorola has good net sales, a well-deserved reputation as an innovator, and excellent business alliances.
Although for awhile in the early nineties, even MotorolaÆs top management admitted "our quality stinks,ö since revisiting a management philosophy that it originated in times pastùthe Six Sigma methodology, which features a perfection rate of 99.9997%, Motorola has enjoyed exceptionally high product quality (5). Even if these were MotorolaÆs only strengths, it could well be considered one of the most successful companies in the global electronics market.
All of that said, the ôweaknessö portion of MotorolaÆs SWOT analysis indicates that it finds a few of its weaknesses amid some of its greater strengths. Its paternalistic attitude toward e
...