The International and Global Success of Cisco Systems - Paper Example

Introduction

Cisco Systems is an American multinational company, yet the most significant networking company in the modern globe which develops produces and sells telecommunications equipment, hardware for networking and advanced technology products and services. It has its headquarters at San Jose, California. Over time, Cisco systems have acquired subsidiaries including OpenDNS, Jasper, Jabber, and WebEx. As a brand, it has majored in domain security, internet of things and energy management.

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The company was founded in 1984 by Sandy and Leonard who pioneered the local area network framework that geographically connects computers over a multiprotocol rooter system. Its growth and success have since been felt and seen as it was named the most valuable company in the universe in the year 2000 with a market capitalization of more 500 billion USD. This paper seeks to explain the pillars that Cisco has employed in gaining its success wave and global presence in the technology market. This paper analyses economic factors, technological factors and social factors as the main reason for the massive success of Cisco (Boe-Lillegraven, 2015).

Cisco systems have embraced technology and adapted to the changes and to fill the gaps presented in the modern day technology. Since its foundation, the company has adopted silicon intelligence and internet to take technology to the next level. Cisco has always offered technology market solutions with products ranging from core GSR routers that gained popularity and became vital to internet service providers.

Its fast technological adaptation and substantial investment in innovation led to the company being named the most valuable in the year 2000. The use of silicon intelligence between 1996-2005 led to the development of startups to come up with new ways of processing IP and providing blur boundaries between switching and routing. Eventually, in 2004, Cisco systems started a new software architecture and new high-end hardware. Besides, the company has never ceased to develop extensively; embracing changing technologies and adapting to it for instance: the exponential growth in the use of Ethernet significantly influenced the business organization's product lines.

Cisco Systems has demonstrated massive investments in marketing. It has undergone rebranding from being called 'Cisco System' to being simply 'Cisco,' and in 2006, the company adopted a Human Network advertisement campaign intended to make Cisco a household brand. This approach of marketing was aimed at improving the sale of future products for consumption and low-end Linksys products.

Moreover, Cisco has grown expanded into new markets through sensible acquisitions and merging of networks (Subramanian et al., 2017); for example the addition of Starent Networks, a network specialist, in 2009. This approach has facilitated picking up of software assets that focus on complementing the overall goals and structure of the organization. This acquisition and merging framework have facilitated cutting down on costs that would otherwise be incurred through the making of purchases. Throughout the 2000s, the company has grown internationally most critical of all being India. The organization established a globalization center in India investing one billion USD and stipulating that twenty percent if the leaders would be based in India. Today, India provides twenty percent of the company's revenue. Cisco, therefore, recognized that majority of the world population lived in India and tapped onto the potential earning, spending, and the power of innovation that could be unlocked through investing in such. To add on to that, the acquisition of a television software developer in 2012 marked the beginning of the market for software and cloud, a new venture for the company.

Cisco has not shied away from making substantial investments with calculated risk plans. The company has allocated investments funds to tech startups, and in 2014, it announced that it had set aside 150 billion USD to mainly focus on Internet of Everything. Cisco strategically forms partnerships to be able to advance the growth of internet of everything startups. The massive capital investment has translated in opening up of new markets for the internet of everything, thereby developing and exponentially growing as a world solution provider.

The numerous products provided by Cisco has provided long-term integration, sustainability and a stable competitive advantage in the market. Cisco is the market leader in almost all market operation categories. It holds a 59.9% share of the Ethernet switching market, 56% share in router and switching, 42.6% in enterprise video conferencing and 9% in security market (Sterne, 2002).

The organization has high growth potential, and as such we can have positive expectations of the future. Technology is an ever-changing sector, and there has been increased demand for data and internet centers, high-speed wireless devices and even cloud computing. Given the confident expectation, the demand is expected to grow substantially further. Cisco is therefore likely to capture the technology market demand with its high-quality products and the high market segmentation.

Moreover, Cisco has a reputation for high-quality products and services that exceed customer expectation. Through the beneficial and strategic partnerships it has established, the company has managed to protect its products and secure smart grid solution, products, and services. It has positively taken up the responsibility of modernizing the utility of electricity startup all around the world. This requires expertise and the combined effort of many skilled people in the delivery.

Moreover, the brand focusses on putting its employees first maintaining a firm belief in people driving innovation and not the technology, as it is often confused. The company has created a value proposition referred to as 'Our People Deal' which outlines the expectations of employees from the organization and vice versa. The organization firmly believes in treating its employees with respect and allowing the authentic individual self to bring change.

The organization has invested in a Talent Brand Team which is tasked with the responsibility of changing the perspective of its employees and thereby amplifying employee generated stories. Besides, this has empowered the workers to be the human voice, the individual brand and given a face to Cisco system. This approach of building a team spirit has instilled, and cultivated trust and values amongst the employees are translating in the exemplary customer experience of market base.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that Cisco has been able to achieve enormous success in an international level and the main contributing factors have been its technological flexibility: that is its ability to adapt and change with the changing technology and its ability to spot markets and take calculated risks in investing and embracing new technology avenues. Besides, the excellent market presence through merging and acquisitions has resulted in opening up of new markets for the high-quality products and services. Finally, the stability and sustainability of the company regarding maintaining the reputation of under promising and over performing reflecting from the enormous turnovers. For example, in the year, 2015, the company recorded a revenue of 49.161 billion US dollars which was a 4.3% increase from the previous year; the profits had also risen to 8.981 billion US Dollars which was an increase of 14.4% of the prior year. This illustrates that Cisco is not only a market leader but also a technological service provider that is here to stay and yet to reach its limits.

References

Boe-Lillegraven, S., & Monterde, S. (2015). Exploring the Cognitive Value of Technology Foresight: The Case of the Cisco Technology Radar. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 101, 62-82

Sterne, J. (2002). World Wide Web Marketing: Integrating the Web into Your Marketing Strategy. John Wiley & Sons

Subramanian, V., Sudhaakar, R. S., & Maluf, D. A. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,806,974. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office