Forrester: - Making Leaders Successful Every Day

In the early 2000s, Motorola's leadership and market share were eroding. Realizing that a return to growth necessitated transforming its supply chain, the company embarked on a major initiative to realign business units, rationalize the supplier base, and leverage current IT investments. Motorola also realized that long-term success requires tight communications along its supply chain — across product design, manufacturing, customer fulfillment, and distribution. Reaping the benefits, on July 19, 2006, Motorola reported that net income for the second quarter was up 45% to $1.4 billion, while revenues rose 29% to $10.9 billion. Motorola has also managed to gain market share for the seventh consecutive quarter, estimated at 22% of the market now, up from 17% a year earlier. Firms looking for a similar success story to Motorola's must take the prerequisite steps to ready their organizations for supply chain and business transformation. These steps include centralizing their supply networks, hiring chief supply chain officers, and proving to stakeholders the direct relation between an optimized supply chain and good financial performance.