AUSM18

Hariharan (G1060474K)

COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF MBA-EM

MASTER IN BUSINESS

ADMINISTRATION-

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

AUSM18 MBA DISSERTATION

<<< ACER’S RANKING IN THE PC

MARKET: - REPOSITIONING USING
LEAN OPERATION

>>>

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STUDENT NAME : Vembukrishnan Hariharan

STUDENT ID NUMBER : G1060474K

LECTURER : Lakshmi Thambiayya

MASTERS DISSERTATION SUBMISSION FORM

Student’s family name:

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Dissertation Title

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Declaration

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I certify that this dissertation is my own work. I have read the University
regulations concerning plagiarism.

I am willing to allow Coventry Business School to use my dissertation as a

sample for future students.

Signed ……………………………………………… Date ………………

Declaration of originality

This is to certify that the work is entirely my own and not of any other person, unless
explicitly acknowledged (including citation of published and unpublished sources). The work
has not previously been submitted in any form to the Coventry University or to any other
institution for assessment for any other purpose.

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Signed _________________________________________________

Date ___________________________________________________

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1.0. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Study Background

Business world is growing very rapid and as an effect it is common that industries
are functioning globally with lots of challenges. Each and every market sector faces
hyper competition due to disruptive technologies, globalization and deregulation
(kotler, 2003).

PC industry is a dynamic industrial sector. Though, they have a powerful momentum,

which makes it feasible for a PC industry to sustain their market within a month or a
year it they work hard. Hence, it’s vital for any PC industry to forecast their customer
desires and to establish a strong position with a positive brand image (laptopmag,
2012).

1.2. Study Area

Acer Inc is one of the largest PC vendors in the PC market. It was started at Taiwan
in the year 1970 by Stan shih. They designed and manufactured Taiwan’s first
desktop calculator which was launched in 1976. Later they diversified and started
manufacturing semiconductors, TVs, desktops, laptops, servers, tablets, etc. They
had a joint venture with companies like Texas instruments, IBM (Acer, 2011). They
suffered a major financial blow due to the desktop order cancellation by IBM in 2000.
Later the company recovered from their financial in 2003, where the sales increased
from NT$ 107.35 billion to NT$ 157.66 million, this is an increase of 46.9 percent
(economic daily news 2011).

Over the past decade Acer emerged as the second largest PC brand in the world.
Now the company faces a crossroad again due to the mis forecast in 2011 and as a
consequence there is a low in sales in the first quarter of 2011(commercial times,
2011). The rank of Acer Inc in the PC market was fourth in 2011 later it was moved
to eighth in the first quarter of 2012 (laptopmag 2012). So this is the time to the
company to undergo re-engineering and repositioning

In order to reposition Acer Inc, implementing lean operation and its techniques is one
of the ways to improve the sales and market share.

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1.3. Dissertation Structure

The main objective of this research is to reposition Acer Inc and to move their
position good in the international PC market. The research mainly focuses on
various problems in which Acer Inc faces due to their misforecast in their product
and service. It also discusses about the steps could be taken by Acer Inc to enhance
the overall performance of the company using lean operations. The research is
followed by means of ethical principles effectively & efficiently.

1.4. Aim and Objectives

The research mostly aims to move up the rank of Acer Inc in the PC market, the
techniques for repositioning the company through lean operations. Our research is
focussed at the various remedies to be taken in Acer Inc move their position forward
in the international PC market.

We are about to research the above scenario through few innovative techniques to
identify the misforecast happened in Acer Inc and the possible solutions could be
taken with the help of lean operations. The research questions & research objectives
are given in the next section.

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2.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Discuss Acer Inc.
2. What are Acers core business & its current position in PC market?
3. Critically review the competition ranking that exists in the PC market
4. Why Acer needs to reposition its ranking of PC product in the market?
5. Can lean operation be applied to reposition Acers PC product?
6. Discuss what is lean operation?
7. How lean operation would be able to reposition Acer PC product in the
market?
8. What can Acer do to sustain the position for its PC product in the market?

2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

● To understand the nature of Acer Inc business models and objectives.
● To understand the competition in regards to ranking that exists in the PC
market.
● To review and sustain the position of its PC product in the market.
● To examine the possibilities of applying lean operation to reposition Acers PC
product.
● To describe lean operation and its benefits.
● To demonstrate the ability of lean operation in repositioning Acer PC product
in the market.
● To recommend Acer ways and means to sustain the position of its PC
product in the market.

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3.0. LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1. INTRODUCTION
The literature mainly focuses the main objectives and business model of Acer Inc.
Secondly we are focusing on the current competition exists in the PC market. Thirdly
we need to review about the current position of the Acer Inc’s PC product in the PC
market. Then we focus on how Acer Inc to sustain its position with the help of lean
operations. Finally we will elaborate and analyse the lean operation techniques in
which how far it will be successful if it is implemented to reposition Acer Inc to
sustain the position of its PC product in the international PC market. Let us start our
review by introducing the business model and objectives of Acer Inc.

3.2. TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF ACER INC BUSINESS MODELS AND

OBJECTIVES.
Acer Inc’s foremost activities is to build up market & to sell PC work stations,
business desktops, PC servers and computer related components and software. On
the other hand they provide services in repairing Acer brand products, internet
provision, information storage and other electronic services. They have operational
plant in Taiwan, United States of America and Europe. Their products are exported
to Africa, Europe, Asia and north and South America. They are one of the world best
(OEM – Original equipment manufacturer) in which they produce their own servers,
projectors, displays and storage systems. They also provide IT support and services
(Acer, 2012).

They do have a streamlined manufacturing operation with the help of an information

technology & communication technology company called Wistron. They do
outsource their peripheral business and customer electronic products to Benq (Bart
slob, 2005).

Acer has to reorder their strategies due to the current international competition. As
there is a declination of semiconductor prices their products become with less
sensitive technology but the market expectation is the products with high quality and

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Acer is not a quality leader. The entry of various multinational companies is also a
major threat to Acer Inc because they provide quality products in cheaper price.
Moreover, Intel and IBM have already captured the North American and European
market with their quality and innovative products and it is very tough for Acer Inc to
compete with those big companies (Anil kumar, 2011).

Furthermore, they got eighth rank for their PC laptop in the recent best and worst
laptop brand release in 2012 (laptopmag, 2012).

3.3. TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPETITION IN REGARDS TO RANKING THAT

EXISTS IN THE PC MARKET
The ranking of any PC product in the market are given on the basis of their product
quality. In general the PC quality is judged on the following categories such as
reviews, design, keyboards and touch boards, tech support, displays and audio,
value and selection, software, customer satisfaction and innovation. In the PC
market the companies like Apple, Lenovo, HP, Sony, Toshiba, Asus, Dell, and
Samsung are the major competitors to Acer Inc (Risedream, 2011)

Based on the categories which are given above, Apple holds the first position for the
last three years. They are excellent in six categories out of nine categories including
design, keyboards and touch boards etc. Overall they got 88 points out of 100. The
only part in which the Apple fell flat was in their value and selection this is because of
their focus on the higher end note books. Still the company got 26 percent increase
in their Macbook sale (laptopmag. 2012). In the ranking of laptops companies like
Lenovo, HP, Sony, Toshiba, Asus, Dell, and Samsung are followed by Apple. Each
and every company has their own merits and demerits.

If we consider Acer Inc they are in the eighth position.

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Report card by brand (laptopmag, 2012)

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