Report: Analyzing Seagate Technology's Mission, Vision, and Values

This report analyzes the strategic management of Seagate Technology, a major data storage company. It examines the company's mission, vision, and values statements, highlighting their alignment with business goals and operational strategies. The report discusses Seagate's business model, including its value propositions (cost reduction and brand/status), customer acquisition channels, and resources. It also assesses the company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy, focusing on its commitment to stakeholders, adherence to regulations, and engagement in sustainable practices. The analysis includes an evaluation of how Seagate's CSR activities align with its mission, vision, and values, and their impact on customers and the public. The report also proposes a revised vision statement for Seagate: "Giving people the power to share and making the world more open and connected."

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Part 1............................................................................................................................................3
Part 2............................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
A company through strategic management can either make or break itself besides faltering in the
absence of a robust strategy. Entrepreneurs having a strong vision and hold of the needs of their
companies are likely in having a leg up on market competition. According to Qehaja, Kutllovci
& Pula (2017), when a roadmap for growth is being developed it is critical to set business goals
and tie them with the vision of a company. A strategic plan with a company evolving and
changing significantly contributes in providing benchmarks and measuring success. The key
purpose of this report focuses on analysing the mission, vision, and value statements of the
selected enterprise Seagate technology, which is an American data storage company.
Part 1
According to Comparably (2019), the mission statement of Seagate states that the company
recognizes that data is always in motion, alive, connected. For maximizing the potential of
humans it is controlled at Seagate whose mission revolves around giving peace of mind to people
by providing help in protecting their digital lives. Precision-engineered data storage technologies
have been created by the company since 1978, delivering high-caliber capacity, speed, safety,
and performance. Seagate is diverse workforce of 40,000 creative, hardworking, and passionate
people spread across the globe—Silicon Valley, UK, Singapore, India, China, and many more.
On the other hand, the company’s vision statement stresses on crafting the datashare while
Caring, Creating and Collaborating are the values.
Seagate’s vision and mission statements and its values are a critical part of the strategic
management process. The managers with the help of the company’s vision and mission that is
well-defined find ease in setting the strategic objectives aligning with the long-term goals of the
business. According to Comparably (2019), these strategic objectives are further translated into
an operational strategy by the managers for implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It has
been observed that at Seagate Technology these guiding documents that also include its values
are thoroughly aligned with the business’s goals in the long run. This gets reflected when
managers communicate their objectives to stakeholders and employees comprehension about
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where to focus their efforts in daily work activities. Thus, highlighting how the alignment is
high.
According to Anderson & Jamison (2015), for conducting business Seagate has segmented
business model, having customers with business needs that are slightly different. The company
markets its product offering into two groups namely Consumers and Enterprises. Cost reduction
and brand/status are the two primary value propositions it offers. The lean operations of Seagate
have empowered it in offering products that are less pricey comparing to competitors. It has been
possible since minimal expensive components are procured from suppliers Southeast Asian
manufacturers eventually enabling in beating the prices of Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, Fujitsu etc.
besides expediting its predominance in the hard-disk drive sector. Owing to its strong
performance in achieving various industry “firsts” such as introduction of first 5.25-inch hard-
disk drive; being the first company in shipping 1bn HDDs etc., Seagate has build up a brand
name that intimidates others. Accoridng to Zalewska-Kurek, et al., (2016), the primary business
channel of Seagate for acquiring customers is retail stores like Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples,
Costco, and Sam’s Club. In addition, products are also sold through official website and other
ecommerce platforms. The relationship of Seagate with its customers is mainly of a self-service
nature where products are used having little employee interaction. The designing and
development of its products is entailed by the business model of Seagate. According to Lüttgens
& Diener (2016), for working with resellers, system builders, and system integrators a Seagate
Partner Program has been initiated for giving training, marketing support, lead generation, and
rewards to these entities. The main resource of Seagate is the product development team, aiming
for bringing new offerings to market in higher volume. However, a high priority is also placed on
its intellectual property. The company has had 5,194 U.S. patents and 1,207 patents issued and
1,351 U.S. patents and 1,296 foreign patents pending as of 2015. For minimizing expenditures
with the help of notable self-service and low-price value propositions a cost-driven structure is
followed at Seagate. According to Wirtz, Göttel & Daiser (2016), the business activities of
Seagate are a reflection of its mission, vision and values. However, the reports of frequent
failures of Seagate drives in past few years compared to others highlight the lower alignment of
its vision, mission and values in this area. In my opinion the guiding documents are effective in
terms of creating and weighing the different strategic plans and alternatives, contributes in
defining the purpose behind existence and laying down the fundamentals of Seagate’s identity. If
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Seagate’s vision statement is to be changed, my version will be “Giving people the power to
share and making the world more open and connected.”
Part 2
The CSR policy is Seagate Technology‘s focuses on the commitment it has made to all the
stakeholders in conducting the business in a manner that is economical, social and
environmental. Initiatives having a demonstrable impact besides directly providing benefits to
communities where it has major operations are supported by the company. According to
Acquier, Valiorgue & Daudigeos (2017), Seagate is completely devoted in undertaking CSR
activities in Australia adhering with the provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 and rules
relevant to that place.
It has been observed that Seagate’ CSR policy aims for developing long-term vision and strategy
for the objectives in relation to the Company’s CSR actions. According to Yammahi &
Guruswamy (2017), another objective of this policy is to reviewing, approaching, and
establishing a process for implementing the Company’s CSR activities aligning with the relevant
corporate legislations of Australia. Other than this, its CSR policy also aims for promoting CSR
activities making a decisive contribution in the country with the help of programs that are highly
impactful and sustainable, benefitting directly to the communities where Seagate has major
operations. Furthermore, the policy also intends of establishing a process to monitor the CSR
activities.
According to Jarvis, et al., (2017), being an industry leader Seagate Technology is devoted in the
development and maintenance of practices that are both sustainable and responsible across all its
operations spread globally. The main emphasis areas of the CSR initiatives revolves around
human resources, green-enabling storage products, health and safety, governance, environment,
community involvement etc. In supports of their principles and standards the company has
signed Responsible Business Alliance Code of Conduct and United Nations Global Compact.
Moreover, its Global Citizenship program has contributed in establishing the CSR strategies,
ensuring compliance to regulations, ethical standards and international norms, and embracing
accountability for how stakeholders affect with its activities. Through its Global Citizenship
program Seagate is driving socially responsible and sustainable business practices persistent with
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corporate values thus, providing affirmation to management and stakeholders of effectively
managing them. Hence, Seagate’s CSR engagement activities align with its policy.
According to Jarvis, et al., (2017), Seagate’s engagement with different CSR activities has left a
positive impact on its target customers and public at large. 90% of its customers expect the
company in addressing social and environmental issues. While a major section emphasizes that
whenever possible they buy responsible products. The public in large also seeks for ways of
engaging into Seagate’s CSR efforts. They tell their friends and family about its CSR effort and
asking them to donate to a charity it supports besides volunteering for a cause. According to
Mansi, Pandey & Ghauri (2017), Seagate’s CSR engagement activities are also aligned with its
mission, vision and value statements. This can be said because all these core elements have
significantly contributed in give foundation to its CSR activities. The company’s socially
responsible focus is incorporated within its corporate statement that includes both vision and its
mission and also values eventually giving and conferring Seagate its meaning and purpose.
References
Acquier, A., Valiorgue, B., & Daudigeos, T. (2017). Sharing the shared value: A transaction cost
perspective on strategic CSR policies in global value chains. Journal of Business
Ethics, 144(1), 139-152. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2820-0
Anderson, S. E., & Jamison, Brad,PhD., M.B.A. (2015). Do the top U.S. corporations often use
the same words in their vision, mission and value statements? Journal of Marketing and
Management, 6(1), 1-15. Available: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1681254600?
accountid=30552
Comparably. (2019). Seagate Technology Mission, Vision & Values. Available:
https://www.comparably.com/companies/seagate-technology/mission
Jarvis, W., Ouschan, R., Burton, H. J., Soutar, G., & O'Brien, I.,M. (2017). Customer
engagement in CSR: A utility theory model with moderating variables. Journal of Service
Theory and Practice, 27(4), 833-853. Available:
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1908295217?accountid=30552
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Lüttgens, D., & Diener, K. (2016). Business model patterns used as a tool for creating (new)
innovative business models. Journal of Business Models, 4(3), 19-36. Available:
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1908295374?accountid=30552
Mansi, M., Pandey, R., & Ghauri, E. (2017). CSR focus in the mission and vision statements of
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Qehaja, A. B., Kutllovci, E., & Pula, J. S. (2017). Strategic management tools and techniques: A
comparative analysis of empirical studies. Croatian Economic Survey, 19(1), 67-99.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JGR-11-2016-0033
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