Management Report: Sharp Restructure Analysis, HKBM7002

This management report analyzes the 2016 Sharp restructure following its acquisition by Foxconn. The report examines the organizational and human resource issues Sharp faced, including established inertia and institutional constraints, and how the merger addressed these challenges through cost reduction, revolutionized human resource management, and changes in leadership style. The study explores the history of both Sharp and Foxconn, the details of the merger and acquisition, and the positive impact on Sharp's performance. The research focuses on leadership changes and culture impact within the organization, and the importance of effective leadership. The report includes a literature review on human resource management, organizational change, and leadership styles, along with a methodology section outlining the research design and data collection methods. It also provides findings and analysis of the organizational issues and changes in Sharp. The report concludes with recommendations, including applications of various Human Resource theories and management theories, to further improve Sharp's performance and future growth.

Running head: MANAGEMENT REPORT 1
SHARP TURN – An Analysis of Sharp Restructure in 2016

MANAGEMENT REPORT 2
Executive Summary
The main purpose of this research was to identify the organisation and human issues that was
developed in Sharp and the impact it had by merging with Foxconn. The acquisition between
the two companies is worthy of elaborate study, how an accurate strategy brought positive
impact in their performance. The issue developed in the company and the institutional
constraint that the business faced included established inertia, recognised coevolution, official
isomorphism, etc. The solutions to the Sharp Company’s issue gained through the merger of
Foxconn included Reduction in cost and effective organisational management,
Revolutionized Human Resource Management, Careful management of organisation
expenses, change in leadership style and many others. The framework also includes multiple
recommendations which has been framed through acknowledging the merger and the
requirement of the company. The recommendations include applications of various Human
Resource Theories, management theories, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, etc.

MANAGEMENT REPORT 3
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Organisation Background.......................................................................................................4
Purpose of the Study..............................................................................................................5
Scope of the Study.................................................................................................................6
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................6
Human resource management................................................................................................6
Organisational change............................................................................................................7
Leadership styles and techniques...........................................................................................7
Methodology..............................................................................................................................8
Research Methodology...........................................................................................................8
Data collection.......................................................................................................................8
Research Design.....................................................................................................................8
Findings and Analysis................................................................................................................8
Organisational Issues of Sharp...............................................................................................8
Changes in Sharp..................................................................................................................10
Factors for successful management in new Sharp...............................................................11
Change in Leadership style..................................................................................................12
Discussion................................................................................................................................15
Recommendation......................................................................................................................16
Conclusion................................................................................................................................20
References................................................................................................................................21

MANAGEMENT REPORT 4
Introduction
According to Andersen and Kragh (2013), market structure is changing at a fast pace
resulting in transforming of business rapidly. Due to significant changes in technology the
structure of the organisation is important to be managed efficient so that it is at a competitive
advantage in the market. As per Didonet, Simmons, Díaz‐Villavicencio and Palmer (2012),
the instability and uncertainty of the business environment is creating a lot of management
issues in the organisation. Lack of clear direction and awareness is making the organisation
lose its vision leading to decline of its value in the market. Successful change is always a
challenge to the contemporary organizations, without doing anything to adopt the fast-
changing world, seems unlikely to last.
Organisation Background
History of Sharp
According to Sharp (2020), Sharp corporation was founded by Tokuji Hayakawa in 1915
after the invention of its first innovative product which was a Sharp Mechanical Pencil. In the
phase of development, the company produced various innovative products which received a
lot of appreciation in the market. In the year 1991, the company wanted to expand towards
21st century and launched the STAR 21 program (Glowik, 2016). In early 2000 the company
started investing in LCD and began producing coloured TFT-LCD. They continued
enhancing its technology with new and innovative ideas and products. However, at the end of
2016, Sharp went through their statistics and found out that the Administrative expense and
cost of sales were both stagnant and stationary. Even though they had cut down on Human
resources their cost of savings were not substantial. According to Eric Chou, the senior
research director ofTrendForceWitsView, Sharp’s TV market share was 2% globally, and
lower the Hisnese and TCLdominate those local brand in China. In 2012, April Sharps’
encountered a major financial loss of about 4.7billion USD which was the worst record in its
history.Moreover, Sharp was not a brand in consumer’s consideration over the last 5 years
which was mentioned by Mark Stocker, the managing director of Taiwan-based brand
consultancy DDG. They lostthe market around the globe rapidly (Miyachi, et. al. 2010).
History of Foxconn
According to Foxconn (2020a), Foxconn as established by Terry Gou in the year 1974, as an
organisation making plastic parts including the channel changing knobs found in the black

MANAGEMENT REPORT 5
and white TV sets. It did not acquire exponential growth until late 1990s. Even though it is a
China bases company, Foxconn is serving to Apple’s need exclusively. In 2003 to enter into a
new TFT-LCD business they initiated a joint venture with Chi Mei Optoelectronics. To
develop into a vertically integrated LCD TV manufacturer in 2010 and enhance its
production capacity it merged its display-panel firm Innolux business with Chi Mei Opto
electronics. The strategy of vertical integration made them to be the calculated partner of
brand-name TV firms. As per Foxconn (2020b), Foxconn in 2012February, was economically
strong thus it acquired 10% share in Japan’s Sharp and approximately 40% share in Sharp
Display Products Corporation, which is said to be a combined company of Sharp and Sony.
Merger and Acquisition
According Chiu, Chung and Hung (2018), in 2016 April, Sharp was going through major
loss, thus to expand its business and change their leadership style as well as its organisational
structure, they were acquired by Foxconn. The Taiwan-based company, Foxconn paid 388.8
billion yen to acquire two-thirds share of Sharp. According to Tamosiuniene and Duksaite
(2009), this was a case of a global organisation acquiring another worldwide firm so that they
can complement each other by sharing their unique resources. In course of their new tactical
alliance and implementing new system, the company had enhanced its sales, plug into new
supply chains as well as utilise each other’s manufacturing abilities that will help strengthen
the universal competitiveness.
The Sharp and Foxconn’s victorious merge was not merely for economic perspectives, but
also to connect with diverse companies and cultures. According to Ma and Mochizuki
(2016a), 80% of mergers and acquisitions are not successful as the root cause are the
organization behaviour of the company; inappropriate conduct of change management for
instance the challenges of cultural administration, anxiety and stress, redundancies,
employment insecurity, aptitude drainage, low inspiration etc. Performance of the company
Sharp has been positively affected after the merger due to transformation in company’s
features and the leader’s judgment (Dou, 2016a).
Purpose of the Study
According to Shi, Sunand Prescott (2012), the organisational issues developed in any
company makes it vulnerable and susceptible in the market. Other companies trying to
expand their business utilises this option resulting in merging of both the companies.
Transaction in the ownership tends to help the declining organisation to regains its vision.

MANAGEMENT REPORT 6
After the merger several transformations occurs in the company’s organisational and
management structure. According to Cartwright and Cooper (2012), the outcome of Merger
and Acquisition is more apparent after 2 to 3 years, howeverin Sharp the result was viable
only after half year since the acquisition of 2016. Sharp acquired a right track and from
attaining huge losses it went back to gaining a significant amount of profit. Additionally, it
formulated back its brand gain as well as its recognition in market.
The main purpose of this research was to identify the organisation and human issues that was
developed in Sharp and the impact it had by merging with Foxconn.The acquisition between
the two companies is worthy of elaborate study, how an accurate strategy brought positive
impact in their performance.
Scope of the Study
The study focuses on understanding the contemporary management issues that were present
in the company Sharp. The research will be explaining the characteristics of both the merged
companies and the changes this merger brought with it. The paper will also be discussing the
success of the alliance and will be highlighting the main factors for Sharp’s successful
operation after the acquisition. According to Nastase, Giuclea and Bold (2012), successful
change is always a challenge in contemporary organizations, and it is essential for an
organisation to adopt the transformations in a fast-changing world. However, on the other
hands, many researches also demonstrated that there are failure more often than success. In
this case, Sharp experienced a positive turn around and this paper will be studying the
organizational restructures of Sharp by focusing on the leadership and the culture changes.
Effective leadership is essential to successful change, the goal of the study is characterized by
“change-capable leadership”, for understanding the new leader behaviours from Sharp’s new
CEO, and the way he contributed to the successful change. The research will also be
reviewing the impact of leadership style on the company and the importance of an efficient
leadership for achieving the organisational goal (Koshino, 2016).
Literature Review
Human resource management
According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright (2015), a human resource management
technique is a tactical method for efficient management of people in an organisation.
Managing the human resources effectively will help the company to attain a competitive

MANAGEMENT REPORT 7
advantage in the business environment. As stated by Bratton and Gold (2017), the human
resource management must be designed in a manner that it maximises the performance of the
employees in the company by strategically fulfilling all the objectives of their employers and
the organisation. The company Sharp after the merger changed its Human Resource
management technique to Traditional Japanese style management. According to Rohlfer and
Zhang (2016), The traditional Japanese leadership style and decision-making procedure has
been adopted in the company. It involves passing suggestion to all the managers in the
company who are affected by the imminent decisions (Katsuki, 2017). This management
technique in which the low-level executives argue new ideas amongst themselves and arrive
at a union before putting it in front of the senior managers. The senior executives then
converse about the new ideas amongst themselves and come at their own consent. The
technique in present years focuses on speeding up the decision making which is responsible
for making this unpopular approach popular in many firms (Sagi 2015).
Organisational change
As opined by Smith (2011), the process of organisation change includes of three diverse
stages. The initial phase is to become ready to experience the transformation and specifies
that members of the organization are willingly supporting the change. The second stage is the
Adoption Phase, where the change has already occurred and the staff members have accepted
and implemented the new methods. Celik and Ozsoy (2016), argues however, the process of
adoption is basically a trial course and workers sometimes deny the transformation at the end
of this stage. The Last stage is institutionalization, in which the change is reinforced up until
the employees adopt the modification and contemplate it as a required norm.
Leadership styles and techniques
According to Effelsberg, Solga and Gurt (2014), leadership in Organization Change is not
enough to modify the company as and when you desire. The leaders must revolutionize
according to the changing nature of the environment and must permit their organization to
surf the external global shockwaves with their agility, aptitude, power and command. The
ability to spin around quickly, intensely and efficiently is the most significant core capability
for an individuals and organizations to obtain if they hope to flourish in the new economy.

MANAGEMENT REPORT 8
Methodology
Research Methodology
As stated by Kumar (2019), the research methodology can be stated as a presentation of
research that will create the base of the finding and analysis. A qualitative methodology will
be used for this paper which will represent the information in a conceptual manner.
Theoretical concept and many theories of management will be present through this selected
methodology. The research being theoretical in nature, it will be supported with various
models and management theories that will be helpful to arrive at an authentic research finding
and conclusion.
Data collection
The collection of data has been done from secondary sources which have already been
published either in form of a journal, book or article. As the data collected happens to a base
for re-evaluating the literature in the study, therefore it is important that the collected data is
genuine and is derived from credible sources. The benefit of using the secondary data is that
they create less problems while data collection and is less expensive as well as provides a
good quality of information.
Research Design
The research design is the outline of the study which is followed for accomplishing the
desired result or conclusion. It provides the guideline which is required to be tracked for
attainment of effective and dependable solutions (Maxwell, 2012). The research design
chosen for this paper is descriptive and review design. As suggested by Lambert and Lambert
(2012), the descriptive design is based on the explanation of the case studies, observations or
survey. Whereas, review is totally grounded on the literature or methodical review of the
topic. These designs selected will help to derive at required conclusion. It is difficult to select
an appropriate research design, but here the selection is done after efficient understanding of
the other elements of the paper as well as aligning it with the other tools.
Findings and Analysis
Organisational Issues of Sharp
According to Ma and Mochizuki (2016b), built on Sharp’s history, its vigilant and
cautiousinfluences with the market demands and courageous investment for the expansion
and growth of the cutting-edge machineries made its business fruitful every time. As per Dou

MANAGEMENT REPORT 9
(2016b), nevertheless, the achievementatKameyamamay perhapsmoderately be accredited to
high demands foroutsized digital TV when the management and governmentterminated the
analogue to digital broadcast. This gave rise to an uncommonideal investment in SDP
(Session Description Protocol). As the demand for it returned, the vacant capacity of SDP
generated anenormousfiscal burden on the company. Though, in 2009 the dual supervisory
also specified the extra-large association thatmayperhapsturn out to be a burden for the
management of the company, specificallyas its return on investment on SDP turn into a
problem.
The issue developed in the company and the institutional constraint that the business faced
are summarised:
Established Inertia:According to Lv, Cheng and Su (2015), corporate inertia is referred for
established organisations that remains inflexible in their process of thinking and activities
rather than welcoming the transformation in the industry and firm’s dynamics. Beyond the
modestdetermination of outdatedand traditional organizational procedures, inertial forces
create evolutionary trajectories. Theguaranteedpassages of expansionand growth that the
initialchoosing or actions set in motion and are indifferent to existingsettings. The change
was not properly accepted by Sharp and its process of producing the produces were not
acceptable with the current demand of the market.
Recognized Coevolution:As opined by Parisot, Ribiere and Isckia (2019), Coevolution is
termed as successive transformation in the business or market environment. A nation’s
socioeconomic administrative and structural systems coevolve and balance one another in a
mutual way. Formal fields,for instancethe management, law, government, teaching systems,
and market structure are necessarily firmly coupled. This constraint of Co-evaluating was
recognised in Sharp Corporation.
OfficialIsomorphism:As stated by Boxenbaum, and Jonsson (2017), as soon as the economies
develop, some administrative and executivesystems are acknowledged as finestand standard
practice. These organisationsmightpossibly signify the vigilantconcentration of
collectedexpertise and experiences. They might also owe their validity to insensible and
experimentalsocial and cultural expectations about the working of the world. As
thestructuraland organisational arenasobtain wide acceptance as standard and genuine, they
exhibit isomorphism. As per zvlkjbz, isomorphism is similar to thenoticeable features of any
kindofdiscrepancies in the ancienttrails or local situations.

MANAGEMENT REPORT 10
These three limitation and issues was quite visible in Sharp Corporation. As the company was
used to being successful because of their past organisational structure and demand. Therefore,
when theyutilised the organization management filled with all the above discussed constraints
to face the contemporary market world that hadseveralambiguous demand and opposition, the
company failed tremendously. The inattentiveness and inaccuracies of theResearch and
development ventures of huge LCD was a replication of the above recognized constraints
(van Liemt, 2016).
Changes in Sharp
According to Kotter (2012), change is referred to as a method by which organisation,
individuals and groupstake action or react to the vibrantexternal and internal aspects.These
aspects revolutionizes the existinginformation and the procedure of reacting to that process of
moving forward from the contemporarysituation to the desired circumstances. The merger of
Sharp corporation was a huge and successful evidence of the change leading to positive
outcome. As opined by Anderson (2019), the external factors were also affecting the sales
structure and diminishing profit of the company. However, the study focuses on the internal
factors which are the organisational structure, Human Resources issues and leadership styles.
Therefore, merging with the new company brought in new diversifications and helped to
acquire a fresh perspective of the new leader.
Dou (2016b), states that the reason of Foxconn acquiring Sharp is that, Foxconnpull together
all the iPhone as well as manufacturesa few of its components. These components are the
finest selling objects of Apple. However, the screen which is the most expensive component
of an iPhone is not manufactured by Foxconn, instead it is produced by Sharp Corporation.
Hence, Foxconn had a desire to earn a larger section of the constituent of iPhone. They want
to benefit their company and expand its market. This would even benefit Apple as they may
possibly have a cheaper expenditure on the display other than purchasing it from an extra
supplier. Eventually, this would help Apple to generate lower cost in creationof an iPhone.
As per Ma and Mochizuki (2016b), as the screens are one of the most high-pricedcomponent
of the iPhone and Foxconnwas already a supplier of the metal exterior, this would perhaps
provide them with enhanced profit margins. The move of acquiring Sharp was a best way to
also diversifies their business model from a low-margin pact assembly works to high-end
element production.

MANAGEMENT REPORT 11
Sharp’s expertise and their experience about display technology could assistFoxconnto
construct the business in screen construction. This was the way to enhance theirbusiness
model and not being solely dependent on contract manufacturing(Ma and Mochizuki,
2016b).Foxconndid not have a brand name, whereasSharpwas a renownedbrand which
valuable forFoxconn.All theses analysis done by the company and identifying the benefits of
a merger happened during the downfall of Sharp’s corporation which waseffectively lining up
this acquisition (Dou, 2016a).Foxconn&Sharp after their vertical incorporation announced a
comprehensible management plan for three 3 vicinity that needed reinventing especially the
business model.
Factors for successful management in new Sharp
Reduction in cost and effective organisational management
According to Harris and McCaffer (2013), after the merger the company ascribed to
constructive income and profits to cost cutting. The cost cutting was the cause of
counterbalancing the weaker returns from decelerating sales of the display boards and camera
parts. The change in decision making process by the new management was the reason for
speeding of the company’s sales and as well as was the main contributor for the turnaround of
the company (Iiyama, 2016). The new leadership and organisational change that was
desperately required by Sharp corporationwas brought in by Foxconn. They were so vigilant
that they also sped up the pace of equilibrium sheet and enhanced its quality.
Revolutionized Human Resource Management
According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright (2015), managing the human resources is
very important for the company as they are the most crucial asset for every organisation. The
employees manage all the work therefore, looking after their needs will motivate and
encourage them to be loyal to the company. Under the new Sharp President Tai's leadership,
the firm tried to manage all the problems related to its employees and obtain faith from their
workers. Therefore, the new leaderinitiated a merit-based bonus reward system separately at a
dissimilar time between the old-style summer and winter bonuses. Many workers
establishedquite a few hundred thousand yen as anunusual bonus. Sharp Corporationin future
also has planned to generously reward brilliant recruits (Cantrell, Cantrell and Smith, 2010).
By rewarding the employees, the company encouraged them and this motivated the workers
to work harder and enhance the productivity of the firm. Sharp also will announce a new
system which willraise the monthly salary of highperforming novel employees after the

MANAGEMENT REPORT 12
preliminary six months. As stated by Dou (2016a), in addition, the new President of Sharp
established aexecutive office that consisted of 200 people who would centrally control and
maintain the management of the company. Only one from the initial twenty-two managerial
officers sustained in the situation to diminishhuge salary expenses of the executive level.
Careful management of organisation expenses
According to Dou and Mochizuki (2016), way before the merging and forming an alliance,
Sharp corporation supplied Samsung LCD at a low price. Hence, instantly after the alliance,
the companyhad attainedsteady and constantclient orders fromSONY,Vizioand others. As
Sharp was trying to regain its position in the market, hence they decided to stop LCD TV
supply to Samsung. The reason for this decision was becauseof the undesirable low price
with Samsung as well as due to completelyunavailable capacity in SDP.
The company Hon Haican be stated as a global Electronics manufacturing services company.
Therefore, the company’smanufacturing process is effective, it has a strong and loyal
business relationship with itsclientsas well as their management of customer order are very
efficient. Immediately after the merging of both the companies, Hon Hai was cooperatively
operating SDP, hence they immediately acquired orders from Vizio and SONY. This
attainment of new clients was quite advantageous for the New Sharp as they were acquiring
orders from huge companies and gaining popularity in the market (Mochizuki, 2016). New
Sharp cautiously controls the organisational expenses and would be terminatingall the
subsidiaries if they were with maturity in technology and had asteady cash flow revenue, or
the company’s performance is unpredictablytruncated. The subsidiaries were combined in
with the new Sharp to diminish the redundant and unnecessary managerial costs.
Change in Leadership style
As opined by Du, Swaen, Lindgreen and Sen (2013), leader inan organisation has
afundamental role and they are referred to as the changing agent. They assist in the process of
changing demands with their effective and skilful leadership as well asinfluence others to
accomplish the organisational goals, leading the business to develop into more dependable
and harmonious. The primary task of a leader is toidentify the mission of the company and
encourage the workers to arrive at the desired outcome. As per Asrar-ul-Haq and Kuchinke,
(2016), athrivingand successful transformation is dependentsignificantly on style of the
leadership. Foxconnprovided Sharp with acomprehensivechange in its management,
including a new and experienced chief executive Mr. Tai Jeng-wu with other managers as