Analyzing Symantec's Strategy: A Business-Level Perspective Case

This case study analyzes Symantec's business-level strategy, focusing on internal communication challenges, acquisition strategies, and overall market positioning. The analysis identifies issues related to information flow, employee apprehension, and the impact of acquisitions on product development. Recommendations include implementing a matrix organizational structure to improve communication and adopting cost leadership strategies to enhance market share. The study emphasizes the importance of monitoring information flow, empowering employees, and providing adequate training to ensure effective strategy execution. Ultimately, Symantec is advised to focus on aligning its organizational structure, culture, and management systems to support its strategic objectives and improve overall performance. Desklib provides access to this case study along with other solved assignments and past papers.

Running head: BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY
BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY
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1BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY
Question 1
Symantec’s comprehensive structure has facilitated a smooth flow of information across
its boundaries. However, regardless of wide ranging communication networks, several
employees working in Symantec has shown apprehension regarding unequal share of
information and the severe lack of communication among employees involved in the product
groups. Several employees have reported the marketing and engineering units of the product
groups intended to gain significant amount of information but often failed to execute them with
utmost proficiency. Furthermore, Symantec has primarily seek the issue of unstable and
inconsistent communication process by efficiently conducting regular product marketing as well
as engineering meetings which enabled Q&A along with Time Line product groups to achieve
daily targets under the supervision of Turner. However, despite of this success, the smooth
running of information from market place to company exhibited high insufficiency. Moreover,
considering communication flow starting from Symantec to the marketplace, certain groups had
grievances of not being able to obtain essential information resulting to critical complexities in
the process of strategy execution.

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Question 2
Turner, CEO of Symantec has strategically continued to make acquisitions in order to
identify company’s acquisition prospects. However, Symantec’s EVP by involving product
group managers in all stages of product life cycle has created criticalities while arranging teams
in order to choose special attributes for product development. With several categorization of
Symantec’s information flow related to shipping, or dealing with corporate communications
majority of employees have showed hesitation for inadequate communications and not
disseminating data to parent organization. Furthermore, contextual performance factors have
been significantly representing the performance mechanisms which aid the organizational, social
in addition to psychological environment whereby the technical core must function. The highly
intricate web of communication and data sharing has resulted to a significant gap of information
sharing which employees failed to communicate. Such a critical lack of communication sharing
resulted employees to critically distinguish differences between other employees’ opinions or
statements and the company policy. When an organization constitutes specific obscurity in
addressing its strategic approaches, employees tend to show significant level of apprehension in
realizing the strategies of the company. Comprehensive studies of Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson on
strategy execution along with performance have been presumed to be profuse. In Hrebiniak’s
View, interrelated factors such as the organizational structure with organizational culture have
been distinguished as most effectual strategy implementation factors which leverage
organizational performance1. Meanwhile, drawing relevance from Hrebiniak’s view, companies
like Symantec despite of extensive communication network have been facing culture-related
1 Hitt, Michael A., Ireland R. Duane, and Robert E. Hoskisson. 2012. "Strategic Management: Concepts:
Competitiveness And Globalization". https://books.google.co.in/books?id=vwadCAAAQBAJ&dq=Hitt,+Ireland,+
%26+Hoskisson+Version+5,+Grant+6th+%26+8th+Edition&source=gbs_navlinks_s.

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problems because of severe lack of trust which typically has emerged from poor or insufficient
information and knowledge sharing between individual employees. Thus Nohria and Gladstone
have stated that effective communication has been considered as vital requirement for effective
strategy execution whereby strategy communication tends to play a vital role in employee
knowledge development, knowledge sharing in addition to learning during the process of
strategy execution. Symantec must focus on implementing Hrebeniek’s approach in order
implement transitions within the overall organizational culture, structure and most importantly
managements system which out to be vital for motivating, supporting and compensating its
employees and further associate to Symantec’s functions of scheduling, controlling, forecasting
and organizing its product delivery. At this juncture Symantec must aim to sustain a constant,
restricted line of products or services, whereas concurrently acting responsive to preferred
market opportunities.
Symantec to improve its communication process with employees and other stakeholders
must implement the matrix organizational structure that will essentially unify the functional
structure of the company with a particular structure that concurrently aids various projects. In the
matrix organizational structure, employees will report to two or more supervisors2. Furthermore,
employees working in such an organizational structure can constitute a clear sense of task having
the highest precedence. Additionally, implementing matrix organizational structure can
successfully provide expected updates and further maintain record of the progress of the project
the company has been engaged with. At this stage, CEO of Symantec must apply cost leadership
strategies which will necessitate highly detailed internal focus on processes. Such a strategy will
offer products or services of Symantec with satisfactory quality and features to a wide range of
2 Global News. 2019. "Report On TDSB Cites ‘Culture Of Fear’ Amongst Staff | Watch News Videos Online".
Global News. http://globalnews.ca/video/1775615/report-on-tdsb-cites-culture-of-fear-amongst-staff.

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customers at an economical price. Moreover, CEO through cost leadership will magnetize
substantial market share due to outsized portion of potential clientele considering paying
reasonable prices for goods and services of satisfactory quality as highly appealing. However, as
cost leaders tend to magnetize a considerable market share, a large portion of potential clientele
find paying low prices for goods and services of acceptable quality to be very appealing. Hitt,
Ireland and Hoskisson have stated that reducing costs would demand for additional investment in
computerized facilities, equipment and employees ability.

5BUSINESS LEVEL STRATEGY
Question 3
It is highly crucial to note that information flow as expected tends to deteriorate thus
requires be monitoring and maintaining. Nohria and Gladstone have identified process mapping
as an essential way to recognize troubles related to information flow. Symantec must identify its
value stream by strategically recognizing its organizational goals. At this juncture, the company
must use portal which will efficiently offer visibility into information flow help to ensure proper
alignment of employees. On the other hand critically understanding essential information and
data at each stage of communication process can aid organizations to remove any form of
criticalities among employees. Therefore, excellent sorting in order to determine whether
information ought to be capture is to inquire the rapidity of the recipient in consuming the
information.
However, Nohria and Gladstone have stated that as lack of rapidness often leads to
miscommunication and unstable information flow, companies should initiate communication
process with minimal pieces of essential information and then extend at the later stage.
Moreover, the CEO of Symantec must focus on empowering employees to proficiently provide
information about inefficiencies and ways to improve data reliability and workflow. Thus
arranging feedback loops will significantly guarantee that information has been distributed both
ways and facilitates continuous improvement. Lastly, organizations should give importance to
employee training and knowledge development for enhancing smooth running of information
flow by enabling employees to understand the value-stream map and feedback loops.

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References
Global News. 2019. "Report On TDSB Cites ‘Culture Of Fear’ Amongst Staff | Watch News
Videos Online". Global News. http://globalnews.ca/video/1775615/report-on-tdsb-cites-culture-
of-fear-amongst-staff.
Hitt, Michael A., Ireland R. Duane, and Robert E. Hoskisson. 2012. "Strategic Management:
Concepts: Competitiveness And Globalization". https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=vwadCAAAQBAJ&dq=Hitt,+Ireland,+%26+Hoskisson+Version+5,+Grant+6th+
%26+8th+Edition&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
Nohria, Nitin, and Julie Gladstone. 2019. "Symantec--1982-90". Hbr.Org.
https://hbr.org/product/symantec-1982-90/491010-PDF-ENG.