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NEWS FLASH! MOTOROLA REORGANIZES!

by Tom Cantrell

Start ı If the Chip Fits ı MOTORola ı One Designer, One Vote ı Sources and PDF

ONE DESIGNER, ONE VOTE

I think the new SESG organization is a good idea. Itıs enticing to go with a focus account strategy and avoid the travails of the rough-and-tumble mass market. You certainly donıt have to fuss with as many phone calls and e-mails.

But, relying on a few main customers is ultimately a cheap high with a quick comedown. Sooner or later, your big-hitter customers will move on, and it will hurt.

Long term, thereıs an even more insidious threat, especially in the case of knowledge-intensive products that demand significant personnel and tool investment from customersıMCUs, MPUs, and DSPs being a classic example.

In this arena, suppliers must remember that each designer, no matter how small their application is in volume, gets a vote. The result is a bandwagon effect fueled by everything from third-parties pursuing the most seats, to what chips get used in college labs, to idle chat around the engineering department water cooler.

MCU, MPU, or DSP chips that serve only a few customers, no matter how many chips they buy, will never have the staying power of chips that serve thousands of applications and are popular with thousands of designers. It may seem like a motley collection of startups, garage shops, consultants, and anonymous industrial parkers, but collectively they decide whose chips win.

Indeed, Motorolaıs leading position in the embedded market over the years was arguably built on such a broad foundation, something it shouldnıt, and witnessing the latest moves, doesnıt seem inclined to forget (see Figure 7).

Figure 7ıThe numbers are extreme, but they make a point that Motorola plans to emphasize the distribution market and not just fixate on a few big focus accounts.

Is the "new" Motorola the right Motorola? The answer is yes. The fact is, there isnıt any single best way. If there was, companies wouldnıt spend so much time rearranging furniture and printing new business cards.

The right way is always a new way, and thereıs no need to apologize for shaking things up. Companies that blindly stick to the old way will indeed grow old and then die. The only thing for sure is that, in the age-old mating dance between suppliers and customers, the steps are always changing.

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