Success Stories

Testimonials

National Semiconductor

Problem:
The new CEO had a completely new vision for this 40-year old company. The vision would require a huge shift in the company's core competencies, product strategy and portfolio and customer base. The new vision did not effectively integrate the company's existing business and products, so the change in strategy was viewed skeptically by employees and customers. As a result, employees' attitudes and actions were not aligned with the strategy and customers were reluctant to give the company the opportunity to deliver on their vision. Moreover, the new strategy called for the acquisition of Cyrix, a company with a completely different product and culture than National. The company took on a schizophrenic quality after the merger.

Solution:
A corporate-wide initiative was developed to 1) integrate the new strategy with the company's existing engineering and manufacturing efforts and align the goals of the entire company, from the executive staff down, with the goals of the new vision, and 2) develop specific branding and communications strategies and plans designed to change employees' attitudes and actions so they understand how they relate to the new vision and will actively get behind it. Once this internal change was affected, then the newly integrated company was rolled out through the sales organization to gain customer traction for the company's new products.

Results:
The company got behind the new strategy and developed, manufactured and sold breakthrough “system-on-a-chip” products which were accepted by customers and incorporated into hundreds of “information appliances”.  Moreover, the company managed this significant change in behavior while continuing to execute effectively on its core business, which currently remains the majority of its revenue and profits.