Matsushita Philips Case

Philips and Matsushita, two major consumer electronics companies, each differed in their overall strategies on how to achieve global competitiveness, yet each has experienced major changes and restructurings over the years that have essentially affected their abilities to remain competitive in this industry. In the end, both companies have diverged from the original organizational structures that their founders had based their companies’ local existence on, yet some key strategies have remained consistent over the years no matter who was leading the organization. Despite some strategic failures, each new CEO of the two organizations has contributed their unique views to the organization and has pursued actions that they feel were necessary in order for the company to compete globally.
Philips, originally founded in the Netherlands, has had key strategies that have guided it since its beginning. First, Gerard Philips, its founder, focused on producing only light bulbs, whic...