Cisco systems Inc. is one of the largest companies in the world. It boasts of an employee base of around 66,000. As at 2008, its annual turnover revenue was in excess of US$38 billion. With its Headquarters in San Jose, Ca. It deals with manufacture and selling of communication and network related technologies and services. It was founded by Sandy Lerner and Len Bosack. Being husband and wife, they were working in Stanford University as support employees in the computer lab. They were joined by Richard Troiano and they started Cisco Systems in 1984.
Its name is taken from the city called San Francisco. Lerner got a job in Schlumberger as a computer lab director but in 1987 came back to Cisco Systems (Todd 21).
In 1990, Lerner helped to list the company in NASDAQ stock exchange. Consequently, he was fired. Bosack on the other hand resigned but was paid a sum of $200 million. It had to try and retain its market share by buying smaller rival companies in the market such as Stratacom. At the height of Internet excitement in 1999, the company bought Cerent Corp. which was based in Petaluma, California, for $7 billion.
It is worth noting that as at March 2000, during the dot-com sensation, Cisco was rated one of the most profitable company globally. By this time, it had exceeded the $500 billion mark in its market worth (José Cláudio & Cindy 17)
In 1992, Cisco Systems went ahead with its marketing strategy by signing an agreement with MCI International to help it sell its routers in the data systems transported on phone cables. It also had an agreement with Bell Atlantic Group, U.S. West Information Systems Inc. to help them in distribution (Todd 32). The most important agreement was in 1993 when it teamed up with Pacific Bell to assist it in marketing. By this time, it had earned the position of the most valuable company as far as router supply was concerned. By the year 2000, Cisco Systems was one of the most productive companies in terms of market share and the amount of sales done per year.
Cisco Systems has on the few past decades taken over the communication as well as the network market globally especially in router related business. Its effort to succeed are supported by its corporate Vision, Mission and Value statement. It is dedicated to protect the rights of its worker so as to ensure that workers are comfortable at work. The company has made it possible that its employees that show good performance are appreciated. It also follows up the customers to know they feel about its products (Gert-Jan de Vreede et al 61)
It has also ensured that the principles of business integrity are maintained to the highest level possible to guarantee accountability. This helps Cisco System to plan on how to come up with new products and services for its customers. Employee health and wellbeing is another issue that Cisco Systems maintains. Over the years, it has also done intensive training of its staff to help them get new creative ideas all the time.
A healthy and happy employees gives the best to the company’s’ work. Environmental issues have not been left behind by Cisco systems. The company has formulated a strategy to create a co-existing relationship between its operations and the environment. Cisco Systems has also teamed up with other companies and institutions to ensure its products are always available I n the market. This has helped it attain the status of the top best companies to work for globally.
Cisco systems have since time in memorial implemented a customer friendly and business oriented value chain organization. It is what has given the company an advantage over its rival. It has evolved from a small company in 1984 to a globally recognized company. This has been well supported in its Mission, Vision, and Value statements of the company. The value chain organization flows in a good order to ensure that a smooth production process is achieved.
Design is one of the pillars that support the innovation of the company (Gert-Jan de Vreede et al 10)
It has a team that comes up with new ideas on how to build new products and services for its clients. They are equipped with the latest technology to assist them come up with up to date products and services. After this has been attained, there is need to formulate a flow of the fresh ideas and concepts into a physical plan. There is a team that simply does the implementation of new ideas into a real plan. This is followed by another team that the materials, services and products that are needed to achieve the actualization are well sourced for. (José Cláudio & Cindy 45)
This in turn takes the flow into another stage where the real product or service is made or prepared. It is the major part of the flow and is supervised by Quality Analysts and Assurance staff to ensure that the flow standards are upheld to the highest level possible. The product and services are them subjected to quality analysis check to ensure that all regulatory standards are met. When they pass this stage, then they are ready for sale.
Cisco Systems has teamed up with other companies in its field to ensure that its products and services are available globally. This is part of its ideal marketing and delivery plan. This has led to the success that Cisco System is enjoying today.
Work cited
Gert-Jan de Vreede, Luis A. Guerrero, Gabriela., Raventós, Marín. Groupware: Design, Implementation, and Use: 10th International Workshop, CRIWG 2004, San Carlos, Costa Rica, September 5-9, 2004, Proceedings, Volume 10. N.Y: Springer, 2004.
José Cláudio, Cyrineu. Terra., Cindy, Gordon. Realizing the Promise of Corporate Portals: Leveraging Knowledge for Business Success. Florida : Routledge, 2003.
Todd Lammle, Andy Barkl. CCDAsmall /small : Cisco Certified Design Associate Study Guide: Exam 640-861. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
