Growth Strategies Case Study

Cisco’s Chambers-The Route Ahead

OR

Abstract:

Cisco, the market leader in Switches and Router market had lofty ambitions and wanted to become the first company to be worth a trillion dollars. Company sources had revealed unofficially that the internal growth target Cisco had set was an ambitious 20% a year. Analysts remained skeptical and believed that it was hard to grow that quickly for a company as big as Cisco. What was more, the industry experts felt that the growth target presumed that the firm would dominate the growth markets, and that its core business would continue to expand rapidly, neither of which could be taken for granted. Industry experts speculated that Cisco's revenues in the long run were likely to be “either flat or down”. Experts predicted that Cisco might lose its footing as it fought for the new middle ground of combined data, voice and video services.

And there were dangers that the company might become a victim of its own success—as Microsoft and Intel had done—by attracting the unwelcome attention of America’s antitrust enforcers. As Cisco gradually moved away from its core internet routing business of selling switches and routers and steadily got to new areas. Investors viewed with skepticism, its ability to find new businesses that could sustain its cushy profits.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To discuss about Cisco’s new business and their future
• To analyse Cisco’s growth targets.

Keywords : Cisco; Chambers; Switches; Routers; Internet; Networking Peripherals; Real Time Enterprise; IOS (Internet Operating System); Growth Strategies Case Study; Data Communications

Contents : 
Chambers’ early years at Cisco: 1991-2000
Cisco’s diversification
Post dotcom bust years at Cisco: 2001-2005
Cisco in China and India
Cisco vs competitors/partners
Cisco: Future Challenges
Financial Highlights
John Chamber’s Biography
Chambers’ Networking Skills