Strategic Management- Xerox Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategic Management- Xerox - Essay Example Xerox Corporation is a multinational document management firm involved in production and selling of printing related products and other services. It was founded in 1906 and produced first plain paper photocopier and became one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of the document management products and services. Its major breakthrough during recent times came during 1990s when company started to refocus and specially went on to redevelop its focus on the product orientation. It was also during this period that firm has seriously started to look for expanding into other related and unrelated businesses. Historically, Xerox has been a hard copy company means it supplied products and services which were related with hardcopy however, over the period of time, it has opted out of this business segment and is now also generating revenue from the non-hardcopy business segment. This unrelated diversification therefore has allowed the firm to increase its revenue and profitability. It is however, important to understand that unrelated diversification can benefit the firm it has the requisite expertise in management to actually strengthen the business. If management does not have the expertise and skill to actually support new business, it may become relatively unsuccessful and risky to engage into unrelated diversification activities. Xerox has ventured into financial services industry also which was a completely different business line than its traditional business. It however failed to sustain the business and was force to divest from this due to lack of knowledge and expertise to manage this business independently. (Business Week). Not having relevant skills and knowledge to manage a business which actually does not fall into the domain of senior managers therefore may be one of the key risks faced by the firms like Xerox. Over the period of time, Xerox has changed its orientation and has now become a more of a service