Strategy and Marketing, Essay Example

Verizon is a telecommunications giant, a global enterprise providing services and products in communication and various other media. The corporation’s lifespan is strikingly brief; it began official life when, in 2000, General Telephone and Electronics merged with Bell Atlantic, following the anti-trust action compelling the break-up of the ATT monopoly. This very brevity, however, serves to support that Verizon knows quite well what business it occupies, even as modern technology demands from it constantly shifting merchandise and modes of service provision.

That Verizon as a corporate identity has a clear grasp on its role and ambitions within the broadband and communications arena is evidenced by its singular success and expansion within the past ten years. Of the seven companies to arise from the ATT fall, Verizon stood alone from the start in its desire to be a frontrunner: “…It’s United States network, FiOS, was the first in the country to offer Internet, television, and telephone service” (Shelley, et al., 2009, p. 499).

The company has no single orientation, nor does it seek to confine itself to one, as communications inherently rely upon service, marketing, and production in equal measures. It appears that a keynote in Verizon’s extraordinary success is its awareness of the mercurial nature of its own territory. Depreciation is built into any business reliant upon technologies, both affecting products and communication venues, which are updated mere months after the latest innovation.

Verizon understands that fluidity in all its services is essential to stay ahead of the game. To that end, it spends:  “At the beginning of the 21^st century, Verizon invested approximately $10 – $12 billion per year on its communication systems…on the expectation it will generate revenues for years to come” (Gilbertson, et al., 2008, p. 233). In a very real sense, this is the only strategy to securely ensure continued optimization in so changeable a field.

References

Gilbertson, C.B., Lehman, M. W., and Passalacqua, D. (2008.) Century 21 Accounting: Advanced. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Shelley, G. B., Vermaat, M. E., and Quasney, J. J. (2009.) Discovering Computers 2010: Living in a Digital World, Introductory. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.