The history of Xerox goes back to 1938, when Chester Carlson, a patent attorney and part-time inventor, made the first xerographic image in the US. Discuss how Xerox grew in 1960s.
Answers
The history of Xerox goes back to 1938, when Chester Carlson, a patent attorney and part-time inventor, made the first xerographic image in the US. Haloid later obtained all rights to Carlson’s invention and registered the ‘Xerox’ trademark in 1948. Throughout the 1960s, Xerox grew by acquiring many companies, including University Microfilms, Micro-Systems, Electro-Optical Systems, Basic Systems and Ginn and Company. In 1962, Fuji Xerox Co. Ltd. was launched as a joint venture of Xerox and Fuji Photo Film. Xerox acquired a majority stake (51.2%) in Rank Xerox in 1969. During the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Xerox diversified into the information technology business by acquiring Scientific Data Systems, Daconics and Vesetec. In the early 1980s, Xerox found itself increasingly vulnerable to intense competition from both the US and Japanese competitors. According to analysts, Xerox’s management failed to give the company strategic direction. It ignored new entrants who were consolidating their positions in the lower-end market and in niche segments. The company's operating cost was high and its products were of relatively inferior quality in comparison to its competitors. In 1982, David T. Kearns (Kearns) took over as the CEO. He discovered that the average manufacturing cost of copiers in Japanese companies was 40-50% of that of Xerox. As a result, Japanese companies were able to undercut Xerox’s prices effortlessly. Kearns quickly began emphasizing reduction of manufacturing costs and gave new thrust to quality control by launching a program that was popularly referred to as ‘Leadership Through Quality.’ As part of this quality program, Xerox implemented the benchmarking program. These initiatives played a major role in pulling Xerox out of trouble in the years to come. The company even went on to become one of the best examples of the successful implementation of benchmarking. Answer the following Questions: A. The history of Xerox goes back to 1938, when Chester Carlson, a patent attorney and part-time inventor, made the first xerographic image in the US. Discuss how Xerox grew in 1960s. B. In the early 1980s, Xerox found itself increasingly vulnerable to intense competition from both the US and Japanese competitors. Discuss how Xerox became vulnerable. And also discuss the steps taken to face the intense competition.