1. What were the different changes at Intel over the first three years of Barrett’s tenure?

One of the changes that Intel experienced was the company was in trouble, in worst shape that it had been. It has been compounded with problems such as product delays and shortages, recalls, overpricing and even bugs in the system. Barrett, CEO of Intel ploughed money into new markets but then decided to withdraw since the company is not in good state. For instance the company withdrew from the production of network servers and routers after copping flak from Dell and Cisco. He also closed down iCat. These withdrawals were the direct effect of the downturn in economic conditions.

Barret re-organized the company to make it more nimble as well as to avoid duplication and to create better coordination. During his stay in the company, he created a new wireless unit, created the Architecture group and reorganized it.

2. Of the environmental pressures for change discussed in this chapter – fashion, mandates, geopolitical, declining markets, hypercompetition, and corporate reputation - which ones were experienced by Intel?

It was evident that the company experienced declining markets as environmental pressures as result of the September 11 attack, the slowing economy and the potential threat of war in Iraq. It has been compounded with problems such as technical issues which would be related to hypercompetition.

3. Of the internal organizational pressures for change discussed in this chapter that are associated with organizational change – growth, integration, and collaboration, reestablishment of organizational identities, new broom, and power and political pressures – which ones were experienced within Intel?

I think the internal organizational pressures for changed discussed that demonstrated in Intel’s case is reestablishment of organizational change since Barrett wanted to change the culture of the company. He wanted to move the mindset of the people toward better customer relations and not only focusing from a perspective of being the only real competition in the marketplace but to achieve service excellence.

4. Are there other external or internal pressures for change that you can identify?

Another internal organizational pressure that I consider in this case is growth pressure since it was mentioned that Barrett decided to invest in research and development into new production technologies in order to cut chip making costs. By investing in research, it can be considered that Barrett wanted the business to grow.

5. What overall conclusions do you draw about why Barrett made the changes he did? Which issues were dominant? Why?

Barrett had undergone these changes because he needs to save the company. He reorganized the company as his strategy in order to face the external and internal pressures that company is experiencing. Reorganizing the company towards culture change and better customer satisfaction was his goal, thus this was the strategy used. I think since he has a clear and personal understanding about the pressures on the organization, he created well-develop rationale for what he wanted to achieve, as a result, this was his action – to reorganize the company.

6. What pressures for change might face Barrett in the future? How did you arrive at this assessment?

I think fashion pressure might be one of the pressures that he probably encounters since the organization is focusing on technology. There might be companies who would lead into more updated and new technologies. For example, the apple company is engaging into new faces of technology. They are not focusing into music gadgets but into computers and phones.

7. What advice would you give Barrett for how to cope with these change pressures?

It is important for the organization to change in order to be competitive in the market. Changes would also help understand what the new generation needs, thus giving them what is needed would help an organization to survive. It is the ability of the manager or the upper management on how to plan the company’s strategy to hold and face critical adjustments. Since Barrett wanted to maintain a strong brand in the field of technology, it would be a greater advantage to be open-minded and to be ready in all changes that may take place. Let these pressures serve as challenges. It will further help the company to grow and to develop.

Part 2

1. What new pressures for change faced Barrett in the last half of his tenure?

Barrett experienced fashion pressure. He thought that the chip that he created would be the future of the server business. This was used in high-ends servers, but the market was much smaller that had originally been hoped for. But the Centrino mobile technology, used for taken off and its flash memory business was a robust.

2. How did he respond to these pressures?

Barrett changed his strategy, moving toward dual core architectures rather than simply producing faster chip speeds. He reorganized the company by putting in place new business units such as Mobility Group – focusing on mobile devices, along with a Digital Enterprise Group, a Digital Home Group, a Digital Health Group, and channel Products Group.

3. If you were Paul Otellini, coming in as the new CEO, would you change anything? Why?

If I were Paul Otellini, I will not change anything because I think these changes would help the company to grow not only in the field of making chips, but engaging into different kind of technologies. Since the organization is divided into smaller groups, they can be more focused in developing new products. Thus, those who have creative minds will come out to produce a well develop and advance products.