MARKET STRUCTURE AND FORCES
Corning Incorporated is a global company, with a diverse portfolio, spread across 26 locations. It operates in five business segments: Display Technologies Segment, Telecommunications Segment, Environmental Technologies Segment, Specialty Materials Segment, and Life Sciences Segment. Its diverse portfolio provides it an edge over others, in terms of exposure to various segments and ensuring that their revenue stream isn’t totally dependent on one market sector. The core focus of the company has been on innovation and a long-term focus on return on investment, and this enables Corning to obtain and sustain competitive advantage in the materials and process ...view middle of the document...
This segment is the crown jewel of the company since it represents 45% of total revenue generated for Corning. The glass substrates are used in LCD TV’s, notebook computers, flat panel desktop monitors and other electronics. Due to their industry leading technical properties like ultra-low weight, damage resistance, scratch resistance, durability 1.1 they are very much in demand and are finding their way in myriad consumer electronics goods. With the commensurate rise in demand, Corning has invested in technologies to fulfill the demand for large size substrates. These glass substrates have enabled thinner, lighter and more durable displays. The growth of substrate market was initially driven by LCD TVs as these replaced obsolete, energy-hungry Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) models.
In 2007, when the mobile industry was stuck with the problem of plastic screens which broke easily and were not scratch resistant, Corning offered Gorilla Glass, which eliminated these problems. Gorilla Glass became a hit with various smart phone manufacturers and consequently the company is already a supplier to Samsung, Dell, LG and it is the belief of certain industry analysts1.2, that they are supplying Gorilla Glass for the Apple IPad as well (information not confirmed due to non disclosure agreement with Apple). Gorilla Glass is an ideal cover glass for smart phones, which represent almost 60 percent of the global mobile phone market.
T o gain ground in this market, company is ramping up its production capacity to keep rivals at bay. Company expects the sales from Gorilla Glass to increase from 250 million USD in 2009 to 1 billion USD in 2011 1.3 . Corning has continued to improve upon its own patented fusion manufacturing process which has allowed it to scale up its production of these glass substrates. Recently, company approved a capital expenditure of approximately $180 million to expand the company’s Harrodsburg, Ky., manufacturing facility1.
Corning has now come up with Eagle XG Slim glass substrate which doesn’t require any thinning operation by the users of glass substrates for making LCD displays(eliminates the need of heavy metals required for thinning operations thereby making the process less power intensive). This is an environment friendly glass substrate, that makes the electronics “greenerâ€. Corning continues to invest in researching into advanced generation of glasses, keeping in mind the needs of customer.
2. Telecommunications Segment: It produces optical fibers and cable and other related equipment for telecommunications industry . By 2000, this segment contributed to 75% of revenues. But in the aftermath of the dot com bubble, spending on Internet infrastructure dried up, which drove the company to the verge of bankruptcy. These cables are used in Local Area Networks (LAN), long haul networks and submarine networks. Now, with the increased demand of broadband/ FTTP network, this segment has rebounded and...
