Acer’s Development and Machiavelli’s Principles Essay

Introduction: Acer in the Realm of the Global Market

The Acer Company has been quite popular for an impressive amount of time. However, with the recent entrance of several major organizations, such as Asus and Lenovo, into the global market, the competition issues have triggered a major drop in the company’s sales and, understandably enough, resulted in a significant reduction in the annual sales (Kan para. 4).

Thesis statement

Despite the fact that the Acer Company has been remarkably prominent in their choice of strategies for strengthening its weakest issues as suggested by Machiavelli in The Prince, the organization still seems to neglect an essential principle of statesmanship mentioned by the philosopher in the work in question, which can be translated into competitiveness in the global economy.

Following the Postulates of The Prince: What Makes Acer Powerful

A single glance at the approach chosen by Acer will reveal that the company, in fact, follows the footsteps of Machiavelli’s The Prince quite closely. To be more specific, the set of principles that the organization is supposed to comply with and that make the backbone of its very essence, declare that the company should be more sustainable and more competitive (Lanham 11). The specified attitude rubs shoulders with Machiavelli’s idea of a ruler of the kingdom to explore the opportunities that the kingdom’s strengths give, at the same time addressing the obvious weaknesses of the state: “The prince, with little reluctance, takes the opportunity of the rebellion to punish the delinquents, to clear out the suspects, and to strengthen himself in the weakest places” (Machiavelli 5). Being able to identify its strengths and acknowledge its weaknesses is what makes the organization so efficient.

When Machiavelli’s Heritage Was Declined: A Few Drawbacks to Consider

However, as far as the process of addressing weaknesses is concerned, Acer seems to have been falling behind on its plan to improve its current imperfections. Indeed, while the company is obviously capable of looking at its processes objectively, its attempts at improving the current state falls flat due to the inconsistency in Acer’s approach. To be more specific, the organization should not only be capable of identifying its major problems, i.e., the lack of a good advertisement strategy, but also work on establishing new approaches towards promotion, particularly, the ones that incorporate the use of both traditional and modern media.

One might argue that the company’s refusal to incorporate the promotion principles that would have improved its competitiveness into its overall design have little to do with the phenomenon of warfare discussed in Machiavelli’s work. Indeed, the military issues related to war are hardly related to the process of promoting a company to the target audience. A closer look at the issue, however, will show that a range of parallels can be drawn between Acer’s promotion and the phenomenon of warfare – much like a country in the state of war, Acer, having entered the global economy, will have to fight its opponents with all the weapons that are available to it; specifically, the promotion tools must be mentioned as the key to winning the competition in the global economy. Consequently, Acer has been involved in “warfare” since the day that it entered the global market, and, to retain its competitiveness, it will have to fight. Hence, the leader of the company must choose the approach that will allow him to retain his “statesmanship” and handle the competition rates, which are currently going through the roof with rivals such as Asus and Microsoft.

Effects of the Strategy Adopted by Acer: Surviving in the Global Economy

It is, in fact, quite peculiar that the company’s key strength, i.e., the ability to recognize its own problems, coexists with the inability to focus on the competitiveness issues and increase the rates of the latter. However, seeing that the competitiveness issue has emerged comparatively recently, it can be assumed that the organization needs time in order to adjust to the new environment and rearrange its current approaches towards the outside factors. Indeed, the cost leadership approach, seems to have addressed the major problems within the organization quite efficiently, seeing that the company has improved its pricing strategy recently. Therefore, it can be suggested that the reconsideration of the current strategy and the choice of the required approach aimed at promoting the organization and, therefore, raising Acer’s competitiveness level has already been planned and will be completed in the nearest future. In case the Acer Company adopts the aforementioned strategy and alleviates its current promotional incapacities, it can be assumed that the organization follows the principles established by Machiavelli precisely.

Benefits: when obvious loopholes are fixed

In a retrospect, Acer has made a giant breakthrough by reconsidering its current strategy towards its weaknesses. The above-mentioned skill of adapting towards the environment of the global market, which the company has developed, can be viewed through the lens of Machiavelli’s principle of locating one’s strengths and using them in order to improve the current state of affairs. Indeed, Acer seems to have been locating the key issues that need addressing rather well. However, the above-mentioned asset of the company is not the only feature that the company can be characterized positively with according to the principles suggested by Machiavelli. In addition, to careful planning, the organization has also featured a range of strengths, the concept of virtue being the one that also has a lot to do with the ideas conveyed by Machiavelli. Indeed, casting a single glance at the corporate ethics of Acer is enough to realize that the company aims at following in the footsteps of Machiavelli’s concept of a good leader, i.e., developing a solid ethical basis for the company to rely on and following it to the T.

As the recent reports on Acer’s ethical principles show, the organization has addressed a range of aspects of its operation, which used to be a major concern for the firm; particularly, the issues such as the quality of the product, the pricing strategy, the range of services provided, etc. deserve to be listed among the key recent accomplishments of Acer (Acer 19). Therefore, Acer has shown a remarkable fortitude to the outside effects of the global market by adapting towards the new environment and shaping its principles so that they could suit the needs of the target audience as taught by Machiavelli: it is reasonable to “permit them to live under their own laws, drawing a tribute, and establishing within it an oligarchy which will keep it friendly to you” (Machiavelli 20), “them” being the customers in the specified case.

Disadvantages: lack of competitiveness in the global economy

Nevertheless, the array of tools that the company is currently using as the means to cope with the challenges of the global economy, is obviously not enough for both managing the company’s operations and maintaining its position in the target market. As a result of the lack of promotional activity, the company’s popularity rates spiral downwards, which can be viewed as the effects of the incompliance with the principle of statesmanship and the need to remain competitive, which the specified principle ensues for major companies and organizations.

Indeed, the company’s popularity rates among the target audience having plummeted must have been caused by the fact that the company pays little to no attention to the necessity to promote itself, which is the basic requirement for a business to succeed in the environment of global economy. From the perspective of Machiavelli’s The Prince and the considerations listed by the political scientist, the specified problem can be viewed as a failure to adhere to the principles of statesmanship, i.e., the inability to gain enough support among the target audience and convince the latter to consume the product supplied by Acer instead of using similar goods supplied by Asus, Microsoft and other companies of the like.

While the parallel drawn between “warcraft” (Machiavelli 5) and competition in the global economy can be viewed as quite a stretch, one must admit that the approaches adopted by military leaders and the leaders of global entrepreneurships bear a striking resemblance to each other. Therefore, the similarities between the lack of competitiveness that Acer displays at present and the drastic effects of the inability to comply with the principles of statesmanship, particularly, follow the warcraft strategy, should be noted as the major disadvantage of Acer.

Prognosis for the Future: Acer’s Next Steps and the Possible Changes

Though the current state of affairs seems rather unfavorable for the company, there is a chance for Acer to improve its status and gain the loyalty of the global market customers. In order to gain wider popularity, the Acer Corporation will need to have a better grasp of the demands of the target audience, as well as utilize its assets to their maximum, at the same time taking account of its weaknesses.

Altering the advertising strategy: meeting marketing and financial needs

Seeing that at present, the organization lacks a decent promotion campaign desperately, it will be reasonable to suggest that some of the costs for other processes, including both organization and production ones, should be brought a few notches down so that a decent promotion campaign could be designed for Acer. Even though the company may have other concerns besides the need to promote its services, the increased rivalry rates show rather graphically that Acer must take care of its competitiveness. After all, the leader of Acer must bear in mind that he works in the realm of global economy, and that this realm dictates its own rules, which the organization must follow in order to be accepted in the game. The above-mentioned need to comply with the principles of “warfare” of the global market does sound much like the setting described by Machiavelli in The Prince, the target customers being the supporters, whose trust the state leader must gain in order to succeed: “They are ready enough to be your soldiers whilst you do not make war, but if war comes they take themselves off or run from the foe” (Machiavelli 56).

Applied to the environment of the global market, the given idea may be interpreted as the threat for the organization to lose its followers as soon as the former fails to deliver the services of the required quality or to promote these services so that more people will become its customers. The significance of promotion chimes in with the need to upgrade the war potential of the state, as well as facilitate the support of the neighbor states and be credited for having a valid point in the battle, and this is exactly what Acer needs to accomplish (Lentz and Rentz 67). It is imperative to remind the target audience of the power that Acer has in the global market in terms of the quality of production, and outlining the major benefits of the company’s production is the first step towards improving the present-day sales statistics.

Promotion approaches: incorporating several types of media

When it comes to defining the approaches that Acer will have to incorporate in its promotion campaign, one must mention the significance of using both the traditional and the new types of media. There are several reasons from the specified approach to be applied to the current situation, the importance of gaining support among the potential customers being the key one.

The very process of attracting new customers with the help of a new promotion campaign, when viewed through the lens of Machiavelli’s the Prince, can be interpreted as an attempt to gain support among a larger amount of citizens. According to what The Prince says, it is essential to gain the support of average citizens, as,

Because such a government, being created by the prince, knows that it cannot stand without his friendship and interest, and does its utmost to support him; and therefore he who would keep a city accustomed to freedom will hold it more easily by the means of its own citizens than in any other way. (Machiavelli 21).

Hence, attracting as many target customers as possible must be the current goal of Acer, and using two types of media is the key to gaining popularity this big. While the traditional media will be targeted at Generation X, the incorporation of the new media elements will allow for triggering an increased attention towards the products of the company among the representatives of Generations Y and Z. To be more exact, the principles of gaining the support of the target population, be it a group of people considered the potential buyers, or the population of an entire state, conveyed by Machiavelli, will be of great use to the corporation one it recognizes the necessity to design a new promotion campaign.

Conclusion: Acer’s Strategy and the Wisdom of Machiavelli

When viewing the problems that Acer is facing at present, from the perspective of the principles laid out in Machiavelli’s The Prince, one will have to admit that the company’s greatest strength concerns the company’s ability for a sober evaluation of its advantages and disadvantages; therefore, the company will have to use this asset in order to deal with its key weakness, i.e., poor representation among the potential clients. A stronger stress on the company’s products, therefore, will be a major foot forward in conquering the global market. The promotion can be accomplished by incorporating both traditional and modern media.

Works Cited

Acer. Acer Incorporated 2013 Annual report. 2014. Web.

Kan, Michael. “After Company Overhaul, Acer Chairman to Step down in June.” PC World. 2014. Web.

Lanham, Richard. Reviewing Business. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Longman, 2000. UCR Library. Print.

Lentz, Kathryn and Paula Rentz. Business Communication. New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill. 2014. UCR Library. Print.

Machiavelli, Nicolo. The Prince. Trans. W. K. Marriott. Ed. Jon Roland and Danny Stone. 1515. 2014.