Key Factors Worksheet

To begin the evaluation process, review the applicant's Organizational
Profile and the Eligibility Certification Form. List the key
business/organization factors for this applicant, using the Areas to
Address (Organizational Environment, Organizational Relationships,
Competitive Environment, Strategic Context, and Performance Improvement
System) in the order presented in the Preface: Organizational Profile
section of the appropriate *Criteria for Performance Excellence*
booklet.

**P.1a Organizational Environment**

-   Midsized manufacturer of cell phone hardware, software (including
    ringtones), cell phone accessories, and other communication devices
    that integrate audio, text, and Global Positioning System (GPS)
    features. Five major product lines: ***Novel Complete***, ***Novel
    Secure 1***, ***Novel Free***, ***Novel Bug***, and ***NovelAid.***
    Basic manufacturing (components and hardware) is done by offshore
    suppliers.

-   Founded in 1994 as a private company; it went public in 2002.

-   Products are distributed through "big box" retailers, carrier retail
    outlets, company-branded outlets, kiosks in shopping malls, and
    Internet sales

-   Purpose: Facilitates a world on the move. Vision: the most
    innovative company for mobile communication in the world. Mission:
    leverages new and existing technology to advance mobile
    communication. Core values: agility, valuing employees/partners,
    innovation, and sustainability

-   Culture promotes core competencies of agility and communication:
    working out of the home, flexible work schedules, and maximizing
    technology (cell phones, virtual meetings, teleconferencing) to
    minimize travel.

-   4,188 employees make up a "virtual," distributed workforce: 1,200 in
    innovation (sales, R&D, marketing, IT, and product engineering),
    2,738 in operations, and 250 in administration and support. There is
    no employee union. Highly educated workforce: 25% with a
    postgraduate degree, 40% with an undergraduate degree, 25% with some
    technical college, and 99% with a high school diploma. Women compose
    65% of the workforce; 50% of employees are under age 40; for 20%,
    English is a second language; and 15% are disabled.

-   Workforce requirements for all: knowing what is expected, having the
    right materials and training, timely and appropriate feedback and
    recognition, opportunities for growth and development,
    organizational flexibility to accommodate diverse lifestyles,
    co-workers committed to excellence, connection with the company's
    values, and the ability to contribute to its success.

-   Additional requirements for office and home workers: appropriate
    work space ergonomics, personal safety, and security. Additional
    requirements for manufacturing workers: appropriate ergonomics,
    machine operation safety, environmental safety, emergency
    preparedness, personal safety, and security

-   Facilities: Headquarters in Rochester, NY (1,622 employees, or about
    39%) includes offices, the only company-owned manufacturing plant, a
    research laboratory, and a distribution center. Also, throughout the
    U.S, 11 "pods"---leased office spaces that serve as hubs for
    home-based employees, including call center and customer briefing
    center (2,566 employees, or about 61%). Pods are located in
    university cities and near components manufacturers and
    transportation. Technologies include telecommunications and offshore
    production and assembly of cell phone housings, key pads, internal
    circuit boards, and product packaging materials.

-   The regulatory environment includes the Wireless Telecommunications
    Bureau (WTB) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the
    Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the
    Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Securities and Exchange
    Commission (SEC), IPC-A-610, the International Organization for
    Standardization (ISO), the Help Desk Institute (HDI), and the
    TL9000/QuEST Forum.

**P.1b Organizational Relationships**

-   Organizational structure: A nine-member Board of Directors (BOD)
    composed of eight independent members and the CEO, four standing BOD
    committees, and a five-member Senior Leader Team (SLT). The
    relatively flat organization has one rotating ethics officer, and
    the 11 pods have team leaders.

-   Key customer segments: personal consumers (students in Gen-Y,
    celebrities and sports stars, preteens, single adult females, the
    elderly, the disabled); personal/business consumers ("outdoors
    people"); business consumers (truckers, taxi drivers);
    business/government consumers (emergency services workers); and
    government consumers (the Department of Homeland Security)

-   Emphasis on repeat purchases to build relationships and maintain
    market share

-   Key customer requirements: all---ease of use, reliability; personal
    consumers---trendiness, convenience, secure/encrypted data and
    transmission, personal/home safety and security, low cost,
    ruggedness; business consumers---ruggedness, personal safety and
    security, data and voice capability, sustained signal/strength
    across distances, secure/encrypted data and transmission;
    business/government consumers---security, data and voice capability,
    secure/encrypted data and transmission, sustained signal/strength
    across distances

-   Key suppliers/partners: two offshore manufacturing suppliers (in
    China and India), a cell carrier, retailers, transportation
    companies, integrated component/software manufacturers,
    universities, IT support, a security company, and a law firm

    **P.2a Competitive Environment**

-   Serves only the U.S. market. Seventh-largest manufacturer of cell
    phones, with approximately a 3% market share and the fourth-largest
    supplier of ringtones. \$3.25 billion in sales, with approximately
    26.6 million phones sold in 2007. The focus is on profit, rather
    than growth.

-   Key competitors: five of the largest cell phone manufacturers, two
    other niche market competitors, several manufacturers of integrated
    communication devices, and several dozen competitors in the
    fragmented cell phone component and ringtone markets

-   Principal success factors: a strong relationship with carriers,
    ability to respond to rapid changes in the marketplace with new
    product design and/or superior hardware/software quality, process
    performance and its positive impact on margins, supply chain
    management, and collaborations with key suppliers/partners

-   Comparative data sources: the QuEST Forum, the Association for
    Connecting Electronics Industries, PH and Smell, the American
    Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS), the
    Best-of-the-Rest Freight Carriers, Bloodred Orange, Rushed,
    Allegiance Survey data, the HDI, and SooperdooperSoft

**P.2b Strategic Context**

-   Strategic challenges: availability of a highly skilled workforce,
    communication, logistics, rapidly changing customer/market needs
    (volatility in niche markets), protection of intellectual property,
    volatility of overseas environment, market forces driving the cost
    of cell phones and market penetration

-   Strategic advantages: product/feature design innovation, business
    model innovation, lowered costs from offshore supplier/partnership
    relationships

**P.2c Performance Improvement System**

-   Performance improvement system: Process Improvement Process (PIP),
    which is based on Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve (DMAI); balanced
    scorecard; and Measuring, Action, and Performance (MAP) integrated
    databases. Also starting to use Lean and Six Sigma methodologies.