Running head: CORNING INCORPORATED GSC 1

University of the People

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BUS 5117 Strategic Decision Making and Management

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Corning Incorporated Growth and Strategy Council Case Study

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Group Project: Group 003A team members
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Saby de Bies
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Lorenzo Harewood
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Meghan Mangal
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Alvin Menyon, Jr.

Robert Mesleh
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Instructor: Prof. Donna Pepper

June 2020

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Introduction

Corning Incorporated, based in New York, is an American multinational company

which is a world leader in materials companies. The firm describes itself as a "science-based

company that sells innovation" (Henderson and Reavis, 2009, p.2). Their main specialty is

glass, lead glass, signal glass, ceramics, and other materials, including some technologies for

advanced optics both for industrial and scientific applications. By 2008 the company had

24,800 employees, and their stock price was back up to $23 after recovering from the

worldwide telecommunication crash in 2002 (Henderson and Reavis, 2009).

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Corning has four segments (display technologies, telecommunications, environmental

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technologies, and life sciences), each with unique and different technology; the
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commonalities are research and use of glass technologies to serve the specific markets. At

their core are invention, patent, and production. Corning invests a vast amount of their
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revenue (10%) in Research and Development. Therefore, the forte of the company is in the
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amount of talent, and the culture of knowledge sharing (Henderson and Reavis, 2009).
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The firm’s organizational structure is set up to encourage innovation. The company

set up two committees that oversee innovation: the Technology Council (CTC) and the

Growth and Strategy Council (GSC). The CTC determines from an early stage if ideas were
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worth pursuing. GSC decides if projects are considered high potential and worth investing in.
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Corning Incorporated BCG Matrix

The Boston Consulting group’s (BCG) matrix is designed to help with long-term

strategic planning, to help a business consider growth opportunities by reviewing its portfolio

of products to decide where to invest, to discontinue or develop products (Hanlon, 2016).

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With regards to Corning Incorporated’s four business divisions, the

telecommunications unit is a cash cow. It has been in operation for over decades and has

earned Corning a significant amount in revenue. The market share for Corning is high, but

the overall market is declining as companies manage their supplier themselves rather than

outsourcing it. Corning’s Environmental Technologies are high in growth but have a low

market share (question mark). The Life Science unit manufactures glass and plastic

consumables with scientific applications (Henderson, 2009), but has low market share and

experience slow growth (dog). Corning’s Display Technologies is the star of the firm. It

operates in a high growth market and has a notable market share.

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Strategies and Implementation

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Forward Vertical Integration. Corning Display Technology division can pursue a

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forward vertical integration strategy by moving down the value chain into manufacturing
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display panels (Ketchen & Short, 2012). Instead of just selling glass substrates to display
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manufacturers (where the customers are few), the firm can generate higher profit by
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manufacturing and marketing their own display in the large LCD market (Institute of Physics,

n.d). This vertical integration can be achieved by acquiring a smaller display manufacturer.
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Restructuring (Spin-Off). On the overall, the firm is doing well though not all its
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divisions such as the Life Science. There are increasing pace of demand from customers and
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need for more rapid innovation, however, all decision-making power on the pace, innovation,
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investment across the programs, pricing strategies all sit with Growth and Strategy Council

(GSC) that meets only when the need arises (Henderson & Reavis, 2009). Hence, with such

increasing business opportunity, from across four divisions, GSC will not have time to meet

up with the decision-making pace that is required. Also, as one of the division VP, Jim Nagel

describes the GSC decision maker as being out of touch with trending technologies and

business opportunities, the GSC should be positioned as the technical supporting arm to ask

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the “hard question” rather than a problem solving body (Henderson & Reavis, 2009).

Considering the BCG matrix and the prevailing challenges, the Life Sciences should

be set up as a new company whose stocks are owned by Corning Incorporated’s investors.

According to Ketchen & Short (2012), one key advantage of spinning-off, it reduces layers of

management, hence, bringing out low cost and speedy decision-making processes.

Conclusion

Corning incorporated is continuously developing to keep its position as a world

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leading material’s company. The four core businesses of Corning Inc. are profitable and

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researchers are always working on the next innovation. Based on the BCG matrix vertical

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integration through acquisition and creation of a new company seem the best strategies for
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Corning Inc. going forward. Investment in research and development especially on

environmental technology also seems as a potential profitable opportunity.

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References

Hanlon, A. (2019, July 16). How to use the BCG Matrix Model. Retrieved from

https://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-models/use-bcg-

matrix/

Henderson, R. & Reavis, C. (2009). Corning Incorporated: The Growth and Strategy

Council. MIT Sloan School of Management. Retrieved from:

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/strategy/CorningIncorporated/Pages/default.as

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Institute of Physics. (n.d). Liquid-crystal displays. Retrieved from

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https://www.iop.org/cs/page_43666.html#gref

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Ketchen, D & Short, J. (2012). Strategic Management: Evaluation and Execution. This book
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is licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 license.
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