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Strategic Evaluation Consultation document for Lenovo
Word count – 4105
Submission date – 16th
April, 2018
Information Systems Management COMP 1646
2
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
2. Strategic Evaluation – Situation Analysis............................................................................7
3. eMarketing Strategy...........................................................................................................15
4. Legal and ethical issues .....................................................................................................20
5. Conclusion .........................................................................................................................21
6. References..........................................................................................................................22
3
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Nathaniel Ahrens and Yu Zhou who are authors of this Lenovo case
study. I would like to give my thanks and appreciation to my teachers from KMD Institute,
Mrs.Moe Pale and Mrs.Sander Lwin. It is very helpful for me to accomplish this coursework
because their teaching methods and guidelines are very effective for every student. I also
appreciate to all responsible staffs at our campus, KMD.
4
1. Introduction
1.1. Company Background
Lenovo is a multinational computer technology company. In Beijing, 1984, founding
leader Liu Chuanzhi started a company called New Technology Development Company (NTD
Co.) supported by Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
(CAS). In 1989, it was reestablished as Legend Holdings Corporation at Hong Kong. Yuanqing
Yang was chosen as a President and CEO in 2001 and William J. Amelio in 2005. After William
J. Amelio left Lenovo in 2009, Yuanqing Yang retook CEO role till now. The name ‘Lenovo’ was
created in 2003 to advance into international markets. (Anon., 2018)
1.2. Vision and mission
Below statements are official from Lenovo.
The vision of Lenovo is that Lenovo will create personal devices more people are inspired
to own, a culture more people aspire to join and an enduring, trusted business that is well respected
around the world.
Lenovo`s mission is to become one of the world's great personal technology companies
and accomplish this through:
Personal Computers: Lead in PCs and be respected for our product innovation and quality.
Convergence: Lead the industry with an ecosystem of devices, services, applications and content
for people to seamlessly connect to people and web content.
Culture: Become recognised as one of the best, most trusted and most well-respected companies
to work for and do business with.
1.3. Key products and services
Initially, Legend was a distributor for foreign PC companies but became a producer by
releasing their first own branded PC in 1990 and server in 1995. In resent Lenovo era, key products
and services can be described as four groups as follow
 PC (E.g. laptops families like ThinkPad, Yoga, IdeaPad and Legion, desktops and tablets)
 Smartphones (E.g. Moto X, Z, G and E from Motorola.)
 Networking, storage and software (E.g. Data Center, software and enterprise IT solution
services)
 Others tech accessories (E.g. AR/VR gadgets, Smart devices, etc.)
Within official website, an online store is also provided. Services like maintenance and
customer support are also available.
1.4. Financial performance
5
Lenovo financial performance will be analyzed based on 2012 and 2013 as case study was
based on those years.
Figure.1.4.1 - According to Lenovo`s official financial highlights from 2012 to 2013, revenue
jumped up to 15% with getting profit, US$ 4073 million. 2013 was a well profitable year.
(Source: 2012 – 2013 Lenovo annual report)
Figure.1.4.2 - During the year 2013, all operational areas were stable like 2012. (Source: 2012 –
2013 Lenovo annual report)
6
Figure.1.4.3 – In 2013, incomes percentage were strongly increased in Mobile business and other
minor products. (Source: 2012 – 2013 Lenovo annual report)
7
2. Strategic Evaluation – Situation Analysis
2.1. Current company`s situation and industry analysis
Current market situation
Lenovo`s current market situation will be shown based on years 2012-2013 (Periods when
case study was written) and 2016-2017 (present years).
Figure.2.1.1 (Anon., 2014)
Figure.2.1.2 (Anon., 2013)
8
Above pictures (Figure.2.1.1 and 2.1.2) show situation of Lenovo in 2012 and 2013. In
worldwide mobile market of 2013, Lenovo is fifth position with 4.5% share. For PCs, Lenovo is
in first place with 16.9% market share.
Figure.2.1.3 (Anon., 2018)
In 2017 Quarter 4, Lenovo did not have any growth in global PC market but still in second
position of PC market share. (See Figure.2.1.3) Lenovo`s ThinkPad X series and Yoga series are
current flagships widely accepted by customers and critics.
9
Figure.2.1.4 (Anon., 2018)
Lenovo is not a powerful one in global smartphone market share when compared to rivals.
But Motorola well performed in US market lately. Moto Z2 force and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro are 2017
flagship phones of Lenovo.
Figure.2.1.5 (Source: Lenovo annual report 2016 - 2017)
For the years 2016-2017, Lenovo`s product sales are not in good progress and revenue
from all geographies has not been improved. PC sales and other minor products sales are only 1%
increased. (See Figure.2.1.3)
10
Target customers
Lenovo`s target customers can be categorized into two groups.
 First customer group contains individual to small/medium business.
 Second customer group contains large organizations like schools, government
offices, etc.
In each group, Lenovo targets to reach all kinds of consumer preferences by offering a wide
range of products containing mid-range to high-end. E.g. ThinkPad series for Businessman, Yoga
series for Students and stylists, Workstations for large enterprises, etc.
Competitors
In 2017, Hewlett-Packard`s share is 23.5% which is in first position followed by Lenovo.
Other rivals are Apple, Asus, Acer and so on. In PC race, Lenovo can compete well against its
rivals. (See Figure.2.1.3)
In 2017 quarter 4, Lenovo`s worldwide smartphone market share is only 3.5 percent.
According to reports in Figure.2.1.4, smartphone market`s top five positions are under control of
Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo. Local china competitors like Xiaomi, Oppo and
Huawei are using the same method Lenovo adopted, Cost innovation which is producing high tech
products with medium price.
Partners
Lenovo maintains B2B transactions with partners as follow
Lenovo has been partnering with Microsoft for Windows OS to be built-in features of its
product lines since 1997.
Lenovo is also the first china strategic partner of Intel and most Lenovo PCs use Intel
processors.
Lenovo began partnering with google in 2010 to use Android OS in its first smartphone,
LePhone. Lenovo used approximately US$2.91 billion for purchasing Motorola mobile from
Google in 2014. Till now, they are still partners.
For its Legion gaming PCs, Lenovo utilized graphic cards from NVidia Corporation. For
cloud and data centers business, Lenovo works with software companies like SAP and Nutanix.
Lenovo has a lot of authorized distributors for its products internationally. E.g. KMD in Myanmar
Own capabilities
Lenovo`s own capabilities can be described as follow.
- Experience on various market situations
11
- Powerful in-house manufacturing and low-cost R&D programs
- A lot of oversea experienced staffs but low-cost labors in china operations
- Having high tech facilities and products from buying of Motorola and IBM
Future prospects
Based on its capabilities, Lenovo should keep holding its core global PC market by
leveraging between product innovations and focusing on emerging markets. Lenovo should
continue playing for strong presence in international mobile market. Primarily, it should rearrange
to strengthen China market and then other markets. Lenovo need to rebuild its brand image and
expend its global sales by developing alongside with latest trends and partnering with well-known
mobile carriers. For Data Center business which can be new profitable area, Lenovo should assign
new teams to implement its ongoing strategies.
2.2. SWOT analysis
Strength
Being able to withstand decline PC market
Lenovo is always having most PC market share and most of revenue is from PC market
though PC market is affected by smartphone popularity so that it will be profitable as long as it
can hold this situation or PC technologies can outrun smartphones.
Low operation costs
Lenovo does not depend upon outsourced companies to maintain designing, R&D and in-
house manufacturing so that operation costs will not affect financial performance. Primarily,
Lenovo got its business strong by focusing china market as a basis and international requirements
are treated by developing and innovating its products adaptively based on market trends set by
competitors.
Having strong distribution network
Distribution network of Lenovo in China is still benefic because Lenovo have been in china
market for a long time as distributor of rival brands and later manufacturer. Lenovo has many
skilled employee work forces to deploy worldwide. Lenovo has also advantages by establishing
own distribution through a number of local stores and big-box stores in china. Lenovo also bought
US based companies – Motorola and IBM so that distribution in America market also keeps rising
and grew 30% of incomes in 2017.
Weakness
Struggling in mobile business
12
Although Lenovo is producing smartphones with both Motorola and Lenovo branded, its
market share is still behind strong competitors like apple, Huawei, etc. Except its popularity,
mobile products cannot create innovation that customers will enjoy. Marketing is still weakening
as competitors are actively increasing their marketing through sponsorship, social media, etc.
Lenovo did not focus sales through various mobile carriers but through direct open markets so that
Lenovo falls behind competitors when competitors mainly distributed via only online sales and
mobile carriers.
Most revenue relying on only one business area
Apple can handle strong market shares with not only IPhones but also Mac Computer
alongside with music streaming and cloud services. However, most obvious weakness for an
international tech company like Lenovo is relying too much sorely on PC sales (which makes 70%
of revenue in 2017) and cannot improve other divisions. PC market is falling slowly later as
Lenovo profit cannot be guaranteed in future.
Opportunities
Already being well-known and experienced player
Lenovo is already one among tech giants for a long time. It has experienced to market
failure in 2008-2009 and reclaimed as one of the largest companies in 2013 globally. Now, it can
be said Lenovo can learn again. Lenovo can make more marketing and extend its presence in India
market (second largest mobile market) and other Asia-Pacific markets by making products based
on regional needs. Case study also described that Lenovo has experiences in both emerging market
and mature market.
More enhancement over current products
Lenovo can stand out among other typical china companies because it acquires two famous
companies – Motorola Mobility and IBM PC division. Products from those companies were
popular back then and they played important roles in technology history. Customers can accept
their comebacks if Lenovo can improve those strong product families alongside with bring up its
name. Breakthrough and affordable technology can fit into most market. Motorola smartphones
with its modular components can be seen as an example which differentiate from competitors to
attract customers.
Threats
Rise of smartphone technology
Lately, smartphones are taking spots of PCs and laptops because of portability, easier
communication and catching up technologies (E.g. Adobe or Microsoft office apps in phones).
Nevertheless, this is inevitable threat to global PC market. As mentioned above, Lenovo is relying
13
only and greatly on PC division so that this technology changing is the biggest impact upon
company.
Fast growth of rival companies
Lenovo is facing intense competitions in many directions. Smartphone market leaders like
Apple, Samsung, Huawei, etc. are hard to be dethroned. PC market still has long-time rivals such
as HP, Dell, Asus, Apple, etc. Even new rivals like Razor and Xiaomi speed up competing for
laptop market which is currently led by Lenovo and HP. Main reason why Lenovo failed lately is
that this threat is already starting to impact on Lenovo.
2.3. PEST analysis
Political
Political conflicts
Nowadays, there are some tensions between two superpower countries - China and US. So,
business policies of various markets can be changed. As Lenovo`s various divisions and
headquarters are significantly located in US and China, it`s ongoing operations can be damaged
by government procedures, taxation, etc. Allied countries from both sides can also alter their
economy procedures on Lenovo. US government also declared that products from Chinese
companies like Huawei and ZTE should not be bought as they are spying on users. So, involving
in conflicts or related rumors can affect business performances, customer trusts and bad reputation.
Hong Kong and Main land China
Even in Legend era, China government did not view it as a complete china company
because it is reestablished in Hong Kong and there were very few supports from China
government. There are a lot of conflicts between Hong Kong and Main land china since 2000.
Those will be extreme impacts on business if new government policies can be applied like
suspending distribution network, supply chain, etc. Lenovo can be middle of tensions because one
of its shareholdings is Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Economic
Global PC sales decline
If global PCs sales keep dropping, Lenovo main economy can be affected year after year.
As Lenovo mainly depends on PC production heavily, its revenue can be decreased alongside with
global PC falls and even low-cost operations or labors in China cannot help to cover gross profit
well. Operations related with PC development will have to be suspended. However, it is sure that
PCs cannot be replaced easily in two or three years so that Lenovo still have enough times for
planning and improving over other businesses. China economy is also increasing and Lenovo can
utilize it to speed up its other businesses like the Legend did.
14
Social
Influences of social media networks on lifestyles
It is easy to gain bad reputation over social media if there are swift spreading about product
issues or misleading marketing. Lately, customer relationships can be improved as customers use
social media to contact companies. Live shows of product launch becomes very popular marketing.
Social media in main land China can be problems as government restricts international social
network. Yet, Lenovo`s #GoodWeird Campaign for Yoga series can be said it is successful over
worldwide social media. Customer lifestyles become changing as affected by various technologies.
Even users begin separated into fan groups depending on their favorite brands and often demand
the manufacturers to produce high-end products. Once, china and Asia markets have strong taste
on budget products but now, expensive items becomes widespread E.g. IPhones. Lenovo`s
Motorola phones are also aimed for various audience levels but still, they are struggling among
competitors.
Technological
Rapid changing of technological trends
Yearly, technologies are invented to replace each other within short periods. Technologies
become more advanced in mobile, smart devices and artificial intelligence. New competitors begin
more developing into those fields other than innovating for PCs. Although Lenovo also participates
in many advanced fields, its progresses are affected greatly by powerful competitions. Other than
innovation, Lenovo must cooperate with strong partners to get competitive benefits, supports and
powerful R&D. E.g. Lenovo can collaborate AI technology with Google to go against Apple
Data safety
Later, business and even individual begin storing their valuable data in cloud and online
security becomes vital for every organization. Customers’ information should be well kept as there
are a lot of payment transaction and personal profiles which can be misused. Lately, there were
several hacking and data breakouts like WikiLeaks due to political problems. So, Lenovo should
focus more on security especially its data center business.
15
3. EMarketing strategy
3.1. Current marketing strategy
Current marketing strategy used by Lenovo is as follow.
Prioritizing manufacturing and distribution
Lenovo`s product strategy strongly rely on Legend`s perspective in which distribution and
manufacturing for all products must be stabled necessarily whether revenue from sales is over
costs or not.
Cost innovation
Lenovo adopts low-cost advertisings, R&Ds, in-house manufacturing. Firstly, it targets
customers and produce new products by own innovating and improving the trends from
competitors. This strategy can produce high-end products at reasonable costs that is lower than
luxury brands.
Protect/Attack
This strategy has two parts to perform by leveraging.
Current PC leadership at China, international market share profits of all businesses and
growing markets must be well protected to leverage.
Attacking must be carried out for controlling China smartphone/tablet market, advancing
into emerging smartphone/tablet markets outside of China and improving new businesses (Severs
and workstations).
Localization
To meet customer satisfactions regionally, another strategy used by Lenovo is focusing on
localization. Based on various local situations and consumer needs, Lenovo offers suitable
supports and products on each region and collaborate with strong local partners. E.g. primarily
exporting mid-range and budgets products to developing countries
PC+
Because of fast rising technologies, this strategy is implemented as a support role for
Protect/Attack strategy. This strategy is for not only enhancing mainly on PC business but also
increasing focus on other developing business areas like mobile, smart devices, data centers, etc.
(Fernando, 2018)
16
3.2. 4Ps Marketing mix
4Ps marketing mix will be utilized to analyze how Lenovo can launch new products
effectively to meet customer requirements. (About “Target Customers” is described in Page 10)
Product
Tire-1 (PCs and Laptops) – These products must be continued to develop for both high-end to
low-end because wide range of products can give more choices for both user groups. Unlike its
rivals, Lenovo laptops usually offer unique design and features. E.g. Lenovo does not remove
IBM`s TrackPoint feature in ThinkPad laptop series as customers find it accessible and iconic.
Tier-2 (Mobile devices) – These products are being made to compete in both flagship and budget
market. Motorola branded mobiles are well-known for featuring modular style abilities and also
available for budget versions. Tablets aimed for educational purpose are also needed to be
developed by targeting organizations like schools and charities.
Tier-3 (Other technical gadgets) – Development of other technical gadgets like VR, Smart
devices, etc. should be continued based on the goal to support customer lifestyles. E.g. VR headset
for Gaming environment or smart home devices to help disabled persons.
Price
Tire-1 (PCs and Laptops) – Mid-range products are set between $100 and $500 with reliable
features to satisfy general audiences. If high-ends are produced, they must perform better than
competitors so that customer will enjoy even if price is higher compared to others.
Tier-2 (Mobile devices) – To attack famous high-end manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, etc.
flagship killer features can be set in reasonable price because Lenovo has Motorola supports and
low operation costs yearly. Pricing should be reasonable when compared to local competitors like
Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. By setting around $80, budget tablet (E.g. Lenovo Tab3 7) can also fit in the
educational environment.
Tier-3 (Other technical gadgets) – Development of these products needs a lot of R&D and
partnership so that its costs can be high but customers will still buy if there are standout features.
Promotion
Through the combination of traditional and modern methods, promotion methods for all
technology products can be carried out similarly. Currently effective and popular promotion
methods are described below.
 Using social media
 Building brand awareness by strongly sponsoring and participating in events like Esport,
CES, etc.
17
 Gifts for preordering new products
 Discount given based on customer communities (E.g. students, military servicemen, etc.)
 Promoting traditionally like billboards
Place
Lenovo mainly distributes its products through
 Lenovo`s official online store
 Ecommerce sites (E.g. Amazon)
 Authorized regional resellers and retailers
 Mobile carriers (E.g. AT&T)
3.3. Online and offline promotion methods
Online methods
For all products, Lenovo strongly use social media to build its brand because social media
becomes vital as new parts of communication and also keep operation costs low. For instance –
Through YouTube, Facebook and twitter, a lot of users participated in Lenovo`s campaign called
“#Goodweird” by sharing videos or images of Yoga products alongside with the hashtag
#Goodweird. Besides, Lenovo release many creative commercial spots on YouTube and
sometimes, those YouTube commercials feature creative designers and influencers like famous
YouTube bloggers. Therefore, advertisements through social media save Lenovo budgets and
significantly bring up brand awareness. (Maddison, 2018)
Customers can directly buy products from Lenovo official store or its ecommerce partners
from both China and global. (See Figure.3.3.1) Via official website, customers can access various
user forums and services. Mostly, products and services for customer like business organizations
are only available on official website.
18
Figure.3.3.1 – Lenovo`s official website
Offline methods
Lenovo makes its website to help customers to find nearest stores. In more than 160
countries, Lenovo has many local authorized retailers and resellers for its products. Yearly, those
partners hold Lenovo discounts promotion events.
For branding strategy, Lenovo also utilizes billboards and wall stickers. Further, there are
Lenovo sponsorships with events like Olympics and yearly launch new products at famous
technology shows like CES and IFA. Gaming festivals such as PAX conferences are also
sponsored by Lenovo to showcase its gaming series, the Legion.
3.4. Impact
Alongside with cost innovation strategy, manufacturing and distribution processes are
prioritized but keeping costs down. That is why Lenovo have strength in making innovated
products with keeping low operation costs.
Protect/Attack strategy also helps Lenovo to maintain its PC leadership and profitable in
both China and worldwide. By PC+ strategy, Lenovo proved that this is not post PC era but an era
that PC are still innovating parallel to other technologies. So, Lenovo is still #1 PC makers against
global PC sale decline and competitors. However, mobile market is rough for Lenovo due to
startup operations.
According to Figure.2.1.1 and 2.1.2, an outcome of using these strategies is that
2012/2013 becomes a well profitable years for Lenovo. It also expended into a multi-business
organization to leverage each business differently and able to make its own capabilities.
19
3.5 Proposed marketing strategy
Current marketing strategies are well built so that future strategies can be used by
upgrading or combining current strategies. To accomplish opportunities, marketing of tier-2 and 3
products can be well developed by using these strategies. Protect/Attack and PC+ strategy will still
be helpful because those can make Lenovo to withstand PC sales decline and rising new
technologies. Besides, social media marketing will continue to be more suitable since social media
communicates easily to reach out people daily lives. New marketing strategy intended for mobile
and smart devices should be adopted because it is a promising growth for Motorola brand. Like
PC+, strategy that works by simultaneously supporting multiple product developments can be an
effective one.
20
4. Legal and ethical issues of Lenovo
4.1. Legal issues
Around 2014 and 2015, Lenovo has been sued because of their pre-installed application
called “Superfish” inside PCs. Many users, media and technicians claim that app is making
vulnerable to malware, collecting user data without permission and even hacking encrypted data.
US Federal Trade Commission had charges against Lenovo but on a settlement now. That kind of
issue can be defined as cybercrime which can lead to bad reputation and permanently banned from
international. Because of breaking user privacy, company will lose customer trust. Later, there
were even reports that many intelligent agencies want to ban Lenovo products and this leaded to
political issues. Hence, Lenovo must avoid that issue from happening again. (Anon., 2018)
Lately, there are more patents war in the smartphone business. All manufacturers begin
setting their own patents to secure the value proposition of their products because competitions in
mobile market is intense. If Lenovo launches a new phone that includes a feature or design under
a competitor`s patents, competitor can sue Lenovo and compensation will cost greatly. Thus,
Lenovo must firstly analyze about competitor`s patents and try to innovate its product without
affecting other patents. Also, competitors can also make products against Lenovo`s patents and
this can affect market performance if competitors are not well controlled via law. So, this legal
issue is also needed to be considered because Lenovo is strongly aiming to expend mobile market.
4.2. Ethical issues
Ethical issues for Lenovo can link up to above adware issue. For creating of “SuperFish”
app, Lenovo`s developers had to make unethical things such as testing or storing to collect user
data, breaking many internet security protocols and inserting ads/malwares into users PCs. This
makes developers and their tasks to be completely unethical and illegal. Some of them can misuse
customer data. Whatever the purpose of the app is, this is not a right thing to do without user
permission. Lenovo should not make its development staffs to carry out these kind of
responsibilities which is unethical.
In every organization, staff`s ethical problems are present. For instance, corrupt staffs can
misuse Lenovo`s confidential data or customer data and use it for his own purpose or sell to
competitors. So, rules and monitoring should be strongly set for protecting insider attack. Another
ethical issue is about products and promotions. Customers will be upset if Lenovo cannot offer
exactly what it promotes. E.g. not giving the exact end date of sale discount durations.
21
5. Conclusion
Through this report, it can be seen that Lenovo became a multinational tech giant and PC
leader during 2012 and 2013. From Legend company`s era (1989) till now, Lenovo went through
many technology and economy changes and still in competitions.
Its marketing strategies are also effective to support its yearly PC market performance and
gain competitive strengths. For customers’ satisfactions, Lenovo has reached to all kinds of
customer levels, individual to large enterprises. However, intense competitions and restructuring
to shift into new business areas made Lenovo to face difficulties especially with mobile division.
Lenovo should focus on mobile phone and smart device businesses as they are nearest
opportunities to achieve. Lenovo`s marketing strategies like PC+ and social media marketing are
still robust to withstand later threats and adapt with today`s technology and social trends. As well,
Lenovo must try to avoid legal and ethical issues stated above because those are serious damage
to customer trust.
As a conclusion, Lenovo can still lead PC market but should focus more about the rising
of other technologies. So, Lenovo must continue its innovation in all business areas alongside with
protecting its PC leadership.
(China Competitiveness, Case Study : Lenovo, 2013)
22
References
China Competitiveness, Case Study : Lenovo (2013).
Anon., 2013. Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 6.9 Percent in Fourth Quarter of
2013. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2647517
[Accessed 20 March 2018].
Anon., 2014. Gartner Says Annual Smartphone Sales Surpassed Sales of Feature Phones for the
First Time in 2013. [Online]
Available at: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2665715
[Accessed 20 March 2018].
Anon., 2018. About Lenovo | Company History | Lenovo UK. [Online]
Available at: https://www3.lenovo.com/gb/en/lenovo/company-history/
[Accessed 12 April 2018].
Anon., 2018. Apple Passes Samsung to Capture the Top Position in the Worldwide Smartphone
Market While Overall Shipments Decline 6.3% in the Fourth Quarter, According to IDC.
[Online]
Available at: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43548018
[Accessed 20 March 2018].
Anon., 2018. Lenovo Settles FTC Charges it Harmed Consumers With Preinstalled Software on
its Laptops that Compromised Online Security. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/09/lenovo-settles-ftc-charges-
it-harmed-consumers-preinstalled
[Accessed 5 April 2018].
Anon., 2018. PC Market Achieves First Positive Holiday Quarter Shipment Growth in Six Years,
According to IDC. [Online]
Available at: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43495918
[Accessed 20 March 2018].
Fernando, J., 2018. How China's Lenovo Makes Money. [Online]
Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/073015/look-lenovos-strategy-
23
business-model.asp
[Accessed 12 April 2018].
Maddison, J., 2018. How Lenovo Reaches Customers with "Goodweird" Content Marketing.
[Online]
Available at: https://insights.newscred.com/lenovo-content-marketing/
[Accessed 12 April 2018].

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Information Systems Management COMP1646

  • 1. 1 Strategic Evaluation Consultation document for Lenovo Word count – 4105 Submission date – 16th April, 2018 Information Systems Management COMP 1646
  • 2. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................4 2. Strategic Evaluation – Situation Analysis............................................................................7 3. eMarketing Strategy...........................................................................................................15 4. Legal and ethical issues .....................................................................................................20 5. Conclusion .........................................................................................................................21 6. References..........................................................................................................................22
  • 3. 3 Acknowledgement I would like to thank Nathaniel Ahrens and Yu Zhou who are authors of this Lenovo case study. I would like to give my thanks and appreciation to my teachers from KMD Institute, Mrs.Moe Pale and Mrs.Sander Lwin. It is very helpful for me to accomplish this coursework because their teaching methods and guidelines are very effective for every student. I also appreciate to all responsible staffs at our campus, KMD.
  • 4. 4 1. Introduction 1.1. Company Background Lenovo is a multinational computer technology company. In Beijing, 1984, founding leader Liu Chuanzhi started a company called New Technology Development Company (NTD Co.) supported by Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In 1989, it was reestablished as Legend Holdings Corporation at Hong Kong. Yuanqing Yang was chosen as a President and CEO in 2001 and William J. Amelio in 2005. After William J. Amelio left Lenovo in 2009, Yuanqing Yang retook CEO role till now. The name ‘Lenovo’ was created in 2003 to advance into international markets. (Anon., 2018) 1.2. Vision and mission Below statements are official from Lenovo. The vision of Lenovo is that Lenovo will create personal devices more people are inspired to own, a culture more people aspire to join and an enduring, trusted business that is well respected around the world. Lenovo`s mission is to become one of the world's great personal technology companies and accomplish this through: Personal Computers: Lead in PCs and be respected for our product innovation and quality. Convergence: Lead the industry with an ecosystem of devices, services, applications and content for people to seamlessly connect to people and web content. Culture: Become recognised as one of the best, most trusted and most well-respected companies to work for and do business with. 1.3. Key products and services Initially, Legend was a distributor for foreign PC companies but became a producer by releasing their first own branded PC in 1990 and server in 1995. In resent Lenovo era, key products and services can be described as four groups as follow  PC (E.g. laptops families like ThinkPad, Yoga, IdeaPad and Legion, desktops and tablets)  Smartphones (E.g. Moto X, Z, G and E from Motorola.)  Networking, storage and software (E.g. Data Center, software and enterprise IT solution services)  Others tech accessories (E.g. AR/VR gadgets, Smart devices, etc.) Within official website, an online store is also provided. Services like maintenance and customer support are also available. 1.4. Financial performance
  • 5. 5 Lenovo financial performance will be analyzed based on 2012 and 2013 as case study was based on those years. Figure.1.4.1 - According to Lenovo`s official financial highlights from 2012 to 2013, revenue jumped up to 15% with getting profit, US$ 4073 million. 2013 was a well profitable year. (Source: 2012 – 2013 Lenovo annual report) Figure.1.4.2 - During the year 2013, all operational areas were stable like 2012. (Source: 2012 – 2013 Lenovo annual report)
  • 6. 6 Figure.1.4.3 – In 2013, incomes percentage were strongly increased in Mobile business and other minor products. (Source: 2012 – 2013 Lenovo annual report)
  • 7. 7 2. Strategic Evaluation – Situation Analysis 2.1. Current company`s situation and industry analysis Current market situation Lenovo`s current market situation will be shown based on years 2012-2013 (Periods when case study was written) and 2016-2017 (present years). Figure.2.1.1 (Anon., 2014) Figure.2.1.2 (Anon., 2013)
  • 8. 8 Above pictures (Figure.2.1.1 and 2.1.2) show situation of Lenovo in 2012 and 2013. In worldwide mobile market of 2013, Lenovo is fifth position with 4.5% share. For PCs, Lenovo is in first place with 16.9% market share. Figure.2.1.3 (Anon., 2018) In 2017 Quarter 4, Lenovo did not have any growth in global PC market but still in second position of PC market share. (See Figure.2.1.3) Lenovo`s ThinkPad X series and Yoga series are current flagships widely accepted by customers and critics.
  • 9. 9 Figure.2.1.4 (Anon., 2018) Lenovo is not a powerful one in global smartphone market share when compared to rivals. But Motorola well performed in US market lately. Moto Z2 force and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro are 2017 flagship phones of Lenovo. Figure.2.1.5 (Source: Lenovo annual report 2016 - 2017) For the years 2016-2017, Lenovo`s product sales are not in good progress and revenue from all geographies has not been improved. PC sales and other minor products sales are only 1% increased. (See Figure.2.1.3)
  • 10. 10 Target customers Lenovo`s target customers can be categorized into two groups.  First customer group contains individual to small/medium business.  Second customer group contains large organizations like schools, government offices, etc. In each group, Lenovo targets to reach all kinds of consumer preferences by offering a wide range of products containing mid-range to high-end. E.g. ThinkPad series for Businessman, Yoga series for Students and stylists, Workstations for large enterprises, etc. Competitors In 2017, Hewlett-Packard`s share is 23.5% which is in first position followed by Lenovo. Other rivals are Apple, Asus, Acer and so on. In PC race, Lenovo can compete well against its rivals. (See Figure.2.1.3) In 2017 quarter 4, Lenovo`s worldwide smartphone market share is only 3.5 percent. According to reports in Figure.2.1.4, smartphone market`s top five positions are under control of Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo. Local china competitors like Xiaomi, Oppo and Huawei are using the same method Lenovo adopted, Cost innovation which is producing high tech products with medium price. Partners Lenovo maintains B2B transactions with partners as follow Lenovo has been partnering with Microsoft for Windows OS to be built-in features of its product lines since 1997. Lenovo is also the first china strategic partner of Intel and most Lenovo PCs use Intel processors. Lenovo began partnering with google in 2010 to use Android OS in its first smartphone, LePhone. Lenovo used approximately US$2.91 billion for purchasing Motorola mobile from Google in 2014. Till now, they are still partners. For its Legion gaming PCs, Lenovo utilized graphic cards from NVidia Corporation. For cloud and data centers business, Lenovo works with software companies like SAP and Nutanix. Lenovo has a lot of authorized distributors for its products internationally. E.g. KMD in Myanmar Own capabilities Lenovo`s own capabilities can be described as follow. - Experience on various market situations
  • 11. 11 - Powerful in-house manufacturing and low-cost R&D programs - A lot of oversea experienced staffs but low-cost labors in china operations - Having high tech facilities and products from buying of Motorola and IBM Future prospects Based on its capabilities, Lenovo should keep holding its core global PC market by leveraging between product innovations and focusing on emerging markets. Lenovo should continue playing for strong presence in international mobile market. Primarily, it should rearrange to strengthen China market and then other markets. Lenovo need to rebuild its brand image and expend its global sales by developing alongside with latest trends and partnering with well-known mobile carriers. For Data Center business which can be new profitable area, Lenovo should assign new teams to implement its ongoing strategies. 2.2. SWOT analysis Strength Being able to withstand decline PC market Lenovo is always having most PC market share and most of revenue is from PC market though PC market is affected by smartphone popularity so that it will be profitable as long as it can hold this situation or PC technologies can outrun smartphones. Low operation costs Lenovo does not depend upon outsourced companies to maintain designing, R&D and in- house manufacturing so that operation costs will not affect financial performance. Primarily, Lenovo got its business strong by focusing china market as a basis and international requirements are treated by developing and innovating its products adaptively based on market trends set by competitors. Having strong distribution network Distribution network of Lenovo in China is still benefic because Lenovo have been in china market for a long time as distributor of rival brands and later manufacturer. Lenovo has many skilled employee work forces to deploy worldwide. Lenovo has also advantages by establishing own distribution through a number of local stores and big-box stores in china. Lenovo also bought US based companies – Motorola and IBM so that distribution in America market also keeps rising and grew 30% of incomes in 2017. Weakness Struggling in mobile business
  • 12. 12 Although Lenovo is producing smartphones with both Motorola and Lenovo branded, its market share is still behind strong competitors like apple, Huawei, etc. Except its popularity, mobile products cannot create innovation that customers will enjoy. Marketing is still weakening as competitors are actively increasing their marketing through sponsorship, social media, etc. Lenovo did not focus sales through various mobile carriers but through direct open markets so that Lenovo falls behind competitors when competitors mainly distributed via only online sales and mobile carriers. Most revenue relying on only one business area Apple can handle strong market shares with not only IPhones but also Mac Computer alongside with music streaming and cloud services. However, most obvious weakness for an international tech company like Lenovo is relying too much sorely on PC sales (which makes 70% of revenue in 2017) and cannot improve other divisions. PC market is falling slowly later as Lenovo profit cannot be guaranteed in future. Opportunities Already being well-known and experienced player Lenovo is already one among tech giants for a long time. It has experienced to market failure in 2008-2009 and reclaimed as one of the largest companies in 2013 globally. Now, it can be said Lenovo can learn again. Lenovo can make more marketing and extend its presence in India market (second largest mobile market) and other Asia-Pacific markets by making products based on regional needs. Case study also described that Lenovo has experiences in both emerging market and mature market. More enhancement over current products Lenovo can stand out among other typical china companies because it acquires two famous companies – Motorola Mobility and IBM PC division. Products from those companies were popular back then and they played important roles in technology history. Customers can accept their comebacks if Lenovo can improve those strong product families alongside with bring up its name. Breakthrough and affordable technology can fit into most market. Motorola smartphones with its modular components can be seen as an example which differentiate from competitors to attract customers. Threats Rise of smartphone technology Lately, smartphones are taking spots of PCs and laptops because of portability, easier communication and catching up technologies (E.g. Adobe or Microsoft office apps in phones). Nevertheless, this is inevitable threat to global PC market. As mentioned above, Lenovo is relying
  • 13. 13 only and greatly on PC division so that this technology changing is the biggest impact upon company. Fast growth of rival companies Lenovo is facing intense competitions in many directions. Smartphone market leaders like Apple, Samsung, Huawei, etc. are hard to be dethroned. PC market still has long-time rivals such as HP, Dell, Asus, Apple, etc. Even new rivals like Razor and Xiaomi speed up competing for laptop market which is currently led by Lenovo and HP. Main reason why Lenovo failed lately is that this threat is already starting to impact on Lenovo. 2.3. PEST analysis Political Political conflicts Nowadays, there are some tensions between two superpower countries - China and US. So, business policies of various markets can be changed. As Lenovo`s various divisions and headquarters are significantly located in US and China, it`s ongoing operations can be damaged by government procedures, taxation, etc. Allied countries from both sides can also alter their economy procedures on Lenovo. US government also declared that products from Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE should not be bought as they are spying on users. So, involving in conflicts or related rumors can affect business performances, customer trusts and bad reputation. Hong Kong and Main land China Even in Legend era, China government did not view it as a complete china company because it is reestablished in Hong Kong and there were very few supports from China government. There are a lot of conflicts between Hong Kong and Main land china since 2000. Those will be extreme impacts on business if new government policies can be applied like suspending distribution network, supply chain, etc. Lenovo can be middle of tensions because one of its shareholdings is Chinese Academy of Sciences. Economic Global PC sales decline If global PCs sales keep dropping, Lenovo main economy can be affected year after year. As Lenovo mainly depends on PC production heavily, its revenue can be decreased alongside with global PC falls and even low-cost operations or labors in China cannot help to cover gross profit well. Operations related with PC development will have to be suspended. However, it is sure that PCs cannot be replaced easily in two or three years so that Lenovo still have enough times for planning and improving over other businesses. China economy is also increasing and Lenovo can utilize it to speed up its other businesses like the Legend did.
  • 14. 14 Social Influences of social media networks on lifestyles It is easy to gain bad reputation over social media if there are swift spreading about product issues or misleading marketing. Lately, customer relationships can be improved as customers use social media to contact companies. Live shows of product launch becomes very popular marketing. Social media in main land China can be problems as government restricts international social network. Yet, Lenovo`s #GoodWeird Campaign for Yoga series can be said it is successful over worldwide social media. Customer lifestyles become changing as affected by various technologies. Even users begin separated into fan groups depending on their favorite brands and often demand the manufacturers to produce high-end products. Once, china and Asia markets have strong taste on budget products but now, expensive items becomes widespread E.g. IPhones. Lenovo`s Motorola phones are also aimed for various audience levels but still, they are struggling among competitors. Technological Rapid changing of technological trends Yearly, technologies are invented to replace each other within short periods. Technologies become more advanced in mobile, smart devices and artificial intelligence. New competitors begin more developing into those fields other than innovating for PCs. Although Lenovo also participates in many advanced fields, its progresses are affected greatly by powerful competitions. Other than innovation, Lenovo must cooperate with strong partners to get competitive benefits, supports and powerful R&D. E.g. Lenovo can collaborate AI technology with Google to go against Apple Data safety Later, business and even individual begin storing their valuable data in cloud and online security becomes vital for every organization. Customers’ information should be well kept as there are a lot of payment transaction and personal profiles which can be misused. Lately, there were several hacking and data breakouts like WikiLeaks due to political problems. So, Lenovo should focus more on security especially its data center business.
  • 15. 15 3. EMarketing strategy 3.1. Current marketing strategy Current marketing strategy used by Lenovo is as follow. Prioritizing manufacturing and distribution Lenovo`s product strategy strongly rely on Legend`s perspective in which distribution and manufacturing for all products must be stabled necessarily whether revenue from sales is over costs or not. Cost innovation Lenovo adopts low-cost advertisings, R&Ds, in-house manufacturing. Firstly, it targets customers and produce new products by own innovating and improving the trends from competitors. This strategy can produce high-end products at reasonable costs that is lower than luxury brands. Protect/Attack This strategy has two parts to perform by leveraging. Current PC leadership at China, international market share profits of all businesses and growing markets must be well protected to leverage. Attacking must be carried out for controlling China smartphone/tablet market, advancing into emerging smartphone/tablet markets outside of China and improving new businesses (Severs and workstations). Localization To meet customer satisfactions regionally, another strategy used by Lenovo is focusing on localization. Based on various local situations and consumer needs, Lenovo offers suitable supports and products on each region and collaborate with strong local partners. E.g. primarily exporting mid-range and budgets products to developing countries PC+ Because of fast rising technologies, this strategy is implemented as a support role for Protect/Attack strategy. This strategy is for not only enhancing mainly on PC business but also increasing focus on other developing business areas like mobile, smart devices, data centers, etc. (Fernando, 2018)
  • 16. 16 3.2. 4Ps Marketing mix 4Ps marketing mix will be utilized to analyze how Lenovo can launch new products effectively to meet customer requirements. (About “Target Customers” is described in Page 10) Product Tire-1 (PCs and Laptops) – These products must be continued to develop for both high-end to low-end because wide range of products can give more choices for both user groups. Unlike its rivals, Lenovo laptops usually offer unique design and features. E.g. Lenovo does not remove IBM`s TrackPoint feature in ThinkPad laptop series as customers find it accessible and iconic. Tier-2 (Mobile devices) – These products are being made to compete in both flagship and budget market. Motorola branded mobiles are well-known for featuring modular style abilities and also available for budget versions. Tablets aimed for educational purpose are also needed to be developed by targeting organizations like schools and charities. Tier-3 (Other technical gadgets) – Development of other technical gadgets like VR, Smart devices, etc. should be continued based on the goal to support customer lifestyles. E.g. VR headset for Gaming environment or smart home devices to help disabled persons. Price Tire-1 (PCs and Laptops) – Mid-range products are set between $100 and $500 with reliable features to satisfy general audiences. If high-ends are produced, they must perform better than competitors so that customer will enjoy even if price is higher compared to others. Tier-2 (Mobile devices) – To attack famous high-end manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, etc. flagship killer features can be set in reasonable price because Lenovo has Motorola supports and low operation costs yearly. Pricing should be reasonable when compared to local competitors like Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. By setting around $80, budget tablet (E.g. Lenovo Tab3 7) can also fit in the educational environment. Tier-3 (Other technical gadgets) – Development of these products needs a lot of R&D and partnership so that its costs can be high but customers will still buy if there are standout features. Promotion Through the combination of traditional and modern methods, promotion methods for all technology products can be carried out similarly. Currently effective and popular promotion methods are described below.  Using social media  Building brand awareness by strongly sponsoring and participating in events like Esport, CES, etc.
  • 17. 17  Gifts for preordering new products  Discount given based on customer communities (E.g. students, military servicemen, etc.)  Promoting traditionally like billboards Place Lenovo mainly distributes its products through  Lenovo`s official online store  Ecommerce sites (E.g. Amazon)  Authorized regional resellers and retailers  Mobile carriers (E.g. AT&T) 3.3. Online and offline promotion methods Online methods For all products, Lenovo strongly use social media to build its brand because social media becomes vital as new parts of communication and also keep operation costs low. For instance – Through YouTube, Facebook and twitter, a lot of users participated in Lenovo`s campaign called “#Goodweird” by sharing videos or images of Yoga products alongside with the hashtag #Goodweird. Besides, Lenovo release many creative commercial spots on YouTube and sometimes, those YouTube commercials feature creative designers and influencers like famous YouTube bloggers. Therefore, advertisements through social media save Lenovo budgets and significantly bring up brand awareness. (Maddison, 2018) Customers can directly buy products from Lenovo official store or its ecommerce partners from both China and global. (See Figure.3.3.1) Via official website, customers can access various user forums and services. Mostly, products and services for customer like business organizations are only available on official website.
  • 18. 18 Figure.3.3.1 – Lenovo`s official website Offline methods Lenovo makes its website to help customers to find nearest stores. In more than 160 countries, Lenovo has many local authorized retailers and resellers for its products. Yearly, those partners hold Lenovo discounts promotion events. For branding strategy, Lenovo also utilizes billboards and wall stickers. Further, there are Lenovo sponsorships with events like Olympics and yearly launch new products at famous technology shows like CES and IFA. Gaming festivals such as PAX conferences are also sponsored by Lenovo to showcase its gaming series, the Legion. 3.4. Impact Alongside with cost innovation strategy, manufacturing and distribution processes are prioritized but keeping costs down. That is why Lenovo have strength in making innovated products with keeping low operation costs. Protect/Attack strategy also helps Lenovo to maintain its PC leadership and profitable in both China and worldwide. By PC+ strategy, Lenovo proved that this is not post PC era but an era that PC are still innovating parallel to other technologies. So, Lenovo is still #1 PC makers against global PC sale decline and competitors. However, mobile market is rough for Lenovo due to startup operations. According to Figure.2.1.1 and 2.1.2, an outcome of using these strategies is that 2012/2013 becomes a well profitable years for Lenovo. It also expended into a multi-business organization to leverage each business differently and able to make its own capabilities.
  • 19. 19 3.5 Proposed marketing strategy Current marketing strategies are well built so that future strategies can be used by upgrading or combining current strategies. To accomplish opportunities, marketing of tier-2 and 3 products can be well developed by using these strategies. Protect/Attack and PC+ strategy will still be helpful because those can make Lenovo to withstand PC sales decline and rising new technologies. Besides, social media marketing will continue to be more suitable since social media communicates easily to reach out people daily lives. New marketing strategy intended for mobile and smart devices should be adopted because it is a promising growth for Motorola brand. Like PC+, strategy that works by simultaneously supporting multiple product developments can be an effective one.
  • 20. 20 4. Legal and ethical issues of Lenovo 4.1. Legal issues Around 2014 and 2015, Lenovo has been sued because of their pre-installed application called “Superfish” inside PCs. Many users, media and technicians claim that app is making vulnerable to malware, collecting user data without permission and even hacking encrypted data. US Federal Trade Commission had charges against Lenovo but on a settlement now. That kind of issue can be defined as cybercrime which can lead to bad reputation and permanently banned from international. Because of breaking user privacy, company will lose customer trust. Later, there were even reports that many intelligent agencies want to ban Lenovo products and this leaded to political issues. Hence, Lenovo must avoid that issue from happening again. (Anon., 2018) Lately, there are more patents war in the smartphone business. All manufacturers begin setting their own patents to secure the value proposition of their products because competitions in mobile market is intense. If Lenovo launches a new phone that includes a feature or design under a competitor`s patents, competitor can sue Lenovo and compensation will cost greatly. Thus, Lenovo must firstly analyze about competitor`s patents and try to innovate its product without affecting other patents. Also, competitors can also make products against Lenovo`s patents and this can affect market performance if competitors are not well controlled via law. So, this legal issue is also needed to be considered because Lenovo is strongly aiming to expend mobile market. 4.2. Ethical issues Ethical issues for Lenovo can link up to above adware issue. For creating of “SuperFish” app, Lenovo`s developers had to make unethical things such as testing or storing to collect user data, breaking many internet security protocols and inserting ads/malwares into users PCs. This makes developers and their tasks to be completely unethical and illegal. Some of them can misuse customer data. Whatever the purpose of the app is, this is not a right thing to do without user permission. Lenovo should not make its development staffs to carry out these kind of responsibilities which is unethical. In every organization, staff`s ethical problems are present. For instance, corrupt staffs can misuse Lenovo`s confidential data or customer data and use it for his own purpose or sell to competitors. So, rules and monitoring should be strongly set for protecting insider attack. Another ethical issue is about products and promotions. Customers will be upset if Lenovo cannot offer exactly what it promotes. E.g. not giving the exact end date of sale discount durations.
  • 21. 21 5. Conclusion Through this report, it can be seen that Lenovo became a multinational tech giant and PC leader during 2012 and 2013. From Legend company`s era (1989) till now, Lenovo went through many technology and economy changes and still in competitions. Its marketing strategies are also effective to support its yearly PC market performance and gain competitive strengths. For customers’ satisfactions, Lenovo has reached to all kinds of customer levels, individual to large enterprises. However, intense competitions and restructuring to shift into new business areas made Lenovo to face difficulties especially with mobile division. Lenovo should focus on mobile phone and smart device businesses as they are nearest opportunities to achieve. Lenovo`s marketing strategies like PC+ and social media marketing are still robust to withstand later threats and adapt with today`s technology and social trends. As well, Lenovo must try to avoid legal and ethical issues stated above because those are serious damage to customer trust. As a conclusion, Lenovo can still lead PC market but should focus more about the rising of other technologies. So, Lenovo must continue its innovation in all business areas alongside with protecting its PC leadership. (China Competitiveness, Case Study : Lenovo, 2013)
  • 22. 22 References China Competitiveness, Case Study : Lenovo (2013). Anon., 2013. Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Declined 6.9 Percent in Fourth Quarter of 2013. [Online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2647517 [Accessed 20 March 2018]. Anon., 2014. Gartner Says Annual Smartphone Sales Surpassed Sales of Feature Phones for the First Time in 2013. [Online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2665715 [Accessed 20 March 2018]. Anon., 2018. About Lenovo | Company History | Lenovo UK. [Online] Available at: https://www3.lenovo.com/gb/en/lenovo/company-history/ [Accessed 12 April 2018]. Anon., 2018. Apple Passes Samsung to Capture the Top Position in the Worldwide Smartphone Market While Overall Shipments Decline 6.3% in the Fourth Quarter, According to IDC. [Online] Available at: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43548018 [Accessed 20 March 2018]. Anon., 2018. Lenovo Settles FTC Charges it Harmed Consumers With Preinstalled Software on its Laptops that Compromised Online Security. [Online] Available at: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/09/lenovo-settles-ftc-charges- it-harmed-consumers-preinstalled [Accessed 5 April 2018]. Anon., 2018. PC Market Achieves First Positive Holiday Quarter Shipment Growth in Six Years, According to IDC. [Online] Available at: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43495918 [Accessed 20 March 2018]. Fernando, J., 2018. How China's Lenovo Makes Money. [Online] Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/073015/look-lenovos-strategy-
  • 23. 23 business-model.asp [Accessed 12 April 2018]. Maddison, J., 2018. How Lenovo Reaches Customers with "Goodweird" Content Marketing. [Online] Available at: https://insights.newscred.com/lenovo-content-marketing/ [Accessed 12 April 2018].