Case Name :      Philips NV: Dealing with a Global Financial Crisis

Authors :           Christopher Williams, Chandra Sekhar Ramasastry

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W13014

Discipline :        General Management

Case Length :    19 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

Philips NV, a multinational organization based in the Netherlands, is facing strategic dilemmas. The company has been in the middle of a transformation involving a shift in focus from lighting and health care products towards consumer products and services when a financial meltdown, triggered by a crisis in the U.S. housing market, leads to a credit crunch in financial markets. Countries that have traditionally sustained the demand for Philips merchandise – e.g., the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and France – have been witnessing a decline in key indicators of economic growth. Philips’s revenues and margins are under pressure. Remedial actions are required to ensure that the company is on track to reach its own growth targets. The case deals with two dilemmas: How should Philips deal with the credit crunch in the short term? How should Philips come out of it as a robust company in the long term?