I have recently read Nigel’s article on HTC which in itself was based on another blog by Danny Jung discussing the current situation of Blackberry and Lenevo.
Nigel brought up the point that HTC’s main source of failure came from the company’s inability to “recognize consumer gains and pains”.

In fact, reading recent news articles, HTC stocks has indeed plummeted “90% since 2011”. The article linked aboce by Bloomberg also states HTC was competing with bigger rivals such as Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market. However, what it also points to is its failure came instead from its weakness in design and engineering rather than its recognition of “consumer preferences”.

Personally, I believe that both equality and lack of consumer insight led to HTC’s failing sales and eventual plummeting. From this, we can learn the importance of research and development in operations.

Link to image:

<http://www.htc.com/managed-assets/shared/desktop/smartphones/htc-desire-510/en_US/A11_3V_White_S.png>

Link to Bloomberg article:

<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-27/htc-to-sell-back-stake-in-beats-headphone-maker-for-265-million.html>

Link to Nigel’s blog:

<https://blogs.ubc.ca/cctsaur/2014/11/04/htc-what-happened/>