20500198 entry #1

I once thought Samsung and LG electronics of korea is the best company in the field of cellular phone. But now i know that Nokia of finland is the best company in that field. Samsung is 2nd, and LG is 3rd company in that part. When i see this article, i hope that one of two korean company buy the motorola's cellular phone part. I think that it can make the company that buy that part the first company in that field. But there was bad case on BenQ, the taiwaness company. So it must be very cautious and careful. But i think it will have to proceed by one of korean company. I don't want that japanese or chinese company make the legend.

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Asian Companies Wary Of Motorola
Why handset makers Samsung, Sony Ericcson, and LG aren't lining up to buy the struggling U.S. company's mobile-phone division

Once Motorola (MOT) revealed on Jan. 31 it was considering selling its handset division, speculation about a possible buyer quickly focused on companies in Asia. For all of its woes, Motorola still has a sizable presence in the U.S. market that might prove appealing to an ambitious Korean or Japanese brand, or an up-and-coming Chinese company.
No Asian company has yet stepped forward to express interest in striking a deal. And analysts who follow the industry see the beleaguered asset as a tough sell in Asia. "If you take a coolheaded approach to the handset business, I don't think any major industry player will want it," says Greg Roh, electronics analyst at Korea Investment & Securities in Seoul. "It is not a case of one plus one equaling two.…A takeover and ensuing restructuring could be costly and dangerous."


BenQ's Cautionary Tale
A big reminder of the difficulties is the collapse of the highest-profile attempt by an Asian company to acquire a struggling Western cellular brand. In 2005, the Taiwanese electronics group BenQ, which had won respect in the telecom and computer industries for its innovative design and was making headway establishing its brand worldwide, tried to jump-start its global push by buying the struggling handset unit of Siemens (SI). The deal proved far too big for the Taiwanese company, though, and in 2006 BenQ Siemens went bankrupt.
The damage didn't end with the handset division, though, and last year BenQ took on a new name, Qisda, and a new strategy to focus on contract manufacturing. "Recent rumors of strong Chinese interest [in the Motorola unit] make sense only if [Chinese companies] have short memories or are not familiar with the BenQ-Siemens fiasco," says David Kerr, vice-president for the global wireless practice at Strategy Analytics.
As BenQ's experience illustrates, in the fiercely cutthroat handset market, a misstep could push a manufacturer way behind rivals, and achieving synergies could take time. A foreign takeover would probably involve the headache of integrating vastly different operations and clashing cultures, which could discourage any potential buyer from courting Motorola, particularly when its existing strategies are working. "It could be a dangerous undertaking," says Michael Min, a specialist on information technology companies at fund manager Tempis Capital Management.
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From "Businessweek" -February 4, 2008