Issues and challenges in strategic repositioning: the case of Cable and Wireless

Between 1999 and 2002, Cable and Wireless (C&W) undertook a radical strategic repositioning as it sought to become more focused on key growth markets. Due to a combination of a declining external environment and an inadequate external environment, this process of strategic change failed to establish the company as an Internet powerhouse.

This article examines the strategic repositioning undertaken by Cable and Wireless throughout the period 1999 to 2002. It scrutinizes how the company has sought to transform itself from an integrated communications provider, covering many segments in many different locations, into a more focused operator targeting a specific commercial segment.

The major problems that the company encountered in this process of change are examined, notably in terms of the limit to strategies based on the perceived benefits of strategic focus. It concludes with an examination of what lessons can be learnt from its experience of strategic change.