Christopher Galvin - Motorola Career

Motorola Career

From 1967 to 1973, during college, Galvin held part-time summer assignments at Motorola. From 1973-1983, he served full-time positions in sales, sales management, marketing management and mobile two-way radio product management, taking leave 1975-77 to attend graduate business school full-time. From 1983 to 1985, he became Marketing Director then General Manager of the Tegal semiconductor equipment unit owned by Motorola Inc. In 1985, he became Vice-President and Director of Motorola’s radio paging Division where he sponsored the team that created one of the first virtually completely automated manufacturing operations in the US, called Project Bandit. Galvin was promoted to Corporate Vice-President and General Manager of Paging. In 1988, he was named Chief Corporate Staff Officer of the corporation, later Senior Vice President and appointed to the Policy and Operating Committees of Motorola Inc. In 1990, he was promoted to Assistant Chief Operating Officer and joined as the third member of the Office of the CEO of Motorola Inc. In 1993, he was elevated to President and Chief Operating Officer. In 1997, he became CEO. In 1999, he added the role of Chairman of the Board to that of CEO. 1

Following the dot.com crash in 2000, Galvin led a massive three year restructuring of Motorola that included large lay-offs, closure of manufacturing facilities and reducing break-even costs. 2 Simultaneously, Galvin led the renewal of Six Sigma Quality through Digital Six Sigma and introduced Motorola’s MOTO language advertising campaign in 2002.3 The RAZR cellular phone was designed by Galvin’s innovators in new product development methodologies created during the 2001-2003 timeframe. RAZR was introduced July 27, 2004.4The innovation behind the RAZR was so cutting edge that even Galvin's eventual successor, Ed Zander, stated “There was a small team developing the RAZR before I got there. When I saw the technology, it blew me away.”5

On September 19, 2003, Motorola’s Board of Directors announced publicly it would seek a CEO other than Galvin.6 Galvin stated his objection to the Board’s view of Galvin’s turnaround efforts, and stated, "The Board and I do not share the same view of the pace, strategy and progress at this stage of the turnaround.”7 Sixteen working days later, on October 13, 2003 Motorola Inc. reported that its global customer new product orders were up 25% company-wide and up 44% for cellular mobile phones in Q3 2003 compared to Q3 2002. Similarly, on January 20, 2004 Motorola Inc. reported on Galvin's last full quarter serving as CEO and the quarter of the Board's search for a new CEO, Q4 2003, that Motorola's collection of global telecom, semiconductor, automotive, broadband-media and public safety customers increased new product line orders by 42% and by 64% in their cellular mobile phone business compared to Q4 2002.8

Galvin was forced to resign on January 4, 2004.9 Seventy-seven working days later, on April 20, 2004, Motorola announced its financial performance for Q1, 2004, the quarter of Galvin's departure. The data showed that the then $30 billion run rate in annual revenue resulted in a 42% increase in sales corporatewide revenue growth, a 532% improvement in operating earnings, $0.9B in pre-tax earnings, $0.7B in free cash flow, and a resulting $0.9B net cash position on the balance sheet.10 Motorola Inc.’s cellular mobile phone business recorded an uptick of 67% sales revenue growth ($4.1B in quarterly sales) and earned a 9.8% operating margin for the period, three months before the RAZR phone was to be announced.11 At the time Motorola Inc.’s business portfolio included four Fortune 500 sized multi-billion business sectors compared to its six business sectors at the time.12 Zander, who assumed the CEO role on January 5, 2004, stated after the announcement of Q1 2004 financial results "The first 90 days I talked to everybody. My agenda was very simple: learning the business as fast as I could. I did not want to shoot from the hip."13

The following quarter, the financial performance initiated by Galvin proved sustainable and repeatable. On July 20, 2004, Motorola reported Q2 2004 results of increased sales revenue growth by 41% to $8.7B, an improvement in operating earnings by 394%, $800 M in pre-tax earnings, $800 M in free cash flow, and a $1.8B net cash position on the balance sheet. The cellular mobile phone business recorded an increased sales revenue growth of 67%, equating to $3.9B in quarterly sales while maintaining a 10.2% operating margin. 14

In 2008, several years after Galvin's departure, a study was completed by the Monitor-Global Business Network consulting company to identify and compare the best + $5B in revenue global high tech corporate turnarounds since 1990. In comparing six year periods including three years of turnaround actions and the corresponding companies’ resulting financial performance, the study placed Galvin’s turnaround of Motorola as one of the top five large high tech turnarounds. The companies compared were IBM, Apple, Xerox, HP and Motorola. 15