Visit the web site of Applied Materials, the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductor fabrication equipment http://www.appliedmaterials.com/). Go to the section titled "About" Applied Materials, and read the company's mission statement. What does this mission statement tell you about the kind of competitive advantage that Applied Materials is trying to build? How important are efficiency, quality, innovation, and responsiveness to customers to this company?

Now go to the sections of Applied's web site that detail the company's financial results, products, and press releases. Read through these sections and try to establish how successful Applied has been at meeting the objectives set down in its mission statement. What do you think the company has done at the functional level to increase its efficiency, responsiveness to customers, innovative ability, and product quality?

General Task:
Search the Web for a company whose home page describes in some detail its approach to achieving one of the following: superior productivity, product quality, customer service, or innovation. Using this information, document the company's functional-level strategy and assess whether the strategy makes sense given what you have learnt so far in this book?