Zoom Telephonics, Inc. designs and produces Voice over IP gateways, DSL modems, cable modems, dial-up modems, Bluetooth products, and other communications products under Zoom, Hayes and Global Village brands.
It offers a VOIP service under the name Global Village. It offers web based telephone service, both under the Global Village brand but also under client private label to independent internet service providers and alternative telephone service companies.
Zoom is headquartered in Boston, and its European sales and support center is in the UK. Zoom markets its products in over forty countries, and provides multi-lingual support from its offices in Massachusetts, and the United Kingdom.
In an effort to keep up with the latest news related to mergers and acquisitions, I am continually educating myself by pilfering through a never-ending inventory of content, online and elsewhere. Recently, I have read a number of very good articles and blogs on merger and acquisition strategies, processes, trends, etc., and many of these articles are very articulate in how they advise completing a successful merger or acquisition.
Most recently, I read an article in Consulting Magazine that mentioned some staggering statistics related to the percentage of CEOs that were interviewed not knowing the clear strategic rationale or the long-term financial contribution that the deal would bring to the company. The article was well done and went on to talk about the right questions to ask and shared many strong points related to today’s mergers and acquisitions climate. However, nowhere in the article, or in many other articles on this topic, was there any mention of the need to clearly understand the customer base that is being acquired.
I realize that many mergers and acquisitions are aligned to a pure financial play or intellectual property or other non customer-related attributes, but for those mergers and acquisitions that have greater strategic implications the goal still remains to impact the multiple or potential market share gain or successful entry into a new market. So shouldn’t it be of primary importance to include a thorough examination of the customer base? Thorough, meaning a deep, fully representational view crossing segments, geographies, and the population as a whole? I have seen, first hand, the fall-out of completing an acquisition without proper due diligence on the customer base. Needless to say, it didn’t end well. This does not have to be the case. Understanding your customers to create competitive advantages begins before and culminates with the completion of an exit with favorable valuation multiples.
Deeanne King, director of performance development, customer solutions, for Sprint's PCS division, was amazed by what she saw on a visit to one of Sprint's large customer contact centers. The center, typical of many scattered throughout the United States, is a sprawling, sophisticated operation abuzz with activity.
"It's like a city," King thought. And she was concerned. Employee turnover at the center was moving past triple digits. "Employees were turning over faster than we were getting new ones," she says. Efforts to manage the problem up to that point hadn't worked. King knew that she had to get a handle on retention, and she has plenty of company in that regard.
Unwanted employee turnover, despite the economic slowdown, is one of the biggest and most costly business problems companies face, and it remains pervasive and persistent. Recognize that the issue isn't the almost numbing frequency of corporate layoffs reported in the news. No, the much bigger problem is the undesirable, unwanted, and voluntary attrition that companies experience when people they'd prefer to stay instead quit to take another job elsewhere.
In July 2002, Towers Perrin released a study of HR professionals, in which 75 percent of respondents said retention of high performers is their number 1 people-related issue. TalentKeepers talentkeepers.com an employee retention company based in Maitland, Florida, recently surveyed 39 companies in a variety of industries and found that 92 percent of respondents report that employee retention is increasing in importance; 74 percent report that turnover has risen or remained the same during the two-year economic slump.
The primary functions of the Audit Committee (the “Committee”) are to assist the Board of Directors with the oversight of (i) the Company's financial reporting process, accounting functions and internal controls and (ii) the qualifications, independence, appointment, retention, compensation and performance of the Company's registered public accounting firm.
The term “registered public accounting firm” as used herein shall mean the public accounting firm registered with the Accounting Board which performs the auditing function for the Company.
Although the Committee has the powers and responsibilities set forth in this Charter, the role of the Committee is oversight. It is not the duty of the Committee to conduct audits or to determine that the Company's financial statements and disclosures are complete and accurate and are in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and applicable rules and regulations. These are the responsibilities of Company management, and subject to audit by the Company's registered public accounting firm.
The Committee shall consist of three or more directors of the Company. The members on the Committee shall meet the independence and other qualification requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), the rules and regulations thereunder and the applicable rules of the stock exchange or stock market on which the Company's securities are traded or quoted, subject to any permitted exceptions thereunder. At least one of the Committee members must satisfy the financial sophistication requirements of the listing standards of the Nasdaq Stock Market, and the Committee shall use diligent efforts to assure that at least one member qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert”, as defined by rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
Committee members, including the chairperson, shall be elected by the Board at the annual meeting of the Board of Directors on the recommendation of the Corporate Governance Committee. Members shall serve until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified.
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, and Zoom Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZOOM) today announced that they have entered into a subscriber unit license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has granted Zoom a worldwide, royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell WCDMA and TD-SCDMA subscriber units. The royalties payable by Zoom are at Qualcomm’s standard worldwide rates.
“Qualcomm and Zoom Technologies both share a strong commitment to R&D and are dedicated to driving the wireless industry forward in China and around the world,” said Derek Aberle, executive vice president and president of Qualcomm Technology Licensing. “This agreement enables them to develop, manufacture and sell advanced 3G products, greatly enhancing Zoom’s competitive position in the global wireless landscape.”
“This agreement with Qualcomm is an enormous step towards our advancement in the 3G market, enabling us to produce the latest products for the dynamic Chinese market,” said Mr. Leo Gu, chairman and chief executive officer of Zoom Technologies. “Our Nollec Wireless subsidiary, long known for its world class design team in wireless communication, will now develop highly competitive 3G products, such as smartphones, running on the Android operating system, setting in motion our plan to deliver a series of professional use 3G smartphones to Asia, Europe and beyond.”
Zoom’s wholly owned subsidiary Nollec Wireless, a mobile phone and wireless communication design company, will operate under the license.
About Zoom Technologies
Zoom Technologies is a holding company with subsidiaries that engage in the manufacturing, research and development, and sale of electronic and telecommunication products for the latest generation mobile phones, wireless communication circuitry and related software products. Zoom Technologies’ subsidiary, Jiangsu Leimone, owns a majority stake of TCB Digital, which offers highly customized and high quality Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers as well as its Own Brand Manufacturing (OBM) under the Zoom and Leimone brand names. The company’s products are both exported and sold domestically.
Zoom Technologies (NASDAQ: ZOOM) saw its stock boom after reaching an agreement with Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ: QCOM) to license Qualcomm's 3G technology. Zoom's stock rose nearly 50% overnight, from $3.10 to $4.60 per share in premarket trading.
Zoom's boom is fueled by news that it will now develop and manufacture 3G phones for the Chinese market.
"This agreement with Qualcomm is an enormous step towards our advancement in the 3G market, enabling us to produce the latest products for the dynamic Chinese market," said Leo Gu, chairman and chief executive officer of Zoom Technologies. “(We) will now develop highly competitive 3G products, such as smartphones, running on the Android operating system, setting in motion our plan to deliver a series of professional use 3G smartphones to Asia, Europe and beyond," Gu said.
Zoom now has agreements in place with all three major players in the Chinese cell coverage market, including China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, according to Tina Xiao, Zoom's investor relations manager. “Zoom did a very good job in getting all three distributors,” said Xiao. This will enable Zoom to be one of only a handful of companies that can reach the entire Chinese market.
Xiao estimates that it will take perhaps three months to develop the specific phones to be sold in China. “Qualcomm is one of the most important companies we could partner with,” Xiao said. “With the W-CDMA license, we are now authorized to produce 3G phones in China. It is a very good day for Zoom.”
Wideband CDMA is 3G wireless standard which utilizes one 5 MHz channel for both voice and data, initially offering data speeds up to 384 Kbps. WCDMA is the 3G technology currently used in the United States by companies such as AT&T and T-Mobile.
The Chinese market is dominated by China Mobile, which has roughly 70% of the cell phone service in China. China Mobile has almost 600 million subscribers, 97% of which are still using 2G technology – leaving a giant opportunity for Zoom and its new products.
It offers a VOIP service under the name Global Village. It offers web based telephone service, both under the Global Village brand but also under client private label to independent internet service providers and alternative telephone service companies.
Zoom is headquartered in Boston, and its European sales and support center is in the UK. Zoom markets its products in over forty countries, and provides multi-lingual support from its offices in Massachusetts, and the United Kingdom.
In an effort to keep up with the latest news related to mergers and acquisitions, I am continually educating myself by pilfering through a never-ending inventory of content, online and elsewhere. Recently, I have read a number of very good articles and blogs on merger and acquisition strategies, processes, trends, etc., and many of these articles are very articulate in how they advise completing a successful merger or acquisition.
Most recently, I read an article in Consulting Magazine that mentioned some staggering statistics related to the percentage of CEOs that were interviewed not knowing the clear strategic rationale or the long-term financial contribution that the deal would bring to the company. The article was well done and went on to talk about the right questions to ask and shared many strong points related to today’s mergers and acquisitions climate. However, nowhere in the article, or in many other articles on this topic, was there any mention of the need to clearly understand the customer base that is being acquired.
I realize that many mergers and acquisitions are aligned to a pure financial play or intellectual property or other non customer-related attributes, but for those mergers and acquisitions that have greater strategic implications the goal still remains to impact the multiple or potential market share gain or successful entry into a new market. So shouldn’t it be of primary importance to include a thorough examination of the customer base? Thorough, meaning a deep, fully representational view crossing segments, geographies, and the population as a whole? I have seen, first hand, the fall-out of completing an acquisition without proper due diligence on the customer base. Needless to say, it didn’t end well. This does not have to be the case. Understanding your customers to create competitive advantages begins before and culminates with the completion of an exit with favorable valuation multiples.
Deeanne King, director of performance development, customer solutions, for Sprint's PCS division, was amazed by what she saw on a visit to one of Sprint's large customer contact centers. The center, typical of many scattered throughout the United States, is a sprawling, sophisticated operation abuzz with activity.
"It's like a city," King thought. And she was concerned. Employee turnover at the center was moving past triple digits. "Employees were turning over faster than we were getting new ones," she says. Efforts to manage the problem up to that point hadn't worked. King knew that she had to get a handle on retention, and she has plenty of company in that regard.
Unwanted employee turnover, despite the economic slowdown, is one of the biggest and most costly business problems companies face, and it remains pervasive and persistent. Recognize that the issue isn't the almost numbing frequency of corporate layoffs reported in the news. No, the much bigger problem is the undesirable, unwanted, and voluntary attrition that companies experience when people they'd prefer to stay instead quit to take another job elsewhere.
In July 2002, Towers Perrin released a study of HR professionals, in which 75 percent of respondents said retention of high performers is their number 1 people-related issue. TalentKeepers talentkeepers.com an employee retention company based in Maitland, Florida, recently surveyed 39 companies in a variety of industries and found that 92 percent of respondents report that employee retention is increasing in importance; 74 percent report that turnover has risen or remained the same during the two-year economic slump.
The primary functions of the Audit Committee (the “Committee”) are to assist the Board of Directors with the oversight of (i) the Company's financial reporting process, accounting functions and internal controls and (ii) the qualifications, independence, appointment, retention, compensation and performance of the Company's registered public accounting firm.
The term “registered public accounting firm” as used herein shall mean the public accounting firm registered with the Accounting Board which performs the auditing function for the Company.
Although the Committee has the powers and responsibilities set forth in this Charter, the role of the Committee is oversight. It is not the duty of the Committee to conduct audits or to determine that the Company's financial statements and disclosures are complete and accurate and are in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and applicable rules and regulations. These are the responsibilities of Company management, and subject to audit by the Company's registered public accounting firm.
The Committee shall consist of three or more directors of the Company. The members on the Committee shall meet the independence and other qualification requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), the rules and regulations thereunder and the applicable rules of the stock exchange or stock market on which the Company's securities are traded or quoted, subject to any permitted exceptions thereunder. At least one of the Committee members must satisfy the financial sophistication requirements of the listing standards of the Nasdaq Stock Market, and the Committee shall use diligent efforts to assure that at least one member qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert”, as defined by rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
Committee members, including the chairperson, shall be elected by the Board at the annual meeting of the Board of Directors on the recommendation of the Corporate Governance Committee. Members shall serve until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified.
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, and Zoom Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZOOM) today announced that they have entered into a subscriber unit license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has granted Zoom a worldwide, royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell WCDMA and TD-SCDMA subscriber units. The royalties payable by Zoom are at Qualcomm’s standard worldwide rates.
“Qualcomm and Zoom Technologies both share a strong commitment to R&D and are dedicated to driving the wireless industry forward in China and around the world,” said Derek Aberle, executive vice president and president of Qualcomm Technology Licensing. “This agreement enables them to develop, manufacture and sell advanced 3G products, greatly enhancing Zoom’s competitive position in the global wireless landscape.”
“This agreement with Qualcomm is an enormous step towards our advancement in the 3G market, enabling us to produce the latest products for the dynamic Chinese market,” said Mr. Leo Gu, chairman and chief executive officer of Zoom Technologies. “Our Nollec Wireless subsidiary, long known for its world class design team in wireless communication, will now develop highly competitive 3G products, such as smartphones, running on the Android operating system, setting in motion our plan to deliver a series of professional use 3G smartphones to Asia, Europe and beyond.”
Zoom’s wholly owned subsidiary Nollec Wireless, a mobile phone and wireless communication design company, will operate under the license.
About Zoom Technologies
Zoom Technologies is a holding company with subsidiaries that engage in the manufacturing, research and development, and sale of electronic and telecommunication products for the latest generation mobile phones, wireless communication circuitry and related software products. Zoom Technologies’ subsidiary, Jiangsu Leimone, owns a majority stake of TCB Digital, which offers highly customized and high quality Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers as well as its Own Brand Manufacturing (OBM) under the Zoom and Leimone brand names. The company’s products are both exported and sold domestically.
Zoom Technologies (NASDAQ: ZOOM) saw its stock boom after reaching an agreement with Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ: QCOM) to license Qualcomm's 3G technology. Zoom's stock rose nearly 50% overnight, from $3.10 to $4.60 per share in premarket trading.
Zoom's boom is fueled by news that it will now develop and manufacture 3G phones for the Chinese market.
"This agreement with Qualcomm is an enormous step towards our advancement in the 3G market, enabling us to produce the latest products for the dynamic Chinese market," said Leo Gu, chairman and chief executive officer of Zoom Technologies. “(We) will now develop highly competitive 3G products, such as smartphones, running on the Android operating system, setting in motion our plan to deliver a series of professional use 3G smartphones to Asia, Europe and beyond," Gu said.
Zoom now has agreements in place with all three major players in the Chinese cell coverage market, including China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, according to Tina Xiao, Zoom's investor relations manager. “Zoom did a very good job in getting all three distributors,” said Xiao. This will enable Zoom to be one of only a handful of companies that can reach the entire Chinese market.
Xiao estimates that it will take perhaps three months to develop the specific phones to be sold in China. “Qualcomm is one of the most important companies we could partner with,” Xiao said. “With the W-CDMA license, we are now authorized to produce 3G phones in China. It is a very good day for Zoom.”
Wideband CDMA is 3G wireless standard which utilizes one 5 MHz channel for both voice and data, initially offering data speeds up to 384 Kbps. WCDMA is the 3G technology currently used in the United States by companies such as AT&T and T-Mobile.
The Chinese market is dominated by China Mobile, which has roughly 70% of the cell phone service in China. China Mobile has almost 600 million subscribers, 97% of which are still using 2G technology – leaving a giant opportunity for Zoom and its new products.
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