Qualcomm IncorporatedCorporate Communications Audit and Budget

Myles HaslamADPR 5910April 2015

Part 1: Communications Audit

Introduction

Qualcomm Inc., referred to simply as Qualcomm, is the worlds largest mobile chip manufacturer, providing technology, products, services and patent information to mobile device manufacturers throughout the world. Founded in 1985 by Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs and six others, the company gained acclaim by developing a mobile communications standard that is still in place today.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, Qualcomm has 157 locations worldwide, with major centers located in the United States, China, India, Ireland, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Although the company is based in the United States, it tailors its corporate environments and needs based on the company and communities that it operates in. Qualcomm employs 31,000 people around the world, and strives to establish a creative and supportive environment for every person that works there. Steve Mollenkopf has served as Qualcomm’s CEO since March 2014, and has held an executive position since 2002. Dr. Paul E. Jacobs has served as chairman of the board since 2009, and executive chairman since 2014. Qualcomm has an executive officer for each of its major divisions, as well as a board of directors and corporate committees. There are no women on the executive board, while there are three women out of 15 serving on the board of directors.

Qualcomm’s mission is to bring advanced mobile technology to everybody. Although it does not directly supply services to the public, it aims to inform the public that Qualcomm’s technologies exist in almost every connected device someone might own, pushing the company towards relevancy and awareness. As stated on Qualcomm’s corporate website, the company focuses on a single goal – invent mobile technology breakthroughs.

History

Origins

Qualcomm, formally known as Qualcomm Communications, was founded in July of 1985 in La Jolla, California. The seven founders of the company were Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs, Dr. Andrew, Viterbi, Harvey White, Franklin Antonio, Andrew Cohen, Klein Gilhousen, and Adelia Coffman. Within the company’s first year, it secured its first contract to begin working on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), an emerging communications technology that had, up till that point, been used exclusively by the U.S. military for use in secure communications.

Three years later, and Qualcomm launched OmniTRACS, a satellite-based data communications system. Designed primarily for the transportation industry, this

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system enabled truck fleet operators to track and monitor vehicles in the field. That same year, in 1988, Qualcomm secured its first major order for OmniTRACS by the Schneider National Trucking Company, providing the company its first major capital gains.

History is Made

With the promise of advanced, digital communications just around the corner, 1989 proves to be a huge year for Qualcomm, still a fledgling company. That spring, Qualcomm (in a deal with PacTel Cellular) pledged to publically demonstrate the use of CDMA in an event in front of 50 major leaders in the wireless communications industry. Qualcomm gave itself only six months to engineer the demo, which was to place a voice call over a CDMA network on a closed circuit. On November 7, 1989, Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs took to the stage to begin the demo. As Jacob began of his speech, the demo unit failed, causing engineers to scramble for a fix. Dr. Jacobs famously stalled for time in his speech until he got the “thumbs up,” at which time the call was demonstrated and successfully placed.

In December of 1991, Qualcomm went public. With its IPO (initial public offering), it made 4 million of its shares open to the public on the NASDAQ.

In July of 1993, The U.S. Telecommunications Industry Association included CDMA technology as a cellular standard. This validated all of the work that Qualcomm had put into CDMA technology, and provided future opportunities for the company to grow. Earlier that same year, the company had designed and engineered the first phones for commercial use on the new technology, the CD-7000 series.

Broadening Horizons

In October of 1995, Qualcomm makes a major internal shift in its company’s developmental future. It establishes the CDMA ASIC Products Unit (eventually rebranded Qualcomm CDMA Technologies in 1999), which evolved the company from being a hardware manufacturer and supplier into a strategic partner in supplying CDMA solutions. That same year, Qualcomm established Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL), which allowed for future establishment with partners in distributing its technology worldwide.

As part of the company’s commitment to technological advancement, Qualcomm worked to develop CDMA for broadband Internet use. In 1999, the International Telecommunications Union selected CDMA2000 1X as a 3G (third generation) wireless standard. Three years later, Verizon Wireless deployed the technology on its network.

In the early 2000s, Qualcomm developed its gpsOne® technology, which met the U.S. government mandate that cell phones deploy their GPS location whenever an emergency 911 call is placed. Spring PCS and Verizon Wireless, the two largest

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commercial CDMA telecommunications providers, adopt this technology in 2002. GpsOne® earned the distinction of being the most widely deployed GPS-based location technology in the world. 2002 also saw Qualcomm awarded a contract by the U.S. government to develop the world’s first VoIP (voice over internet protocol) handset.

Qualcomm, having established its presence as a dominating player in the telecommunications technology field, moved on to develop chip processors for mobile devices. In 2005, it launched the Scorpion processor, which allowed applications to run on mobile devices that had been previously limited to use on fully-fledged consumer electronics. This processor, like the others being established at this time, had a maximum 1 GHz of speed. It wasn’t until the release of the Snapdragon processor in 2007 that this gigahertz barrier was broken. With Snapdragon, Qualcomm was able to pack mobile devices with features that had never been possible before. This included fast mobile data speeds, multimedia, 3G wirelesses, and the lowest power consumption yet. This innovation changed the way that users were able to interact with their devices for years to come.

In October of 2008, the world’s first Android-powered phone, the G1, is launched. This device, made in collaboration between HTC, Google and T-Mobile, was the first major competitor to Apple’s iPhone. The Android software was designed to be open-source, meaning that anybody could go in and modify the software for various needs. This was a huge move for Qualcomm, proving itself to be on the leading edge of development in the mobile device industry. Qualcomm has since gone on to partner with other manufacturers of mobile devices, such as Apple and Samsung, to provide the semiconductor units for almost all of their product’s internals.

The Giant Takes A Hit

The majority of Qualcomm’s manufacturing takes place in eastern Asian countries, where manufacturing costs are lower. In 2015, the Chinese government issued Qualcomm a fine of $975 million in violation of the country’s antimonopoly laws. Qualcomm agreed to pay the fine, which is the largest fine issued by the Chinese government in relation to these laws. In statements released by the chief executives, the reasoning behind paying the fines allows for Qualcomm’s continued and future partnerships with Chinese telecommunication companies. The company also agreed to reduce the price of its patent assemblies in the country.

In January of 2015, Samsung announced that it would not be using Qualcomm’s latest processor, the Snapdragon 810, in its upcoming phone, the Galaxy S6. The S-series line of phones from Samsung has dominated in the smartphone market, competing heavily with Apple iPhone in international sales. By removing the Snapdragon processor and replacing it with Samsung’s own, Qualcomm took a huge hit financially, forcing the company to cut spending for the fiscal year. However, in April 2015, Qualcomm announced that its next generation of processor, the Snapdragon 820, would be manufactured in Samsung’s plants, due to the fact that

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their plants had greater technological advances. This move is widely speculated to indicate that the two companies will potentially partner again for future projects.

Industry Overview

Qualcomm is a member of the wireless communications equipment industry, often a subset of the larger telecommunications industry. However, in the case of communications equipment, this field does not tend to directly interact with consumers, but rather, plays a large part (in a small way) in how consumer and industrial telecommunications technology functions. Qualcomm almost exclusively creates products and services for mobile connected devices, and is the largest chip manufacturer for this purpose in the world.

Industry Trends

The primary trends in the communications equipment technology are based on increased data consumption from mobile devices and the networks required supporting that function.

Increased Internet-Connective Mobile Devices

The last few years has seen mobile, Internet connected devices explode in almost every country worldwide. Due to increased demand for smartphones and tablets, communications equipment technology has continued to advance both the speed and power of these devices year after year. In the United States, smartphones are reaching a very high penetration rate, meaning that the market will see slower sales growth over the coming years, and instead focus on upgrade cycles for these devices. Tablets are also a growing market, with an increased share in the communication device market expected to see a growth of 5 percent by 2018. That same year is expected to be the year that tablet connectivity is expected to generate almost twice the data traffic generated by the entire mobile network today.

Increase in Network Bandwidth Usage - Wireless Network Upgrades

With the increase of mobile connected devices being purchased around the world, the network infrastructure for these devices has seen an increase in demand. This requires these networks to be constantly upgraded, so that they can support this increase in bandwidth. Compared to the transfer of voice and data, which used to be the primary purpose of network-connected devices, data consumption takes much more bandwidth.

“Internet of Everything”

This is the terminology used in describing the increased presence of M2M (machine-to-machine) connections. In essence, this trend is described as the way that various

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industries, such as home security, healthcare, and consumer electronics, are incorporating internet-connected elements into their technology. This increased M2M connectivity allows for deeper integration between various devices and services.

Competitive Analysis

Qualcomm is the largest chip manufacturer for smartphone and mobile connective device implementation. The company is also a market leader in development of wireless technologies, holding numerous patents on 3G and 4G technology. This positions Qualcomm for future success, as an increasing number of products are now integrating 3G and 4G technologies into their devices.

Microchip Technology - Microchip Technology Incorporation, Qualcomm’s biggest competitor, develops, manufactures and sells specialized semiconductor products used by customers for embedded control applications. The Company’s products include microcontrollers, development tools, analog, interface and mixed signal products, memory products and technology licensing.

Broadcom - Broadcom Corporation is a global semiconductor solution for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products seamlessly deliver voice, video, data and multimedia connectivity in the home, office and mobile environment. The Company provides system-on-a-chip (SoC), and software solutions. The Company’s segment includes Broadband Communications, Mobile and Wireless and Infrastructure and Networking.

LM Ericsson Telefon AB - LM Ericsson provides telecommunications equipment and services to network providers globally. Ericsson’s offerings focus on networking, and connecting devices as opposed to manufacturing components or equipment to be used in devices. Ericsson is a leader in networking solutions, and is positioned well to take advantage of the “Internet of Everything” trend.

Environmental Efforts

Qualcomm is committed to sustainable energy practices in both its services and manufacturing processes. Like most manufacturing companies, Qualcomm consumes fossil fuels for energy and transportation, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. However, Qualcomm has taken many steps to reduce its emissions throughout its worldwide practices.

The company tracks emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and other volatile organic chemicals that it produces. At the company’s corporate headquarters, the turbines that power the facilities are powered by natural gas, making them highly efficient. The company also publishes its environmental report to the Climate Registry and the Carbon Disclosure Project. All new facilities built in the United

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States are designed to comply with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). For the company’s irrigation and air conditioning needs, it uses entirely reclaimed water, reducing its footprint. Semiconductor processing is water intensive, so Qualcomm works closely with suppliers that make their integrated-circuit products to promote efficient water use.

Qualcomm is a member of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), and adopts the EICC Code of Conduct. Qualcomm expects all of its suppliers to oblige by these codes, and works with semiconductor suppliers at multiple stages of design and manufacturing to ensure compliance with applicable environmental laws and initiatives.

Search Engine Optimization Analysis

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process by which one is able to improve the ranking of a particular website on a search engine search of a particular keyword. By utilizing SEO tactics, a company can improve its online presence and visibility. Ideally, a keyword search for a company would yield that company’s web page at the top of the search results for search engines such as Bing, Yahoo or Google. By using SEO techniques in an effective way, a company should see an increase to its official web page’s online traffic. It is important to note that, when conducing a keyword search for these purposes, it is necessary to either clear your browser’s history or browse incognito (private browsing), so that your personal search results do not affect the search engine results.

When searching for “Qualcomm” on Google, the first page results include (in order):

Company Page: The official Qualcomm website

Map Results Qualcomm Inc. (Lawrenceville, Georgia) Qualcomm Retain Solutions, Inc. (Atlanta, Georgia)

Web Pages Qualcomm’s careers page The Wikipedia entry for Qualcomm

News for Qualcomm “Exclusive: Qualcomm to Use Samsung’s Foundries for Its Next High-End

Chip (Re/code) “Samsung’s Chipmaking Business Scores Another Huge Win With Qualcomm”

(Forbes) “Report: Qualcomm will turn to Samsung, not TSMC, to make the Snapdragon

820” (Ars Technica)

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A SEO analysis of Qualcomm on Google shows the company has a strong grip on its online presence. All of the first five links led straight to an internally developed website, driving traffic to the company’s official source of information. However, it is worth noting that the map results, even when browsing on Google Chrome’s Incognito feature, showed two locations for the company in Georgia, with one of them listing an address of a random suburban home. With the company’s headquarters in San Diego, this was a puzzling result. Qualcomm’s social media sites, Facebook and Twitter, were located further down on the first page result. Social media is a growing tool for companies to communicate with their publics, and seeing these two sites listed on the first page of the results list is a promising indicator that Qualcomm uses social media well.

Link to Google Search: https://www.google.com/search?q=qualcomm&oq=qualcomm&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l4j69i59.1292j0j9&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8

When searching for “Qualcomm” on Bing, the first page results include (in order):

Company Page The official Qualcomm website

Web Pages The Wikipedia entry for Qualcomm Qualcomm’s Twitter page

News for Qualcomm “Samsung’s Chipmaking Business Scores Another Huge Win With Qualcomm”

(Forbes) “Qualcomm looking to fast-track Snapdragon 820 with help from Samsung”

(PC World) “Exclusive: Qualcomm to Use Samsung’s Foundries for Its Next High-End

Chip (Re/code)Web Pages

QCOM Stock Quote, a listing of Qualcomm’s current stock price The official link to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego The official link to the Qualcomm Toq, the company’s first smartwatch

Qualcomm’s official company page was listed high at the top of the Bing result, quickly followed by its Wikipedia entry and Twitter page. Although there were fewer company-owned links near the top of the page than Google, it is good to see that social media and Wikipedia are in close second. With social media, a company is effectively able to establish its online presence. While Qualcomm does not own the Wikipedia page, it is still a well-trusted source of information for the company.

Link to Bing result: http://www.bing.com/search?q=Qualcomm&go=Submit&qs=n&form=QBLH&pq=qualcomm&sc=8-4&sp=-1&sk=&cvid=e409e2a3de7640ca834bf812ec3b886b

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Alexa Traffic Report

The following information was gathered from Alexa.com, under the search for Qualcomm’s official website. The results are found below:

Traffic Ranks and Engagement

This graph shows Qualcomm’s website traffic for almost all of the past year, and its ranking relative to other sites. While traffic was relatively low last summer through September, it picked up starting in October, and stayed high all the way through April of 2015. Due to Qualcomm’s presence in the news over the past few months (with the Snapdragon/Samsung fallout and the Chinese fines), this graph indicates that these events likely drove increased traffic to the company website.

The next table of data indicates the bounce rate, which is the percent of visitors to the site that “bounce” off the site after visiting it. This rate is not too high, and has decreased by three percent over the past year. Qualcomm’s site has also seen a sharp incline in daily page views and daily time on site, with the latter boasting an impressive 11 minutes and 43 seconds. With the Internet being so fast paced these days, this is a relatively long amount of time to be on one site, indicating that Qualcomm is either a very attractive business currently, or the site is engaging and encourages visitors to stay.

Audience Demographics and Geography

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This data shows the demographics of visitors who visit Qualcomm’s site, relative to the general Internet population. According to these graphs, the site is viewed predominately by men. Also of note, a large percent of these people attended graduate school, in addition to the site being viewed most frequently from a work computer. This information could be very useful for Qualcomm in how it designs and structures its website. It needs to be appealing to well-educated men, while also fitting the business needs of those who predominately visit the site. Given the corporate nature of the company, Qualcomm’s current web page seems to market well to its target audience. However, given that the company has such a wide presence in the consumer products market, it might do well to consider designing for other general demographics as well.

This graph shows the geographic areas of the world where Qualcomm’s site receives the most inbound traffic. As the company is based in the United States, it makes sense that the site receives the greatest amount of traffic from there. However, since Qualcomm does so much business in Asia, it is also not surprising that India and China are the next-highest volumes of traffic. It is interesting to note that European countries, being closely related in product consumption to that of the United States,

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is not featured in this graph. Qualcomm might consider marketing their company in Europe.Search Engine Traffic

This graph and chart reveal how much traffic was gained to the site via search engines over the past year, with the chart indicating which keywords were used most-frequently to link to the site. Qualcomm can optimize their traffic through SEO by ensuring that their site includes these 5 keywords. Interestingly, site traffic from search engines has gone down over the past year, while overall traffic to the site has increased. This phenomenon might be due to the fact that most browsers have a “quick link” feature in their URL bars, allowing visitors to quickly move straight to the site they are looking for rather than scrolling through pages of search results; with Qualcomm’s URL being rather simple, it is very possible that this is the case.

Upstream Sites

Finally, here is a list of upstream sites, which are sites that link visitors to Qualcomm’s official web page. Google is the only search engine listed here, revealing the greatest number of upstream links. However, both Facebook and LinkedIn are listed here as well, and even though they both have small percentages, Qualcomm should consider marketing on these two

sites to receive even greater traffic to their corporate website.

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Key Publics

Shareholders/Investors

Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) is a publicly traded company, with its IPO (initial public offering) listed in December of 1991. The company’s stock is traded on the NASDAQ, currently trading its stock at $68.69 a share, with a recently declared dividend of $0.48 per share. Qualcomm communicates with its investors primarily through their website, under the Investor Relations tab. Here, investors can find stock information, financial information, corporate governance, events and presentations, reporting segments, frequently asked questions, and contact information. The website also has a link to email alerts and RSS feeds, allowing investors to track key-stockholder information.

Employees

According to Qualcomm’s 2013 annual report, the company currently employees 31,000 full-time, part-time, and temporary employees. These employees work in numerous settings including engineering, finance, sales, marketing, and administration. Qualcomm offers internships and job postings for college graduates in the fields of business development, engineering, information technology, and project and product placement. Although Qualcomm is an American-based company, it employees people in more than 189 locations around the globe, with the major centers being in California, Colorado, New England, North Carolina, Texas, China, India, Ireland, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Customers

As Qualcomm is primarily an engineering company, it does not frequently interact with a commercial customer base. Its microchip technology, such as its CDMA/LTE chipsets, is supplied directly to mobile device manufacturers. Due to the success of its technology and services, Qualcomm is able to secure deals with major companies (such as Samsung, Apple, HTC) through reputation alone. Qualcomm does manufacture a few consumer products, such as its Toq smartwatch, however it is not a vender for such devices. Instead, Qualcomm uses these developments as proof for future partnership with an established consumer device manufacturer.

Suppliers

Within the technology industry, suppliers play a vital role in the development of new products and technologies. Qualcomm, being a huge manufacturing giant for the industry, relies heavily on the supply of resources in the development of its products. Located on the company website is a section dedicated to supply-chain management. Here, Qualcomm lists its expectations and code of conduct for its

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suppliers, along with its policies regarding diversity and respect for human rights. The technology industry is fraught with human rights issues stemming from violations related to the mistreatment of workers harvesting earth elements and minerals for use in microchip assembly. Qualcomm’s site has listed its conflict-free minerals policy, pledging its dedication to uphold international regulations regarding this issue.

Regulators

Qualcomm is a publically traded company and is regulated by the SEC (the Securities and Exchange Commission). It must submit annual and quarterly financial statements so that current and future investors are aware of the company’s financial standing.

The Federal Trade Commission also regulates the company, given that the company has such a huge presence in its market. Given Qualcomm’s presence in markets around the globe, it is regulated in many other places as well. In recent news, the China National Development and Reform Commission and the European Commission have both opened investigations into the company’s business practices, suggesting that Qualcomm may have breached anti-trust and anti-monopoly legislation in those jurisdictions.

Key Messages

Employees

“Yes, ‘change the world’ is part of the job description. A career at Qualcomm gives you the opportunity to join in the creation of technologies that change the world. Thousands of dedicated people working diligently to make a mark in the evolution of our planet. Sounds like a pretty big deal to just start with a simple job application. But it does. When it comes to our values, you’re at the top of the list. In order to foster an environment where invention thrives, we must foster one where our people do too. Our employees have a strong voice in creating the work environment that suits their needs. From clubs where employees make their own electric vehicles, to programs that inspire the next generation of inventors, we focus on creating a culture that breeds success.”

This information comes from Qualcomm’s website under the “careers” tab. Qualcomm presents itself as a company that cares deeply for its employees, dedicated to ensuring success for every person it employs. The website also has tabs showing how Qualcomm prioritizes life and culture for its employees, setting a narrative that the company isn’t just a huge, heartless machine, but rather a means by which its employees can achieve individual success. Finally, the site has a tab that provides a detailed description of its employee benefits for each of the countries that it operates in.

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Customers

“The future of mobile is here. Driving the evolution of smartphones, tables, and more through mobile technologies that deliver the best experiences, everywhere, for everyone. We are at the heart of the devices you love. Mobile data is in demand; pushing the boundaries of wireless possibility to bring faster, seamless, and ubiquitous connectivity to your favorite devices. Everyday experiences become richer through mobile technology that understands how we live, work, learn, and play.”

While Qualcomm’s products and services are not directly brought to customers, the homepage of the website allows customers of products that do contain these technologies to see how the company is working in their lives. This section of the website demonstrates the vast presence of Qualcomm in the everyday consumer’s life. This is a useful approach, as it allows the casual observer to connect with a company that they might otherwise assume has nothing to do with their lives.

Suppliers

“Achieving true sustainability requires us to extend our efforts beyond our direct operations to our suppliers. We work particularly closely with the semiconductor foundry and assembly suppliers that manufacture our products. We monitor their processes and materials and continually work to make our products as sustainable as economically and technically possible. Beyond the manufacture of our products, we also work with suppliers to meet our other sustainability expectations: respect for human rights, water conservation and more.”

While Qualcomm is committed to providing the most advanced technology available, it will not compromise in the face of integrity. The company’s website states clearly that, although there is much corruption in the semiconductor industry, Qualcomm will not take part, insisting instead that every one of their suppliers abide by their ethical code of conduct.

Stockholders/Investors

“We seek to drive stockholder value through business performance and practices, as well as responsible and effective communications with stockholders. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a FORTUNE 500® company. Our business is your business. Stay on top of Qualcomm’s performance with an archive of quarterly results reports.”

Through this message posted on the front page of Qualcomm’s “investor relations” tab, Qualcomm appears eager to please its stockholders through commitment to excellent financial performance and transparent financial activity. This tab is easily

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located from the homepage of the company website, and quickly links to all the necessary information stockholders require.

Communities

“Engineering a better future. When more people pitch in, communities get stronger. We’re creating educational opportunities, promoting better health, supporting the arts and developing products that help make life better for everyone.”

In this portion of the company website, Qualcomm shows dedication to the various communities that it interacts with and impacts. This “community” tab features links to Qualcomm’s philanthropic efforts, employee engagement, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education, and transformative technology. This tab is located under the company’s sustainability resources; the only problem here is that community relations doesn’t exactly fit under the category sustainability, and a user trying to find this information might have difficulty doing so from the company’s homepage. However, once this section of the website is located, it is a very thorough example of Qualcomm’s commitment to community relations.

Communication Strategies

Qualcomm’s Corporate Website (www.qualcomm.com)

Home Page

The Qualcomm homepage has a very clean, simple, and modern web-based design. Blue and white colors are featured heavily throughout the website, which is evident on the homepage.

The design of the homepage conveys an in-touch and professional air to the company. With Qualcomm saying it’s on the cutting edge of technology, this makes perfect sense. They avoid typical website clichés, such as margins, text blocks, and obvious buttons, and instead makes everything feel very touchable. In fact, when viewing the website on a mobile device, such as a tablet, this website design lends itself very well to touch gestures.

Featured on the homepage is a picture of a woman, wearing a colorful top, holding a mobile device in her hands, and gazing off into the distance with an inspired look. Next to the image is a clickable text that reads, “The Future of Mobile is Here.” At the bottom right is a button called “Quick Links” that takes you to the following parts of the website:

Information about Qualcomm Investor relations Contact Information

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o This includes a list of contact links, broken down into categories: corporate, business and divisions, and product and technology support.

Career Opportunities Invention @ Qualcomm News & Blogs Products and Technologies Snapdragon processors A Qualcomm Executive Details about Social Responsibility A Qualcomm Office Location Technology licensing information

At the top of the homepage, there are links to Qualcomm’s products, inventions, news, and general information about the company.

The left side of the page contains a permanent banner, which adapts as a user clicks on links throughout the site. On the home page, it has mostly the same information that can be found at the top of the homepage: site-wide search, products, invention, news, and company information. At the bottom of the banner is a “more” tab that leads to the site’s terms of use, privacy, cookies, social media sites, additional languages, and other Qualcomm-owned websites.

The following information lists detailed descriptions of the main links found on the homepage of Qualcomm’s corporate site:

Products

The Products tab is accessed from the home page by clicking the button on the left banner of the site. A very clean visual transition occurs, and a tray of sub-tabs slides out. These sub-tabs are the general categories for the products that Qualcomm creates, and they are are:

Mobile Automotive Education Healthcare Networking

These subcategories are very easy to access and use, making this portion of the website very useful for anyone looking for Qualcomm’s product lines.

Invention

The Invention tab is a unique portion of Qualcomm’s website, as it is the center of inspiration for the company. Like the Products tab, clicking on the Inventions tab opens up sub-tabs, which are:

Stories

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o A series of stories about the people of Qualcomm, including that of the company’s founder, as well as feature stories on how Qualcomm is pioneering in the development of technologies such as the self-driving car.

Researcho An overview of the colossal amounts of research that Qualcomm had

done in the mobile technology field, subcategorized into overviews, areas of research, downloadable resources, research center locations, and relations with universities.

ImpaQto A detailed description of the company’s program that fosters ideas,

innovations and inventions within Qualcomm. Ventures

o An overview of the investment’s Qualcomm has made since 2000 in technology start-ups. There are three featured companies on this page, as well as a link to Qualcomm’s entire portfolio.

Licensingo An overview of Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL) division. On

this page, you can find additional information about licensing protocol, a search tool for all of Qualcomm’s licenses, and a link to information about patents available for license.

Wireless Technologieso A detailed overview of all of Qualcomm’s wireless technologies it has

pioneered, as well as information regarding future endeavors in wireless technology.

Like the Products tab, this portion of the website is very easy to access, and is well laid out. The sub-tabs make sense, leading someone to exactly the sort of information they are looking for. The title of Invention is a little misleading, however, and it might behoove the company to find an additional title for another category to place the “stories” and “ventures” sub-tabs.

News

Like the other tabs, the News portion of the website is located on the left-side bar. This contains any and all of the public information that Qualcomm has published. The sub-tabs are as follows:

OnQo Qualcomm’s company blog, which includes everything that is “new

and exciting in the world of Qualcomm.” Snapdragon

o A Qualcomm blog dedicated exclusively to all things associated with the company’s microprocessor line.

Developer

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o The company blog dedicated to developer-related posts. Part of the Qualcomm Developer Network (QDN), it provides tools and resources to help developers design program’s for Qualcomm’s products and services.

Sparko A Qualcomm blog with the purpose of celebrating inventors

everywhere, not just at Qualcomm, by telling their stories. Topics

o A collection of blog posts that are initially broken down into four categories: “1000x Data Challenge,” “Internet of Everything,” “Public Policy,” and “Education.”

Press Releaseso Includes a tool to search through all of Qualcomm’s press releases, as

well as listing the most recent releases made by the company.This section of the website is easy to access, like the other sections of the site. However, it might make more sense to distinguish the blogs and the press release section under separate categories, as it is not apparent from the sub-tabs’ names that they are blogs.

Company

Perhaps the most elaborate section of the website, this is the final tab that can be clicked from the homepage sidebar. The sub-tabs found under the Company tab contain numerous subcategories, which are listed below:

Abouto Who We Are

An overall description of who Qualcomm is and what the company is about at its core.

o Leadership A listing of all of Qualcomm’s executive team, with headshots

and linked biographies for each.o History

A very detailed history of the company, beginning with its inception in 1985. It is broken down by decade, with the ability to expand and collapse the information that accompanies each major event.

o Awards A grouping of all Qualcomm’s awards, broken down into four

categories: corporate success, corporate culture, technology and innovation, and sustainability. Each of these categories can be expanded to reveal the exact award, with the date of recognition.

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Careerso Overview

Contains the basic tools for finding what careers are available currently at Qualcomm. Features a universal search bar at the top of the page, with four categories found at the bottom for further searching: engineers, professionals, college graduates, and interns.

o Life and Culture A page that shows Qualcomm’s dedication to the lives of each

of its employees. Videos of employee profiles can be found embedded at the bottom of the page.

o Locations All 14 of Qualcomm’s corporate locations are listed here, with

descriptions and links for further information attached to each location.

o Benefits Links to employee benefits for Qualcomm employees in each of

the countries that the company operates.o Resources

Information regarding interview tips at Qualcomm, as well as a listing of Frequently Asked Questions by potential employees.

Investor Relationso Stock Informationo Financial Informationo Corporate Governanceo Investor Events & Presentationso Reporting Segmentso Investor FAQ

Offices and Facilitieso Descriptions of every Qualcomm office and facility, as well as a tool to

locate a particular office. Sustainability

o Overview An overview of Qualcomm’s sustainable practices within the

company’s structure and affiliate programs.o Our Governance

Links can be found here to Qualcomm’s code of business conduct

o Our Workplace Links and descriptions to Qualcomm’s commitment to

diversity and inclusion, ethical employment, workplace safety, and employee development

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o Our Products Details as to how Qualcomm manages its product supply chain,

as well as its commitment in establishing a conflict-free supply chain for its raw minerals.

o Our Environment Details on how Qualcomm is working to improve air quality,

energy efficiency, and water in its facility and operations practices.

o Our Community Details on Qualcomm’s philanthropic efforts, employee

engagement, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education, and advanced transformative technology that impacts and enhances the quality of life of users.

Wireless Reacho Overview

Details on how Qualcomm is providing its wireless technologies to underserved communities in 40 countries worldwide.

o Projects Lists of projects that Qualcomm is undertaking in its

commitment to further the reach of its wireless technologies, in the areas of education, entrepreneurship, public safety, and healthcare. Each of these categories has a country sub-listed that link to a feature story about how Qualcomm is working in that particular country.

o Resources Designed for anyone interested in how Qualcomm is achieving

its global wireless reach goal, this page features links to resources such as blog posts, videos, case studies, reports, awards, and news.

This section of the website is incredibly detailed, providing a wealth of information available to the website visitor. The website navigation requires a slight learning curve, but once mastered, is relatively effective in locating the information one might be looking for.

Press

This section of Qualcomm’s website is rather difficult to find. It is located on the “more” tab at the bottom of the homepage, under “information for.” Once you click on Press and Bloggers, you are brought to the resource journalists will find most useful. This page has a link to Qualcomm’s press releases, a form where a member of the media may inquire into the company, as well as a form that media specialists can use to request a Qualcomm logo for use in their publications.

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Given that this is an important element in external relations, it would be nice to see this pressroom given greater prominence on Qualcomm’s site.

Annual Report

On the Investor Relations tab on Qualcomm’s corporate website, under the financial information sub-tab, one can find Qualcomm’s annual reports. With 2014 being the most recent report, this page has Qualcomm’s reports available up to 1999. However, these reports are not accompanied with a letter from Qualcomm’s chairman or CEO, nor are they published in a unique way. Instead, Qualcomm chooses to only publish the official 10-K form that it submits to the SEC. This makes reading the report very boring, as the typeface is small and is more than 100 pages long. The viewer can choose to view the document either in HTML or as a PDF file.

Social Media

With social media quickly becoming an important element in brand awareness and customer interaction, companies are moving to incorporate these networks into their communications platforms. Qualcomm uses the following social media sites:

Twittero Under its Twitter handle (@Qualcomm), the company has 188,000

followers on the social media site, and is following 12,500 users. This is an interesting ratio of followers-to-following, as most companies follow few others back. This indicates that Qualcomm might follow users that mention the company on Twitter, so that they might be able to monitor conversation. However, this is not necessary, and the company might do well to reduce the number of people it follows. Qualcomm has tweeted 5,667 times since it joined Twitter in 2009. The company uses Twitter to engage in industry-related topics.

o Example Tweets are: “#Vuforia brings a little vision to this augmented reality

prototype from @MINI. http://spr.ly/6018fOMM”  “Great discussion on #robots, women in #STEM, and the

importance of mentorship.”o The “about” section of the page reads:

We're a company of inventors. Follow us to learn how our mobile inventions better your life. Posting guidelines: http://bit.ly/1sKRdOT 

Facebooko Qualcomm’s Facebook page currently has 1.4 million likes. It uses this

social media platform to share pictures and articles related to the company and the industry; similar to Twitter; however, the posts on Facebook go into more depth.

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o Example Facebook posts: Straight from our heart to your ears. Theater-like sound on

your phone or tablet speakers—no headphones required. MINI imagines what it’s like to have driving super powers.

Blind spot X-Ray view is just one feature of the MINI Augmented Vision concept made with Vuforia. http://usat.ly/1EkwfB4

o The “about” section of the page reads: We're a company of inventors. Follow us to learn how our

mobile inventions better your life.

LinkedIno This site is for business professionals, and a primary form of

communication between employees and by the employer. Qualcomm has 26,274 users who have been or are current Qualcomm employees. Qualcomm has its company banner at the top of its LinkedIn page, as well as a description of the company.

YouTubeo Qualcomm’s YouTube account currently has 20,861 subscribers. The

company uses this social, video-sharing site for a number of purposes, including visionary direction, informational videos about its products and services, commercials, and keynote demonstrations at events such as CES (the consumer electronics show).

Google+o Qualcomm’s Google+ account posts nearly the exact same posts that is

on its corresponding Facebook and Twitter accounts, with no original content. The page indicates that it has been viewed almost 3 million times.

Instagramo Unlike its other social media platforms, Qualcomm uses Instagram to

post unique content. However, with only 1,880 followers and 36 posts, these posts do not get much reach. Qualcomm is relatively new to this platform, having only joined 33 months ago. The company uses this site to share its social identity the most across the internet, buy capturing moments from events it is hosting, interviewing employees, demonstrating global sustainability, and more.

In conclusion, Qualcomm has a well-established social media presence; it operates on all the major networks, in addition to limiting the number of accounts to one-per-platform. However, the company tends to share the exact same information across all of its social media sites (with the exception of Instagram), limiting the ways that each site can uniquely deliver information and interact with its audience. Based on sheer numbers alone, Facebook and Twitter are the primary forms of social media interaction for Qualcomm, boasting the largest number of followers.

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Corporate Culture

Organizational Structure

Qualcomm’s senior management is made up of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), executive officers, a board of directors, and committee leads.

Chief Executive OfficerThe CEO of Qualcomm is Steve Mollenkopf.

Executive Officers Dr. Paul E. Jacobs – Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board Derek K. Aberle – President Christiano R. Amon – Executive Vice President, Co-President of QCT George S. Davis - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Matthew S. Grob – Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Venkata S.M. “Murthy” Renduchintala – Executive Vice President and Co-

President of QCT Donald J. Rosenberg – Executive Vice President of General Counsel and

Corporate Secretary Dr. Daniel L. Sullivan – Executive Vice President of Human Resources Dr. James H. Thompson – Executive Vice President of Engineering

Board of Directors Barbara T. Alexander Sir Donald G. Cruickshank Raymond V. Dittamore Dr. Susan Hockfield Thomas W. Horton Dr. Paul E. Jacobs Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, Qualcomm Incorporated Sherry Lansing Harish Manwani Steve Mollenkopf Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated Duane A. Nelles Clark T. Randt, Jr. Dr. Francisco Ros Jonathan J. Rubinstein General Brent Scowcroft Marc I. Stern

Board Committees

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Finance Committee – assists the board in assessing the financial decisions regarding Qualcomm’s financing needs, making strategic investment decisions, and providing oversight in Qualcomm’s annual budget.

Audit Committee – oversees the accounting and financial reporting process of the company and audits the Qualcomm’s financial statements.

Compensation Committee – reviews and determines the compensation of Qualcomm’s executive officers and non-employee directors.

Governance Committee – recommends corporate governance compliance guidelines for the company, identifying and reviewing new board members, recommends director nominees for the board and director nominees for each committee, and assists the board with executive development and succession matters.

Woman in LeadershipThere are no women on Qualcomm’s executive team, and only three women represented on the board of directors.

Social Responsibility

As previously mentioned, Qualcomm has an entire section of its website that is dedicated to social responsibility and sustainability. It is broken down into categories, including the governance of the company, the workplace, product development, environmental impact, community engagement, and detailed reports on Qualcomm’s actions.

“As we push what’s possible and relentlessly ask “what if,” we remember that breakthroughs don’t occur in isolation. Our work affects people and the planet, and it is our responsibility to make sure our influence is a positive one. We believe factoring the future into every idea is more than just responsible—it is fundamental to innovation.”

Workplace Environment

Qualcomm touts itself as being a wonderful place for employees to work. It is committed to recruiting a diverse workforce, and provides career support and resources for various employee populations, including women, minorities, military veterans, individuals with disabilities, LGBT, and others.

The company’s website also claimed that workplace safety is a priority, with injury and illness rates lower than the industry average.

Product Development

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Qualcomm is committed to developing products that are not only beneficial to consumers, but also do not harm the environment. They make sure to not manufacture with lead, and eliminate brominated and chlorinated compounds in their products, all of which are potentially hazardous.

The company also takes huge steps in ensuring that its supply chains and minerals are all ethically sourced and conducted. Their website contains a link to the code of conduct that it asks each of its suppliers to sign before negotiating with them.

Environmental Sustainability

Qualcomm commits itself to environmental sustainability, despite the fact that it is a huge manufacturing source. The corporate website claims that Qualcomm is working on lowering emissions, avoiding energy consumption, conserving water in all operations and supply chains, and reducing waste at its facilities around the globe.

Philanthropy and Employee Engagement

Qualcomm aims to create educated, healthy, sustainable, culturally vibrant communities. The company also supports employees’ commitments to global communities through various programs, including volunteerism initiatives and employee engagement grants. Qualcomm focuses its philanthropy primarily in geographic regions where they have a business presence.

The name of the employee volunteer program is QCares. Through QCares, employees from around the world are connected to local volunteer opportunities. They help the homeless, mentor students on STEM education subjects, protect the environment, pack meals at food banks, and more. Each year, thousands of employees volunteer for QCares Experience, a special companywide effort that benefits nonprofit organizations around the world. Many employees share their expertise by serving on nonprofit boards and committees. They help build sustainable organizations by lending guidance in financial management, marketing, information technology and strategic planning, among other areas. 

Suggestions for Future Directions

Website

The design of Qualcomm’s corporate web page is engaging, fluid and visually appealing. The best “hits” of current web design is all here, with slick transitions that take place when diving into the various layers of the website. Qualcomm has gone to amazing lengths to provide inviting and appealing pictures and images for every section of its website. However, one of the problems here is that this website seems to try and accommodate too many types of visitors: those who might be

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arriving at the site to try and learn about the company, and those who are looking for specific corporate information. The navigation sometimes gets confusing, and one might arrive at a particular page to later discover that they had no idea how to return to the same page. There are too many sub-tabs and subcategories, which requires a slight learning curve to the site’s overall navigation. Although Qualcomm has spent a lot of money and resources developing this site, for the sake of visitors, it would do well to establish two different sites: qualcomm.com and another site that is dedicated purely to corporate resources.

Social Media

Qualcomm has done well to establish a presence on all of the major social media sites. For the majority of these networks, the company chooses to release the same source of general information across different platforms. While this is a good way to push information that is important to anyone who has interest in what the company is doing, it might be better off establishing a more unique presence across the various sites. It does this well with its Instagram account, which features content that is not found on any other social media site. Qualcomm currently uses social media as a tactic to implement its goal of awareness to all of the ways the company is found in consumer’s lives. However, rather than just linking stories and curating existing content, Qualcomm needs to provide its own information and content to its sites bring more customers to its social media accounts. As seen in the Alexa analysis, Facebook is second only to Google in bringing visitors to the company’s corporate website, indicating that the company can build on its brand awareness through further use of its social media accounts.

Bibliography

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https://www.qualcomm.com/

https://www.qualcomm.com/company/about/history

http://www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/T052-C008-S002-7-great-growth-stocks.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/business/international/qualcomm-fine-china-antitrust-investigation.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=International%20Business&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article

http://www.bidnessetc.com/40340-bernstein-cautious-on-qualcomm-inc-qcom-ahead-of-q2-results/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407896,00.asp

http://recode.net/2015/04/20/exclusive-qualcomm-to-use-samsungs-foundries-for-its-next-high-end-chip/

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white_paper_c11-520862.html

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=MCHP.O

http://tippie.uiowa.edu/henry/reports14/comm_equip.pdf

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=BRCM.O

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Part 2: Communications Budget

Introduction

As part of the company’s initiative to connect people to people, Qualcomm is organizing its first annual 10K run in San Diego, California, on July 25, 2015. This event, called “Let’s Run San Diego” is designed specifically for members of the San Diego community, and will be accompanied with an evening festival of food and live entertainment. The event is part of a fundraising effort called “Connect San Diego,” with the proceeds from the event going towards Qualcomm’s pledge to provide communications technology in every San Diego public school system and further telecommunications infrastructure in the city.

Event Overview

Qualcomm remains actively engaged in every community that it has a corporate presence. The city of San Diego, the company’s headquarters, is no different. Qualcomm wants to give back to the city through this fundraising campaign, which will not only provide resources to bring advanced communication technology to the public school system, but will also physically bring people together in an event that will be sure to bring out many members of the San Diego community.

The run will begin on Saturday, June 25, at 6:00 p.m., with the festival event and food services beginning at 8:30 p.m. Runners can sign up for a slot in advance, with pre-sale prices beginning at $25, and going up to $45 the day of the event. The festival is free for runners, and $12 for regular attendees.

Personnel Salary and Benefits

Qualcomm will assign four members of its public relations team to the event. The team will meet from May to July to plan the event and its promotional and marketing tactics. The first employee is a public relations manager, who has worked with Qualcomm’s public relations department for more than 10 years, having countless experiences leading the team. This person is responsible for the project as

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a whole, and for leading the other members of this temporary team. According to salary.com, a public relations manager earns on average $93,188 a year. Two of the other positions, called public relations specialists, are typically entry level (between one to three years of employment) and are paid $46,399 a year. The last person assigned to this team is a yearlong intern, who will carry out assistant duties. They are paid $12 an hour.

In addition to their wages, employees have access to company benefits package including healthcare, social security and disability services. This is spread out monthly, and amounts to 30 percent of an employee’s annual income.

Supplies and Expenses

Event Supplies

With Qualcomm’s headquarters located in San Diego, there are no travel costs associated. This allows the event team to focus their entire budget on planning the event itself.

For the festival after the event, it will take place outside of Qualcomm Stadium, indicating that the company will not have to pay for location fees. To provide for the event of rain, there will be three 30’x30’ tents erected in the stadium parking lot.

The talent that will be at the event is Young the Giant, a popular band from San Diego. They will be providing their own music and sound equipment as a total cost of their booking. Their set will begin at 9:00 p.m. and will end at 10:30 p.m.

The food for the festival event will be catered by a number of local San Diego food trucks. Several services allow for booking, and will charge a flat rate. With five trucks being present, they each will require a $2,000 minimum to park at a single location for one hour. Patrons will then be responsible for purchasing their own food.

Marketing and Advertising Costs

An advertisement will be placed in the San Diego Union-Tribune four weeks prior to the event. The add will take up a quarter of the page, with the description giving the location, date, time, fundraising details and cost of attendance.

Social media will also be used heavily to market the event, primarily through the use of Qualcomm’s various social media accounts. Facebook and Twitter will be the primary accounts being used, as they have the greatest levels of audience interaction.

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Items May June July TotalPersonnelPublic Relations Manager $7,765 $7,765 $7,765 $23,295Public Relations Specialist 1 $3,866 $3,866 $3,866 $11,598Public Relations Specialist 2 $3,866 $3,866 $3,866 $11,598Intern $2,080 $2,080 $2,080 $6,240Total Salary $52,731

Staff BenefitsPR Manager $2,329.50 $2,329.50 $2,329.50 $6,988.50PR Specialist 1 $1,159.80 $1,159.80 $1,159.80 $3,479.40PR Specialist 2 $1,159.80 $1,159.80 $1,159.80 $3,479.40Intern $624 $624 $624 $1,872Total Benefits $15,819.30

MarketingNewspaper Advertisement $1,608 $1,608 $1,608 $4,825Social Media $0 $0 $0 $0Total Marketing $4,825

Event SuppliesTents $1,612.98 $1,612.98Talent $60,000 $60,000Food Trucks $10,000 $10,000Total Event Supplies $71,612.98

TOTAL EVENT BUDGET$144,988.2

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Budget Reduction

If Qualcomm’s corporate management demanded that this event be cut by 20 percent, the budget would decrease by $28,998, which leaves this public relations team $115,990.28 to complete the event planning. Given that the event supplies dominate the largest portion of the budget, it would be necessary to re-evaluate various elements of the event. There is a second option to the talent, Ingrid Michelson, who charges only $30,000 to for a paid performance. Compared to the $60,000 that Young the Giant asks, this saves the company $30,000 in expenses. Although there would be an overhead of $1,002, this is still the ideal place to cut

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from the budget. Both bands are from San Diego, and will draw in huge crowds to the event. This is preferable to cutting salaries or employees, because there would have to be more than one employee removed from the four-person team accommodate a 20 percent cut to the budget. After this cut, the new total budget for this event would be $115, 988.28.

Bibliography

http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/Public-Relations-Manager-Salary-Details.aspx?&hdcbxbonuse=off&isshowpiechart=false&isshowjobchart=false&isshowsalarydetailcharts=true&isshownextsteps=true&isshowcompanyfct=true&isshowaboutyou=true

http://www.raphaels.com/catalog/catdisplay.php?cat=frame+tents

http://roaminghunger.com/san-diego/food-truck-catering/the-sushi-bus

http://variety.com/2014/music/news/degy-entertainment-breaks-down-artist-booking-fees-1201189498/

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