a profound effect on the product line . “ Even though the internals might be 90 % identical , everyone wants a unique SKU ,” comments Finerty . “ Because of SKU proliferation , we have to prepare and manufacture products on different lines and that ’ s one of the main challenges we are facing at the moment . I think perhaps as ZTE grows and shows its value there may be some opportunity for some standardized products across carriers .”

Armed with an efficient supply chain and rigorous expansion plan , ZTE USA has become a well-recognized name in the US in the short space of 10 years . But with such successes

“ A major part of our threeyear planning has been focusing on that the end-user experience ,” reflects Finerty . “ How can we touch them a little bit more directly ? How can we understand what they ’ re feeling about the overall product experience ? It ’ s going to be a switch of our mindset from a carrier-focused company to a more customer-focused one . It doesn ’ t mean that we ’ re going to walk away from being the best provider and supplier we can be for the carriers - it means we ’ re going to take it up another level to really understand that customer mindset .”

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