Customer attitudes towards the BlackBerry brand. The role the BlackBerry plays in the development of mobile handset market in the Arab world
BlackBerry is a line of handsets that make the process of e-mail exchange easier (“About BlackBerry” par.1). It is one of the five top devices on the mobile market, which underlines that it is in great demand with the population. “On August 1, 2010, Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) of The United Arab Emirates officially announced the suspension of BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry Email, and BlackBerry Web-browsing services in the country” (Hammond par. 5). This is a competitive device that makes the mobile industry move forward.
Everybody wants to be in touch with friends, relatives, and co-workers when it is needed. BlackBerry provides people with this opportunity by offering their device, which is convenient to carry and use. The buyers who have a positive attitude towards the BlackBerry mobile do not wait for their companies to show the need for its usage. They take it as a belief the device to be worth providing that it belongs to a well-known brand, streamlines the working process, and makes them contactable (Kotler and Armstrong 187).
This handset is used almost like a laptop by those who need to communicate. It allows us to get in touch with people all over the world. Using the wireless network, one can also move where he/she wants, which broadens location limits. The customers also underline that the phone provides them with access to the Internet and a number of applications that make their everyday life simpler (Sweeny 12).
Mostly the reason why the handset is not adopted by some businesses is their poor awareness of the value of the device and its benefits. Some people also find the size of the BlackBerry to be a problem. As it is small, it can be forgotten and used by another person, which is also connected with the problem of privacy. However, it is only a direction in which mobile devices should move.
The decision process that buyers of a typical push e-mail device go through before purchasing the device
There are some reasons why people want to buy this device. They want to keep always in touch; that is why they search for information about the technology. Push devices provide them with this opportunity. They offer constant access to e-mails and Personal Information Manager, which includes notes and calendar and allows consumers to build and follow their schedule (“BlackBerry” par. 7). All incoming information will be noticed with the help of the notifications.
If such things are work-related, BlackBerry is sure to benefit its owner, as he/she will get all necessary information and materials on time. Younger people consider it to be a great device for instant messaging. What is more, this handset can underline the economic status of the owner. It is not the thing everyone can afford, but it is the one the majority of people know. So by using it, one can show that he/she is a white-collar worker.
Thus, it is connected with the concept of the aspirational group. While thinking of who might be an owner of the BlackBerry, we imagine a man who is about 30 years old and is successfully engaged in business. The sense of success makes this handset popular among other people. That is why the markets should not have boundaries with regard to the concept. With it, different people would like to buy the product, and then they will tell their friends and relatives about it. In this way, the aspirational group will widen, and the sales will increase, improving the revenue (Babin and Harris 149).
Kotler, Philip, and Gary Armstrong. Principles of Marketing, Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2010. Print.
Mittal, Kunal, and Shikha Gupta. BlackBerry for Work: Productivity for Professionals, New York: Apress, 2010. Print.
Sweeny, Alastair. BlackBerry Planet: The Story of Research in Motion and the Little Device that Took the World by Storm, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.
In September 2013, the Blackberry Company reported a second quarter net loss of $965 million (Miller, 2013). This was attributed to a slump in sales of its new Z10 smart-phone. In an attempt to manage the crisis, the company declared that it would scrap more than 4,500 jobs globally. This loss coincided with a period when Apple it competitor sold over nine million of its new iPhone smart-phone models. Five years back, the Blackberry Company was among the best technological performing companies with a significant market share (Miller, 2013). Things did not seem rosy from two years ago when its sales started dwindling. The huge second quarter loss of 2013 confirmed that all was not well with the company. The only question being asked is what went wrong. This paper makes use of the systems thinking methods and techniques to explain the origin of the decline in Blackberry’s performance. In addition, these methods are utilized to chart a course of recovery from the decline and re-establish the company as a leading technological company.
Decline and recovery of BlackBerry
The economic environment is increasingly becoming complex and it is easy for a company to be overloaded with environmental pressure and collapse. For a company operating in such an industry, it has to realize that progressing with internal and external changes is critical for the organization’s success. This can be achieved through transformational perceptions such as systems thinking. System thinking provides methods and techniques in combatting inherent company problems and industry challenges.
System thinking explains that problems cannot be solved by disintegrating it into individual component parts. This is because such activities can only be examined when they are together due to the interaction of its component parts. According to Senge (2006), system thinking is a process that involves a methodological comprehension of problems and identification of their solutions. The system has to be analysed within its environment by taking account of its external environment. Through analysis, solutions to a problem are obtained and organizations are able to have a learning system.
In a nutshell, system thinking first involves the understanding of the system. Secondly, the systems external context should also be clearly comprehended through the same elements. Thirdly, solutions are developed through systemic investigations. These three processes are utilized in systems thinking elements, which include inquiry, analysis, synthesis of problems and solutions. Systems thinking can be used to analyse and shed light on what went wrong with Blackberry, and provide solutions to the problems to facilitate its recovery.
First, Blackberry needs to understand its system as the first bold step of getting to the root of the problem. The challenges of the declining market share of company dates back to 2011. The Blackberry Company being the first inventors of smart-phones failed to adapt to phone applications. This is pointed to the management misjudgement of the significance attached to applications by its consumers. This explains its relegation to the third position by Apple. The top management was slow to respond to the development of Blackberry applications. Consumers are increasingly making use of various applications hence forming a competitive platform for technological companies to compete. The management’s slow response to developing its own applications gave room to Apple and Google Play applications hence relegating the Blackberry Company to the shadows.
The slow response of the company to the market needs is premised on the organization’s culture (Miller, 2013). The executive rifts played a major role in Blackberry’s woes. Coupled with the increasing challenge from its closest rivals, the executive rifts limited the company’s ability to develop new products for the evolving market. The management was blinded by the company success in the turn of the 21st century by thwarting attempts by some executives to develop applications so as to keep their rivals at bay. This stand-off compromised Blackberry’s chances of tapping into the new enormous sources of profits.
This left the company which was a smart-phone pioneer and market leader to surrender to its market rivals. It failed to catch up with the smart-phone wave in the market. This inquiry shows that the top decision making organ of the Blackberry Company was the cause of the problem that led to the decline of the organization. This is because it slowed down the innovation and tapping into the market opportunity as a result of shifting consumer preferences.
System’s thinking requires the understanding of the external context of the organization in order to find solutions to a particular problem (Gharajedaghi, 2011). The smart-phone industry is bubbling. The landscape of competition in the industry is changing. This is attributed to the increase in the usage of phones due to technological advancement. The competition in the smart-phone industry is increasingly becoming fierce with players like Android, Apple, and Google Play leading the park (Miller, 2013). These companies are engulfed in a competitive battle of technology and better pricing as they seek to increase their market share. Most interestingly is that the consumers are shaping up the competition. Costumers are now interested in smart-phones that offer competitive features and at considerable prices. Software applications are becoming a major focus for consumers who are now less concerned about hardware.
The problems of the corporation also emanated from its approaches on fending-off market competition. The company corporate culture nurtured strategic confusion in the organization in response to the market needs. The company never embraced change in its technology base to fix technological issues as Apple and Android adopted new software platforms. In addition, the company never utilized information about the external environment, and failed to balance between satisfying individual consumers and corporate customers’ needs.
In providing a solution to the problem, system thinking applies systemic investigation. Systemic thinking tries to find solutions into complex problems through analytical and synthetic thinking (Gharajedaghi, 2011). Analytical thinking involves thinking about elements of a problem whereas synthetic thinking looks at how elements of the system work together. For the recovery of the Blackberry Corporation, analytical and synthetic thinking is necessary.
In providing a solution for the recovery of Blackberry, the infusion of money is not the only solution for the company. Analytical thinking shows that the company needs to change its corporate culture to facilitate a learning system where the executives are ready to adopt new ideas. In the fast moving smart-phone industry, the company needs to re-invent its technological base and develop operating systems that are flexible to the shifting customer trends. The competitive applications of eco-systems and a competitive marketing strategy should be put in place to re-gain its market share. The company needs to utilize consumer feed-back in the development of competitive products that match the changes in the industry.
Conclusion
From the systems thinking techniques, organizational problems, intensive technology, and industry competition are reasons behind the decline of the Blackberry Company in the market. The corporate culture of the organization prevented organizational learning and change; this resulted in the loss of its market share. Analytical thinking suggests that a cultural change is necessary for a company to recover in the long run. In addition, technological innovation is critical for the organization to remain competitive in the market.
Gharajedaghi, J 2011, Systems thinking: Managing chaos and complexity: A platform for designing business architecture, Access Online via Elsevier, Burlington.
Research in Motion (RIM) and Blackberry are common names associated with smartphones that revolutionized mobile communication and other related services. It is necessary to state that companies experience changes that break or make them depending on how they are managed. Blackberry had a success story to tell its competitors and clients but now it must struggle to regain its ground due to the financial challenges it is experiencing. This essay is a summary of an article about the Blackberry shares decline.
The inside Story of Why Blackberry is Failing
Blackberry started experiencing its downfall shortly after it released its first Smartphone. There was a need to introduce a device that would replace all other similar products and compete effectively with other similar companies. However, this was a terrible flop that forced Verizon to turn to Google and Motorola. He intended to ensure Blackberry produced a touch screen phone that would ensure its market is retained and expanded. This was not over and the efforts by co-CEO Jim Balsillie to develop instant messaging software were opposed by the current CEO Thorsten Heins. He was forced to quit the board and stop his relations with Blackberry because he thought his presence in the company was not adding value. The board of directors led by Mr. Heins ignored the advice and went ahead with their plans that had serious implications for the company. These are the main reasons that triggered Blackberry’s long journey to financial crisis and this has forced some of its top officers to resign for fear of being condemned for failing the company.
Its wars started in 2012 when Thorsten Heins (CEO) and members of the board thought that the company’s weapon would be the full touch screen Blackberry Z10. However, Michael Lazaridis opposed this plan and said that it was not a wise move to refuse to listen to the voice of reason. The company had learned various lessons from its previous products and there was no need of investing in a device that had already saturated the market. Mr. Kristian Tear and Frank Boulben opposed this idea claiming that there was no market for keyboard-equipped mobile phones. This marked a turnaround for Blackberry’s performance because it failed to meet its financial targets after launching the Blackberry Z10 that had been opposed by some of its board members.
It reported a $ 965 million fiscal second-quarter loss because of a huge write-down of this product. The plan had flopped because the company had not met its target eight months after launching this product. It is unable to meet the cost of paying its workers and has already cut 4,500 jobs; therefore, its workforce has been reduced by 40%. Even though this company invented the smartphone products it is unable to compete with similar companies and this has lowered its market value by $ 75 billion within the last five years. Significant rifts between board members are to blame for causing serious conflicts and barriers when implementing the projects of this company.
Mr. Balsillie resigned from the company’s board because his proposal to introduce a universal product that would promote instant messaging on all phones was opposed. This and other similar happenings have cast the future of this company in doubt and Fairfax Financial Holdings announced its intention to take over Blackberry at an estimated cost of $ 4.7 billion. The Apple iPhone was a serious threat to Blackberry because of the complexity of its services. It was a mini computer and this baffled Mr. Balsillie who downplayed this innovation by casting doubts on it’s thereat to collapse networks. The launch of its two-way email pager managed to compete with Apples’ iPhone and minimized its influence on the global market.
The post iPhone period dealt a serious blow to Blackberry because it required the use of different data packages from the traditional wireless carriers. This forced Mr. Lazaridis to buy the Torch Mobile software that enabled mobile phones to access the internet. However, it was very challenging to fix this application in Java supported devices because it was only compatible with Android and Apple systems. This showed that the company was neither prepared nor positioned for the future of smartphones. The DNA of Blackberry was very old and it was necessary to change it to enable the company to extend its life.
Blackberry’s structure was very complicated and even though the two CEOs worked in unison their subordinates were a headache to decision making. It took too long to account for shortcomings and products were never launched as planned due to long consultations. The plan to launch its first notebook (PlayBook) did not help the company recover from perennial failures and led to serious losses. Mr. Lazaridis is optimistic that the Blackberry story will never end and there is a possibility he may be in the team planning to buy his former company and rejuvenate its performance.
BlackBerry has been a popular phone throughout the world because of its strong security features. Users securely accessed their e-mail accounts, messages, and calls because the company used strong encryption codes. However, this led to serious political and economic risks in other regions outside the US, the UK, and Canada among others.
BlackBerry faced strong challenges in its overseas operation, particularly in the Middle East and Asia regions. The major concern that many countries raised were security concerns related to BlackBerry’s coding system. Governments found it difficult to monitor any form of communication that took place through BlackBerry mobile phones.
The different political systems in the Middle East affected the company’s operations. For instance, many Middle East countries cited both moral and security reasons as their sources of concerns, which initiated threats to ban BlackBerry devices. These governments demanded to gain full access to BlackBerry messages due to increasing cases of global security challenges and terrorism threats.
It is important to recognize that RIM’s BlackBerry sent customers’ information automatically to its servers in Canada. This realization forced many Middle East countries to demand that BlackBerry should set up local servers. The political instability, limited freedom, and moral concerns were the major reasons, which made BlackBerry face threats of bans from several Middle East governments.
Measures that RIM can take to address security concerns while taking care of its business interests
From these threats to ban BlackBerry in several Middle East countries, RIM must address security and moral concerns in order to continue operating in these countries. Business growth and economic gains would be important for the company other than the privacy of its customers in the Middle East. RIM had to comply with regulations in foreign countries. First, BlackBerry would have to set servers in Middle East countries and allow government authorities to gain access to customers’ personal information and communications. This would eliminate the automatic transfer of customers’ data to servers in Canada. In addition, government authorities would be able to monitor all communications through BlackBerry devices. Second, BlackBerry will have to censor contents, which its users will get in their BlackBerry devices through the Internet. This would eliminate the moral concerns of most Middle East authorities and parents. Finally, BlackBerry must recognize that governments will always win in such cases. Hence, RIM must abide by the local laws of countries in which it operates. This would ensure the company’s business growth and economic gains.
On the other hand, the company must not insist on customers’ privacy and freedom of information in such countries because their laws do not recognize such issues.
Strategic lessons arising from the BlackBerry episode for MNCs operating in the technology arena
Many MNCs face serious challenges when operating outside their countries of origin due to various political, social, cultural, and economic concerns. MNC technology firms must note that regulations on privacy and free flow of information differ from one country to another. In addition, not all governments possess the technical skills to decrypt any form of encrypted data. Therefore, it is in their best interests to meet local laws and operate within such laws. Moreover, they also need to comprise on the privacy of their customers in order to allow governments to meet their security concerns. These are global operational risks, which MNCs must plan for to avoid future operational challenges.
RIM had based its BlackBerry on strong security features, which acted as its selling point in the US, Canada, the UK, and other countries. BlackBerry users could use their devices securely without compromising their privacy, personal information, and communications to governments.
However, Middle East countries raised security due to constant terrorism activities, global security, and moral concerns about BlackBerry devices. Governments could not gain access to customers’ communications because RIM used strong encrypted security features, which many governments could not crack so easily. This frustrated many governments, which wanted to monitor communications through BlackBerry devices. BlackBerry did not have local servers in the Middle East. Hence, the phone automatically transferred users’ information and communications to its servers in Canada, and local governments could not gain access to such data.
Middle East governments also raised moral concerns regarding BlackBerry content accessible to its users. Middle East countries highly regulate what their citizens can access through the Internet
Measures that RIM can take to address security concerns while taking care of its business interests
In order to continue its operation in the region, RIM had to meet the moral and security concerns of the Middle East governments. BlackBerry had to set up local servers in the region and allow governments to gain full access to communications and the personal information of its customers. Hence, RIM had to compromise the privacy of its customers and supply customers’ data to governments. The company had to censor some illegal content in the Middle East region. These measures would ensure that RIM avoids both political and economic risks, but maintain business growth and economic advantages. RIM must recognize that Middle East regulations do not promote personal privacy and the free flow of information. Thus, it is important to localized operations.
Strategic lessons arising from the BlackBerry episode for MNCs operating in the technology arena
Technology MNC companies must set their operational policies to meet those of the host countries in which they operate. MNC firms must compromise the privacy and flow of information of their customers in order to conduct their businesses. Usually, governments can only allow foreign firms to operate within their laws. Countries have different levels of economic freedoms, which can be either stringent or flexible based on the economic reforms of a given country. A combination of political, economic, and social risks can create operational challenges for any MNC.
Research in motion is the manufacturer of Blackberry products, which include hardware and software. The company has received mixed results in recent years due to the type of market structure that it operates in as well as other factors that affect its demand and supply. This has seen the company shift positions from being the market leader to the third position it now occupies in terms of market share. To understand these changes, it is important to examine the demand and supply of its products as well as the market structure and its production costs (Ribeiro, P. 1).
Factors affecting demand
One of the factors that affect the demand for blackberry is the change in consumer tastes and preferences whereby consumers want phones with more applications. This increased the demand for blackberry smartphones because it was among the first phones that had many applications in one handset. The second factor is the prices of substitute products such as iPhones produced by Apple Inc. If substitute products are introduced in the market at a relatively low price, prices of blackberry will go down. However, if the substitute products have a higher price, then the demand for blackberry will be increase. Apple introduced an iPhone at a lower price than the blackberry. This led to a decrease in demand for blackberry because consumers prefer to have more value at a cheaper price (Cellan-Jones, para. 7-10).
Thirdly, there is awareness of the consumers whereby if consumers are aware of the benefits of the products, then their demand will be high. However, if customers are not informed of the benefits, they will purchase any product, and this will affect the potential demand for better products negatively. When blackberry was launched, it performed well in the market until Apple introduced its iPhone, then its demand went down.
Although Apple’s iPhone was not as magical as it was popularized, most customers were lured and shifted to Apple. This shows Apple’s ability to build customer demand. Accessibility is another factor that affects the demand for blackberry products. The more accessible the products are, the more demand will be created because customers will be able to see the products and evaluated them against competitor’s products. Blackberry products are distributed through registered suppliers who are few, especially in developing countries. Hence, this has resulted in a decrease in demand for blackberry (Lowson, p. 183-189).
Factors affecting supply
One factor that affects the supply of blackberry products is government regulations, especially in foreign markets. The Government can implement rules that promote smooth business operations, or it can set up regulations that frustrate business activities. As a result, businesses will be reluctant to sell their products in markets with unfair laws. This will lead to a decrease in the supply of the products (American Book Company & Dorn, p. 130-135). A case in point is the Indian Government that implemented laws whereby all mobile operators are required to provide access to their systems as and when asked for by the Government.
The CEO of RIM, the manufacturer of blackberry, saw this as discriminatory law because it mostly affected his company’s products than it affected the competitor’s products. The company, therefore, stopped its operations in India for a while until it got an assurance from the Government that the law will be revised to include other operators. For the period the company stopped its operations, the supply for its products in India went down (Ribeiro, P. 1).
The market trend is another factor that affects supply, whereby a company will supply products according to consumer tastes and preferences. This means that a company will reduce the supply of a product that is no longer preferred by customers and increase the supply of products that have a high preference. Therefore, the supply will depend on market trends whereby if it changes in favor of a product, its supply increases. For instance, most companies in the gadget industry realized market tastes were changing in favor of tablets after Apple launched the iPad. Other companies, including RIM, the manufacturer of blackberry, were not left behind. RIM launched its blackberry playbook, which led to an increase in its supply while the company’s supply of smart phones went down (Tarrant, para. 10-13).
Market Structures
Blackberry operates in a market that has oligopoly characteristics, which has few firms dominating the largest share of the market (Tucker, p. 178-179). The major actors in this market structure include Apple, Google, and Research in Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of blackberry in the software sector. In the hardware sector, Apple, Samsung, Nokia, and RIM dominate the market. Profit maximization is not always a priority, but they always strive to gain market share. For instance, Apple is currently leading in the tablet market with a market share of over 37%. The firms also operate on a differentiated product strategy whereby each is striving to have a product with the greatest attributes (Siwicki, para. 1-3).
There is the interdependence of firms whereby the actions of one firm affect the others. This explains the basis of price decisions, whereby if one firm reduces prices, others will follow almost immediately. For instance, when Apple Inc. introduced the iPad into the market, its rivals followed almost immediately with their versions. Samsung had Galaxy tabs, Motorola launched the Xoom, and Blackberry introduced the Blackberry playbook. All these were within the same price range.
When Apple introduced an improved version of the iPad (ipad2), it was forced to sell it at the same price as the earlier version so that it could maintain its market share or increase it. Another characteristic of this market structure is that there are barriers to entry. The start-up capital needed in this market is huge. Hence, these potential bars investors from entering the market, which explains the few firms that are dominating (Tarrant, para. 10-13).
Production Costs
Firms in the electronic industry invest heavily in research and development, which explains why their fixed costs are always high. This is necessitated by the need to be innovative because the companies produce within similar product categories but differentiated. Therefore, each of them will strive to have the most innovative product. The variable costs are always reduced after a product has been developed because the firms are able to mass-produce. This helps them to enjoy the economies of scale. For instance, the CEO of Apple stated that developing the iPad had cost the company so many resources. He added that the company had, however, met its target profits by selling 15 million pads within nine months (Siwicki, para. 3-5).
Conclusion
Every firm would like to see the demand for its products grow to meet its potential supplying capacity. However, the growth of demand is subject to some factors within the business environment. They include the price of substitute products, change in tastes and preferences, and customer awareness as well as product accessibility. There are also factors that affect the supply of a company’s products and services. These include government rules and regulations and a change in market trends. Blackberry operates in a market that has few firms that are dominating, which is referred to as an oligopoly. In this market structure, firms are interdependent. Therefore, the actions of one firm will attract responses from the other players.
Works Cited
American Book Company and Dorn, Chris. Passing the LEAP 21 Grade 8 in Social Studies. American Book Company, Inc., 2004.
The BlackBerry is Smartphone manufactured by RIM. It has been having a large market share, especially in the North American market. However, it is currently facing stiff competition from other products such as the Apple iPhone and Nokia Smartphone among others.
The main target for the BlackBerry has been the business users and it has not been able to effectively attract the mainstream consumers. Such Company as Apple has been able to produce products that have been attractive to the majority consumers.
However, RIM can still take appropriate measures to avoid losing its market share by coming up with a new series BlackBerry Smartphone to add it to its product line with an intention of increasing its market share in North America as well as in the foreign markets such as China, parts of Africa and Europe.
The company will have to capitalize on the available opportunities and its strengths and to make the necessary efforts to overcome its weaknesses and threats in order to win the competition.
In this marketing plan, the situation of the BlackBerry product has been assessed and analyzed; the available literature concerning the problem of stiff competition and losing the market share by BlackBerry has also been looked at.
In addition, a marketing strategy to be employed in introducing the new BlackBerry product to the market has been given and the financial projections and implementation plan has also been given in this marketing plan.
Situation Assessment and Analysis
According to Gowda, Szabo, Choi, Hauk & Salt (2009), “Research In Motion – RIM, pioneered the development of the Smartphone market in 1998 with the BlackBerry, positioned in government and enterprise target markets” (Gowda, Szabo, Choi, Hauk & Salt, 2009, p.3).
The BlackBerry has gained a competitive edge following its recognition as being an “all-in-one portable wireless communication device” (Gowda, et al, 2009, p.3). It has a broad portfolio of Smartphone products which include; BlackBerry Tour, Bold, Pearl and Curve series (Gowda, et al, 2009).
On the was of this product getting more popularity, it goes without saying that it would be meaningless if the RIM Company depends on the sales of the present existing enterprise in order of ensuring the retaining of the products in the market. Following this realization, a move to introduce the BlackBerry Storm series was taken in 2008 and the main aim for this was to accommodate the majority consumer segments.
However, this new series brought about “low customer satisfaction rates”. Another move was taken in 2009 to bring improvement to this series in which there was launching of the Storm2 series. However, the consumer expectations are ever changing and the competitors are always on the lookout to satisfy the consumer needs.
Therefore, it is essential that RIM develops a new BlackBerry series product to add it to its product line in order to win the competition since the competitors in the Smartphone market such as Apple and Nokia are becoming more and more innovative.
Research In Motion is a company that became very popular all over the world getting its popularity each day with a high speed. There are more than 14 million people who preferred the Blackberry production and, in total, the users come from different places of the world. Between the year 2005 and 2009, its revenue approached over $11,000 million. Out of this revenue, 92 percent came from outside North America.
In 2009 financial year, the revenue increased by 84 percent over the financial year 2008 (Datamonitor, 2009). The company has realized growth “by expanding in to foreign markets where it held 18.7 percent of the global Smartphone market share in 2009” (Datamonitor, 2009, p. 1).
Strong financials bring in investors and enable RIM to realize growth with coming up with new products as well as new solutions. However, this company encounters a danger to its global share and revenue as a number of its competitors enter the industry and come up with new products.
The forecasts that were made gave an indication that the Smartphone market would increase by 19 percent all through from the year 2009 to 2011. Even if there was a decrease in the sales of mobile phones by 9 percent at the start of 2009,”the Smartphone movement increased by 13 percent despite the economic crisis” (Datamonitor, 2009, p.3).
The consumers of the Smartphone have given an indication that they have attached value on the multi-media applications and entertainment in their mobile devices. This tendency offers an opportunity for RIM to expand its product lines by putting much of its focus on the needs of the mainstream consumers.
Competition
RIM takes up the 20% of the global Smartphone market share. Even if this share is remarkable, the company is facing threats from its competitors and it is constantly fighting to remain on top of the competition. Its competitors in this market include “High Tech Computer (HTC), Apple, Nokia, Google’s Android, Samsung and Palm” (Gowda, et al, 2009, p. 4).
Considering the Apple Company, in the financial year that ended in September 2008, its net sales amounted to $11.8 billion. Basing on the research that was conducted, it was established that the Apple Company was able to take up 13.3 percent of the global market share “as their 3 GB iPhone is growing in popularity selling for $199 with a service contract” (Datamonitor, 2009, p.4).
In addition, the iPhone offers a competitive advantage, “as the device is able to run upwards of 85,000 applications providing higher utility for customers” (Datamonitor, 2009, p.5). In a similar manner, Nokia dominates the Smartphone global market share at 40 percent, posing a threat to North America market shares (Abkowitz, 2009).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
One of the strengths of the BlackBerry product is the brand image. This product has one of the best images for the mobile phones in the current mobile phone market. The diverse business it has possesses various products for its greater range of consumers.
The other strength is that it is an innovative product. The software of the BlackBerry is designed very well. This phone is greatly secure it combines well with other platforms. It operates well with various other carriers which make it possible for it to be utilized all over the world. This device is quite easy to manage. It’s battery life is longer than the standard one.
The third strength is the product features. This product has “a small form-factor with an easy-to-use-keyboard” (Randhawa et al, 2009, p.2). RIM has the patents for the “thumbwheel and QWERTY keyboard found on the device” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.2).
In addition, the device has a “speedy mobile e-mail provider” and it has coverage in a large number of major nations. The Blackberry Smartphone is very comfortable to use when monitoring the e-mail messages. It is a very convient and portable way of being connected to the Internet as well. The global utilization of this product is one of “its best known assets” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.2).
Weaknesses
One of the main weaknesses of the Blackberry is ‘Global Coverage Dependence”. The company’s business model which involves entirely selling through operators implies that it relies on its “operators when it comes to launch Blackberry’s services” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.2). This consumes much time and the expense of launching this “can be high for small time operators” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.2).
The other weakness of the Blackberry is the cost of ownership. This product has a high ownership cost. According to Randhawa, et al (2009), “Blackberry is known as a high-end product that is very costly for enterprises that want to provide e-mail across large organizations” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.2).
The other companies competing with RIM have brought to the market products that are less costly as compared to the Blackberry.
The third weakness of the Blackberry is in relation to its features. When it comes to setting up critical applications, the Blackberry does not find it easy but struggles. It does not have “a very large storage of third-party software….when it comes to most people, its main feature is the e-mail utility” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.2).
Opportunities
One of the available opportunities is the wide range of offerings for mobile workers. The increasing number of consumers will, in the future, need to be satisfied and the Blackberry will be at their service to ensure the consumers’ needs as are satisfactorily met.
RIM will seek to ensure the enlarge of e-mail all across the world towards a market which is divergent and popular at the international level. Consumers have the knowledge about this value but they do not have the willingness of paying a premium.
The other opportunity is that RIM “extends the range of third-party Blackberry devices” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.3).
At a time Blackberry engages in licensing its software via “Blackberry connect and Blackberry programs” it is in a position to increase control against other users who have preference for the platforms of the Blackberry and “It is easily addressable in global markets and features certain products in markets worldwide” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.3).
Threats
The biggest threat that the Blackberry faces is the competition. The Blackberry is currently experiencing stiff competition from other products such as the Apple’s iPhone than it has ever experienced. There are various suppliers all over the world which give competition to Blackberry on each and every coming day.
Blackberry competes as well with its operators; a large number of them have ensured launching of their own “branded e-mail service” (Randhawa, et al, 2009, p.3). There is a great competition in gaining popularity at the level of economic marketing within the mobile industry that bases on the competing of Blackberry with the products that are eager to imitate or to overcome this mobile product.
Marketing Research (Literature Review)
According to Tsirulnik (2010), even though the BlackBerry is the largely used Smartphone in the U.S, with about 43 percent of the market share, there seems that its application strategy has not been a success. In comparing RIM with the Apple Company, the RIM’s BlackBerry App World is remarkably “less crowed than Apple’s App store” (Tsirulnik, 2010, para. 2).
By the beginning of the year 2010, there were about one hundred and fifty thousand applications in iTunes while the “BlackBerry App World” did not have more than fifteen thousand applications. Moreover, it is reported that Android was a little higher but in a similar ballpark.
“There is no too much going on in terms of branded BlackBerry applications and it is rather ironical considering its market share” (Tsirulnik, 2010, para 2).
It has also been reported that the iPhone/Android platform do have touch functionality that is superior as well as navigation from App store to application to a larger number of the BlackBerry devices (Tsirulnik, 2010).
In addition, “the Androids and iPhones are preloaded with their app stores but on the other hand, a person using a BlackBerry has to download App World in case he or she wants to use it” (Tsirulnik, 2010, para 22).
However, it is pointed out that “BlackBerry has a great opportunity to win over the enterprise and B2B market, as companies are far more likely to incorporate companywide BlackBerry solutions over the iPhone, which constitutes a significant barrier to entry for the iPhone” (Tsirulnik, 2010, para 22).
Tsirulnik poses a question that; “will BlackBerry App World measure up to the iPhone” (Tsirulnik, 2010, para 10). The iPhone has a large “installed base of seventy five million iPhone and iPod devices and counting, all feeding on billions of downloads of 150,00-pluc applications” (Tsirulnik, 2010, para 11).
The success of the “iPhone App Store” is attributed to its marketing support which include; “existing infrastructure of application review sites, blogs and YouTube review sites” (Tsirulnik, 2010, para 12).
Research in Motion is supposed to obtain more developers as well as brands which have interest in the creation of the entertaining and fun applications for the company’s platform ((Tsirulnik, 2010).
According to Arthur (2011), RIM has been gradually losing its market share in the course of the last two years to phones that make use of the Google’s Android OS as well as to the Apple’s iPhone, and especially in the U.S market which was once the company’s biggest market.
However, this company has been able to gain the market share in other countries in Africa, Europe and Asia, and especially in China. It is reported that the company has been able to gain a bigger market share than that that has been held by the former market leader Nokia for Smartphone sales in parts of Africa and China (Arthur, 2011).
However, although the profits of RIM increased in the most recent quarter of the financial year 2011, there was sequential fall in the handset sales, giving an indication that the customers were not renewing contracts but they were instead purchasing touch-based phones for RIM’s competitors such as Apple, Samsung and HTC (Arthur, 2010).
According to Arthur (2011), “RIM’s customers split roughly 50 -50 between business users and consumers, where the general Smartphone market is split 30-70” (Arthur, 2011, para 11).
The consumer market is bigger and following this, problems have been created for RIM in its attempts to expand the customer base “as the iPhone and Android phones have so far proved more popular with the first wave of consumer Smartphone buyers” (Arthur, 2011, para 11).
According to Siebes (2010), following the industry wide competition, there has been increased spending in research and development at RIM and this has in turn led to a decrease in profit margins to a considerable level between the year 2007 and 2010.
Moreover, there has been an eight percent increase in the cost of sales during the same period and at the same time, there has been a decrease in the average selling price per unit to $311 in 2010 from $371 in 2009 (Peers, 2010).
To a great extend, the rise in the cost of sales is attributed to increased level of spending on research and development and at the same time, the decreasing unit selling cost is a result of end-consumer expectations “in a market where RIM’s BlackBerry is no longer one of just a few alternatives” (Siebes, 2010, para. 4).
It is pointed out that the company is not just about to make a loss but it is imperative that to the company’s stakeholders for it to maintain high profit levels (Siebes, 2010).
As on one hand it is not realistic to have expectations of the company’s profit margins going back to the previous highest levels any time in the near future, some actions are supposed to be taken to ensure that there is slowing down of the rate at which the profit margins are decreasing in the short time, and to ensure that there is an increase in the profit margins in the long run.
Marketing Strategy
Marketing Mix
Product
To this point, RIM has transformed “mobile phone communication devices with the BlackBerry smartphone” (Gowda, et al, 2009, p.5). The best idea would be to add to the product depth by bringing in a new BlackBerry to the product line by coming up with a multi-media device to meet the consumers’ needs in a better way.
Price
The setting of the price point will be done by the pricing strategies of the competitors. For the clients who long to have the satellite service, there will be predetermining of the extra charge.
Place
There will be distribution of the new BlackBerry product through the North American service carriers as well as the Global carriers, retail outlets and also through the “Black Berry promotional website” (Grewal, 2009, p.9).
Promotion
The company will engage in communicating the advantages of the new BlackBerry product to the consumers and it will do this through tailored advertisement campaigns, ”internet marketing, viral marketing, social media channels and exclusive offers to current and new customers” (Grewal, 2009, p.9).
Financial Projections and Analysis
It is projected that within the next one year, there will be a gradual increase in the BlackBerry market share and the company’s profits are projected to increase at a rate of 10 percent per year. However, in the long run, after between three and five years, it is expected that the profits will increase by about thirty percent.
Target Market
The present BlackBerry target market is formed by a population consisting of middle to upper class consumers who fall in the age range between 30 to 55 years in the “professional, executive, and industrial segments” (Gowda, et al, 2009, p.4).
The main target for getting new clients is the mainstream consumer market where the RIM Company will enter this segment by putting the changes in the consume expectations in to consideration.
The company can bring the Smartphone products in to the market with more multimedia components to go with the interactive lifestyle of the consumers. In order to go on with the long-term growth, “RIM will target the next generational cohort. Tweets’, who are adept to technology, social media and have considerable influence on their parent’s consumer behavior” (Grewal, 2009, p.20).
Strategies, Implementation and Controls
The RIM to be able to satisfy the needs of the next generation of consumers and expand its global presence and increase its Smartphone market share, it has to increase its product depth. It has to add a new series to the BlackBerry Smartphone product line. In order to realize this, it needs to take various measures.
One of the measures that need to be taken is product development. The current capabilities of the BlackBerry devices will not be sufficient in meeting the ever changing expectations of the consumers in the long run. The company can expand its market share both in North America and globally by ensuring addition of a BlackBerry series to the product depth under the mobile communication devices breadth.
The new BlackBerry series that the company will have to come up with will have to feature increased multimedia and application capabilities, “non-scratch recycled metal, a full LED touch screen in combination with Qwerty keypad on the reverse side of the device, and a satellite service option for all customers” (Gowda, et al, p.5).
The “satellite service will give out a higher value and greater utility for consumers who have a desire to use their phone at any place in the world.
The advantage of this new BlackBerry product line will generate and give value by ensuring that the ever changing needs of the existing and new consumers are satisfied within the targeted market segments.
The new alternative would facilitate sustenance of growth because a new product creates motivation for clients to go on buying BlackBerry products and offer greater utility with the features that have been added.
Having a complete product line, this will enable the BlackBerry products to resist the external threats that are posed by the competitors. The new BlackBerry product will stimulate a sales increase as new products bring in a big proportion of revenues and dominate over other products.
However, some disadvantage may be brought in case RIM does not succeed in satisfying the changing needs of the expectations of the consumers because this will bring about revenue loss and a reduction in the profits. If there is no demand for the new product, this may in turn reduce the value of the BlackBerry brand; thus discouraging the existing as well as the new customers from purchasing any BlackBerry brand
. In addition, the competitors may decide to improve on the concept on which BlackBerry may base on when developing this new product line and bring to the market an improved model to capture the market share in case this new product does not succeed.
But RIM should foresee this and take appropriate measures to avoid such risks. Adequate research should be carried out to ensure the new product does not fail and serve to satisfy the ever changing consumer needs. Precaution should be taken to ensure the product has not weaknesses on which the competitors can capitalize on it and for them to bring in to the market an even more improved product.
Another move that needs to be taken by RIM after developing a new product is market penetration. In order for this company to increase the Smartphone market share is the business as well as consumer segments, it can ensure that the brand awareness is increased.
It can do this by communicating the superior benefits of the new BlackBerry brand. In order to bring up the level of the brand awareness, and to ensure intensification of the distribution efforts, the company can open BlackBerry stores having specialized BlackBerry service, situated in the business centers as well as suburban regions across the globe, and mostly in Asia, Europe and North America regions.
One of the Benefits that will accrue from this is that, by bringing improvement in the marketing mix and open the BlackBerry stores in the existing markets, the company will be able to penetrate its markets and increase its market share.
Adding to the “place of market distribution, this will serve as an additional vehicle that will be used to strengthened its communication of its BlackBerry products through customer service quality. Moreover, the company’s BlackBerry “specialty stores” offer added value to the products, through providing convenience and product knowledge to both the current as well as new customers in the targeted markets.
However, there are some disadvantages that the company may encounter following taking this move. For instance, there will be no compensating of the additional marketing costs in case the additional promotion and distribution places turns out to be fruitless.
In such a situation, the company will loose its market shares to its competitors who may offer innovative products with higher perceived value. If RIM does not move fast and delay in launching the new specialty stores, the customers may not be motivated to purchase from the BlackBerry product line.
But the most important thing is the company to consider these shortcomings and ensure they are avoided as much as possible.
The other move that can be taken by RIM to gain a larger market share and improve its sales and profitability is to develop the market. The company should seek to further penetrate the global markets by collaborating with mobile carrier service sin nations having emerging markets to increase the market share for its Smartphone.
An advantage of this is that, in a large number of developing economies, there is an increasing percent of middle-class household who starting to purchase technological devices.
This offers an opportunity for the company to capture market share and bring up the level of the revenue. Going on to collaborate with co-brand with the global mobile service carriers promotes a number of consumer perceptions of the quality of the product and ensures value addition to the BlackBerry products.
One of the drawbacks that may be associated with this is that the potential that go on co-branding with the global mobile service carriers may fail on the side of RIM because, it is pointed out, “global carrier brands are suited to respective geographic regions and demographics in the different cultures, resulting in different customer profiles” (Gowda, et al, 2009, p.8).
The global carrier companies may swift the priorities they have making the co-branded products not to be continued. Consequently, customer loyalty as well as customer relationships which are brought about by the co-branded products would actually be lost. Another drawback may be that venturing in to the foreign markets may be obstructed by the regulations put in place by governments in thee countries.
References
Abkowitz, A. (2009). How BlackBerry Does It. Fortune, 160, (4), pp.92-100.
The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the importance of change management in the company. The business suffers at the moment, and many employees are reluctant to accept changes. Primary objectives of the process and approaches that should be used will be listed and discussed.
Introduction
BlackBerry Limited is a company focused on the development and promotion of the equipment related to telecommunication. It is mostly known for its high-quality smartphones and tablet computers. The business has been quite successful for many years, but sales have started to drop since 2011 because the manufacturer has failed to adapt to the market, and was not prepared for the introduction of disruptive technologies.
Rationale
The case is vital because it highlights the fact that even the most successful companies may have to deal with numerous issues if they do not acknowledge the importance of change management, and do not keep track of latest trends in the industry. The analysis of the situation in the company would help to get a better understanding of possible techniques that can be used. Creative approach will be required because losses are enormous, and it is not an easy task to retain customers.
Discussion
John S. Chen is a current CEO, and he is not satisfied with the division. He has proven to be an outstanding professional and was assigned to the position in 2013 because the board of directors understood that changes are required. He has restructured most of the divisions and believes that the enterprise has enormous potential (Chen, 2013). Thorstein Heins, the previous CEO has made several critical mistakes.
He was too confident in the strengths of the platform, and it has led to severe consequences (Jacobides, 2013). Chen’s decision to use Android operating system was intriguing. It is quite evident that the difference in the number of applications is enormous, and it is an aspect valued by many customers. However, the problem is that the devices have lost their uniqueness as the result, and the market is incredibly competitive and crowded at the moment.
Recommendations
The first objective is to establish a department that would be focused on emerging technologies. The knowledge and skills of the employees will be assessed, and it may be necessary to conduct a training needs analysis. It is understandable that many workers would be dissatisfied with such changes, but it is reasonable to schedule several meetings to discuss the importance of the research. One of the most significant problems that should not be overlooked is that the company did not take preferences of the customers into account. It was too focused on the target market and did not understand that they could be influenced by external factors.
Employees need to change their mindset, and it would be beneficial to establish an environment where they can share the ideas and voice their opinions. It is clear that most clients are no longer interested in the physical keyboard, and it is not possible to rely on the name of the brand. However, it would be appropriate to have it as an option. The biggest problem is that both internal and external stakeholders are not sure about the future of the company. A set of approaches should be considered to improve creativity in the workplace, and change the atmosphere in the firm (Gleeson, 2013).
Conclusion
In summary, it is possible to state that the enterprise is slowly recovering, but numerous changes are still required. The focus on change management activities should help the business overall, and the use of innovative technologies is crucial in this case. BlackBerry has many advantages, and some of the applications need to be improved slightly. However, the most attention should be devoted to the design of the devices and hardware.
The BlackBerry Company is a brand name that has thrived in the market for a long time. However, this situation is slowly changing due to stiff competition from other companies. Companies such as Nokia and Apple are developing more attractive and versatile devices that are highly preferred by users.
Besides, the BlackBerry has not done much to market its existing devices and this has worked against the market performance of its brands as most potential customers has developed uninformed negative opinions about BlackBerry products.
As a result, the company has recorded a significant decline in sales, market share and shares value.
This report presents the BlackBerry case from an economics point of view and identifies various steps that can be taken to address the situation. The paper is divided into key areas namely: description of company; the problem; solution to the problem and; ethical issues involved.
Description of the Organization
Company Overview
Founded in 1984, the BlackBerry is a multinational mobile communications company that has transformed the mobile industry over the years (BlackBerry 2014a). The company was the first to introduce smartphones in the market in 1999.
It is a NASDAQ listed company with institutions holding a significant stake of its shares as outlined in Table 1 (NASDAQ 2014):
Table 1: The BlackBerry holder share positions as at October 2014. Generated from NASDAQ (2014).
Institutional ownership 52.31% Total shares outstanding $527 Million Total value of holdings 2.829 Million
Nature of position
Totals
Increased positions
119,157,799
Decreased positions
39, 534, 263
Held positions
197, 215,569
Total institutional shares
275,907,631
Institutional holders
262
Total shares held in company
275,907,631
The Organizational Structure
The BlackBerry Company has several sections, which are grouped into three key departments namely; finance and accounts, facility management and human resource and administration. The departments are coordinated by the CEO office as illustrated the company’s organizational structure presented in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1: BlackBerry organizational structure. Adopted from BlackBerry (2014b).
According to BlackBerry (2014b), the responsibilities of each position are as follows. The Chief Executive Officer is also the executive chair of the company’s Board of Directors and doubles as the cofounder, in charge of QNX software systems.
The enterprising engineer takes charge of managing the product and software sections while the global sales office oversees the sales in various BlackBerry outlets across the world. The devices and emerging solutions office is in charge of the BlackBerry’s long-term development plan both in terms of product innovations and business prowess.
Finally, the chief legal office is in charge of all sorts of legal issues both in terms of product development and running the business.
The Market
According to Moon (2013), the BlackBerry performed well in the market until 2013 when its market share started crumbling. The author states that the Blackberry had 10.5 million clients by the time the first Apple iPhone was introduced in the market and 21 million customers by the year Google and Android first entered the market.
However, the situation changed in 2013 with significant losses incurred as outlined by Moon (2013). Information leaked to the media that the BlackBerry had incurred a loss of $1.049 billion and was undertaking a $1 billion budget cutting plan.
While the management decided to undertake several modifications to address the competitive hardware situation, this did not help much according to Moon as the company recorded a 21% decline in the number of mobile phones exported in March 2013.
The company also made losses in its share value and most of its faithful clients had opted out leaving behind not too many die hard supporters. Moon (2013) attributed the huge loss in the BlackBerry’s market segment to the fast expanding deals of Samsung and HTC android phones, which are slowly replacing the BlackBerry in the market.
In the US alone, the BlackBerry’s market segment plunged to 3% down from 9%.
Competitive advantage
Nevertheless, Cheng (2013) outlines four factors, which the BlackBerry can exploit to have a competitive advantage over its competitors. First, the BlackBerry has numerous outlets in different parts across the world. This gives it an advantage as it can re-strategize and put more efforts in the regions where its products are doing well.
Besides, the company had merged and brought together the advertising division hence it will be easy for the division to monitor market situation and see which region to direct advertising efforts. Second, BlackBerry is a brand name, which the company can use to leverage the market.
Most people associate the name BlackBerry with class and style hence the company can use this to influence people who are concerned about class and style.
Third, the BlackBerry changed its branding strategy to focus on less complex names such as Z10 and Q10 for its smartphones contrary to its previous strategy that recycled prior complex names. Such simple names are easy to remember and can compete well in the market.
The Challenge
The BlackBerry’s brand has lost its esteem making it extraordinarily imperative in the cell phone industry. While the company is a brand name, it has not been able to showcase its products to fortify its brand. Its inability to appropriately communicate to the potential customers has worked to damage its brand name.
As such, the company should engage in what Cheriton (2013) refers to as rebuilding-the-brand kind of marketing.
The Author adds that the BlackBerry needs to move from a business-confronting-engineering-organization to a buyer-hardware-organization with more concentration in offering services to ordinary individuals if it wants to stay abundant in the market.
Source of the Challenge
From the discussion so far, the BlackBerry’s problem is caused by its inability to communicate its brands to the market mainly due to poor marketing. According to Cheng (2013), the BlackBerry has failed to offer potential customers with fundamental information regarding its products.
The company has no dependable source of information on its devices hence potential customers only rely on the internet, but information obtained is often scarce and exaggerated to the negative side.
As a result, many people consider BlackBerry phones to have outdated and non-user-friendly applications, which are most suited for the old and rich businessmen.
Furthermore, the BlackBerry has very complicated advertisements that cannot lure potential customers. According to Moon (2013), advertisements must be extremely appealing and the organization ought to make the customers feel that they cannot do without the product being advertised.
On the contrary, the BlackBerry uses the official-looking old people in its promotions rather than the youthful normal people that would draw the attention of youthful customers.
Effects of the Challenge on the Organization and its Likely Impact on Key Stakeholders
As had been illustrated earlier, the BlackBerry deals have gone down enormously since 2013. This is on the grounds that there are no new customers being pulled into the company while the diehard clients are gradually losing interest in the company.
The decline in sales would mean that the company resizes its workforce as a way of cutting down on expenses. This implies that several employees risk losing their jobs if the situation is not addressed. This will undoubtedly have a negative impact on employees’ standards of living and the economy at large.
Further, the company has also recorded a decline in its share value. With the decline in the BlackBerry’s share value, it is expected that most shareholders might decide to pull out and look for other lucrative companies to invest in.
As a result, the company will not have adequate funds for its operations and might end up dissolving if the problem is not dealt with immediately.
But in event that the company closes down, what was once its piece of the pie in the market will go to different companies. This will be a good thing for the competitors as they will have less competition in the market.
SWOT Analysis
According to Cheng (2013), the BlackBerry Company has several strengths. First, the company has many outlets all over the world giving it wide market coverage. Second, the company already has a brand name that is known to many people all over the world.
Third, the company has many diehard customers that it can always depend on to consume their products. Last, the company has adopted simple names, which are much easier to remember, for its phones.
However, the BlackBerry also has some weaknesses outlined by Moon (2013). The company has a bad image among many people in the world. Many people consider BlackBerry smartphones as devices for the rich and old people.
Besides, the BlackBerry has not been able to effectively communicate its brands to potential customers. Consequently, its brand name has been soiled.
Despite the weaknesses, the company has some opportunities, which it can use to its advantage. According to Cheng (2013), the BlackBerry has the ability to introduce a new brand in the market. The company can easily exploit its technological capacity to develop a new brand that can work to salvage its soiled brand name.
Besides, the available BlackBerry brands in the market are still powerful. All the company needs to do is to simply re-brand them by adding more features and giving them new looks and names that will attract more customers.
The company, however, has to be wary of the stiff competition from other mobile phone companies that are constantly producing new devices with features that are preferred by customers. This is a threat that the BlackBerry has to carefully tackle for it to survive in the market.
Responding to the Challenge
Strategic Considerations and Planning
Borrowing from Grewal and Levy (2012), the solution to the challenge lies in re-branding its existing brands. This will involve refurbishing the existing brands to give them a new look.
As such, the enterprising engineer section will work closely with the devices and solutions section to identify the applications that can be removed or added to the existing devices to make them sell in the market. The focus should be to develop a powerful and attractive device that can compete well in the market.
The brands will also be given new names to save them from the already existing negative publicity. The re-branding will also require the input of the global sales and marketing sections. It will be necessary to effectively communicate the new brands to the potential customers.
Hence, the marketing section will have to re-strategize marketing and come up with advertisements that can lure many people into liking the BlackBerry products. I will then be the duty of global sales section to remove the old brands from the market and replace them with the refurbished ones.
How Planning and Implementation will be approached
The solution to the challenge will involve product improvement following a planned change process. Borrowing from Roberts (2010), there will be need for adequate planning on the next course of action in a bid to make BlackBerry products perform better in the market.
As a manager, I will ensure that adequate plans are made for the resources and activities required to deliver the option sought. This will start by communicating the need for change to the top management.
Once the management admits that re-branding is necessary, I will sit down with them to develop the goals of the intended change, which will guide in measuring progress. The overriding goal will be to salvage the company from negative publicity and improve on sales.
Successful implementation of the solution sought will require some form of control by the management. This will mean identifying and controlling the key sections, which are important in reclaiming the BlackBerry’s name such as the facility engineering and marketing sections.
I will work in consultation with the management to identify key individuals that can be trusted with leading the change process. A plan on how to communicate and manage resistance throughout the change process will then be developed.
Equally important will be a monitoring plan to help in evaluating whether the company is meeting its change goals (Eyre 2012). There will also be need to plan for the required product improvements to ensure that the resultant product meet customer needs.
Once the necessary planning is done, the identified change leaders will take charge of coordinating the relevant sections to deliver the rebranded products in the market in a way that will help the company reclaim its market share.
Required Changes to the Organisational Structure
The solution to the BlackBerry challenge will also involve drastic changes in the organisational structure. A restructuring of the staffing issues in the company will be necessary to ensure a balanced distribution of staff in all departs.
Key interest will be in the facility engineering and marketing sections since they determine, to a greater extent, the success of the BlackBerry brand in the market. I will consider restructuring the departments such that the enterprising Engineer and devices and emerging solutions become a new department.
Measuring Progress
From the discussion so far, the BlackBerry’s problem is the decline in its sale volumes due to negative. The solution to the problem is re-branding combined with intense marketing.
Hence, the best indicators to use when measuring progress in solving this problem are the market performance of the BlackBerry products as well as change in people’s perception of the BlackBerry and its products. I will collect data on sales of the BlackBerry products and do quarterly analysis to monitor the trend closely.
If the change is making good progress, then the brands delivered to the market should attract more buyers hence sales should depict a rising trend. But if the sales depict a declining trend, then it will mean that the change is not being properly implementation hence the need to relook the implementation and address the problems.
In addition, close monitoring of the company’s share value will also provide some insight on progress in the solution to the problem. If the share value goes up, then it will mean that the company is doing better in the market and attracting more investors hence an indication of positive progress in solving the problem.
As for change in potential customer’s views about the company, frequent market surveys to gauge customers’ perception of the BlackBerry can be a good progress measure.
Alternatively, a comments section can be created in the company website for visitors to leave their comments about the company and its products. Content analysis of the comments will help in determining whether or the negative publicity is declining.
Ethical Issues in Solving the Problem
Organizations develop value statements that have to be followed to the latter, despite the problem at hand. Creativity and excellence are some of the values that have to be strictly adhered to. There will be need for the BlackBerry to ensure that the company remains innovative and encourages excellence.
For this reason, it would be unethical for the BlackBerry to copy what its competitors are presenting to the market. Solving the problem will also require that the management is reminded of their ethical responsibilities and made to understand that neglecting the company is not ethically right.
Besides, the company should have fair dealings with its clients. This is usually achieved through delivery of high quality products in the market. It would only be ethical for the BlackBerry to continuously produce high quality devices. Yet the company is seen to relax on ensuring this.
Conclusion
Taking everything into account, the BlackBerry has a problem that needs to be sorted out for it to regain its lost glory. The company has a problem with its marketing strategy, which has not done enough to provide potential customers with adequate and relevant information about its products.
As a result, the company suffers negative publicity that has affected the company’s market performance. Consequently, the solution to this problem lies in re-branding and development of a new marketing strategy, but this will require some radical changes and close monitoring.
Recommendations
Having analysed the BlackBerry’s problem in detail, I make the following recommendations as a way of solving the problem. First, the company has to re-strategize its advertising. It can borrow a leaf from its competitors and come up with advertisements that can work to lure more customers into buying its products.
Besides, advertisement should focus on providing customers with as much information as possible about BlackBerry products. This will ensure that customers receive viable information on which they can judge BlackBerry products. Second, the company needs to do an overhaul of its administration.
Management is vital in the success of any business. Therefore, individuals who are in the administration and are simply watching as the company goes down the drain need to be laid off and replaced with new and youthful individuals who can comprehend and deliver on customer preferences.
Last, the company needs to consider developing devices that are more user-friendly. Focus should be on the most recent applications that are found in other companies’ devices. The devices developed should be branded with easy to recall names that stimulate interest.
