BlackBerry Company Downfall

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Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................................................3

Major Issues or Problems of the Organization................................................................................4

Product development...................................................................................................................4

Failure in Application Strategy....................................................................................................4

Poor Ability to Change and Adapt...............................................................................................5

Poor Marketing Strategies...........................................................................................................5

Branding and marketing..............................................................................................................6

Recommendations for Strategic Alternatives..................................................................................7

References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction

Companies in the technology sector must adjust to a highly competitive climate. The

primary domain vector continues to be innovation, while the rate at which new technologies are

developed is accelerating. With this series of studies, we hope to analyze various local or

international businesses operating in the IT&C sector as well as the significance of leadership to

those businesses' growth. The key issues that have arisen within Research In Motion - RIM (now

known as BlackBerry) will be the subject of this research paper. Due to its BlackBerry line of

smartphones, Research in Motion, or RIM, is well known. The business was established in

Canada in 1984.

The firm changed its name from RIM to BlackBerry as of January 30th, 2013, as a result

of increased awareness of the BlackBerry brand. Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaradis founded RIM.

They shared the CEO duties for the business until January 22, 2012. The smartphone concept

and its significance for the future development of the telecom business were concepts that

BlackBerry, an inventive firm, understood before other market participants. With the

development of the Blackberry 850 and other telecommunication and wireless technology, the

business that had before sought to dominate the electronics and computer consulting industries

finally did. The business prospered while securing national contracts, athletic contracts, and

other significant corporate contracts, finally "coming public on the NASDAQ." (Dess, 2019, p.

250). This would not prevent Blackberry from taking a severe tumble, though.

Managers at the BlackBerry Company made grave errors that led to the company's

strategic downfall (Surowiecki, 2012). Due to the Company's error, its performance dropped

from top to bottom since it failed to innovate in response to client needs and keep up with other

industry titans. Therefore, I shall elaborate on the primary cause of the BlackBerry Company's

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downfall in this post. Some of the issues covered are the ineffectiveness of the application

strategy, the inadequate ability to adapt and change, the lack of a competitive edge, and the

ignorance of the market.

Major Issues or Problems of the Organization

i. Product development
In 1987, RIM became aware of the shifting demands of organizations and started looking

for a method to provide a better communication tool. The push of emails by the gadgets would

be free of charge (Dess, 2019, p. 252). The platform started to develop, and ultimately the

Blackberry 850 was released. Following 9/11, this attracted a lot of interest from the government

and big businesses, eventually becoming the most valuable firm in Canada with a value of 67

million. 2017 (Moussi). RIM lagged behind its rivals at this time since their main focus was on

business rather than the consumer. Other businesses, like Apple Inc., started to develop with new

platforms and features that the public appreciated and that also incorporated better and more

advanced technology.

ii. Failure in Application Strategy

A misstep in the Blackberry Company's application strategy contributed to its decline.

Blackberry Company introduced the Z10 in 2013, a stylish smartphone with all the features users

wanted. The majority of Z10's features were seen as poor knockoffs of other brands introduced

by its rivals. Many BlackBerry customers switched to other brands with more sophisticated

features. The BlackBerry Company's cellphones were acknowledged as being typical for having

little memory (Surowiecki, 2012). However, BlackBerry's smartphone users shifted to other

brands because the browsing features were not up to par with what they expected. Therefore,

poor application feature experiences among BlackBerry's devoted customers were the cause of

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the decrease in the company's smartphone sales (Savov, 2016). BlackBerry was unable to operate

effectively, even when it tried to adapt. A massive flop was the touchscreen Storm's 2008

introduction. The absence of native email, calendar, and contacts applications in the Playbook

tablet's 2010 launch was a major point of criticism. Even its most recent iterations, such as

BlackBerry Priv, had weak product introductions, subpar performance, and confusing value

propositions.

iii. Poor Ability to Change and Adapt

The BlackBerry Company was unable to react to changes in the environment's dynamics

more effectively and swiftly. The current environment requires change. The management of the

BlackBerry Company believed that their current success will translate into future success.

However, the Company chose to redefine its products rather than develop the newest technology,

which was a poor choice and contributed to the Company's decline. The Company's inability to

adapt to change prevented it from being flexible. Due to its success, BlackBerry became

complacent and neglected to perform additional research to develop new products that would

adapt to the environment (Moussi & van Amsterdam, 2017). Other players replied with chains of

gadgets that met the customers' expectations, which created a severe flaw in the company. As a

result, the Company's revenues dropped quickly, which added to its struggle to survive after its

sharp reduction in market share.

iv. Poor Marketing Strategies

The management of the BlackBerry Company made a poor choice due to a lack of market

expertise, which had an impact on the company's performance. It failed to implement effective

marketing methods that had previously been employed to entice potential clients and build a

reliable brand. Poor customer interactions resulted from the Company's failure to emphasize

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marketing targeting, positioning, and segmentation. It understood the value of marketing

methods after competing brands had already taken over the market. By maintaining a closed and

proprietary app environment and failing to keep up with technological advancements, Blackberry

Company missed the rise of consumer-driven IT purchasing. As a result, the Company's

management's lack of market expertise hurt the Company's performance (Surowiecki, 2012).

v. Branding and marketing

The benefits of Blackberry were the open lines of communication that gave government

agencies a sense of security within their departments. There is no question that other significant

organizations would adopt the Blackberry once the government did. After attracting movie stars

and well-known public personalities, this finally became a brand that everyone desired regardless

of price. This had the drawback of not being able to market to the greater mass of general

consumers (Trivedi, 2010). Neglecting the general public opened possibilities for rival

businesses to pounce and develop a superior product that would compete, ultimately contributing

to the company's downfall. This led to business rivalry, and Blackberry's knee-jerk reaction was

to develop a product that wasn't warmly received by customers. They were unable to quickly

adopt new technology in order to stave off competition. After having the chance to develop and

research their rivals, they jumped into things without allowing for reprocessing and high-quality

products under their brand. This increased purchasers' bargaining power because Blackberry

prices were reduced, giving consumers and buyers more leverage. In the end, however,

BlackBerry's downfall was sealed by a mix of sluggish market responses, focusing on the

incorrect end market, misunderstanding the value proposition of smartphones, and subpar

execution (Moussi, & van Amsterdam, 2017). Currently, BlackBerry has 0% of the smartphone

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market and a stock price that has remained mostly unchanged over the past few years in the high

single digits.

Table 1: BlackBerry International Market Share. Source: Statista.

Recommendations for Strategic Alternatives

As of this point in my investigation, I have identified a wide range of strategic options for

the company to take not to repeat the same mistakes as Blackberry. First, the business felt that

the Blackberry would sell itself, placing marketing as a secondary concern. The product was not

updated to fit consumer needs, and the branding was not very strong. The marketing team didn't

include all potential customers because it concentrated on luring one particular group. This made

it possible for the desire for Blackberry products to diminish and go on to other brands like

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Apple Inc. Then Blackberry launched embarrassing marketing strategies and goods that fell short

of what people had come to expect from Blackberry. Customers start to turn away from

Blackberry at this point, costing the firm $965 million and alienating its supporters. I believe as

the CEO should review the marketing strategy and update our products to fit consumer’s needs.

The Blackberry's design was also relatively modest since the needs of the consumer were

not understood. The phone's shape was unfriendly to larger hands, and it had a cumbersome

rollerball in the middle, which made it difficult for some users. Some others experienced

navigational difficulties as a result, which was unnecessarily aggravating. Blackberry attempted

to release a touch screen late in the game when the touch screen Apples evolved, but the device

was not competitive.

Unlike Blackberry the company might adapt to change if the marketing strategy.

Blackberry ought to be distributed to a market segment that comprised non-government and non-

wealthy organizations as well as the general populace. By learning what the expectations of the

general public are the company will be able to compete with other products since it will be able

to alter more quickly and won't lag behind its rivals in terms of production. A company should

work with outside companies to help with product development, marketing, and sales.

Distributors should be used for both marketing and sales. Deviating away from what blackberry

has done over the years, the company line can then launch additional items of which contribute

to improving the relationship between the company and its customers (Tseng, Liu & Wu, 2014).

The technique of cultivating relationships is crucial since it will support our expansion and

financial success.

Conclusion

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 BlackBerry is a prime example of how a lack of direction led to the company's tragic

downfall, this direction should be avoided by any company at all cost. The largest shortcoming

for a Company in market operations might be slowness in offering more desirable solutions.

Customers were driven to move to other brands since the Company's application strategies failed

to take their requirements and expectations into account. The Company's failure to adapt to

change offered its rivals an advantage. In this case this company should be flexible to adopt to

changes which may offer a cutting age advantage over competitors.

Looking at BlackBerry's downfall which was caused by a greater emphasis on stability

based on past success rather than taking into account environmental changes can be a food of

thought, that past success cannot be used as measure of more dynamic and ever changing

business environment. In a perfect world, this can be achieved by creating a plan. The company

may take a step back and assess problems that arise both inside and outside the organization.

Both provide issues that result in income loss. The potential for the company is boundless when

managed strategically.

As a final Recommendation upon approval by the CEO the marketing directors should

create a Social Media Marketing plan: It is the new trend that businesses are utilizing to sell their

goods. The biggest platform available for marketing purposes is this one. It enables the business

to establish a direct connection with both potential and current customers. As a result, the

business can get client input based on the product's appearance, features, and capabilities for

perfect and efficient functioning. In order to make the model flawlessly exceptional, the

organization will fix any significant issues as soon as they are discovered.

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 References
BlackBerry Financial Reports. https://us.blackberry.com/company/investors.

Dess, G. G. (2007). Strategic management: Text and cases. Mc Graw Hill.

Moussi, A., & van Amsterdam, U. (2017). Mini-Case Study: The Downfall of

Blackberry. Universteit van Amsterdam, 5.

Savov, V. (2016). BlackBerry’s success led to its failure. The Verge, 30(9), 2016.

Surowiecki, J. (2012). New Yorker Jumps on FUD-wagon: BlackBerry Season [online].

Retrieved From: https://forums.crackberry.com/general-blackberry-news-

discussionrumors-f2/new-yorker-jumps-fud-wagon-blackberry-season-695216/

Trivedi, P. D. (2010). Consumer dictates the market: Lesson from blackberry.

Tseng, F. M., Liu, Y. L., & Wu, H. H. (2014). Market penetration among competitive innovation

products: The case of the Smartphone Operating System. Journal of Engineering and

Technology Management, 32, 40-59.