...I’ve been reflecting a lot about different leadership styles as I’ve been reading Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs and observing the RIM leadership change and ongoing punditry about it. With the proviso that I’m no tech or business guru and I’m using these examples as metaphor (so don’t take them to be stock tips!) let’s take a look at how these two stories translate into leadership archetypes. Steve Jobs is the poster child for iconoclastic, mercurial leaders. If only half of what is in Isaacson’s recent bio is true, working with him was grueling, filled with bullying, drama, tears and temper tantrums. But also exciting, creative, and episodically even empowering as he pushed individuals beyond what they could imagine they were capable of. Ousted from the apex of the company, Jobs’ odyssey through Pixar and NeXT ultimately brings him back to rescue Apple from its descent into ordinariness. This is the Harry Potter model of leadership: the chosen one, different and special from birth, with abilities virtually super human, able to do things ordinary humans can barely aspire to. Contrast RIM: co-chief executives have been at the helm, the technology has always felt like it was about being secure and functional rather than dazzling. As critique upon critique mounted (and the company’s market share fell) the company responded with incremental changes to the product and its marketing, tinkered with its corporate governance (hardly sexy), and eventually allowed its co-CEOs to...
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...Research in Motion (RIM) is a multi-award-winning company that designs and produces hardware, software, and service solutions for wireless communications used by worldwide business and consumer markets. These state-of-the-art products and services provide customers with immediate access to information in order to make sound business decisions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whether you use the Blackberry device or the Pearl “smart” phone, you can be assured that you have purchased a quality product connecting people either at work or at play, designed and built by one of the most innovative Canadian companies of all time. Background RIM is a Waterloo-based company founded in 1984 by two University of Waterloo engineering students, Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin. Today, Mike Lazaradis and Jim Balsillie, who joined the company in 1992, share the leadership role in the company as co-CEOs. The first Blackberry device came to market in 1999. Since then, RIM has consistently introduced many new and innovative products and services that are used by businesses and consumers around the world. The wireless solutions industry is an extremely competitive one, and, in 2002, RIM was sued for patent infringement by an American company, NTP. The case was finally settled in 2006, with RIM paying NTP $612.5 million.1 RIM has offices in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. It is traded on the NASDAQ stock market and the Toronto Stock Exchange. In 2006, RIM had revenues of over...
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...2008, Research in Motion (RIM) is standing at the strategic juncture where important decisions need to be taken regarding global expansions. The biggest strategic issue it faces is to carry over yesteryears’ growth to next level through sustainable innovation at global level. Although its R&D expenditure has grown 6 times in the last four years, the ratio of R&D expenditure to sales has been halved. This ratio shows RIM is not utilizing its explosive growth to proportionately improve its technological innovations (important for sustainable revenue growth), which are the main sways of the mobile communication industry in which it is doing its business. Mobile communications industry is highly competitive being oligopolistic in nature. Gauging RIM on the Porter’s five forces model, I understand there are many a threats to RIM. The biggest threat is the Threat of Rivalry. RIM’s direct competitors have much bigger market share globally and they are spending much larger amounts (as well as R&D ratios to sales) on the R&D activities in comparison to RIM. They are also trying to convert the industry into network industry by sharing of Mobile OS (e.g. Symbian) across companies. Some of them have already expanded globally for tapping talent in emerging countries, an idea which RIM is pondering over. RIM’s Blackberry products have a product differentiation (temporary competitive advantage) of being a smartphone originally built for busy professionals. But now, RIM is also trying to capture...
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...Case Study 2 – Research in Motion (RIM) Strategic Management of Technology – TM583ON Marian Phillips Research in Motion (RIM) is a Canadian wireless device company which is the designer and manufacturer of the Blackberry Smartphone. Research in Motion was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Waterloo, Canada. The company also creates solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market including the software that allows the Blackberry Smartphone to provide mobile access to email applications, media and the internet. As a company reliant on its intellectual property, RIM has to be careful. All actions carried out on RIM’s internal network are logged, which means that employee that want to have private conversations should bring in their personal devices. Any conversation on company network whether verbal or written, is transparent and in visibility. Also, to protect its advantage as much as possible, RIM followed a very careful and consistent policy of securing as much patent protection for its products as possible while continuing to push ahead with product development and continuously extending its technology capabilities. RIM has been involved in a series of suits relating to alleged patent infringement. * 2001 – RIM sued competitor Glenayre Electronics for infringing on RIM’s “Single Mailbox integration” patent. The suit was eventually settled. * 2002 – Filed suit against start-up competitor Good Technology and also file additional complaints throughout...
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...Research in Motion and Blackberry Word count (to nearest 100) MKT 201 : 11 am section. Instructor: Professor Deepak Outline Company Overview and Project Focus Research in Motion (RIM) is one of Canada’s companies that are declared in its US official website to be “a global leader in wireless innovation, [that] revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999” (“Research In Motion”, n.d.). The BlackBerry product line includes the BlackBerry Playbook tablet, BlackBerry smartphone, and software for businesses and accessories. RIM launched the Blackberry smartphone in 1999. Indeed, RIM was a global leader with a strong position in the world market in early 2000s. RIM was first to understand that mobile application had to be simple to use. Company Mission and Vision Every company strives to satisfy its customer needs by implementing the strategies within the company’s mission and vision. A mission statement describes the firm’s objectives of the activities it plans to take. However, the vision statement includes the steps that should be taken to achieve the company’s goals and strategies. RIM’s mission statement states, “To develop socially and professionally responsible and proactive managers and leaders with holistic perspectives and competencies” (Ricketts, 2011). To denote furthermore, the mission emphasizes on hiring highly skilled employees that are able to deliver products of value...
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...BUSN 226-Marking Rubric-Assignment #1 Your Name:___________________________________ Your Student #_________________________________ |Rubric attached to front of assignment | /1 | |Cover page and introduction & typed page numbers |/5 | |Four summaries ( if article not different from other group members, summary will not be marked) |/40 | |Direct quote and in-text reference included in each |/8 | |summary , using proper format | | |Ref Works bibliography addressing all four articles, with works cited in alphabetical order by author |/8 | | | | |Original articles attached in same order as shown in bibliography (each article different from group members) |/8 | | | | |Late? ...
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...Print How management has failed at RIM By Joe Castaldo | January 19, 2012 Update: On January 22, Research In Motion announced that Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie would step down as co-CEOs and co-chairmen of the board of directors. Lazaridis will now be vice chair of the board, and head up a new innovation committee. Balsillie will become a director. Their replacement as CEO is Thorston Heins, formerly RIM's chief operating officer for products and sales. Barbara Stymiest, who became a director in 2007, will now chair the board. Investors reacted negatively to the news, with RIM shares opening 5% lower on the NASDAQ on January 23. Is it all falling apart? It seems an absurd question to be asking about a company like Research In Motion, Canada’s most successful and influential tech firm. Just how successful it would become was hard to imagine when Mike Lazaridis set up shop in a tiny office above a strip mall in Waterloo, Ont., in 1984. Jim Balsillie joined eight years later, bringing with him the sales and strategy muscle to take RIM’s products to the world. Together, they were unstoppable. They turned RIM into a global powerhouse that delivered mobile e-mail to the masses, sparking a revolution in mobile communication and defining the smartphone as we know it. Under their stewardship, RIM continues to rake in billions in revenue each month and attract new subscribers at a time of fierce competition. But somehow, lately, something’s gone terribly wrong. A deep-rooted dysfunction...
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...was released, which supports push email, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet network. BlackBerry first made headway in the marketplace by concentrating on email. RIM currently offers BlackBerry email service to non-BlackBerry devices, such as the Palm Treo, through its BlackBerry Connect software. The original BlackBerry device had a monochrome display, but all current models have colour displays. All models, except for the Storm series and the all-touch Torch 9850/9860 have a built-in QWERTY keyboard, optimized for "thumbing", the use of only the thumbs to type. The Storm 1 and Storm 2 include a Sure Type keypad for typing. Originally, system navigation was achieved with the use of a scroll wheel mounted on the right side of phones prior to the 8700. The track wheel was replaced by the trackball with the introduction of the Pearl series which allowed for 4 way scrolling. The trackball was replaced by the optical track pad with the introduction of the Curve 8500 series. Models made to use iDEN networks such as Nextel and Mike also incorporate a push-to-talk (PTT) feature, similar to a two-way radio. Vision and mission statement: Blackberry is a brand that was created by Research in Motion’s (RIM) Founder Mike Lazaridis in 1996, providing wireless web enabled devices across multiple networks. RIM is a Canadian based company founded in 1984 that formally worked with RAM and Ericsson,...
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...competitive industries of today. The distinguished Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM), proud manufacturer of the Blackberry, once dominated the cellular market. With the introduction of both Apple and Samsung smartphones, which have continually increased each company’s growth in terms of revenue and market shares, Research in Motion will soon find themselves struggling to stay in the game. If RIM does not adhere to making some drastic changes, the company will continue on this downward spiral and be ultimately terminated. One major avenue to solving RIM problems is a strategic alliance with the electronic tycoon Samsung. Among the numerous potential hardware partners, Samsung appears to be the strongest fit. Their supply chain strength is unmatched – even surpassing the past magnate Nokia, to become the world’s largest cellular provider. Samsung’s smartphone is driven by the android operating system provided by Google, and its popularity has spread like wildfire over the last few years. Google android currently dominates the market share and is accounted for as so: Google Androids OS is assessed at 56% of the smartphone market share, subsequently Apple is the runner up with 23%, while RIM follows with a meager 7% of the share. Unlike Apple and Google, the RIM market share is rapidly decreasing. Samsung has shown previous interest in RIM’s Blackberry 10 OS, but a deal cannot be made until RIM launches this technology. Samsung proudly boasts advanced innovative craftsmanship...
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...Research In Motion (RIM)/BlackBerry The case describes competition in the market for smart phones in North America, and the position of one player, Research In Motion (RIM), a Canadian multinational telecommunications company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Best known for its line of BlackBerry devices, the company designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the mobile and telecommunications markets. The case allows students to understand the strategic dynamics in platform-based industries in general, and to explore more specifically how a firm that led the industry in 2007 could fall to earth so dramatically four years later. Research in Motion (RIM) began as an electronics and computer science consulting business started by Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin in 1984. In 1999, RIM introduced its BlackBerry for corporate e-mail solutions. This Blackberry featured a push system for email delivery where e-mail messages were sent from the user’s personal computer to the Blackberry without dialing in. From 2000 upwards, its revenue skyrocketed and it continued to expand. Within 4 years of inception RIM became the first wireless data technology developer in North America. While RIM started out working with pagers its focus changed to two-way wireless communication around the same time that Jim Balsille joined the company in 1992. In 2003 RIM launched the Blackberry, giving users the first way to take the Internet with them everywhere on their cell phone...
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...pursue a new business strategy. The company, RIM (Research In Motion) makers of BlackBerry were at one time the leaders of the smartphone market. In 2011 BlackBerry owned 11.1% of the market, Apple had the second largest share with 18.2% of the market, and with Android leading at 49%. BlackBerry’s plans to launch the playbook two and the new operating system in the coming year. Despite their efforts to change the company, many expertises argue there is no room for a new operating system in the smartphone market, especially with the release of Microsoft’s Windows 7 phone. This article is related to our discussion about leadership in our class. The company, BlackBerry is receiving new leadership who faces the challenge of competing in the smartphone market. The announcement by Jim Balsillie, the new CEO of RIM is related with leadership, especially visionary leadership. The leader with a vision is better equipped to handle challenges they face. Although the new CEO of the company is not pushing forward to radically change the business he acknowledges their business is falling behind in smartphone competition and has a new plan to survive the challenge. Vision provides where to go and a great control over the future to managers. If an organization doesn’t care about their goal, other competitors force will decide to get it. Since vision gives organization that control and opens up new ways and possibilities for a business leadership managers have to set their own vision. The true...
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...OPERATIONAL STRATEGY OF RESEARCH IN MOTION (RIM) BY ABIN MATHEW MBA B B112 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 HISTORY ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 VISION ………………………………………………………………………………………………… MISION …………………………………………………………………………………………………. OPERATIONAL STRATEGY………………………………………………………………………………………5 CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 INTRODUCTION Research In Motion (RIM) is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of wireless solutions. The company provides platforms and solutions allowing access to time-sensitive information, including email, phone, SMS, internet and intranet-based applications. Its technology also enables a broad array of third-party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM’s portfolio of products, services and embedded technologies include the BlackBerry wireless solution, and other software and hardware.The company operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The company is organized and managed as a single reportable business segment, which includes the research...
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...Marketing concepts mktg-1126 | Blackberry | Group 4, Deliverable 1 | | | 1/24/2011 | | Blackberry Blackberry smartphones are manufactured by the company Research in Motion, more commonly known as RIM. The Blackberry line was launched by R.I.M in 1999. RIM was founded in 1984 by Mike Lazaridis and CEO Jim Baisille. Its software aims to ease mobile access to email, applications and virtual real-time communication so users can stay in touch with important people and information. The headquarters for RIM are located in Waterloo, Ontario and there are offices located in North America, Asia and Europe. BlackBerry products are sold worldwide, available in over 90 countries on over 500 different mobile service operators (Blackberry). Canada, Spain, Austria and the Bahamas are only a few of the many countries where their products are sold. RIM has a commanding 56% share of the $12 billion U.S. smartphone market. And its sales are still accelerating (CNN: Money). Apple’s iPhone is blackberry’s largest competitor, with the Android smartphones being the second largest. In 2007 RIM spent over $27 million on television ads and by2009 had increased their advertising expense to an annual $337 million dollars (Elmer-Dewitt). Since BlackBerry’s creation, their target consumers have been businessmen and women. Advertisements focus on how versatile, sleek and simple to use BlackBerry’s are and how there are many applications available to assist people in doing business...
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...171 a 1 Question 1 - Success of the BMW Group 1. Introduction The BMW Group was founded in 1917 and today is one of the leading. automobile and motorcycle manufacturers worldwide with a workforce of more than 100,000 associates in over 100 countries (BMW Group 2012). The company possesses three of the stron gest premium brands in the car industry, BMW. MINI and Rolls-Royce, as well as holding. a strong market position within the motorcycle sector (Innovation Leaders 2011). According to Linkedln (2012) the company aims to create profitable growth and returns that are above-average by focusing on the premium segment of the automobile market internationally. 2. Approptiate Measures for Success 2.1 Revenue and Profit According to the BMW animal report (2011), the company sold 1_668.982 automobiles and the overall revenue for the compan y was e68.8 billion at the end of the 2011 financial year, with the net profit standing at 64_9 billion, Furthermore the report shows that the 2011 fiscal year was the best in the history of the company, with sales volumes, revenues and profits reaching, new highs and exceeding annual targets set by the BMW Group. This is reinforced when comparing current profits to those before the worldwide economic recession; net profit in 2007 was E3,14 billion, meaning 2011 showed a 51_7% increase in profit from that year. This is a clear indication of the recent success of the BMW Group on a financial basis, as the company is outperforming their set...
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...the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. The maker of the BlackBerry Smartphone, Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) is facing a rather hard situation from an investor to change its leadership to improve the management. External Environment Economic: The economic factors plays a key role in the smart phone industry as the demand is fairly elastic and it is mostly based on consumer income but the recent economic downturn has had an impact as people are not willing to spend on a product unless the price is right and it offers the promised values but the smart phone industry is expected to grow at fairly steady pace and the developing economies of India, China, Latin America provides a platform for RIM. Since the sales of blackberry are made throughout the world the exchange rates will also have an impact on RIM as the fluctuation in exchange rates can suddenly make blackberry competitive or prohibitively expensive. The exchange rate fluctuation can have a profound on blackberry especially in price sensitive markets like India and China. RIM has stock options in various countries and exchange rates directly affect the realized return on an investment portfolio with overseas holdings social Socio-Cultural: ...
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