...Sarah Crossin Jeron Dillon Kevin Giles Theresa Lawson David McConville October 22, 2009 0 Problem Identification Research in Motion (RIM) will face considerable challenges moving forward. The most relevant questions at hand for the company are, “How can RIM successfully gain a more significant market share of the consumer market?” and, “How will RIM maintain its brand dominance within the business market?” Key Findings RIM, founded in 1984, is the pioneer of smartphone technology and the developer, manufacturer and marketer of the most popular portable communication device in the world, the Blackberry. Unveiled in 1998, the BlackBerry is a truly innovative product that has changed the face of business. In August 2009, Fortune Magazine named RIM the fastest growing company in the world and according to British Broadcasting Corporation, RIM profits have increased by 84% and revenues by 77% in the last three years (Fortune Magazine, 2009). Furthermore, Schonfeld (2009) reports that 56% of all smartphones in the United States are Blackberries and the bestselling smartphone of 2009 is the Blackberry Curve. Despite this success and growth, RIM faces significant challenges. The greatest challenges currently confronting RIM are maintaining its market dominance in the business market and increasing their market share in the consumer market. While RIM holds a good position in the business market, competition in this realm is increasing rapidly. In fact, in a recent study conducted by...
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...Sarah Crossin Jeron Dillon Kevin Giles Theresa Lawson David McConville October 22, 2009 0 Problem Identification Research in Motion (RIM) will face considerable challenges moving forward. The most relevant questions at hand for the company are, “How can RIM successfully gain a more significant market share of the consumer market?” and, “How will RIM maintain its brand dominance within the business market?” Key Findings RIM, founded in 1984, is the pioneer of smartphone technology and the developer, manufacturer and marketer of the most popular portable communication device in the world, the Blackberry. Unveiled in 1998, the BlackBerry is a truly innovative product that has changed the face of business. In August 2009, Fortune Magazine named RIM the fastest growing company in the world and according to British Broadcasting Corporation, RIM profits have increased by 84% and revenues by 77% in the last three years (Fortune Magazine, 2009). Furthermore, Schonfeld (2009) reports that 56% of all smartphones in the United States are Blackberries and the bestselling smartphone of 2009 is the Blackberry Curve. Despite this success and growth, RIM faces significant challenges. The greatest challenges currently confronting RIM are maintaining its market dominance in the business market and increasing their market share in the consumer market. While RIM holds a good position in the business market, competition in this realm is increasing rapidly. In fact, in a recent study conducted by...
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...Research in Motion (RIM) Abstract Canadian company Research in Motion Limited (RIM) has been on the decline struggling to hold onto market share. Global competition includes Apple's iPhone and smart phones running Google's Android operating system, which contributed to a decline in RIM’s profit and share value hitting a nine year low. Executive shake ups and a strategic plan is to streamline operations includes cutting at least 2,000 jobs worldwide in 2012. Opportunities live for RIM to prevent further stock sell off and devaluation by identifying alternatives and overcoming barriers within the organization. Under the direction of CEO, Thorsten Heins, RIM will redirect focus to the company's core customers and their changing needs. RIIM Overview Research in Motion Limited (RIM) a telecommunications company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada is best known as the maker of the Blackberry. RIM designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile and telecommunications market. In recent months, it has been making headlines for its declining market share and stock devaluation. Driven by a new CEO, RIM has recently announced layoffs, and strategic plans with more changes for the struggling company planned in efforts to spark a turn-around. Research in Motion Limited (RIM) Research In Motion Limited (RIM) is a Canadian multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. RIM’s portfolio...
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...of Another Smartphone Giant-Blackberry | Another Example of Technology Obsolescence and Strategic Failure | Submitted By: Ghan Shyam Rathi Once a pioneer and leading light in the smartphone market, BlackBerry is in a potentially terminal downward spiral. The Canadian company, formerly known as RIM (Research in Motion) established an iron grip on the enterprise and successfully bridged the gap from pager, to handheld computer, to smartphone. It was once the dominant smartphone due to its mobile email popular with businesspeople and tech-savvy consumers. Nicknamed “the CrackBerry” because it was so addictive, the device was declared by Oprah Winfrey to be one of her “favourite things”. US President Barack Obama could not bear to part with his BlackBerry and Madonna said she slept with hers under her pillow. In the last couple of years Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platform have taken over with a combined market share that tops 90 percent. Struggling to arrest a declining user base, amid poor sales of its latest devices, we are now hearing that BlackBerry might sell up. Brief: BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM), is a Canadian telecommunication and wireless equipment company best known as the developer of the BlackBerry brand of smartphones and tablets. The company is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by Mike Lazaridis, who served as its co-CEO along with Jim Balsillie until January 22, 2012. ...
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...Component Design, was asked by the Product, Process and Reliability Committee to share his opinions on whether the Packard Electric should commit to the RIM grommet for a 1992 model year car. Schramm thought of three possible scenarios for this critical path. The first scenario involved a backup RIM machine in case anything went wrong and products were out of compliance with the manufacturer’s specs. This option was not cost efficient and also was the riskiest of all three choices. Another option was to implement a system that was usable by both manufacturing lines. Design processes would be the most affected stage with this choice considered. Interdependent stages such as logistics would also be in jeopardy. The final choice was their safest and the most applicable. This option could relieve the company in the short-run. However, potential future projects would be given up due to failure of developing technology to create sustainable growth. With all these in mind, Schramm were having doubts as to which scenario he would recommend to the committee. In my opinion, the company must adopt new technology in order to be competitive in the market. The requirements get complicated and more demanding as automotive industry develops endless new technologies. This eliminates option three. Option two can be considered as a good alternative...
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...Brief Summary of the External Environment External Competitors OS: * Android 47,3% * Apple 29,6% * RIM 16% * Microsoft 4,7% * Symbian 4,7% Smartphone manufacturing: * -Apple 23,5% * Samsung 22,8% * Nokia 12,4% * HTC 10,8% * RIM 6,5% * Others 26,6% Mobile Industry Trends It is anticipated that data will overtake voice as the major network tariff. In 2011, smartphones increased their hold on the market worldwide and this has driven forwards the usage of data. “However, operators will start rebalancing tariffs in 2012 so that ‘access and data’ is the core tariff, with voice and messaging services bundled on top. This is opposed to the current model of voice being the core tariff with messaging and data sold as add-ons. Charging for data will become more of an issue for operators. This is because there is going to be much more data use that requires monitoring, but is still included ‘in the free bucket’. In 2012, operators will increasingly adopt strategies to off-load the ‘simple’ charging interactions that account for the bulk of the load on their Online Charging System (OCS).” Mobile Sales The mobile phone is evolving into a power commerce tool, enabling consumers to review products, run price comparisons, access inventory levels and make transactions both over the mobile network and the retail point of sale. However, while industry commentators have hailed the virtues of mobile commerce for some time consumers have not...
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...1 Problem Statement RIM’s iconic product, Blackberry, has lost its lead in the smartphone market and continues to decline. Now RIM faces the decision of whether they should continue with their focus on business users or enter a new market segment that has been growing: users of useful, yet entertaining smartphones. How can Blackberry stop declining and become competitive again? 2 Situation Analysis In 2003 RIM launched the Blackberry. RIM gave users the first way to take the internet with them everywhere on their cell phone. They were pioneers leading the market. By 2008 RIM had 45% of the US smartphone market share and became the most popular smartphone in the USA.1 Blackberry targeted business professionals and government clients. RIM intended to provide the user with a useful interface that could synchronize computers to phones and simplify work regardless of where you were working from. They also offered a messaging system that was superiorly secure. Blackberry’s main competitors are Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platform. Apple required all App’s for the iPhone to be sold through their store. Android, being free source, could be modified by any programmer. In 2012 Blackberry’s App World Store had less than a 5th of the selection compared to the Apple AppStore (Exhibit 1). The iPhone and Android phones had a touch screen interface which provided a novel interaction and a much larger screen. This, added to the attractive designs, hundreds of apps offered, and...
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...BLACKBERRY (SALES DECLINE) I. TIME CONTEXT: BlackBerry's share of the smartphone operating platform market dropped from 21.7% in July 2011 to 9.5% just a year later, according to comScore. Meanwhile, Apple's market share went from 27% to 33.4% in that time, while Google's share went from 41.8% to 52.2%. BlackBerry’s sales of smartphone is now continuously dropping II. POINT-OF-VIEW: In today's earnings report, BlackBerry said the $2.7 billion charge was based on the results of an analysis of its long lived assets. Separately, there were "pre-tax restructuring and legal and financial advisory charges of approximately $266 million." The $4.4 billion loss compared to a profit of $14 million in the same quarter last year. BlackBerry lost $965 million in Q2 2014, primarily because it overestimated how many new phones it would sell. Excluding all of the one-time charges, BlackBerry's operating loss was $354 million for the quarter, up from an adjusted loss of $248 million in the prior quarter and up from $114 million in Q3 2013. Despite the bad news, BlackBerry CEO John Chen struck a positive tone. “With the operational and organizational changes we have announced, BlackBerry has established a clear roadmap that will allow it to target a return to improved financial performance in the coming year,” Chen said in the earnings announcement. “While our Enterprise Services, Messaging and QNX Embedded businesses are already well-positioned to compete in their...
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...NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT On Apple’s New Product Development Strategy Posted on January 1st, 2010 by daniel Michael Malone from ABC News wrote an interesting article on Apple’s iPhone and its overall new product development strategy, with interesting strategic lessons for new product development and business in general. Google Nexus Offers Little Competition to Apple iPhone Why Google’s New Smartphone Won’t Knock Apple Off Its iPhone Throne COLUMN By MICHAEL S. MALONE, ABC News Jan. 1, 2010 Whether the marketplace is ready or not, the Big Guns in consumer electronics are about to make their move at the dawn of the New Year. Next Tuesday, Google is expected to announce its long-rumored Nexus One smartphone. It is undoubtedly designed to run the Google Android operating system for cellphones, which the search giant introduced more than a year ago. Android was envisioned as a major breakthrough in cellphones because it offered an "open" operating system i.e., one that other companies could use and design applications for. At the time, this strategy was compared to that of Microsoft Windows, which broke the market hegemony of Apple’s decidedly non-open OS in the mid-1980s and within a decade, turned Apple into a niche company. This time around, the new Android phones were supposed to break the hegemony of the Apple iPhone. So far, it hasn’t quite worked out that way with Android. A number of cell phone companies notably Motorola, HTC, and Samsung have adopted Android...
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...behaviour is a complicated and diverse area of study. Since marketing is based on identifying, anticipating and providing customer needs it is important to understand them. There are two predominant types of buying: consumer buying, which consists of buying products for personal use, and organisational buying, which involves buying for organisational purposes. Consumer buying behaviour is defined as the buying behaviour of final consumers, individuals and households who purchase goods and services for personal consumption (Kotler, 2001: 858). It overviews external market environment as well as socio-cultural factors and how the combination of these may affect consumer behaviour. Brief industry and company overview Research in Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Founded in 1984 Headquarters in Ontario, Canada Offices in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Led by President and CEO Torsten Heins According to Digitimes Research, with a global economic situation that does not seem too pessimistic for 2012, demand for mobile computing will rise steadily and the price-performance ratio of tablet devices will improve. In the fourth quarter of 2011, worldwide sales of branded tablet devices saw zero growth amid a global economic downturn. Many started wondering whether the tablet market was already maturing. However, Digitimes Research's analysis shows that the...
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...Main thing is would anyone apart from me be ever interested in such a thing? I personally think that there will be people who will like this idea and possibly use it. I’m not a drummer, but I can play some simple beats and I would prefer to be able to record VST drums using electric kit rather than keyboard. Next thing, is it going to work? I feel like it is possible to achieve something very similar using just Wii remotes, simply because their sensors would allow to program positions at which samples would be triggered. Using two Wii remotes as sticks and two nunchuck controllers as foot triggers would be best option to go for. Using overall, four controllers would allow getting closest to real playing...
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...the screen for touch operation. Hybrids have a detachable keyboard so that the touch screen can be used as a stand-alone tablet. Booklets include dual-touchscreens, and can be used as a notebook by displaying a virtual keyboard in one of them. An early information tablet concept, named the Dynabook, was described by a Xerox scientist Alan C Kay, in his Aug 1972 paper: A Personal Computer for children of all Ages, the paper proposes a touch screen as a possible alternative means of input for the device. The first commercial portable electronic tablets appeared at the end of the 20th century. In 2010, Apple Inc. released the iPad which became the first mobile computer tablet to achieve worldwide commercial success. The iPad used technology similar to Apple's iPhone. Other manufacturers have produced tablets of their own including Samsung, HTC, Motorola, RIM, Sony, Amazon, HP, Microsoft, Google, Asus, Toshiba, and Archos. Tablets use a variety of operating systems such as iOS (Apple), Android (Google), Windows (Microsoft), and QNX (RIM). As of March 2012[update], 31% of U.S. Internet users were...
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...the quantities and costs of various routes and the resulting minimum cost. – Used to compare location alternatives in deciding where to locate factories and warehouses to achieve the minimum cost distribution configuration. – Some of the examples are: Shipment from factories to warehouses, Shipment between departments within a company, Shipment from warehouses to retailers 2 Formulating the Model • A transportation problem – Typically involves a set of sending locations, which are referred to as origins, and a set of receiving locations, which are referred to as destinations. – To develop a model of a transportation problem, it is necessary to have the following information: 1. Supply quantity (capacity) of each origin. 2. Demand quantity of each destination. 3. Unit transportation cost for each origin-destination route. 3 Transportation Model Example Harley’s Sand and Gravel Ltd. (Top soil Shipment) Problem: How many tons of Top soil to transport from each location (Farms) to each Project sites on a monthly basis in order to minimize the total cost of transportation ? Top soil can be supplied from 3 different locations Location Monthly Supply (in Tons) Farm A 100 Form B 200 Form C 200 Demand for each project sites is given below Project Monthly Demand (in Tons) 1 50 2 150 3 300 The estimated cost per ton to ship per ton of shipment to each of the possible routes are given below. To From Project 1 Project 2 Project 3 Farm A 4 2 8 Farm B 5 1 9 Farm...
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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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...photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu, or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163. The copyright on each case in this book unless otherwise noted is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and they are published herein by express permission. Permission requests to use individual Harvard copyrighted cases should be directed to permissions@hbsp.harvard.edu, or mailed to the Permissions Editor, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163. OT C Case material of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration is made possible by the cooperation of business firms and other organizations which may wish to remain anonymous by having names, quantities, and other identifying details disguised while maintaining basic relationships. Cases are prepared as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. DO N Library of Congress...
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