A CASE ANALYSIS OF BLACKBERRYS RISE AND FALL

By
EHIZOKHALE ROMAN

KELLER GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

HRM 587: MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
7/21/2016

ABSTRACT
This case aims to analyze an organization process of change. Blackberry limited formerly known
as research in motion will be the case study. Blackberry limited, the manufactures of Blackberry
smart phones were dominant in the global smart-phone market and was a must have. The
organization enjoyed much success but today the organization sales, revenue and shares have
dropped drastically .This paper will be analyzing the process of the organization in the times of
change which was brought on by competition in the smart phone market. It will be looking at the
various steps the organization has taken to return back to being a force in the market and the
effects this steps have had. This paper will also look at possible alternatives course of actions and
recommendations that could have been taken.

INTRODUCTION

Blackberry limited formerly known as research in motion is a mobile communication technology

company with its headquarters in waterloo, Canada. It was founded in 1984 by Mike Larzidos
and Douglas Freign who were students at the time. Blackberry limited started out with focus on
wireless technology which included point of sale terminals, wireless modems and pagers. In
1988, RIM began developing products for mobitex wireless packet-switched data
communications networks and was also he first company to develop wireless data technology in
North America. The company continued to make progress in the areas of wireless technology and
in 1990 released the digi-sync film keykode reader which was used in the motion picture
industry. it was in 1999 that the first blackberry device was released, called rim 850 wireless
handheld, it could send emails, messages and was one of the earliest devices that could connect
people with their email and contact. In that same year the company became a public traded
company listing on the Canadian stock exchange. In 2002, RIM release its first full fledged
mobile phone called blackberry 5810.By 2006 blackberry had 5 million subscribers . In 2007 the
company market share hit a high of $124.51, was worth 67 billion dollars and was Canadas most
valuable company. Today the company is worth 4 billion dollar and it market share at $8.82.
So what went wrong for the organization and what can it do to salvage the situation. The
company has made various changes to address the situation it finds itself and none of these
changes seem to have hit its mark in raising the companys current status.Most of these changes
seem reactive to the strategies of its competition. The organization need to restructure and
reinvent itself. The Smartphone hardware market is already saturated. The organization will be
better off focusing on network management and service providing.
ANALYSIS OF THE CASE

In 2007 just as blackberry was enjoying peak success, Apple came into the market with the
iconic Iphone. The iphone was a full touch screen phone with no physical keypads which was in
much contrast to blackberry smart phones which was characterized with qwerty physical key
pads and rectangular screens..The Iphone hit the smartphone market with a bang taking up
10.7% of the smart phone market within a year of its release. The organization experienced a
drop in demand for its phones due to the hype and strong demand for the iphone. Blackberry lost
a third of its market value shares. This signaled something drastic was wrong and change was
needed and fast. This began a string of changes by the organization which was led at the time by
Co-Ceos Jim Basile and Mike Larzidis.
In 2008 with the high demand of the iphone, RIM released blackberry storm. The blackberry
storm was RIM first full touch screen phone. The storm wasnt successful and couldnt match the
iphone. Apples Iphone and blackberry smart phones were both premium phones but the iphone
offered something different than blackberry smart phones. Rim prided on its security and
blackberry smart phone were secure which appealed to corporate consumers and governments.
The iphone was more of a media fun device with talk and text. Iphone had the apple play store
which contained various application and this attracted regular consumers to it.
In response to apple pay store, the organization developed its own app store and offered a
variety of apps. Compared to the apple app store ,it didnt offer much and wasnt all that
effective. While this stiff competition between the two smart-phones was brewing up, Google
released the android operating system. This meant another competition had entered the smartphone market with smart-phone hardware manufactures such as Samsung, htc deciding to use
Android operating systems on their phones. Despite the completion RIM had a good 2009 with
its market share increasing to 20.7%, iphone had 17.1% of the market and android had 3.5%

In 2010 apple releases the first Ipad which was quite successful, RIM responded by releasing its
own tablet called the playbook. It was a flop and could not compare to apples Ipad and a couple
of other android tables already in the market at the time. This year began the fall of the
organization. Apple market share increased to 16.7%, android surged to 25.5% while RIM fell to
14.7%
In 2011, the organization began downsizing its workforce worldwide. The following year CoCeos Mike Larzadis and Jim Basille stepped down and Thirsten Heins took over as the ceo. The
organization smart phone market share dropped to 1.1% by the end of 2012.the company was
sinking and fast. A couple of problems led the company to where it is currently:
1) Poor vision from the leadership of the co founders and strategy into address the introduction
of competition in the smart phone market.
2) The lack of application to make their phones more fun to have.
3) Failure to listen to the consumers wants but instead chose to dictate what they thought the
consumers will need.
From our text the Burke-Litwin model which is a diagnosis model for change fits the
organizational change pattern at blackberry limited. The Burke-Litwin model has 12 factors and
it explains that change of these factors cases changes in any organization. The most key factor in
this model is the external environment. Competition from Apple and Android ignited major
changes at blackberry limited which in turn caused changes within the organization. The change
process for blackberry was a long one and it has applied three types of changes
1) Adaptive: .from releasing the blackberry storm to its own app-world and tablet. These changes
where adaptive to the innovations of the competition

2) Re-orientation. In 2013 blackberry made John chen its ceo bringing a change in it leadership
and management. The company also released an upgrade of its operating system called
blackberry 10 in the same. These are steps the company took to reorient itself to towards the
market
3)Re-creation: the organization under john chen leadership is reorganizing the itself around a few
key areas, including services for businesses, the BBM messaging product, the handset business
and the world of non-phone devices that use the QNX operating system which it acquired in
2010.it also uses the android operating system one of its smart phone called the priv.
Despite the various changes made by the company, its hasnt seen glory days since its fall in
2010.the company is still reporting heavy quarterly losses with news flying round that a sale of
the company is in the works.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION TO MAKE THE CHANGE PROCESS MORE EFFECTIVE
Blackberry is now shifting focus to other key areas in which its can carve a string market out for
itself. The organization has made all sorts of changes to ensure its survival. The follow
alternative may make the change process more effective
Focus on its strengths. Blackberry is pushing to focus on other areas such as mobile security,
blackberry enterprise servers and internet of things (Iot).Blackberry smart-phones had an
advantage over its competition. It had a high level of security which made it a favorite of
cooperate customers and government officials. It can still offer security in other areas such as
network security. The organization recently signed contracts with the software deals with the
United States government and the U.S coastguards. It also has its blackberry messenger which is

now available on android and iphones. The organization should continue to expand the
application to make it better and wanted
Discontinue the smart-phones: The organization upgraded its operating system and released new
phones with the aim of meeting the customers wants in a smart-phone and revitalizing the
company. This move hasnt worked has the company is still reporting quarterly losses in
revenues. Its clear to say discontinuing the manufacture of smart-phones will be essential to the
companys survival
Pro of the alternative: blackberry has seen a massive drop and need to do what it can to ensure it
survival. By discontinuing the smart-phone, resources for the organization will be available to
focus on other areas which will ensure its survival.
Con: By discontinuing its smart-phones it will lose its regular customer and remaining stake in
the smart-phone market. Loyal fans of the phone may be worries that this means service to
already existing phones may drop in terms of quality but the organization has said it will
continue to provide service to its already existing smart-phone customers and may not
discontinue making QWERTY smart-phones.
RECOMMENDED
The smart-phone market is already saturated with various manufacturers. Despite the various
attempts to revive the blackberry smart-phones to being the top choice for a smart-phone hasnt
been successful. With a market share of about 1%, the organization will be better off build its
core around other area where it is still is a strong hold. Current ceo john Chen wants BlackBerry
to transform itself from being a mobile technology company that pushes handset sales to a
mobile solution company that takes a broader approach to serving the mobile computing needs

of its customers. In doing this the organization will lose what is left if their consumer base but
this give them the chance to find new markets that will ensure its survival.
Generalizations
The blackberry story is one that wasnt foreseen by observants in the tech industry. The
organization practically invented the smartphine insustry and today is a shadow of them-self. A
few lessons to be learnt from blackberry are
1) Be a step ahead: Change is inevitable. In some industries change happens instantly and
constantly .one of those industries is the one which blackberry finds itself in, the mobile
communications industry. In order to stay relevant to fully understand your environment,
think ahead and keep up with the latest trend.
2) Good leadership: blackberry co founders Mike Larzadis and Jim Bassile created a
company and led the company through successful times but they failed to anticipate the
competition. Blackberry stayed comfortable, enjoying the present and sat on the throne.
Its leadership failed to assess and make decisions in its environment with a futuristic
lifespan. They failed to look to the future.

REFERENCES

Brad, Moon (01/29/2013). A brief history of research in motion. Retrieved (7/18/2016) from
http://investorplace.com/2013/01/a-brief-history-of-research-in-motion/#.V4_wsrgrLIU
Hugo, miller (01/30/2013).Rim changes company name to blackberry. Retrieved (7/16/2016)
from

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-01-30/rim-changes-company-name-to-

blackberry.
Ian Palmer, Richard Dunford and Gib Akin(2009). Managing Organizational Change: A
multiple perspectives approach(2nd edition). The McGraw-Hill Companies

Kevin, Duam (12/4/2013). 5 ways to keep your company ahead of the curve. Retrieved
(7/21/2016) from http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/keep-up-with-the-world-5-ways.html
Magarette, Reardon (12/20/2013). Blackberry ceo details survival strategy.Retrieved (7/21/2016)
from http://www.cnet.com/news/blackberry-ceo-details-survival-strategy/
Stefany, Baez (10/7/2011).The big picture for blackberry,what rim is focusing on. Retrieved
(7/20/2016) from http://n4bb.com/big-picture-blackberry-rim-focusing/
Steve,Mccaskill (7/20/2016).Blackberry pushes mobile security credentials and signs US
government contracts. Retrieved (7/21/2016) from
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/security/blackberry-mobile-security-government-195361