Strategic Management Case Study: BlackBerry's Rise and Fall

This case study analyzes the strategic management of BlackBerry, examining its rise to prominence and subsequent decline. It delves into the business-level strategies employed, such as cost leadership and differentiation, and assesses the factors contributing to its initial success, including its focus on secure communication and mobile productivity. The analysis further investigates the reasons behind BlackBerry's eventual failure, highlighting the impact of competitors like Apple and Google, its failure to adapt to market changes, and its lack of innovation in response to evolving consumer preferences. The study also explores BlackBerry's strategic choices, contrasting its defined strategy with the emergent strategies of its competitors. Finally, the case study considers the application of contingency theory to BlackBerry's leadership and decision-making processes, offering insights into the importance of adapting to dynamic market conditions.

RUNNING HEAD: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT 0
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
BlackBerry

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Business level strategies..................................................................................................................2
Blackberry’s Success Halted...........................................................................................................3
BlackBerry overlook the market change.........................................................................................5
Defined strategy...............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Strategic management is the continuous planning, examining, investigating as well as assessing
of all that is necessary for the corporation to meet its goals as well as objectives. BlackBerry is a
line of smart phones, tablets, as well as services originally planned and promote
by Canadian company BlackBerry Limited. The releasing date was 19 January 1999; BlackBerry
was one of the most well known Smartphone sellers in the world, which is specialize in securing
communications as well as mobile productivity, and well known for the keyboards on most of its
devices. At its peak in September 2013, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide
(Riadi et al., 2017). In this report, the business level strategies used by Blackberry are discussed
as well as industry and firm analysis is done. In this, the emergent and defined strategy, which
Blackberry can use, is also discussed.
Business level strategies
Blackberry was successful in the year 2008, due to various business strategies the market share
of the company that is 37.3% in the United States Smart phones. The strategies, which are used
by the company, are cost leadership strategy by offering best and lower pricing of the products
than that of the competitors. The price of Smartphone’s are BlackBerry Bold 9900 GSM was
$109, which is lower as compared to its competitor Nokia that is Nokia 3.1 price was $ 115 in
United States (Frizzo-Barker & Chow-White, 2012). BlackBerry also use the strategy of
differentiation in the product by offering unique features in the product like unique physical
keyboards in the Smartphone’s, the company also offered ten Smartphone’s in the year 2008,
with the touch screen keyboards (Riadi et al., 2017). The BlackBerry Smartphone’s also has the
Peek feature, in which person can see the message as well as notifications without exiting the
application. The blackberry after the year 2001, continue its expansion in server of BlackBerry
Enterprise as well as BlackBerry OS. The phones of BlackBerry also have unique server
technology between the systems of e-mail as well as phones to offer superior performance.
However, in 2008 the company also focuses on the strategy of integrated lower cost by offering
unique features in the products; this helps the company to increase their revenue that is in 2008
the revenue of BlackBerry was $6009 million in United States.

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Year Revenue
2005 $1,350 million
2006 $2,066 million
2007 $3,037 million
2008 $6,009 million
BlackBerry revenue, US
SOURCE: (Heriyati & Siek, 2011)
The stock prices of Blackberry were also higher that is $236 in the year 2007 (Heriyati & Siek,
2011). The company targeted mainly to the youngster under the age group of 25 as well as
business professional by offering unique features like obtaining to the E-mail wireless internet.
However, in the year 2007, 27% of the Blackberry user from the non-enterprise as well as
Smartphone of blackberry offered in 110 countries with the 270 networks (Donda et al., 2017).
Blackberry’s Success Halted
The company until the year 2010, continuous to grow but, after that company loses the ground
due to the launching of Apple iOS as well as Google’s GOOG Android. However, in the year
2012, the market share of BlackBerry decreases that is 7.3% in United States whereas market
share of Apple and Google were 53.7% and 35% respectively in 2012 (Tseng et al., 2014). The
success of the BlackBerry decreases because of existing and new competitors like android,
iPhone and Windows phone, which offer devices of wireless email. In the year 2008, Apples
sales were increased and higher than 4 million and become 2nd due the rise in sales after
BlackBerry (Seabrooke & Wigan, 2014). BlackBerry does not conduct research in effective
manner, that is cell phones was offered by the company with physical keyboard whereas Apple
gain the competitive advantage by offering the iPhone with big touch screen, internet as well as
play music. Americans were more attracted towards the big touch screen smart-phones and the
percentage increases over the year that is in the year 2014, it was 53.6% (Tseng et al., 2014).

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Amer
icans Smart-phones buying behavior
SOURCE: (Statista, 2018)
With the popularity of technology such as Dual-Core processors, competitors such as LG gained
a competitive edge in the market by increasing their performance. BlackBerry also exhibit with
irregularity, it launch the Playbook Tablet with not including a client of email client in the board.
The company halted the success because of failing in recognizing the prospective of the
consumers in the market of Smartphone’s because it before 2007, the consumer were only using
the basic flip phones (Tsai & Chang, 2013). However, after 2009, the revenue of the decreases,
but after 2012, the company was in very high loss that is in the year 2013, the revenue of the
company was $11.1billion and, loss was up to $646billion (Tseng et al., 2014).

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2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Revenue $19.9
billion
$18.4
billion
$11.1
billion
$6.8 billion $3.3
billion
$2.2
billion
Net Income
(Loss)
$3.4
billion
$1.2
billion
$(646)
million
$(5.9)
million
$(304)
million
$(208)
million
Smartphone’
s Market
Share
2.9% 2.0% 1.9% 0.5% 0.2% 0.2%
(1st
quarter)
BlackBerry Revenue
SOURCE: (Tsai & Chang, 2013)
BlackBerry overlook the market change
BlackBerry fails to spot to the market change because it fails to recognize that competitors can
affect them as well as also fail to spot the influence of the lower cost competitors in the United
States. The changes in the market is continuous and due to evaluation in the technology the
company offer only few touch screen phones whereas Apple introduced big touch screen.
However, through this BlackBerry not sustain in the high competitive environment because of
not introducing the product according to the needs and requirements of the consumers (Don et
al., 2018). BlackBerry make various efforts to sustain in the emerging market by offering the
systems of QNX Software, this operating systems powered technology ranges only from
interferences in computerized automobiles to the devices in the medical (Bajwa et al., 2017). In
the year, 2011 company introduces a PlayBook tablet, which is power-driven by the operating
system of QNX based, but ii does not work in the competitive market (Golet et al., 2013). The
company does not expand and simplify its business network monitoring as well as its operations
in network. Due to this, the company global market share also declines in the year 2014, it
become 0% (Bajwa et al., 2017).

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SOURCE: (Bajwa et al., 2017)
The company does not focus on continuous innovation because of lack of research. However,
after 2010, the company is only copying the features of other brands; this strategy is not worked
in sustaining in the competitive environment. The reason for missing the market share is also that
it does not focus on making the innovation for the specific target segment (Seabrooke & Wigan,
2014). It failed to predict that the costumers mainly the youngster as well as business
professional would attracted towards the new innovating features. BlackBerry misses the
opportunity to take advantage for the music fans as well as Apple to target them launched the
iTunes music store. The changes in the market also changes the needs of the customers, the
youngsters were looking for the innovation in the touch screen. BlackBerry also misses this
opportunity, for this again Apple adds multi-touch screen in the year 2008. The company
overlooked the multiple opportunities this result in decreasing in the consumers of BlackBerry
that is in 2012, it was decreased 6% in US (Riadi et al., 2017).

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Percentage of Consumers
SOURCE: (Riadi et al., 2017)
Defined strategy
Blackberry used the defined strategy, by setting the mission, which is to become the world’s
leading and well-established provider. The company believes that it is done by offering
components as well as resources of hardware and software and other systems, which are most,
secured as well as trusted (Kearney et al., 2018). The objective of Blackberry is to expand its
market by offering unique features in its products and by communicating them in an effective
manner. However, the company wanted to raise the awareness of smart-phones by focusing on
the demands of young costumers because they were a key demographic for the company. The
vision of the company is to make the whole world connected, in which the person as well as their
data remain safe (Farfán, 2018). The main focus of company is to make innovation to secure the
data. However, for this company develops hardware, software and other services to offer support
to the multiple standards of wireless network. In the year 2006, the company also provides
applications of intranet based, other applications like e-mail, internet etc. However, to achieve

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mission of the company, it offers unique server technology to the consumers. In 2007,
BlackBerry used marketing strategies in US for communicating their products to the target group
by advertising in newspaper, television, it also promote sales by providing samples as well as
coupons to the consumers (Sukamto & Lumintan, 2015). However, through this the revenue of
the company increases in US that is it was $6009 million in the year 2008 as compared to 2007,
which was $3037 million (Heriyati & Siek, 2011).
Contingency Theory
It is the organizational theory, which shows that there is no better way to manage or guide the
employees as well as organization. The theory suggests decision making, leading as well as
managing, these all are dependent on the situation (Riadi et al., 2017). BlackBerry has lacked in
maintaining the effective leadership as well as making decisions for the product. However,
according to the case the Blackberry is following the democratic style of management.
BlackBerry does not follow the contingency theory because the decisions regarding the product
innovation were not made according to the situations that is with the emergence in the Dual-Core
processors technology company could develop the product by using this technology, but it
cannot make any initiative according to dynamic environment.
Conclusion
From the above, it is conclude that BlackBerry adopted several business level strategies like cost
leadership strategy, differentiation as well as integrated cost leadership and differentiation
strategy. The success of the company declined because of various competitors and new products
like iPhone, Android, which offer unique features to customers. In conclusion, the company
ignored multiple opportunities due to inadequate research and innovation. Most of the
opportunities were taken by Apple which focused on needs and requirement of customers
through its products and services. The company adopted the defined strategy because the
mission, vision as well as objectives are already developed by the company. The company also
develops other strategies, which help them to achieve the objectives of the company.

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