Strategic Leadership and Management: The Blackberry Case Study

This case study examines the strategic management and leadership issues that contributed to Blackberry's decline in the competitive smartphone industry. The report analyzes the relationship between strategy, stakeholder expectations, and organizational performance, highlighting the importance of adapting to market changes and customer needs. It explores the impact of external factors, such as globalization and technological advancements, on strategic decision-making. The study also delves into strategy formulation, business strategy analysis, and the development of an implementation plan. The analysis emphasizes the need for effective leadership, innovation, and a focus on meeting stakeholder expectations to regain market share and achieve business goals. The report uses contingency theory to explain strategic management and the importance of adapting strategies based on internal and external factors. The case underscores the significance of understanding the business environment and developing strategies that align with customer preferences, economic conditions, and cultural factors.

STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT
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2019
CASE STUDY OF BLACKBERRY
STUDENT DETAILS
[Company name] | [Company address]

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Executive Summary
The report is based on analyzing the leadership issues that led to the downfall of Blackberry
in the smartphone industry. The industry is highly competitive and the customers expect the
companies to introduce continuous and technological changes within the products. Therefore,
the strategy formed within the organization should be focused on meeting the industry
requirements and the needs and expectations of the customer. The leadership at Blackberry
failed to analyze the market requirements and was not able to provide the customers with a
product that would compete with the available products within the industry.
Blackberry should effectively analyze the customer expectations and the competition within
the industry and focus on developing strategies that would improve the effectiveness of the
organization along with improving the leadership within the organization. Effective
leadership will be able to analyze the changes within the industry and make changes
accordingly within the organization. Along with introducing a new product line and focusing
on improving the leadership within the organization, it is required that the Blackberry should
also focus on innovation within the organization so that it will be able to provide the
customers with innovative products and technology and will be able to compete effectively
within the industry.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Relationship between Strategy, Stakeholder Expectation and Organisational Performance.....4
Impact of External Factors on Strategic Management...............................................................6
Strategy Formulation..................................................................................................................8
Business Strategy Analysis......................................................................................................10
Implementation Plan for Strategy............................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
The smartphone industry is one among the fastest-changing industries, as the smartphone
industry is undergoing continuous technological changes and innovation in the existing
products. As due to high level of competition within the industry, to compete and to maintain
the market share the companies are required to invest in innovation and to provide the
customers with the improved and better service experience. Blackberry, a mobile device
manufacturer was among the market leaders, but due to inefficiency of the management and
leadership within the organisation, the company was not able to effectively analyse the
market changes and the needs and requirements, due to which the company faced a downfall
in the market share and also resulted in loss of customer trust in its products.
The organisations are required to effectively develop strategies that would lead the
organisation towards success and achievement of the goals and objectives. The strategy
formed must include every aspect of the business environment, either internal or the external,
so that the strategy formed can lead the organisation towards achievement of organisational
goals, and can result in improved performance of the organisation. Such formed strategies are
required to be effectively implemented within the organisation, through a proper strategic
implementation plan which will ensure that the activities within the organisation are focusing
towards goal achievement. The report is focused on identifying the issues which resulted in
the downfall of Blackberry and developing strategies that would be implemented within the
organisation to regain the lost market share and to be among the competitive player within
the industry.

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Relationship between Strategy, Stakeholder
Expectation and Organisational Performance
The management of the organisation ahs the key role in determining the systems for strategy
formulation, estimating the shareholder’s expectation and contributing towards organisational
performance. As in today’s innovative industry, the business organisation must focus on
developing strategies that would improve the organisation’s performance and meet the needs
and requirements of the stakeholders of the organisation. To ensure that the activities within
the organisation will result in performance improvement, strategic decisions are required to
be made after analysing the various factors of the organisation (Carter & Greer, 2013).
On the other hand, stakeholders are an important part of the business organisation, and
identifying their expectation and requirements is also important for the organisation as it has
its direct influence on the performance of the organisation. The strategy formed within the
organisation is highly influenced by the stakeholder’s expectations, as the stakeholders have
certain needs that they expect to be met by the organisation. Therefore, it is required that
while developing strategies within the organisation, such stakeholder’s expectations should
be analysed and ensured that they are being met through the application of that strategy along
with achieving the business goals and objectives (Neville, et al., 2005).
The stakeholder’s expectations also impact the business performance, as the business
stakeholder includes the business customer as well as the suppliers of the organisation. The
customer expects to receive quality products at affordable prices, the investor being the
stakeholder expects high returns on the investment, society in which the organisation is
conducting is business expects that the business should also contribute towards development
activities within the society. To achieve success and to improve business performance the
business organisation is required to develop strategies that should meet the expectations of

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the stakeholders and along with that ensuring the growth of the business organisation (Mason
& Simmons, 2014).
The Contingency theory of strategic management effectively analyses that there is no best
way to handle every situation within the organisation. The management within the
organisation is required to analyse every aspect of the business and then develop a strategic
plan that would suit the situation and would be able to effectively provide a solution for the
business situation (Wadongo & Abdel-Kader, 2014). As there are too many internal and
external factors that influence the business performance and the factors vary depending upon
the business situation. The contingency theory defines that within a business organisation the
manager or the leader must be able to identify the business requirements and develop
strategies that would meet the requirements and lead the business towards performance
improvement (Howell, et al., 2010).
Organisations following contingency theory of strategic management focus on the
stakeholder’s requirements, the changes in the industry and the business environment,
focuses on the business goals and objectives and then they formulate a strategic plan to
manage the business organisation ensuring that the stakeholder’s expectations and the
organisational goals and objectives are being met (Zigan, 2012).
Blackberry, introduced its first device in 1999, which gain popularity within the industry, also
provide a competitive edge to Blackberry within the industry. But with the introduction of
Apple’s iPhone in 2007, the customers and stakeholder’s expectation changed regarding
mobile devices, and due to the reason, Blackberry started losing its market share within the
industry. As it was not able to introduce the changes as per the stakeholder’s expectations and
failed to develop strategies that would help the company in improving its performance
(Ciaccia, 2013). The first smartphone introduced by Blackberry in 2008, but the phone came
late within the market from its initial release date, and the technology used was not good

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enough to compete with the iPhone, as a result, the sale for the product decreased and the
company abandoned the product (Vara, 2013).
The poor strategy at Blackberry has resulted in downfall in the sale of Blackberry’s products.
The contingency approach has been used for explaining strategic management, as it explains
that the leaders should focus on all the aspects and effectively analyse them before forming
any strategy within the organisation. As the strategy formed should meet the stakeholder’s
expectation along with ensuring the business growth.
Impact of External Factors on Strategic Management
The introduction of globalisation has led the market towards an increase in global trade and
establishments of international markets within the global economy. Such international
markets are required to be identified and evaluated effectively to find the factors that may
have an impact on the working of the organisation in the global world. The main factors
within the international markets that need to be analysed effectively include the political,
economic and cultural factor of the nation. As every country has its own economic, political
and cultural influences on the organisation. To maximize their market share within the
foreign nation and to achieve customer loyalty, the companies are required to effectively
analyse the factors of international markets, and conduct business accordingly.
The strategic decision involves an effective analysis of the business environments and the
decisions that would result in the elimination of business problems. The organisation should
focus on the political and legal environment of both the home country as well as a foreign
country, to identify its impact on the strategy formation (Holburn & Zelner, 2010). As the
government controls the import-export system, which limits the foreign trade for the
organisation, also there are various legal rules and regulations established by nations that
control the foreign trade within the nation. Such rules and regulations are required to be

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analysed so that the company can develop strategies accordingly. As there are countries that
restrict the U.S entertainment products import to preserve their culture industries (Czinkota &
Ronkainen, 2007).
The organisation is also required to analyse the intergovernmental relations between the
home country and the nation in which it is expanding its operations, as such political relations
also influence the strategic decision process of the organisation (Phillimore, 2013). The
Blackberry’s USP, that was its powerful encryption technology that was used in its devices,
which provides its users with utmost privacy, become a major hurdle for its international
expansion, due to the political and legal issues within the nations, that does not allow such
technology. As the countries especially in Asia the government, imposed a ban on the sale of
Blackberry products due to its encryption, as they considered it a national security threat
(Reardon, 2010).
Another factor that has its effect on the strategic decision of the organisation is the economic
factor of the foreign nation in which it is going to expand its operations. As the nation’s
economic factor decides upon the price at which the product will be sold within the nation,
also the purchasing power of the nation’s market. Developing business strategies is
influenced by the economic factors of the nation as the leaders are required to analyse the
market’s economic factors, to decide the product affordability within the market and to set a
price range which would be acceptable by the customers within the market (Visnja, et al.,
2016). The smartphone market has got success for high priced and premium quality products,
with the introduction of the iPhone within the market, people are ready to spend on quality
products. Therefore, while developing the strategy to expand in foreign nations, the
organisation is required to effectively analyse the consumer's trends and expectation and
based on the customer expectation and nation’s economic condition, the strategy should be
developed (Nielson, 2019).

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The social, as well as cultural factors of the nation, impacts the strategic decision process of
an organisation. As the cultural factors define the mindset of the customers within the nation.
as the culture of the nation affects human behaviour. Hence it is required that the organisation
effectively analyses the cultural environment so that it can understand the customer's needs
and preferences and can develop a strategy that would meet the customer expectation within
the industry (Ang & Dyne, 2015). The smartphone industry is under continuous development
and new technologies are being introduced within the market. Due to which the customer
preferences for smartphones are changing frequently based on the introduction of new and
innovative technology. Blackberry should focus on analysing such technological changes and
accordingly analyse the customer’s preferences so that it will be able to compete within the
market and be able to develop a strategy that would improve the business performance of the
organisation (Cecere, et al., 2015).
Strategy Formulation
The internal and external environment of the organisation is required to be effectively
analysed before forming strategic decisions so that any issues within the environment can be
met and the decision can contribute towards the organisation’s performance. The internal
analysis of the organisation will effectively analyse the firm’s internal capabilities that would
help the organisation in achieving success within the industry and will also provide
opportunities, the organisation can focus upon (Proctor, 2008).
Blackberry is at the lowest position within the smartphone industry. With the declining
market share and poor leadership, the blackberry is at a position, where the customers, as well
as business investors, are in doubt about the company’s future. The company has a strength
of strong flow but its inability to utilise the resource is leading the company towards downfall
and cash drain. The strengths of the organisation include valuable patent rights, and the

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popularized BBM and BES in its portfolio. Also, blackberry has a strong brand reputation
within the market in terms of service and product quality. The main weakness of the
organisation that led the organisation towards downfall, is the poor management and
leadership of the organisation. The leaders within the organisation were not able to
effectively analyse the customer expectations and requirements and resulted in the
development of product line which was not able to compete within the industry with the
competitors (Hicks, 2012).
Blackberry can expand its market share by implementing proper management within the
organisation, focused on taking decisions depending upon the market requirements and the
competition within the industry. Blackberry can focus on utilising the available resource to
create a product line that would provide competition within the industry and a choice for the
customers. In implementing the strategies, the threat which may be faced by the Blackberry
includes the volatility of the smartphone market, high risk towards customer acceptance, and
the efficiency of the management in analysing the market requirements (Poh, 2016). IBM is
an example of an organisation focusing on analysing the market opportunities, and
considering transformation within the organisation that has resulted in growth of the
organisation within the industry (Harreld, et al., 2007).
The external analysis of the industry is done to analyse the industry and to find out the factors
that would influence the working within the industry. The competitor analysis is a major
factor in analysing the external environment of the organisation. As the level of competition
within the industry helps the organisation in deciding upon the market strategies (Porter,
2008). The industry analysis includes analysing the threat of new entrants within the industry,
as in smartphone industry the threat is moderate, due to requirement of high capital
investment and use of modern technologies, new players face difficulty while entering the
industry. The bargaining power of supplier as well as the customer is high in the industry, as

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due to high competition within the industry the customers have the option to shift to another
brand, due to which the customer can negotiate for the product quality in respect to price. The
high level of competition within the industry has resulted in the availability of high level of
substitute within the industry (Tseng, et al., 2014).
The strategy formed after analysing the internal as well as external environment of the
organisation results in developing a strategy that meets the needs and requirements that
would fulfil the market needs and help in achieving the organisational goals. Blackberry
should focus on introducing a new product line that would meet the customer needs and
requirements and would also be able to compete with the available smartphones within the
market. As the Blackberry has a strong reputation in terms of quality products, developing a
new product line will help the organisation in attracting customers and will be able to gain the
market share. Along with introducing new product line, Blackberry should also invest in
activities focused towards innovation within the industry, as the industry is under the stage of
continuous improvement, and accordingly, the customer’s taste and preferences are also
changing. To maintain the market share and to compete within the industry, Blackberry will
be required to implement changes within the product so that the customer interest, as well as
the market share, can be retained.
Business Strategy Analysis
The business strategy formed to include the customer expectations and requirements as it is
based on the industry as well as internal evaluation. Business success can be defined through
such strategies. As the strategy formed within the organisation is dependent on the business
situation and is required that it meets the business requirements along with ensuring business
success. The development of new product line at Blackberry will contribute towards
organisational development, as the product developed will be according to the current market