King Abdulaziz University

Faculty of Economics & Administration

Strategic Management
(BUS-420)

Black Berry Company

Submitted by: Submitted To:

Nora Mukhtar - 1507335 Dr. Komal Khalid

Ibtehal Al-Mohammadi - 1597183
Ameerah Al Harbi – 1505361
Shroog Bawazeer – 1421401
Latifa Altwaim - 1421239

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 Table of content

 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………. 3
 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………... 4
 Sector & Industry of blackberry……………………………………………………...……. 5
 Analyses of the organization’s business-level and corporate-level strategies……………... 6
 Organization History………………………………………………….…………………… 8
 Organization Structure………………………………………………………………..……. 10
 SWOT analysis……………………………………………………………………….……. 12
 PESTEL analysis…………………………………………………………………………... 14
 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...…..…… 15
 Reasons BlackBerry crumbled in the smartphone market………………………….....…… 16
- Canadian phone maker……………………………………………………………..………..…....…16
- Slow to react to market changes………………………………………………….…………...……. 16
- Bad designs and bizarre names…………………………………………………..……………..…... 16
- BlackBerry has been never really cool………………………………………….…………….....…. 17
- Corporate slowdown……………………………………………………………….……………….. 17
- Apple exploded……………………………………………………………….…………………….. 18
- Android………………………………………………………………………….………………..… 18

 Recommendation…………………………………………………………………………... 19

- Attempt an alternate message…………………………………………………………….... 19

- Use testimonials……………………………………………………………………………. 19
- Purchasing incentive (markdown, shortage, and so forth)……………………………….... 20
- Use price skimming………………………………………………………………...……… 20

 What did I learn from strategic management…………………………………………….…21

 References…………………………………………………………………………….…….23

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 Abstract

What is BlackBerry, and what does it do? Many questions will be asked and answered in this research
while taking care several points which will be discussed throughout this paper.

Our research covers many points about Blackberry the Company. Starting by having an introduction
about the Company itself, moving on discussing the meaning of sectors and the industry that
Blackberry was introduced in.

We will also, do an analysis about the organization’s business-level and corporate-level strategies. We
will be highlighting the Company's history and structure in details while doing a SWOT and PESTEL
analysis as well.

In the end, will we have a conclusion, the reasons why BlackBerry crumbled in the smartphone
market, recommendation for the company that may help it to raise profits again.

Least but not last, we will be covering what we learned from strategic management.

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 Introduction
You may hear a lot of people saying the word Blackberry, and you know it is not the fruit. Yet, what
do you think they are talking about? Odds are, they are talking about the Blackberry smartphone.

A BlackBerry is a smart phone created by the Canadian multinational company called before as
Research in Motion. Specializing in enterprise software and the Internet of things. They have a line of
smartphones and tablets as well.

BlackBerry phones is a trading name used by TCL communication in order to sell all the branded
devices by blackberry. It was considered as one of the most outstanding smartphones around the world
among all ages. Until the company were unable to compete with iOS and Android.

The company has released several models since it started and Continued to enjoy success. After that,
the company's profit decreased very fast and so they decided to make an Android smartphone in a bid
early in 2017. Blackberry has gone through many challenges since it was first released.

We are going to establish many points throughout this paper all in order to specify the different
strategies that the company have chosen to adapt during this year.

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 Sector & Industry of blackberry
The technology sector covers a large number of industries; it is a sector of the economy that relates to
industries that provide:

1-Any communication services.

2-Computer hardware.

3-Computer software & services.

4-Electronics.

5-Internet.

Telecommunications have changed many lives for the better or worse. These industries are also the
backbone of the technology sector, and business. In this sector can range telecommunication providers
to satellite companies. BlackBerry, primarily operates in:
The communication equipment industry.

The industry provides electronic equipment services to individuals, multinational

corporations, NGO’s, government agencies educational institutions facilitate communication.

The equipment's can range from hand held phones to telephone network infrastructure, and the

products in the industry may operate with wireless or wired connection to the public communication
network Technology in this day and age is very advanced and requires constant update to have a
competitive edge in the industry. As a result, competition between companies in the industry can
be intense and barriers to entry can be high. Even though BlackBerry is not one of the big players, it
has found a small safe niche in the market and holds 5% of the market share (Moorman).
On the other hand, according to data monitor, BlackBerry has a strong presence in the enterprise
smart phone   market. Depending on the economy, so having a strong market base can be crucial. In
addition, products sold to enterprise institutions are categorized as networking equipment and products
for individuals or public carriers are categorized as telecom equipment.
Communication plays a big role in the environment we live in.  For the communication
equipment industry, demand for network, bandwidth, and data are tremendously high. With a
technology driven society, rapid use of online video streaming, social media, and data intensive
wireless devices have also improved and are much more in number than they were before. According
to Standard and Poor’s, “data being the most prevalent traffic carried over the network,”

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the industry is paying attention to the fast-moving data transfer solutions rather than voice equipment
alone. On top of that, equipment vendors in the domestic and international markets are making great
effort to capture the industry’s long-term investment (such as putting more focus on data)
made by telecommunication service providers and corporations is somewhat struggling with their
communication infrastructure to keep up with network utilization loads.

BlackBerry Segments focus:

Communication network has become part of our day to day life, it can be sending an
E-mail, social networking sites, checking the news, sports updates, or using navigation systems. Most
of us depend on handheld communication devices. Currently, the market for the wireless technology
with data service is highly in demand as opposed to wireless services with just voice. According to
Standard and Poor's, in the past five years, the growth rate of the smart phone market in the United
States is 58% and “this is a segment that Blackberry targets, and it had roughly 23% share as of April
2011.” With our life’s rapidly becoming digitalized, we are relying more and more on technology
every day. Moreover, BlackBerry, is estimated to have 76 million BlackBerry subscribers at the end of
February 2013 (Moorman). As a result, it can strengthen its segment and be a potential for growth.

Analyses of the organization’s business-level and corporate-level strategies

Faced with an overall lackluster level of financial performance and market share, Blackberry re-
assessed both their business and corporate level strategies in 2011. Their primary focus since then has
been on restructuring. The company sets a time frame of 3-5 years to become financially solvent
again. To help accomplish this, they recently cut 5,000 jobs – or 30% of their overall workforce
(Smith, Catherine). In addition, Thorsten Heinz was promoted to CEO, replacing BlackBerry’s
original co-founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who had been in charge of the company since
1984 (Bosker). Since his promotion, Heins has worked to oversee the development and launch of the
BlackBerry 10 operating system and BlackBerry Z10 andQ10 smartphones.

The company is basically pinning its future on these new devices, and the hope is that adjusting and
reevaluating business-level strategies around these two products will lead to a more profitable and
competitive position in years to come. The entire new BlackBerry experience is based upon providing
users with a new smartphone experience (McCann). As such, the company is pursuing a
differentiation strategy with these products. They are essentially hoping to reach out to consumers
who may be tired of their iPhone or Android device and are looking for something different. Price
points for the new devices are also in line with this way of thinking. The BlackBerry Z10 retails for

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$199, while the Q10 retails for $249. The iPhone 5, in comparison, is available in different
configurations starting at $199 and continuing through $399.Samsung’s Galaxy S4 – a popular
Android device – is available in $199 and $249 versions as well (McCann)(delete).
Some  of      the  big  players      in  the      industry  and      major competitions for  BlackBerry are:
Apple,  Samsung,  and in such an environment, demand  may  be  volatile. So, BlackBerry certainly isn’t
trying to undercut either competitor on price, or position their products as premium items by going
with a higher price point.

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 Organization History
BlackBerry Limited is a Canadian multinational company specializing in enterprise
software and the Internet of things. Originally known as Research In Motion (RIM), it
is best known to the general public as the former developer of the BlackBerry brand of
smartphones, and tablets, it transitioned to an enterprise software and services company
under CEO John S. Chen. Its products are used worldwide by various businesses, car
makers, and government agencies, and include the AtHoc crisis communications
platform, the QNX real-time operating system, and BlackBerry UEM, an endpoint
management platform. BlackBerry was founded in 1984 as Research In Motion by
Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin. In 1992, Lazaridis hired Jim Balsillie, and
Lazaridis and Balsillie served as co-CEOs until January 22, 2012. In November 2013,
John S. Chen took over as CEO. His initial strategy was to subcontract manufacturing
to Foxconn, and to focus on software technology. Currently, his strategy includes
forming licensing partnerships with device manufacturers such as TCL
Communication, and unifying BlackBerry’s software portfolio.

1999: BlackBerry released its first two-way pager the

BlackBerry 850 in 1999, which supported email and web
browsing. The company's products were named BlackBerry
supposedly due to resemblance of the rounded physical
keys to the seeds of the blackberry fruit.

2000: The BlackBerry 857 was released the following year,

and featured a larger monochrome screen set in portrait
orientation, and used the DataTAC network.

2006: The Pearl 8100 was the first BlackBerry to feature the
signature trackball for scrolling around the screen, but did
not support WiFi.

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2008: The BlackBerry Bold 9000 also went on sale in
2008, complete with faux leather back and, at 480 x 320
ppi, the same resolution as the iPhone 3G.

2011: The BlackBerry Playbook was its first attempt at

making a tablet, but sales were sluggish despite
massive discounting in the run up to Christmas 2011.
In 2013 chief executive Thorsten Heins announced he
was cancelling any further work on the Playbook
project, due to his concerns over "level of performance
and user experience".

2013: The largely unremarkable touchscreen BlackBerry

Z10 was released in 2013, but did receive notable
endorsement from angel market . The Q10, which featured a
physical keyboard, followed shortly afterwards.

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 Organization Structure

BlackBerry Executive Team:

John Chen

Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

John Chen is Executive Chairman of BlackBerry’s Board of Directors and
Chief Executive Officer.
John is a distinguished and proven leader in the technology industry. Prior
to joining BlackBerry, he served as Chairman and CEO of Sybase Inc. for
15 years, where he developed and led the company’s re-invention of a
mature, slower-growth technology company into a $1.5 billion-plus high-
growth innovator. Under his direction, Sybase became the leading provider of enterprise mobility and
mobile commerce solutions, achieving 55 consecutive quarters of profitability.

Marty Beard

Chief Operating Officer, BlackBerry

Marty is responsible for leading cross-functional operations, including
marketing, strategic and application partnering, developer outreach,
industry and security evangelism, e-commerce sales and a variety of
supporting functions like quality control and corporate customer support.
He is also responsible for corporate development and M&A activities.

Steve Capelli

Chief Financial Officer

Steve Capelli is Chief Financial Officer, responsible for all of BlackBerry’s
financial operations, including corporate accounting, FP&A, treasury, tax,
procurement, pricing and investor relations.
Steve has 25 years of executive experience leading finance and operations
organizations in the software and technology industry.

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 Dr. Sandeep Chennakeshu

President, BlackBerry Technology Solutions

Dr. Sandeep Chennakeshu is the President of BlackBerry Technology
Solutions (BTS). In this role, he manages and drives the strategic
direction of BlackBerry’s innovative technology assets, including QNX
Software Systems (embedded software), Certicom (cryptography
applications) and Paratek (RF antenna tuning). Sandeep also manages the
company’s extensive patent portfolio and is a key leader of the Internet of
Things strategy.

Nita White-Ivy

Executive Vice President, Human Resources

Nita is responsible for leading the HR team to design and deliver global
programs, initiatives, partnerships, solutions and services in all facets of
HR to support the achievement of the company’s operational goals and
strategic objectives.

Carl J. Wiese

President, Global Sales

Carl Wiese is President, Global Sales, and is responsible for driving
BlackBerry’s go-to-market strategy and advancing the company’s global
sales and service efforts to drive growth.

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 SWOT analysis
SWOT is an acronym used to describe the particular strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
that are strategic factors for a specific company. The company’s strengths and weaknesses are the
internal factors. Opportunities and threats deal with factors external to the company—within industry
environment. Over the years, SWOT analysis has proven to be the most enduring analytical technique
used in strategic management. SWOT analysis is done as part of the overall corporate planning
process in which financial and operational goals are set for the upcoming year, and strategies are
created to accomplish these goals. It is helping in using recourses efficiently, improving operations,
Discovering Opportunities, Dealing with Risks, and Competitive Positioning.

SWOT Analysis for BlackBerry:

Strengths
 One of the biggest strengths of Blackberry is that it has a good reputation among corporate
users of mobiles because of its proprietary technology that gained over its competitors,
especially corporate users.
 One of the main strengths of Blackberry is that its devices are more secure than its
competitors. The security features were the foundation stone of the devices and that what made
blackberry different from any other mobile company including Samsung and Apple. This is the
reason why Blackberries are so popular with corporate users who use it to link it with their
VPNs or Virtual Private Networks.

Weaknesses
 The main weakness that Blackberry has that it went to a single focus on the corporate users
and enhanced its security features as a Unique Selling Proposition. While this aspect held it in
good position for the concerned corporate clients, once Samsung and Apple came out with
Smartphones for the consumers and the everyday usage, Blackberry was unable to keep up
with the competition. Indeed, both Samsung and Apple have cornered the market share by
enhancing the security features in their Smartphones.
 Given the fact that small business owners using Blackberries now had to install expensive
enterprise software, they began to switch to the rivals instead of using Blackberries.

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  As mentioned earlier, Blackberry was essentially a single focus with its obsessive on the
corporate users. With the large consumer base untouched by it, Samsung and Apple quickly
garnered this segment by providing an easy user interface and apps that were simple and
effective; these companies soon began to take away even the corporate customers of
Blackberry.

Opportunities
 The company made big moves recently as it rejected a sale offer and a buyout offer and
appointed a new CEO and rehash its organizational team and structure, Blackberry has
shown that it is serious and is going all out to reinvent itself.
 The company has a good opportunity as far as leveraging its existing customer base of over
100 Million users is concerned. Given the fact that the company can tap into this customer
base for its future products.
 By integrating the third party apps and features into its phones, the company can imitate
the strategies followed by Apple and Samsung and the increase in the business partnerships
with third party providers.

Threats
 Though Blackberries were the original Smartphones, both Apple and Samsung beat it to the
race by providing the flexibility and ease of use that Blackberries lacked and hence, were able
to dominate market share and take away competitors.
 Beside competitors, Blackberry has to fight the slack and the bleak internal environment,
because the lower employee morale, which happened because the troubles that the company
has been through in recent years. Given the fact that the Smartphone industry thrives on
innovation, Blackberry has to rejuvenate itself and reinvent itself apart from rescuing it from
the drop, and motivate its employees.

Conclusion

The previous discussion has shown the need for Blackberry and its management to take proactive
steps to save the company. The recent strategic moves made by the new leadership are to be seen in
the light of the company’s drift away from its profit making and market leadership model to a
situation where it is no longer in the tally. In conclusion, Blackberry and its leadership have the
chance to take on the challenges for the Smartphone companies like Apple and Samsung.

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 PESTEL Analysis

PESTLE analysis, which sometimes referred as STEEP analysis is a concept used as a tool by
companies to track the environment they are operating in or are planning to launch a new product or
service in that environment.
PESTEL is curtailed for political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors
that the company cannot control it and must adapt the change in these factors or will be out the game.
It gives a bird’s eye view of the whole environment from many different aspects so the company can
keep checking in changes.

For blackberry situation:

Political Factors

In markets where Blackberry operates, the political changes have effects on it. In recent years,
Blackberry faced great political tensions. Blackberry may face a significant political instability. The
company based in Canada and uses factories in Mexico and Hungary mainly, which lacks the
consistency in quality of products. Countries like India and South Korea political environment
affected by the frequent changes so there are some Political pressures on BlackBerry.

Economic Factors

The economic aspect is critical for Blackberry, The Company is facing a huge decrease in its
customers and Profits is declining because of its competitors, who are offering the same features at a
lower price with high quality.

In many countries, the developed mobile industry markets are forcing Blackberry to seek sufficient
revenue in which Blackberry can operate globally; this may lead the company towards success again.

Social Factors

It is true that Blackberry Company does use many different social platforms, which include Facebook,
and Twitter. However, Blackberry focus was on corporate clients that caused lacking influential
markets because the young adults are those how spend more time on the social platforms than
corporate clients do.

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Technological Factors

During the past year, BlackBerry has made great technological efforts to the system, the exterior and
interior design, the screen, and the camera. This has improved its position in the mobile industry and
has contributed somewhat to the return of some customers.

Environmental Factors

The ethical consumer is increasing day by day. BlackBerry manufactures products are under
consideration of environment and social factors. The company is responsible and is well aware of the
brands that help to make products available for the chic ethical consumer. This means that company is
working for wages for labor and final product accordingly.

Legal Factors

Blackberry does not provide customer's information to telecommunication services or any third party
for privacy concerns that made the company face many penalties. However, the company has been
taken so far in the industry, it still has to follow all legal proceedings.

Conclusion

Blackberry should read this analysis in an excellent way so that it can develop the right strategy that
makes it come back to the market.

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 Reasons BlackBerry crumbled in the smartphone market:
CANADIAN PHONE MAKER BlackBerry is finally out of the smartphone market, sort of, after
announcing last week that it will stop manufacturing its own devices and let third-party firms do the
job instead. The move was no surprise as BlackBerry’s share of the smartphone market had fallen to
as low as 0.3 per cent in recent months. But few could have predicted such a dismal end to the firm’s
mobile story, given that it was selling 50 million phones a year as recently as 2011.in our research, we
put together some of the reasons why BlackBerry lost its way.

1. Slow to react to market changes:

BlackBerry devices were top in their class for many years because they provided small Qwerty
keyboards that made it easier to fire off emails and instant messages. It’s easy to forget, but touch
screen phones were few and far between back then, and most people were far more comfortable using
plastic keys and a little scroll ball. However, eventually, led by Apple and Android devices (more on
them later), smartphone users became comfortable with touchscreen devices and actually preferred
them for the larger screens. BlackBerry failed to notice the change. The firm stuck doggedly to the
idea that fiddly plastic keys were not only desirable, but preferable to sleek, elegant devices, and that
if it churned out enough they would still sell. This never happened. The company has tried to turn the
corner with BlackBerry 10 that allowed it to create full touchscreen devices with a more modern look
and feel, but by then it was too late.

2. Bad designs and bizarre names:

We’re not sure what’s in the water at Waterloo but the people at BlackBerry certainly had some
interesting ideas about smartphone design. Android manufacturers and Apple had identified that it was
possible to design sleek, elegant devices around an easy to hold rectangle, but BlackBerry refused to
follow suit. A case in point is the bizarre BlackBerry Passport that was more of a square, complete
with the same fiddly plastic keys at the bottom. It looked ridiculous and didn’t even fit into a pocket
comfortably. Who on Earth would buy that? Then, even when Blackberry got the design right with the
reasonable looking Privy, the firm did something stupid like call it the Priv. Apple has the iPhone,
Samsung the Galaxy range, Sony the Xperia. BlackBerry went with Priv.

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3. BlackBerry has been never really cool:

Even if BlackBerry had got the name and design right, would it have helped? It’s clear with hindsight
that BlackBerry has been never really cool, or fashionable, in the same way as iPhones and Galaxy
phones. They were mostly forced into the hands of stress execs, leading to the term Crack Berry, or
used by teenagers for the BlackBerry Messenger platform. Hardly two great core user markets. Of
course, there were consumers who used them, but the basic plastic designs and lack of cultural cachet
meant that the moment something, anything, better came along, i.e. the iPhone, they were eager to
move on. The corporate world held out a little longer, but even that fell by the wayside.

4. Corporate slowdown:

If BlackBerry had one market it should have been able to rely on it was the corporate space. The firm
dominated the market at a time when the ability to actually do meaningful work on a mobile device
exploded. It also boasted the highly secure BES platform that ensured content was always encrypted
and uncrackable. At least that was the claim until governments around the world started demanding
access. BlackBerry always said that it would never cave in to such demands, but rumors abounded that
it had done so in nations such as India and Pakistan, no doubt unnerving some security managers.
Meanwhile, several network problems caused many to lose faith in the firm offering, realizing that
relying on a single firm’s network was perhaps not the best idea. Lastly, the bring-your-own-device
trend that saw staff using personal iPhones or Android devices for work meant that many BlackBerry
phones suddenly became redundant. Some companies clamped down on this, of course, but most
embraced it and turned to tools to manage it, which even BlackBerry realized by buying Good
Technology last year, meaning that many BlackBerry contracts were never renewed.

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5. Apple exploded:

Of course, BlackBerry didn’t exist in a vacuum and if there are other companies responsible for its
downfall Apple definitely had a part to play. The iPhone overwhelmed everything before it. It was a
slow burner for a couple of years after launch, but by the iPhone 4 and then iPhone 4S it was clear that
Apple was way ahead of the competition. The devices looked the best and the App Store was streets
ahead by letting developers offer services from games to productivity tools. Apple handsets were also
easier to use. Most people adapted quickly to touchscreen technology and, of course, Apple devices
had something that, as we’ve seen, BlackBerry's didn't – they were cool. No-one wanted to be seen
with a BlackBerry when they could pull the latest iPhone from their pocket, and no doubt many
rushed to change devices after being mocked in the pub. BlackBerry, just like Nokia and Microsoft,
underestimated the challenge from Apple and realized too late just how powerful the firm had
become.

6. And so did Android:

But perhaps the biggest effect on BlackBerry came from Google and the Android platform. Google’s
tactic of effectively giving away Android to manufacturers to install helped to flood the market with
new devices. This meant that all pockets were catered for. The iPhone may have been too expensive
for some, but buyers could find a similar, often better spaced, Android device for half the price. It was
a no-brainer for many. A plastic, outdated BlackBerry with physical keys and a small screen and
barely any useful apps, or a large, svelte, Android device with access to the Play Store’s huge and
rapidly growing app catalogue. As we’ve noted, BlackBerry totally missed its chance to respond to
this threat by introducing new phones until it was too late.

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 Recommendation:
After we did our research, we found out that BlackBerry still makes the best portable email devices,
by far. Sure, they didn't make entertainment devices until now. But this article is lame. As the
company recently began to develop itself to compete with other companies. Hence, in our research,
we will discuss some strategies that may help the company raise profits and raise them again.

1-Attempt an alternate message

Keep in mind, inside each group of onlookers, there are changed individuals with various levels of
mindfulness and aim, and distinct purchaser identities. There are the "I need the best" individuals, who
are focused and some of the time pretentious; the "I'm a motivated purchaser" individuals, who buy
spontaneously and the "I am a procedure driven individual" individuals, who are efficient, moderate,
organized, rational based chiefs. The best way to deal with all these different personality types is to
have different messaging and/or ad types hitting them with different angles and hooks.

2. Use testimonials

Testimonial videos (or image ads using screenshots) work great as an authentic way to provide more
proof that your product can do what it claims. Plus, it may help your prospects believe they can also
achieve a similar result. Be careful not to over-produce these types of videos, however. Sometimes, if
it's too perfect or polished, people may not trust them as much as a video that looks like it was shot on
an iPhone.

Following is a list of questions to ask people if you want some testimonials that will sell the heck out
of your products. Use these questions for gathering great stories from your main website and sales
pages, too.

1. What problem, challenge, pain or frustration did they look to get help with before using your
product/service?
2. What were they worried, concerned or hesitant about your product before they pulled the
trigger? (This will help overcome common objections and give you more data around
objections to your sales process.)

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 3. What were their results? How is their life or lifestyle, business, etc. better now? (You're
looking for transformation stories here.)
4. What did they like best about [your product]?
5. Would they recommend [your product] to a friend? If so, how can it help them?

3- Purchasing incentive (markdown, shortage, and so forth).

Maybe your prospect simply needs a little bump to inspire them to make a move. Extraordinary
compared to other approaches to do this is to give them a motivator - an arrangement. This could be a
reward, a rebate, a lapse, and so on. For instance, "Get a 40 percent markdown in the event that you
buy by tomorrow.

4-Use price skimming:

Price skimming is a product pricing strategy by which a firm charges a higher initial price that
customers will pay. As the demand of the first customers is satisfied, the firm lowers the price to
attract another, more price-sensitive segment.

Therefore, the skimming strategy gets its name from skimming successive layers of "cream," or
customer segments, as prices are lowered over time.

What did I learn from strategic management

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Strategic Management made me learn the three-new strategy formulation, implementation, and
evaluation concepts and techniques and control it. To use this new knowledge, coupled with
knowledge acquired from other courses, to chart the future direction of different organizations.

Strategic management includes strategic planning, implementation and review/control of the strategy
of an organization. All most all the modern organizations engage in strategic management to ensure
that they achieve the desired level of performance. There are many benefits that an organization can
obtain by engaging in strategic management and they can be described as follows:

 Sets the strategic direction to the firm-

The strategic management process clearly defines what is the desired level of performance
(mission/goals/objectives) and it sets the direction so that everyone in the organization knows where
are they heading towards. Strategic management act as a road map to everyone in the organization and
it clearly defines the way to get to the destination/desired level of performance.

 Focus on critical factors of the organization-

Strategic management identifies the critical factors that are strategically important to the organization.
When critical factors are identifying company can analyze and take relevant measures to ensure
satisfactory performance in those areas.

 Understanding the changing environment-

Strategic management predicts the future changes that can take place. Predicting future changes that
can take place will help the organization to be proactive and take necessary steps to manage change
with contingency planning and change management strategies.

 Obtaining sustainable competitive advantage-

This is the most important and the most critical benefit of strategic planning. By a successful strategic
management process company should be able to build a competitive advantage over other competitors
which can be sustained overtime without being imitated or outperformed by its competitors. Strategic
management identifies the competitive advantages that can be generated through strengths of the
organization and take necessary steps to effectively obtain it.

 Lead to better performance-

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The successful strategic management should ensure that the company performs very well and
generates profits for its owners. When the competitive advantage is built company can thrive on that
to make profits and record good performance.

 Ensure the long-term survival in the market place-

Strategic management identifies opportunities and threat that influence the organizational
performance. It makes use of opportunities and minimize threat to make sure that company can
survive in the market by outperforming its rivals.

 Simplifies complex scenarios and develop suitable strategies-

Current business world is too complex, volatile and dynamic. A firm without strategic management
finds it hard to interprets the complexities faced by the organization. In contrast firm with strategic
management makes the business complexities simple, predict future dynamics and take proactive steps
to minimize threats and make use of opportunities.

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 References
- BlackBerry Limited. (2017, November 22). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_Limited

- Transcripts, S. (2017, March 31). BlackBerry's (BBRY) CEO John Chen on Q4 2017 Results -
Earnings Call Transcript. Retrieved November 23, 2017, from
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4059518-blackberrys-bbry-ceo-john-chen-q4-2017-results-
earnings-call-transcript

- BlackBerry Executive Team. (N.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from

https://us.blackberry.com/company/newsroom/executive-team

- Company - United States. (N.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from

https://us.blackberry.com/company

- Hunger, J. D., & Wheelen, T. L. (1996). Strategic management (13th Ed.). Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

- MSG Management Study  Guide. (N.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from

http://managementstudyguide.com/swot-analysis-of-blackberry.htm

- J. (N.d.). What is PESTLE Analysis? A Tool for Business Analysis. Retrieved November 23,
2017, from http://pestleanalysis.com/what-is-pestle-analysis

- Pestle Analysis of Blackberry. (2017, February 05). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from
http://marketingdawn.com/pestle-analysis-of-blackberry/

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 Task Distribution

Name ID Tasks
Cover, contents, references,
Nora Mukhtar 1507335 Summary, introduction, made
all the designing and printing.
Organization's history and
Ibtehal Al-Mohammadi 1597183
structure

Ameerah Al Harbi 1505361 SWOT and PESTEL analysis

Shroog Bawazeer 1421401 Problems - Recommendation

Sector & Industry of
blackberry - What did I learn
Latifa Altwaim 1421239
from strategic management

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