Grand Canyon University: MKT-345
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Site Evaluation Once a thriving company that had a good amount of the market share, Blackberry now faces the threat of laying employees off and potentially being bought out. The Blackberry brand was on top of the world, but when we look closer at this monumental collapse, one can easily observe four areas where the company went wrong (Poletti, 2013). First, the company became complacent; in 2008, Blackberry was the market share leader with their proprietary new smart phone, one of the first of its kind. However, instead of being innovative and improving, they sat back and let iPhone and Android pass them. They overestimated their customer brand loyalty. When the CEO was asked about the competitors growth, he responded, "Because once you decide to become a BlackBerry user, you kind of stay there for life" (Poletti, 2013). Secondly, Blackberry did not have leadership change. In January 2012, two Blackberry executives stepped down from their positions. However, their mistake was that they promoted internally, rather than hiring externally. Blackberry was in desperate need of a change, but they did not get it when COO Thorsten Heins "perpetuated his predecessor’s strategy" (Poletti, 2013). Third, Blackberry held on to its technology for too long. When Blackberry could easily have licensed the now-popular Android system, they decided to go with their own system. They were slow in making their latest software system, and it virtually failed (Poletti, 2013). Lastly, Blackberry financially wasted resources on their version of a tablet. Not only did this fail, but it also took away precious resources from new developments from its phone. This left a salty taste in the mouths of consumers, thus negative word of mouth occurred (Zeman, 2013).
Survey Questionnaire 30 respondents in Blackberry 's target market were selected to participate in a survey
References: Cheng, R. (2010) How BlackBerry is Fixing its Once 'Broken ' Brand. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57585099-94/how-blackberry-is-fixing-its-once- broken-brand/ Harris, R (2013) BlackBerry 's 11th Hour: How It Can Survive. Retrieved from http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/blackberrys-11th-hour-how-it- can-survive/240162226?pgno=2 Poletti, T. (2013) Three Ways Blackberry Went Wrong. Retrieved from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/three-ways-blackberry-went-wrong-2013-09-24 Zeman, E (2013). Blackberry 's Collapse: 5 Key Mistakes. Retrieved from http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/blackberrys-collapse-5-key- mistakes/240160067