The Corporate Governance Mechanisms of BlackBerry Ltd - Assignment Example

? Capstone Lecturer: BlackBerry Limited Q BlackBerry Ltd is telecommunication based in Canada and it is a wirelesscorporation, which is well recognized for the BlackBerry brand development of tablets and smartphones. The corporation is headquartered in Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and it was a brand established as a Research in Motion (RIM) by Mike Lazaridis in 1984. The mission and vision of the company influence the overall success of the company because they are based on effective business governance. According to Staschs (2010), companies have made significant effort s of maximizing profits and sustaining their business in the competitive business market through focusing on effective business governance. The mission of the company is to enhance innovative products and also design new products that meet the demanding needs of their customers. Therefore, the mission of the BlackBerry Ltd have offered the company a wide and universal view to the company the reason for its existence ; hence enabling the company to identify its ultimate vision and goals vital for the values, as well as, cultures of the organisation. The primary stakeholders have played significant roles of influencing on the corporate business activities as community citizenship and social responsibility have been consistently incorporated into corporate management. Employee, customers and business partners are among the primary stakeholders that carry weight in corporate decisions and activities; thus they influence business activities in the company. Therefore, understanding the impact the primary stakeholders on business activities of the company is significant. For instance, the primary stakeholders in Blackberry Company have made significant efforts of establishing a superior ground for the debate on corporate purpose through offering a conceptual framework, showing its influence on competitiveness and executive leadership. Employees adhere to social responsibility and also make community citizenship a priority; thus contributing to effective business performance. Q.2 The company employs Porter’s five forces of analysis and this have impacted the performance of the company in varied ways. First, the intensity of competition rivalry is one of their major determinants for competitiveness; thus the company has made significant efforts of designing innovative and low cost products, as well as, employing powerful competitive strategy of product differentiation, as well as, powerful branding strategy vital for competing with their competitors. Secondly, threats of new entrants into the business have threatened the effective commercial activities of the company. However, the incumbents have attempted to block the new firms by employing entry barriers, establishing customer loyalties and among other entry barriers to block new entrants. Thirdly, threats of substitute commodities have also impacted the effective performance of the business because this increases the tendency of customers to switch to substitute products. Fourthly, the bargaining power of buyers and this have impacted the company because of the ability of consumers to put the company under pressure to lower prices for products; thus affecting sensitivity of customers to price changes. Lastly, the bargaining power of suppliers and this have also impacted the company suppliers have made the firm to switch costs and this has impacted cost or differentiation of products. Q. 3 SWOT analysis is an effective tool that a company can employ in order to analyze their potential factors that are favorable or unfavorable for effective business performance. Therefore, below is the SWOT analysis of the BlackBerry Company that indicates strengths and weaknesses, as well as, opportunities and threats in the company. INTERNAL EXTERNAL Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats -The company has strong brand recognition. -Highly secure smartphones. -The have a better brand loyalty among business customers and niche markets. -They strong focus on customer segmentation strategy and value their customers in the market. -BlackBerry can be synched to multiple computers. -The company is unable to market their brand. -The have limited R & D on innovative capabilities. -The company is also loosing brand loyalty among non corporate customers. - They depend high on government and corporate contracts. - Poor availability for tablet market. - Increased market for tablets and Smartphones. Unique and differentiated products in the market. -Increased Apps market across the globe. -Strong growth for mobile advertisement through e-marketing. -Expansion of niche market - Opportunities for other market have been opened by the government. -High competition from other companies producing high quality smartphones. -Lawsuit for the patent infringement impacted effective performance of the company. -The company has not got enough App design to design local apps. -Supply shortage in the company created a problem. -The company has appending lawsuit and this is a threat toe effective business performance. Q. 4 Based on the above SWOT analysis of the Blackberry business, the corporation can take advantage of its strengths and opportunities in order to capitalize on profits. First, the company has a brand recognition and good reputation; hence they can utilize this strength in increasing business performance level and achieving high competitive advantage in the global competitive market. Secondly, the company can expand the markets both in the local and international levels by carrying out effective marketing research in order to determine the demanding needs of customers in segmented markets. Lastly, they can take advantage of the e-marketing opportunities such as use of social networking sites and create blogs, as well as, company websites where they can advertise or sale their products. However, the company can minimize weakness and threats in order to enable them improve their business performance. First, the company can overcome intense competition by employing effective strategies vital for competing with their competitors such as pricing strategy, low cost leadership and differentiating their products from that of their competitors. Secondly, they can synch their brand to multiple computers and increase their unlimited text with no costs in order to attract more customers. They can also increase their brand loyalty by offering new smartphones with unique features and expand their markets by segmenting consumers in order to meet their needs effectively. Q. 5 Companies can take varied levels and approaches, as well as, employ effective strategies to maximize profits; thus achieving sustainable competitiveness. One of the efficient strategies that the company can employ to maximize its competitiveness and productivity is to create value for shareholders. The efforts to achieve this objects is based on transformation of the business model to focus on the potential value of customers and employing a value-based segmentation approach in order to capture the value potential of the industry. Another strategy is employing segmentation strategy and this is through segmenting their major markets to target distinct market clusters split by competitive intensity, consumption occasion and also socioeconomic levels. The company can also employ prices differentiation and low-price strategies in order to maximize competiveness, as well as, profitability in the competitive business market. Lal, Quelch and Rangan (2005) argue that employing effective marketing strategy is vital because this can enable the company to concentrate on its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and also achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Q. 6 The company can follow effective communication plan that can enable them to communicate about the above recommended strategies to be known to all stakeholders. First, the company can set communication goals and this is vital because it can enable them to meet their demanding aspects effectively. Second, they can select the key messages for the company. This should be followed by defining and prioritizing keys stakeholders or the targeted audiences. Another step is to set extra key messages which are relevant for every stakeholder group and determine the key concerning or issues to be communicated. The company can also develop communication tactics that can fit the stakeholders in each group. At this point, the company should keep in mind what they can realistically perform given the budget, resources and skills necessary for the team. Another step is allocating budget and responsibilities in order to enable them communicate effectively the message to the stakeholders. Lastly, assessing results and adapting the communication plan as this will enable them to work effectively to achieve the objectives set. Q.7 One of the corporate governance mechanisms that the company employs is the internal and external control mechanisms. First, the company employs internal governance mechanism because this mechanism is effective because it helps in protecting and safeguarding the financial information of the company. Monks and Minow (2004) asserts that internal governance mechanism is vital because it enables the stakeholders to determine and control strategic direction, as well as, organisation performance effectively. Internal mechanism can enable Blackberry Ltd to manage business because corporate governance deals with the ways of ensuring that strategic decisions are made efficiently. Internal control mechanism such as internal auditing is effective because it can reduce managerial actions especially financial mismanagement. Internal controls are effective because it can also enable the executive managers to be responsible for their business operations. The internal control mechanism can be driven by laws, policies or regulations from government and organisation agencies; thus implementing these mechanisms will enable the company to avoid penalties from the government bodies (Thomsen and Conyon, 2012). Another mechanism is external corporate governance and this is vital because it can reduce the inefficiencies which might arise from external environments. The company can carry out external monitoring and control since this can enable them to regulate both motivation and ability while offering incentive alignment towards organizational objectives. External control mechanism can include the control of external stakeholders over the company such as competition, media pressure, government regulation, managerial labor markets and among others. External control mechanism is effective because it can enable the company to control or minimize the external factors that may impact effective organizational performance. It can also help managers to determine factors that might hinder effective organizational performance; thus employing effective strategies vital for effective operation of the business. Q. 8 Leadership in the Blackberry Corporation is not just about the achieve executive officer and a handful of top management leaders but it applies to everyone working within the company. Therefore, everyone in the company has a vision and a passion for building the next generation through being socially responsible. Everyone who shares the bold promise in the company is seen as a leader because the mission of the company is to create innovative products that meet the demanding needs of customers. The leadership in the company keeps changing; hence many people have called for a change at the top management. Many people view that the problems are not necessarily leadership in the company but the problem are market-based and structural. However, it is recommendable for the company to employ effective leadership styles vital for enabling them to achieve effective organisation performance. One of the effective leadership styles is working together as a team because an effective teamwork in an organisation can create an immediate and positive impact on business outcome. Therefore, the top management can coordinate teams in the daily operational management and other varied functions; thereby, enabling the company to improve their performance level. Q. 9 BlackBerry Company has made significant efforts of being ethically responsible; thus their ability is to establish new and build on existing relationships with their partners. For instance, the social responsibility has prompted BlackBerry Ltd to balance socioeconomic and environmental responsibilities with profits. The recent increasing competition in the business market has been viewed as the major cause for increased social, economical and environmental issues. For instance, many companies such as BlackBerry and other have made significant efforts of sustaining a competitive advantage in the market through employing innovative products but this come with social, economic and environmental costs. Many companies are widely viewed to be prospering at the cost of the wider community and even worse the businesses have started embracing corporate citizenship and corporate responsibilities. Being a superior corporate citizen plays considerable roles in fulfilling not only the mission and vision but also the objectives of the company. The company has implemented the new way of remaining ethically responsible through being socially responsible a simplified approach for carrying out sustainable business (Perreault, Cannon and McCarthy, 2010). However, corporate citizenship has an impact on the company bottom line because it impact employee engagement. Employee engagement can boost workforce productivity, lower turnover risks and contribute to greater ability to attract talented workforce; thus increasing organizational productivity. References Lal, R., Quelch, J. A., & Rangan, V. K. (2005). Marketing Management: Text and cases. New York, N.Y: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Monks, R. A. G., & Minow, N. (2004). Corporate Governance. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Pub. Thomsen, S., & Conyon, M. (2012). Corporate Governance: Mechanisms and Systems. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill. Perreault, W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2010). Essentials of Marketing: A Marketing Strategy Planning Approach. London: McGraw-Hill. Stasch, S. F. (2010). Creating a Successful Marketing Strategy For Your Small New Business. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger/ABC-CLIO. Read More