The lackluster performance of iconic brands attracts so much attention today that could depose even an astute chief executive capable of turning around the fortunes. The burgeoning social networks and self-styled publishers apply so much pressure by streaming unfavorable and unregulated content that such brands are perceived dead even when their future is bright. The latest to attract the public fury is Blackberry. Top publications can be seen replicating global views where the brand is written off while at the same time attributing almost half a page for an interview with the country head who is trying to push hard strategies that could work for the brand. Thought leaders around the world are also chipping in with their views. ‘Blackberry can be saved,’ wrote Stuart E. Jackson in his HBR post http://tinyurl.com/6ub8tw6. Isn’t it too early for us to forget BB? After all, the company didn’t completely miss the structural changes the industry witnessed over the last couple of years, barring may be the all important apps ecosystem. It’s gradual shift from a business-focused mobile services provider to the mass market has been quite smooth.
It is not that established brands with a slip-up haven’t revived. Comparing cloud computing major EMC with Blackberry might not be appropriate but when the story is about revival of a leader, it could pass. Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan highlights the turnaround of EMC – in their book Confronting Reality - post the tech crash in 2001. EMC was then producing premium-priced storage devices with proprietary software and high margins. The tech crash witnessed purchasers cutting back on expenditures and switching over to cheaper products. Competitors were also developing high-end machines but at lower cost. Revenues fell. Profits were also significantly down. Under the leadership of Joe Tucci, EMC worked towards a new strategy – selling lower cost hardware, open software and also extending solutions. He split the company into hardware and software businesses and combined professional services and systems engineering into one group. This helped in shifting the mindset, focus, resource allocation and priorities towards software and services.
EMC further segmented its potential market into high, middle and low tiers and began designing product platforms that could satisfy all three with as much commonality as possible. Distribution of low-tier Clarion storage systems was arranged through Dell. The company acquired Legato Systems to augment its software capabilities and partnered with BMC Software to strengthen systems management. The company recognized the need for a new business model and also clearly understood how to link the various components of the new one, which saved it from obsolescence.
The case of BB is not very different. The device is known to be robust and most suited for business executives. The challenge is to build applications that matches competition. In a networked world, it isn’t all that tough. As pundits say, there should be simultaneous improvement of complementary goods. With so many platforms and with it applications coming up, it won’t be tough for BB to pull together strong partners. And, how about some exclusive business applications on the go, which would reposition the company as a business-focused mobile devices maker.
