Running head: Re-Inventing Blackberry

Business Plan: Re-Inventing Blackberry
Daniel D. Terry
Oakland City University
Instructor: Sherry Idlewine

Venture Description
I. Executive Summary and Introduction The critical elements of this business plan are the large number of adults who have not yet switched over to a smart phone and the plan for which we will market to them. Blackberry needs to hone in on this number and take advantage of the amount of people who have yet to make the switch. Communication is the key to a successful business plan, whether that communication is good or bad towards Blackberry, every little bit will help. Communication is the process by which meanings are exchanged or shared through a common set of symbols. Today these symbols include television, social media, text messaging, direct mailing, and many more. Blackberry will need to exploit the opportunities in every channel to get our name and product out there. One advantage that we have over a lot of phone makers is name identification, people know who Blackberry is. We are known globally as a pioneer in the mobile phone industry and today we are viewed as a dying phone manufacturer. It is our responsibility to turn the view of our company around. Companies with proper management and marketing can bounce back from a decline in sales or popularity. Dominos recently had serious issues when an employee made a video of the employee doing things to their pizza and posted it on You Tube. This video went viral and destroyed the authenticity of the company. Dominos made a comeback though, they implemented a serious marketing program where they did something very creative, and they promoted the complaints in advertising and social media. They listened to the complaints of the customers, made changes to their marketing and recipes, and next quarter saw a 14 percent increase in sales. Their marketing plan is regarded as one of the most successful marketing campaigns in Domino’s history. (Vogt, 2009) This year is Blackberry’s year as Dominos. We have a couple new products, the Blackberry Z30 and the Blackberry Passport, which both offer a sleek new look that will appeal to a large variety of people as well as their latest operating system that intends to rival phone makers that use Android and Apple. It is our responsibility to implement a marketing plan that we have some control over so we can oversee the problems and correct them quickly. At one time we owned the smart phone market, but our advertising was well, nonexistent. Blackberry should not be trying to make the same mistake twice. Blackberry can overcome the decline in market share and regain its place a top phone maker again.
II. Company Analysis NASDAQ Stock Market: NASDAQ: BBRY Toronto Stock Exchange: TSX: BB Global HQ: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada CEO: John Chen
(Blackberry, Blackberry Executive Team, 2014)
BlackBerry was introduced to the mobile industry in 1999 by Research In Motion. Today BlackBerry is credited with revolutionizing the mobile industry that led to the innovation of popular smart phones such as the Apple iPhone and Android phones. BlackBerry products are used worldwide by millions of customers to stay connected to the people and information that matter most. The Blackberry product line includes the Blackberry Passport, several models of BlackBerry smart phones, software for businesses, and an array of accessories. (Blackberry, Blackberry Smartphones, 2014) Blackberry employs roughly 7,000 people globally; this number is over 50% less than what Blackberry employed just two years ago. (Connors, 2013) The decrease in jobs is due to a decline in revenue and market share over time. Blackberry has had the luxury of leaving its marketing up to carriers and retail stores while still gaining a large following of users.
The innovation that gave Blackberry the luxury of not having a marketing plan was the introduction of its Push Email feature, which would ping your emails