1 Introduction
2 Purpose of the website
Before analysing the quality of the website of Blackberry and investigating their value creation, it is important to have the purpose of the website clear. The way in which a company uses it’s website is part of the business strategy.
2.1 Introduction to website purpose
According to Tassabehji (2003-83) there are four main reasons to use a website: information dissemination, data capture, promotions & marketing and transacting with stakeholders. Two of these purposes for a website apply for Blackberry.com. First of all a corporate website could provide information dissemination. The information can target different stakeholders: shareholders/investors and customers (Tassabehji 2003-83). In case of the shareholders and investors information on the website could include annual reports, news about the corporation and business plans. This is different when customers are the target, since they will be more interested in information about the products, support and question solution. Secondly, Blackberry.com also uses the internet for promotions & marketing. Promotions and marketing online are available in different ways (Tassabehji 2003-91). Tassabehji (2003-91) distinguishes six different ways of online promotion and marketing: banner advertising, affiliate programmes, search registration, newsletter e-mails, and traditional marketing strategies.
2.2 Blackberry.com
The main purpose of Blackberry.com is information dissemination, mostly for the customers, but they also provide some interesting information for the shareholders. Blackberry.com provides a lot of information to the customer online, including: product specifications, different kinds of support, interactive demos, manuals ...
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...With those two methods, Blackberry.com encourages their customers to solve out difficulties their selves, consequently Blackberry can reduce the costs on service staff members. Apart from the online service, Blackberry also provides a lot of service via mobile network carriers, since the contract of a Blackberry is often combined with a network contract. Although tough technical problems will still be solved by the Blackberry factory itself, easier problems can be worked out by the carriers. This again results in cost reduction for Blackberry and could be seen as an efficiency resource.
4.2 Novelty
4.3 Lock-In
4.4 Complementarities
Complementarities are created when one resource is getting more value when it is combined with another resource ( Zhu 2004). The value of the two resources together is more than the sum of both resources separately.
On 20th December 2013, it was announced that BlackBerry and Foxconn had agreed a 5 year strategic alliance whereby Foxconn will design, manufacture and sell consumer BlackBerry devices in Indonesia and other emerging markets (Taylor and Mishkin, 2013). To develop our understanding of this alliance, one must view it in the context of both BlackBerry’s and Foxconn’s recent performance in the markets.
...lackberry has highly enriched and developed Canadian economy and job sector. Blackberry has been a very significant contributor to Canadian economy’s progression, employment and mobile advancement that defined and presented a powerful and technological Canada among the world.
In the last decade, wireless communications technology has grown rapidly in the global business community. The convergence of two key wireless technologies- mobile wireless communications and the internet has presented a plethora of opportunities for organizations through mobile business hereinafter referred to simply as m-business. M-business is a new business model which utilizes the internet for data/voice transmission through the deployment of wireless devices like smart phones, tablets and e-purses (Gartner, n.d. ). According to Picoto, Belanger and Palma-dos-Reis (2013) m-business has revolutionized the way organizations conduct business as customers are increasingly resorting to m-business. This pragmatic shift can be explained by the reliance on mobile devices for example smart phones to shop online. Undoubtedly, the market for m-business is on an upward growth curve with forecasts establishing higher global uptakes in coming years (Picoto, Belanger, & Palma-dos-Reis, 2013). With such high growth potential, one cannot help but ask what value m-business holds for contemporary organizations?
Research In Motion completed another successful year with significant growth in finances and product development. In 2008, the company was highlighted with revenue growing 98%. They earned $6.01 billion in 2008 compared to $3.04 billion in 2007. The customer base for RIM became much stronger as the blackberry subscriber account base reached over 14 million people. Several new phones were introduced and RIM shipped the 25 millionth blackberry smart phone in 2008. The blackberry brand grew more powerful and saw over half of the subscriber accounts in the forth quarter come from non-enterprise customers. With the addition of over 80 new carrier partners around the world, they launched several software applications and solutions for the blackberry. In particular, they launched the Blackberry Professional Software for small and mid-sized business markets and Blackberry Unite for the home and small office/home office. In addition to the several product developments they also become the first mobile platform to receive Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 2+ security certification. (RIM Annual Information Form)
4. Webpages: To promote product online via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and etc. To share information of the product to the global. Financial resource
The purpose of the website is to make the company money and ensure that a large profit is made. It does this by selling items such as clothing, footwear and accessories. JD sports is not just an online business, it also operates as a high street shop as well. The website runs alongside the high-street shops to help makes sales. The reason it has a website is because this offers a worldwide option and means that anyone over the world can buy products form JD increasing the profit massively. Having a website also means that there are less overheads and staff then in one of the high street shops. The website has more than one purpose. Another purpose is to ensure that the customer keeps on using the website. This is called ‘retaining’ the customer. The website does meet these objectives successfully as the company is still running and is a very wealthy company so it is obviously making a good profit. JD sports is a very well known company around the world any many people buy products form JD time and time again so they are very successful in retaining their customers.
Telecommunications gained mainstream attention in the early 90’s; however the initial key market was business men and women, who used their phones whilst being on the move and so allowing them to communicate with their companies with ease. Though in the modern era, telecommunication went through segmentation in the market trends, and now in this day and age it would be difficult to find someone who does not own some form of mobile technology. Many phone providers battle to provide the best service for their customers (Figure 1).
According to Paul Taylor, a fund manager at BMO Harris Private Banking in Toronto, Ontario shipped 2.08 million BlackBerrys last year in Canada, while Apple sold 2.85 million iPhones there. Most services offered by Apple are better than those offered by Blackberry. Unlike Blackberry, Apple has followed the evolution of generations with cell phones. Renowned for its gadget aspect, the fact of downloading apps and games increased on many levels the company. The introduction of touch worldwide with Iphone was a major milestone in the history of telephony.
The main competitive strategy of the company is centered on the smartphone dominance that has been compared against close competitors such as Android and Blackberry. The company has also been able to beat its competitors due to the outstanding quality, efficiency and features present in their products. For example, the iPhone has numerous advantages that make it worth its price such as functionality of its-touch screen and the applications therein that make it the favorite over Research Motion’s Blackberry.
... business, prompts people to learn more about your business and allows you to receive more website traffic and business.
There is a slowdown in sales of mobile handsets, in some markets like the UK, as the mature part of the product lifecycle is reached. Customers are exposed to a barrage of different images and messages by mobile phone companies, as the competition gets tougher. Vodafone appeals to new customers and aims to keep its existing ones by emphasising the uniqueness of the brand.
message to your target customers, from the traditional, like advertising in magazines, newspapers and direct marketing but one of the newer methods of communication that has been developed is the internet. (Ebook) With the expansion and mounting usage by the search engines, many small businesses can now cost-effectively and successfully own and operate their own website, giving them unlimited exposure.
Since their initiation mobile phones have enjoyed an especially uptake among teenagers and young adults (Baron, 2010). Though Information Communication Technology (ICT), internet and outsourcing have changed the way every business is managed by providing capabilities and have helped small or large organizations to ever changing conditions, mobile technology is going to change the ways business is directed. The biggest challenge is for an enterprise to adopt mobile phone technology to create competitive advantage, improves productivity and profitability of the c...
Consequently, e-business and especially online shopping is crucial for retail stores. They should provide necessary infrastructure for selling their products online. By taking advantage of e-business not only they can get competitive advantage of online shopping, but the...
1. In which ways do smartphones help these companies be more profitable? To what extent are improvements in performance coming from revenue increases or cost reductions? Provide several examples from the case.