Research In Motion (Rim)

Introduction

Research In Motion Limited engages in the research, design, manufacture, and sale of wireless solutions for the mobile communication industry. It provides platforms and solutions to e-mail, phone, short message service, organizer, Internet, and intranet-based corporate data applications. The company's BlackBerry wireless solution comprises wireless devices, software, and services. It also enables the use of personal information management functions, such as calendar, address book, task list, and other functions associated with personal organizers. The company distributes its products through carrier partners and resellers. Research In Motion was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Waterloo, Canada.

Purpose of this project

The main purpose of this project is to analyze the external and internal environment of RIM and determine through this short analysis the prospect for RIM to retain its competitive advantage through the medium term.

Methods Used in the Analysis

a. External Industry Analysis

i. The macro environment of RIM

ii. The industry environment

iii. SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats)

iv. Porter's five force model

b. Internal environment

i. The resources of RIM

ii. Organizational capabilities

The Macro Environment of RIM

Firms do not exist in isolation and their performance can vary because of their external environment. For analysis purposes we'll break the external environment up into the broad macro environment and a more narrow industry environment. As their names suggest, both of these environments are outside the firm and generally beyond the firm's control, at least in the near term. The five-macro environments are economic, political/legal, technological, socio-cultural, and demographic. Generally, these environments are analyzed at the level of the nation, however, RIM has an extensive market worldwide and it is evolving further into newly industrialized nations, therefore our environmental analysis has to regard the world economy as a homogenous environment.

The national and international economy

The national and international economy in the past two decades has contributed to the success of RIM. Per capita income has risen in all the countries that RIM are operating in, and as it is for most firms a growing economy is favorable for business.

Political and legal environment

There has been multiple lawsuits against RIM for patent infringements, with the most notable one brought by NTP Inc. for patent infringements in email over wireless technology. After a long-running legal battle, RIM announced on March 3, 2006 that it had settled "full and final settlement of all claims" paying NTP Inc. US$ 612.5 million. However, to the despair of RIM, another lawsuit was brought by Visto Corp on May 1, 2006 for patent infringements; this has yet to be settled.

Technological environment

Advancements in technology have been by far the most important environmental impact on the business successes that RIM has experienced. Businesses worldwide have evolved into using email as primary contact medium, which has made the use of fax and regular mail nearly obsolete. By being the first and probably still the only one truly email-to-go solution provider, RIM has benefited greatly through providing a medium for professionals to be able to leave their desks and still be able to communicate by email.

Socio-cultural environment

The shared norms of the business world has changed considerably during the past couple of decades, with businesses becoming more customer orientated, hence, communication has increased between customer and businesses, which has further increased the practicality of RIM's products.

The demographic environment

As the economy improves in many emerging markets, the need for businesses increase, as a result the private sector increases in size, which further enhances the usefulness of the BlackBerry to the many business professionals that are the primary customers of RIM. The increased demand for the BlackBerry in developing economies is noticeable in the hundreds of new cooperation deals that RIM signs each year with local operators worldwide.

The Industry Environment

Before we start analyzing the industry attractiveness, it is important to point out the different players (Suppliers, Competitors and customers) in the industry.

Suppliers

There are many suppliers for the BlackBerry with some notable ones such as Intel, Sun Microsystems, and ARM limited etc. However, there are other supplier for the final product, mainly the carriers that BlackBerry use to provide their services through.

Competitors

The main competitors of the BlackBerry are the smart phone producers listed below:

i. Motorola

ii. PALM

iii. Nokia

iv. Samsung

v. Apple (a new entrant to the market)

Customers

Although RIM recently developed different products to increase its customer base, these remain its core customers;

i. Business professionals

ii. Government employees

SWOT Analysis

Before we start analyzing the attractiveness of the industry, it is vital that we perform a SWOT analysis to identify RIM's strength, weakness, opportunity and threats.

Porter's Five Force Model

There are some different approaches available when measuring the profitability in a market, or industry. I choose to use the model by Michael E. Porter, where the profitability potential of an industry, described as the long run return on investment, is reliant on the degree of competition in the selected industry. The five forces that Porter mentions are; threat of entry, supplier power, buyer