June Ong's Blog

Blackberry Ltd. CEO John Chen tells an interesting and in my eyes, hilarious story about how his wife likes her Samsung. He goes on to say that he had asked her to switch to a Blackberry to save him from embarrassment, however she refused. The fact that Mr. Chen is able to speak so openly about this, makes it clear to the reader that he is very aware of Blackberry’s position and the struggle ahead due to all of its strong competitors and unwise moves in the past. He realizes that morale is not exactly in “top shape” but sees potential in other areas such as handsets. My view on this is that I must commend Chen on his openness. To drag a company out of failure, I believe a strong leader must realize every little detail of the company’s flaws first. Then develop a brilliant plan to counteract those weaknesses. At the same time, Chen is also creating a light hearted atmosphere to the otherwise dull topic. Which I admit is what drew me in as a reader. For many, it is slightly tedious to keep up with what all the tech companies are doing nowadays. However as Prof Kroeker once said, “There are two types of scandals in this world that are important. One involves people and the other involves money.” Although I realize this is hardly a scandal, the incorporation of Chen’s wife differentiates this article from just another article encouraging the success of the company.

Chen has also recently made his way to China to discuss potential partnerships with Xiami Corp and Lenovo Ltd. This entails that he is looking to concentrate on the Chinese market and expand there. The article mentions that Chen realizes it as a huge market but a highly competitive market as well. Personally, I see China as a very hard market to enter. With Blackberry estimating only a few hundred thousand units being sold in China out of the 400 million users worldwide, it is hard for me to understand the merit of focusing to capture this particular market. However, I do see a partnership with Xiaomi or Lenovo as a potentially very successful move for Blackberry. With support from these two huge companies, Blackberry can start to gain positive exposure to consumers around the world giving them room to turn around from “being old news” to a reinvented company.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/embarrassed-by-his-wifes-samsung-blackberrys-john-chen-took-it-away/article21518502/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/blackberry-seeks-china-partnerships-as-chen-meets-lenovo-xiaomi/article21518409/