Monthly Archives: September 2014

Blackberry Took its Last Chance in the Smartphone Market

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After the arrival of John S. Chen in the company, Blackberry seems to have made its first move to regain it’s success in the smartphone industry by launching it’s new product, Passport. Admitting that its future relies on selling mobile data management and securities to governments and corporations, Blackberry realised that this is its last chance to relight its game in the industry.25blackberry-web2-master315

Looking back, it seems that Blackberry has lost its appeal in the smartphone industry, proven by its decreasing sales. The launch of its new product, passport, doesn’t seem to reflect a processed constructing strategy either. Passport features a square display and physical keyboard that doubles as a touch sensitive track pad, which seem to be the only selling point that blackberry tries to focus on. In addition, the square shaped screen seems to serve as a problem in terms of cost rather than an advantage for the company. Priced $50 away from the basic iphone 6 it further reduces the competitive advantage of passport in the market. With the recent launch of iphone 6, it is a bad time for Blackberry to launch its new product even though it’s mainly targeted on old customer base. Overall, no major improvements or changes have been made to the product or the company in general, which may have made the whole product development ineffective to save blackberry in the smartphone market.

On the other hand, this might be the tip of the iceberg for Blackberry considering that it will launch another new product, Blackberry classic. While we still don’t know Blackberry’s next strategy, looking over, the new product development still has a high chance of not getting Blackberry back on their feet.

 

References :

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/technology/under-new--blackberry-unveils-its-newest-smartphone.html?ref=international

BC’s Groundwater Source Exploited, Who is Responsible?

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The lack in government involvement in the regulation of ground water use seems to be emphasised in this article. However, I believe that the use of unethical practices by Nestle, a multi-billion dollar company should receive more critic.

As stated by Ed Freeman, it is crucial to consider the well being of all stakeholders of a business, which has been completely neglected in the case of Nestle. By taking 265 litres from BC water sources without considering the externalities generated towards the community Nestle may gain some negative good-will which can affect the company’s competitiveness in the long run. As the matter of fact, with the increasing awareness towards sustainability and environment this case can lead to bad publicity, therefore drop in sales. On the other hand, this issue is almost impossible to be reprimanded as there are no specific laws regarding ground water regulation in BC which put the community of BC on the losing side. Additionally, the introduction of water regulation can lead to the rise in the price of bottled water, which is a loss for the consumers and later on, Nestle itself.

 In a broader perspective, the absence of CSR in Nestle corporate practice can cause sustainability problem that impact a wider community in Canada. In consideration of business competitiveness and consumer welfare, the establishment of law regarding groundwater is the most suitable solution to this growing problem.

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http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/wild-west-of-groundwater-billion-dollar-nestl%C3%A9-extracting-b-c-s-drinking-water-for-free-1.587568 Continue reading →

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