Operations Management - Blackberry Limited - Case Study Example

OPERATION MANAGEMENT al Affiliation) Introduction BlackBerry Limited is a Canadian wireless and telecommunication equipment that is well known to the general public through the development of BlackBerry smartphones and also tablets. The company is also known for the provision of high quality and secure software for mobile development management and industrial applications. The application of the company is used in in different parts by the government agencies and by car makers with all the activities being foreseen by the public in different parts of the world. BlackBerry Limited manufactures designs and market wireless solution for mobile communication in the whole world market (Bisen & Srivastava, 2009). The company has also been concerned with the provision of solutions and platforms for the access of SMS messaging, phone, email, intranet-based solutions and internet. The original dominant innovative company as it was referred was a smartphone market for government usage and business. The company has its headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario with a market share of 43% in 2010. The company was founded by Lazaridis in 1992. The founder together with Balsillie served as co-CEOs until January 2012 then handled leadership of the company to John Chen. Operation management Operation management involves activities that focus on careful management of processes in an organization that deals with production and distribution of products and services. The activities that are involved in operation management include development, creation, production of goods and services. Operational management also can be defined as activities, responsibility and responsibilities of managing resources which are dedicated to the production and distribution of goods and services (Bhadur, 2008). Operational managers in this aspect are those that are involved in making sure that the operational functions make up the operational functions. Operational management will therefore be responsible in making sure the resources are effectively used in production of goods and services (Bhadur, 2008). Operation management as defined by Nigel Slack is about how organizations produce goods and services. The illustration can be given as shown below If the Marketing function is to identify the needs of customers, then the Operations Management function has the role of providing the required products or services in a way that satisfies the criteria imposed by the market. Efficient operation of this function is therefore important if the organization is to be successful. An understanding of the main operational tasks is an essential starting point in this process (Bisen & Srivastava, 2009). The model and as illustrated by Nigel Slack also entails other factors including the link that occurs between operation management and the functions of a business. Position of BlackBerry Limited in the market The cellphone market has been mainly dominated by Samsung and Apple. There have been strategies that have been used in the company to gain attention in the market. The launch that the company made of 10 operating systems has been a main improvement that has led to more attention of the company in the market. BlackBerry Limited has to compete with the two companies which have been known for having full touch screen phones. This made the company to be forced to come up with new mobile phones styles so that the customers could be satisfied with the products of the company. Maintenance of the customers was also an important aspect and through this, the company did not forget to continue with provision of phones that had interest in using the keyboard (Chopra & Meindl, 2007). This made them explore the market and make another model BlackBerry Q10. This maintained the market for both the full touchscreen phones and the keypad phones. There were two trends that emerged in the company that affected the market and they emerged rapidly than they had been anticipated. One trend was the movement of the touch screen phones pretty much all over the world. This affected the market that the company operated and they had another option that they could use to maintain the customers. They could become the licensee of the android or windows operation system or they could be able to build a new operation system of phones to attract more consumers (Chopra & Meindl, 2007). The market of the company has been maintained through the ability to attract the best customers through giving them the option of buying an entry level priced phones, a medium level and a higher version. The strategy that the company has used is through showing their customers that they are able to buy any of the three options that they provide with all of them still running on the same operating system. They then make it easy for the consumers to choose the perfect phone. The place where the company has much invested is in China since it is the largest smartphone markets. It is still investing much money in that country (Johnston & Evers, 2005). In a speech that was delivered by the Chief Marketing Officer, he mentioned that he believed that the cell phone market has been a tough market to maintain and remain in especially when the business is such a competitive one. The company is however doing a good job in keeping up with all the different changes and staying updated with the new systems. Operational strategies in BlackBerry Limited Internal customers The internal customers of the company are the Canadians and the Canada government. The people of the country have been involved in using the software, applications and the products of the company. The expectation from the company includes provision of goods and services that satisfy the needs of the consumers. The expectations that the internal consumers have are those such as provision of phones with touch screens as other manufacturers. Some of the consumers also expect the company to maintain the button phones. The strategy have been met by the There are different strategies that the company has implemented to ensure there is achieving the objectives of the customers. One of the strategies that they have used is device management strategy. This is the implication where the company handles software and security for smartphone that a company issue or oversees for its employees. Unlike the other competitors in the market, the company has kept its operating system closed. Through this, it has implied that if some other company wanted to use device management provider, it is not able to have any belonging to BlackBerry on its network (Johnston & Evers, 2005). The other starter of operation management that has been used by the company is that on enterprise mobility landscape. Then enterprise mobility landscape has continued to grow and rapidly evolve. The company has responded to the change through representing addition to partner ecosystem. The integration of BlackBerry 10 operating system into the comprehensive Air Watch Enterprise Mobility Management Platform has enabled empowering the customers and partners to fully manage the device in their mobile fleet from a single comfort. For improvement of internal customer relations in the market, there model that have been used can be presented as in the diagram below External customers The goods and services of the company are used in different parts of the world and this makes the external consumers. The main external consumer of Blackberry phones and applications is China. The external customers include other continents and countries with the demand of the phones. The expectations that the external customers have are those together with making the phones and gargets with both touch and button form of input. The operation system of Blackberry phones have been expected to be changes so that there is enhancement of performance, speed and the flexibility of use. Offering end to end secure solution to the customers in government and other regulated industry has been a main strategy in the operation management of the company. Through this, the company has had the strategy of understanding the opportunity and importance of operating BlackBerry 10 software. This is a natural next step in the enterprise strategy as they seek to provide with customers with maximum choice in how they will meet the full collection of employee mobility needs (Kao & Sarigumba, 2009). The other strategy that the company has used is in offering cloud based versions to its smartphones. The move has enabled make the services that are offered to be accessible to small and medium sized business that needs to secure devices on the network of the company. Besides the waterloo Ontario based blackberry has built a standing around the device management and its security competences which caters the needs of the government agencies and corporations (Kellaway, 2006). The blackberry has also broadened its offerings due to its data security which has become more critical and a number of entrants nipping at heels within the field. The cloud version that was implemented by the company has enabled broadening the footprint of the company. among the strategies that have been offered and maintained by the company is through the use of the new BE S12 platform that managers and secures not only the devices by the company but also those that are powered by the other operating systems such as Google android, the iOS and the Microsoft windows platforms. The management can be also that used in securing medical diagnostic equipment, cars and industrial machinery (Kellaway, 2006). The low cost version of cloud that is offered by the company makes it have hopes in attracting a wider range of small and medium sized businesses that need the capabilities but have no capacities in installing and managing expensive servers on their own. Mobile device management is a top priority for IT buyers. Competition in the sector has enabled investment levels to grow steadily in the company. Proliferation of and the demand that has existed in the workplace mobility in the workplace has necessitated the need for flexible and quality and flexible management tools (Mcnish, 2015). Due to this demand, the company has worked with the other companies to enable offering customers the most flexible solutions to support a most flexible and a broader enterprise mobility strategy. Delivering of mobile workspace to consumers everywhere at any time and on any device is a strategy that has been used by the company in satisfying the needs of the consumers. As an industry, there have been able to support all enterprise devices. The operations of the company have supported thee BlackBerry OS device and BlackBerry 10 APls create opportunities. To continue satisfying the needs of the consumers, the company is intended to continue offering multi-platform EMM solution (McQueen, 2010). The solutions also led to launch of windows phone 8 supports such that the consumers that have the taste of windows phone will have their needs satisfied. There are three main areas of the company that are considered in satisfying the needs of the consumers include marketing management, financial management and operation management. These three areas are taken into consideration to enable meeting the needs of the consumers at a necessary time. Operation management in the company is given main concern where it is made to deal with the efficiency and effectiveness of the operation in support and development of the strategic goals of the firm. The other areas that are taken into consideration are design and operations of systems to provide goods and services (McQueen, 2010). The operational management in the company has been designed to deal in planning, controlling and scheduling activities that transform raw and coordinate labor to goods that are used by the consumers. Performance Objectives Cost The company has had a problem in pricing strategy in India being one of its markets. The Canadian company had a problem with pricing and most consumers preferred low-cost android devices instead. The company hence decided to use different strategies to ensure that there was decrease in the costs in the devices. The company decided to use a strategy of gamble and stick to the high price though the android devices continued to reduce the prices. The cost of the company have been maintained high since the company when they lower their prices and cost would result to narrow or no profit margins with the small production volumes. Dependability Improvement has been made to the phone enabling an increase in its reliability. There have been excelling in hardware and user interface design. The operating system of the devices has been made exclusive to Apple hardware. The phones have then been made to have much stability, reliability and consistency across all aspects of the phone. Dependability has also been improved through the long battery life of the company devices. The email servers of the company are so secure that they are able to bar spying of users. The standing out are mainly in messaging, durability and security. Flexibility BlackBerry Company have had and implemented different strategies to improve the flexibility of the company and the products that it provides to consumers. The company made a change in the operation system and introduced Blackberry 10 operation system to enable provision of the most open and flexible mobile environment for the customers. The company in relation to flexibility has expanded BES10 and the BBM to include the messaging platform to include iOS and Android. In improving flexibility of using the devices and application of the company, there have been also introduction of windows phone. This has enabled continued provision of flexibility and increased choices for consumers in the mobile device environment. Speed The speed of the devices and services that the company produces has been enhanced to improve satisfaction of customers. The devices that were produced by the company were those where the devices were slow and aging as the devices took time downloading webpages. The strategies that have been used by the company to improve speed include increasing the space of the devices for OS 6 and OS 5 devices, limiting the applications that run in the background, enabling automatic memory cleaning, making automatic clearing of cache, maintenance of JavaScript support and turning off show images. Quality in regard to customer expectation The company has had the ability in enhancing the current products and services and also developing new products and services in a timely manner at a price that is competitive including the risks that are related to ability of BlackBerry Company to mitigate the impacts of the anticipated decline in the infrastructure of the company. These strategies have had the ability of improving the satisfaction of the goods and products to the consumers. The strategies have increased satisfaction of the consumers through making consideration of what they expect from the company. Operation management processes Operation management process involves minimizing negative potential, achieving partly with competition in the business sector, supporting the overall organizational strategy and pursuing operation management-based strategy. Minimizing negative potential is the first stage that in involved in operation management. At the stage, the managers of an organization will make efforts to neutralize any negative impact that can occur in the internal and external operations of an organization. The managers have the responsibility of using the detailed measures and controls to ensure the goals and strategies are achieved despite problems in the production process (Peluso, 2011). The strategies they use will ensure the operations functions do not veer too much off-track before the measures to correct them are taken. The next process in operational management is achieving partly with competition. At the stage, the management of a company is concerned with maintenance of parity or maintaining parity. Companies at this stage of management attempt maintaining equality with the competition through adopting practices of the industry related to work force matters, upgrade of capacity and purchase of equipment. The stage makes management of a company to carry out functions with consideration of what are produced by the other companies to satisfy needs of the consumers (Peluso, 2011). The third stage in operation management is support overall organizational strategies. The strategies are drawn after the competition have been analyzed and the right strategies known to enable making the consumers satisfied with the services and goods that are offered in the company. The last process involves pursuing operational management based strategy. The stage involves all the operational managers in the strategy development process and makes a strategy that depends on to a significant degree on operations capabilities. The other operation management strategy that has been implemented by the company is to cut the overall expenses as part of turnaround strategy. In the previous year, there was introduction of a cost cutting strategy that aimed at returning the company in a profitable course and attaining the needs of the consumers. The reports that are from the company have stated that there is a strong indication that the Canadian-based company still view cost reduction as being crucial for overall growth of the company and also making the company achieving the needs of the consumers (Peluso, 2011). High costs have been a hindrance to operations of the company as this in turn leads to production of goods and services of high costs that are not afforded by the consumers. Reduction in the costs is a strategy that makes the company competitive and also makes the company achieve the goals of operations. One problem that was experienced by the company was when there was a launch of BlackBerry 10 smartphones. The device did not make much of an impact among consumers mainly due to the wide scale acceptance of Apple phones and the smartphones that were powered by Google Android operating system and the other operating systems. Although Blackberry has still involved in the production smartphones since the period, mainly for company employees, it is progressively changing its focus towards the current software technologies for the enterprise segment. The company mainly focuses on its skill in software security and also in productivity, something that the enterprise section is concerned towards, to revitalize its revenues. In a speech that was de by the company spokesman, he stated that as the company continues executing the plan for the turnaround company, the focus of the company is on driving efficiencies across the global workforce including the potential closure of offices. The spokesman also stated that the company aims at relocating resources in a way that makes the company well positioned to take advantage of various opportunities for growth. The company recently exposed that it will quickly purchase of startup WatchDox limited. Blackberry means on cumulative its portfolio of software that is based on security through this acquisition. With WatchDox under the umbrella of Blackberry, this could also patent in Israel. In addition to this, last year Blackberry entered into an agreement with Google to design a software platform for the enterprise class, known as the Android for work, which allows users to separate their work-related apps from those who might use it for personal use. Conclusion Operational managers in their activities are those that are involved in making sure that the operational functions make up the operational functions. Operational management will therefore be responsible in making sure the resources are effectively used in production of goods and services. The services that have been offered at BlackBerry Company have enabled the achievement of consumer satisfaction. The launch that the company made of 10 operating systems has been a main improvement that has led to more attention of the company in the market. BlackBerry Limited has to compete with the two companies which have been known for having full touch screen phones (Peluso, 2011). The cloud version that was implemented by the company has enabled broadening the footprint of the company. among the strategies that have been offered and maintained by the company is through the use of the new BE S12 platform that managers and secures not only the devices by the company but also those that are powered by the other operating systems such as Google android, the iOS and the Microsoft windows platforms. Recommendation for changes to be made in the company Operation management mainly aims at improving the operations of a company in making sure that the needs of the consumers. In implementing the strategies of the company to improve the consumer satisfaction should involve a flexible planning regime. In implementing the strategy, BlackBerry need to figure out just how much flexibility they need. Then they have to determine the options within their manufacturing networks. The company needs to identify components that have the longest order lead times, and develop a strategy for each. Finally, they must analyze their operations and find ways to reduce product complexity. The ability to execute with efficiency depends on sensing changes in demand as early as possible. Once a company has determined how much more production is needed to satisfy a given market, it should be able to simulate the appropriate master schedule changes. In the process, it can uncover any product shortages. As early stated in the essay, in a speech that was made by the company spokesman, he stated that as the company continues executing the plan for the turnaround company, the focus of the company is on driving efficiencies across the global workforce including the potential closure of offices. The company also should be able to focus on the satisfaction of consumer wants through making their products readily available to the consumers (Peluso, 2011). Strategic decisions are important in improving the services and goods that are offered by the company. Once an area has been identified by the company, it is important that the needs in a given area are acquired through strategies such consumer interviews to determine the goods and services that are needed by the company so that implementations that are made are not wasted and they become cost effective. References Bhadur, R. (2008). Production and operation management. Jaipur, India: Book Enclave. Bisen, V., & Srivastava, S. (2009). 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