Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A)
On June 30, 2011, Research in Motion (RIM) co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, unexpectedly found themselves facing serious public scrutiny, not from competitors, market analysts or consumers, but from one of their own senior executives. In an attempt to have their voice heard, an anonymous senior level RIM employee addressed an open letter to both Balsillie and Lazaridis, however the letter was sent to the online technology news provider Boy Genius Report (BGR). Upon BGR verifying the identity of the source RIM employee, the full contents of the letter were featured in an online BGR article, which quickly spread into mainstream media. The contents of the detailed open letter, provided various candid criticism of RIM leadership, product development and employee culture. In addition, the employee also offered personal insight and outlined specific actions necessary for RIM to improve and expressed their desire to see the company regain its once dominant position as an industry leader. In a year during which RIM already faced pressures from a dwindling market share, failed product attempts and a sinking stock price, Balsillie and Lazaridis needed to figure out how to respond to the claims of the letter publically, but more importantly how to communicate to RIM employees internally.
Swot Analysis of "Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A)" written by Jana Seijts, Paul Bigus includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Rim Letter facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Managing uncertainty, Motivating people, Organizational culture and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Rim Letter, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Rim Letter operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Rim Letter
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Rim Letter
Strengths Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Rim Letter in Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Rim Letter
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Rim Letter does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Rim Letter is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Jana Seijts, Paul Bigus can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Learning organization
- Rim Letter is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Rim Letter is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Rim Letter in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Rim Letter to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Rim Letter to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Rim Letter is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Rim Letter is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Rim Letter is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Rim Letter in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Rim Letter has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
High brand equity
– Rim Letter has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Rim Letter to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Rim Letter is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Training and development
– Rim Letter has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Weaknesses Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A), in the dynamic environment Rim Letter has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Rim Letter has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Rim Letter, firm in the HBR case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A), is just above the industry average. Rim Letter needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Rim Letter has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Rim Letter has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Rim Letter has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Rim Letter has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Rim Letter 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Rim Letter has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Rim Letter has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Rim Letter is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Rim Letter to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Manufacturing automation
– Rim Letter can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Rim Letter is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Rim Letter has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Rim Letter to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Rim Letter can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Rim Letter can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Rim Letter can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Rim Letter to increase its market reach. Rim Letter will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Rim Letter can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Rim Letter has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Rim Letter to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Rim Letter can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Rim Letter operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Rim Letter can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Rim Letter can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Threats Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) are -
Increasing wage structure of Rim Letter
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Rim Letter.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Rim Letter will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Rim Letter business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A), Rim Letter may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Rim Letter.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Rim Letter can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Rim Letter can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Rim Letter needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Rim Letter high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Regulatory challenges
– Rim Letter needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Rim Letter is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Rim Letter can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Research in Motion: Sincerely, a RIM Employee (A) is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Rim Letter needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.