cnet article calling for cuts at the top
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http://m.cnet.com/Article.rbml?&nid=...&bcid=&bid=-94
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.comcentsofreason likes this.07-25-11 01:30 PMLike 1 -
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Here it is for people who don't want to go to cnet.If Research In Motion is going to take a scalpel to its work force, it should start at the top.
Research in Motion's top-heavy leadership structure has been an impediment to innovation at the company.
(Credit: RIM)
Monday's move to cut 2,000 jobs is designed to cut costs--RIM calls it a "prudent and necessary step for the long-term success of the company." But for RIM to remain in the game as a major player in the wireless industry, it needs to look at its management structure.
With two chief executives and two chief operating officers, RIM is the epitome of a top-heavy company. You've seen the consequences over the past few years: frustratingly slow innovation, shrinking market share in its core North American market, the lack of a new smartphone in nearly a year, and a half-baked tablet panned by critics (although CNET's Donald Bell was more generous in his review).
"The structure they've had in place has caused them to be a laggard in terms of new products," said Matthew Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities.
RIM's sluggishness when it comes to innovation has hampered its ability to grow, allowing quicker players such as Apple and Google to set the pace. As a result, RIM's share of the global smartphone operating system market in the first quarter fell to 13 percent from nearly 20 percent a year ago, while Android's share has quadrupled to more than a third of the market.
Internally, RIM has failed to innovate beyond its e-mail platform, and instead relied on acquisitions to bulk up on features such as an improved browser or mobile operating system. But taking over a company requires time to integrate into the business, further hobbling an already slow company.
Mounting criticism
And Wall Street is calling for blood. One investor was readying a proposal to examine the dual-CEO structure, but withdrew it after RIM compromised and vowed to set up a committee to look at the management structure. Letters from RIM executives posted on Boy Genius Report lambasted the direction of the leadership, noting the inefficient nature of having both Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis running the company.
RIM's recent strategy of buying companies to augment its technology has been one of catching up to its rivals. The company purchased Torch Mobile in August 2009 to get its WebKit browser, a standard feature on the iPhone and Android devices. The first phone to use the technology, the fittingly named BlackBerry Torch, didn't come out until a year later. Likewise, the much-lauded QNX software which powers the PlayBook won't show up in smartphones until next year.
Related stories:
� RIM to lay off 2,000 employees
� RIM misses on revenue, announces layoffs
� Anonymous letter bemoans RIM management woes
� RIM CEOs defend problematic PlayBook launch
The problems aren't just recent. The original BlackBerry Bold was plagued with delays before it launched in 2008. Its first touchscreen phone, the BlackBerry Storm, suffered from a number of glitches when it launched later that year. The Torch was the last phone RIM released. The next one, the BlackBerry Bold Touch, is now set to launch in September after initially getting a summer launch target.
"Their execution has been subpar," Thornton said.
Despite the problems and a stock that was beginning its downward trajectory, the dual CEOs won an increase in their pay. Balsillie and Lazaridis both saw a 12 percent increase in their total compensation, with each making $5.1 million, including base pay and stock, for the fiscal year ended Feb. 26. The three operating chiefs and chief financial officer each took home a little less than $2 million.
The BlackBerry Bold 9900, a touchscreen version of the Bold, is expected to launch this summer, but was pushed back to September.
(Credit: RIM)
Since the fiscal year ended in February, the stock has fallen 61 percent and trades at about $27.
Supporters say it's easy to criticize the two when the company has fallen on tough times, and that many forget Balsillie and Lazaridis were responsible for building RIM into a powerhouse of the wireless industry. Lazaridis founded the company in 1984 and Balsillie has served as co-CEO since 1992.
"These are two very smart guys," Fared Adib, head of product development for Sprint Nextel, said last week to a roundtable of reporters. He added he wouldn't underestimate their ability to come back from their recent struggles.
The two were eager to defend their legacy during the company's earnings conference call last month.
"I believe, and I think Mike would agree, that neither of us could have taken the company this far alone, and that completing the transition and taking the company to the next level of success and growth is also something neither of us can do alone, and something that would be incredibly challenging for someone from outside the company to manage successfully at this critical time in RIM's development," Balsillie said.
Lazaridis: "I absolutely believe that the complementary skill sets and good working relationship between Jim and I led to the success of RIM over the past two decades."
Dual CEOs: A mixed history
Still, the corporate world is littered with the failures of companies trying to juggle too many executives. In January, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji removed dual CEOs Suresh Vaswani and Girish Paranjpe as the company faced increasing competitive pressures.
MySpace faced a similar situation when its one of its co-presidents, Jason Hirschhorn, departed, leaving Mike Jones to run the struggling social networking business. MySpace was sold to Specific Media for $35 million last month after News Corp. purchased the company for $580 million in 2005.
There have been exceptions that worked out. SAP has had a history of running its business with two CEOs at the helm. In fact, the company went from a co-CEO structure to a single chief when Leo Apotheker took over in 2009. But Apotheker's disappointed during his short tenure, and the company appointed Bill McDermott and Jim Hagermann Snabe as the new co-CEOs.
Motorola's two CEOs, Sanjay Jha and Greg Brown, also managed to co-exist amicably. But the two executives knew they were working toward a separation. The company split into Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions at the beginning of this year.
Improved focus needed
RIM, which has long been known for the ease of use of its BlackBerrys, failed to understand that it needed to step up its game even further for the touchscreen smartphone and tablet markets. Even the next-generation software powering the PlayBook lags behind Apple and Android, according to Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney.
The QNX software that powers the PlayBook tablet will be heading to smartphones next year.
(Credit: RIM)
"They need management that, like Apple, sends its engineers back to the drawing board when it's not an A+ interface," he said. "A B+ effort just isn't good enough."
In addition, RIM appears to be taking its overseas markets granted after several quarters of strong growth, Dulaney said.
"The question is did management their eyeballs off the need to drive down deeper [in the international markets]," he said.
RIM did make a minor management change Monday. The company said one of its chief operating officers, Don Morrison, who was on temporary medicine leave, will retire. The other two COOs, Jim Rowan, who focuses on operations, and Thorsten Heins, who focuses on product and sales, will take expanded roles at the company.
RIM enters a pivotal period over the next six to 12 months as it attempts to manage the transition from its older BlackBerry operating system to QNX for its smartphones.
"If they drop the ball in a situation like this, it proves to us that management has to be replaced," Thornton said. "They've had too long and too many chances."
Read more: RIM, the picture of a top-heavy company | Wireless - CNET News07-25-11 02:00 PMLike 7 -
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Old news, repeated on a bad news day. The fog of the transition will lift and all the positive news that has been coverd up over the past twelve months we show. I suspect the good news will start to flow once the new hand sets are out. This news today is getting the negatives out of the way before the positives start to come.07-25-11 02:15 PMLike 0 -
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wow, so you like to read their content here? ... it's good to see what other people are saying sometimes.07-25-11 02:31 PMLike 3 -
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07-25-11 02:32 PMLike 3 -
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I think they should definately cut some of those ppl at the top, you could save couple jobs with that. They aren't doing anything anyway. the worker Bees are suffering for managements mismanagementscentsofreason and scorpiodsu like this.07-25-11 02:56 PMLike 2 -
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Because their "new" phones are delayed/becoming outdated/obsolete before release(and even before official announcement for some), they have yet to come up with an answer to iPhones and Android circa '07, the PlayBook isn't getting the attention it deserves/needs, etc.
The big indicator to me though, is the whole BlackBerry OS 7 thing. Never have I seen a company take a minor OS update - BB 6.1 - and slap a brand new title on it - BB 7 - to convince customers that the new line of phones they're set to release isn't just a new cycle of old phones.
Good luck to BlackBerry, but sheesh, come on!scorpiodsu and kevinnugent like this.07-25-11 03:21 PMLike 2 -
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"Like" to read their content? No. Read the article on a slow work day, slow tech article day without visiting the hacks web site? Yes please.
TY rock for posting. Ya took one for the team buddy
07-25-11 03:22 PMLike 0 -
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07-25-11 03:27 PMLike 0 -
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On-line message boards are interesting. I'm new to them, but already I see why psych students study them. Guess this is where you see how people really are physcologically.
These news threads are instructive into people's personalities. Many people would say if everybody is telling you the same thing is wrong, you probably want to listen and make some changes. Other people will instinctively just seek out those who affirm what they want to hear, and drown out all contrary voices. Launch ad-hominem attacks at those that might upset their settled view. Rather than discuss the points made.
Doesn't really matter on these boards, but in the real world, those same traits make a difference in success and failure.07-25-11 03:40 PMLike 0 -
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Could be that the same small group of people, most of whom don't even own a BB or seem to be former emotionally scarred Storm owners, feel the need to only contribute negativity to the forum! It gets old and is sad that they just can't move on to their new device forums or contribute positively here. They are like the crazy stalker ex's, or stalkers period, who just can't let go. People who own Blackberry devices know that there are issues with the existing platform and hope that RIM's actions are addressing them.07-25-11 03:51 PMLike 4 -
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I'd say the BlackBerry users on this site get more bitter than the trolls, I mean look at the tags given to this thread.Could be that the same small group of people, most of whom don't even own a BB or seem to be former emotionally scarred Storm owners, feel the need to only contribute negativity to the forum! It gets old and is sad that they just can't move on to their new device forums or contribute positively here. They are like the crazy stalker ex's, or stalkers period, who just can't let go. People who own Blackberry devices know that there are issues with the existing platform and hope that RIM's actions are addressing them.07-25-11 03:53 PMLike 5 -
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Yes because it gets old. A lot of people were given a month off and the forum was mostly calm for that month. Now that they are back it's heading right back down to people getting frustrated again.07-25-11 03:58 PMLike 0 -
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seriously people dont need to hate on each other so much. its sad that personal attacks are what people resort to because they are upset with articles about RIM.Last edited by howarmat; 07-25-11 at 07:25 PM.
07-25-11 04:10 PMLike 5 -
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Personally I think people get upset because of the android/iphone posters who are constantly searching for negative articles to post. It seems everyone got off probation the last couple days and the first thing they wanted to do was come here and stir the pot.07-25-11 04:34 PMLike 7 -
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Amen!
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com07-25-11 05:26 PMLike 0 -
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It's not like they have to search very hard for negative articles, though. Almost everything being written about RIM is negative, these days. And I think these articles are worth discussing.07-25-11 05:34 PMLike 2 -
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Spot-on Nick and couldn't agree more!Could be that the same small group of people, most of whom don't even own a BB or seem to be former emotionally scarred Storm owners, feel the need to only contribute negativity to the forum! It gets old and is sad that they just can't move on to their new device forums or contribute positively here. They are like the crazy stalker ex's, or stalkers period, who just can't let go. People who own Blackberry devices know that there are issues with the existing platform and hope that RIM's actions are addressing them.
I haven't once thought about signing back up over at the Apple forums and go sit and pick with their members why I couldn't stand their phones anymore. And I have quite a few gripes.
Nor have I signed up over at an Android forums. (Visted this sites sub-forum when I had them.)
Just amazes me the leaches on these forums. We get it, it is a bad time in RIM land, no go on back to the hole you climbed out of....
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com01itr and maddie1128 like this.07-25-11 05:38 PMLike 2
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cnet article calling for cuts at the top
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