Case Study – 1

Brand Management
MKT 543E
Submitted by : Anika Tasnim
ID: 1822315

Q:1: The purpose of the case is to shed insight on two major strategic aspects of gaining
competitive advantage, which are First Mover Advantage (FMA) as opposed to creating Brand
Equity via innovation and creating new standards.

Q:2: The key issues of the case are as follow:

(a) Does FMA always ensure sustainability of a company by providing competitive

advantage?
(b) Does FMA deficit confirm to be a sure failure to become market leader?
(c) How to overcome the FMA deficit?

Q:3: SWOT analysis of BlackBerry:

Strengths Weaknesses
 FMA  No sustainable plan for FMA
 Setting up market standards  Lack of innovation
 Unique bargaining power with  Poor Brand Equity
suppliers
 Advantage of positioning
Opportunities Threats
 Highly potent to product segmentation  Loss of significant market share to
using all current channels competitors
 Adapt to current consumer needs to
produce sustainable product

SWOT analysis of iPhone

Strengths Weaknesses
 Strong Brand Equity  High price
 User friendly product  Less variety in design
 Consumer loyalty  Restricted built in features
 Innovation  FMA deficit
 Opportunities Threats
 More expansion to rural areas  More popularity of Android phones
 More technologically unique products  Key competitor Samsung

Q:4: Problem factor of the case is the doom of the pioneer of smartphone company BlackBerry
even though it possessed the traditional success indicator known as FMA. However, the success
factors are the emergence of fascinating smartphone technology presented by Apple’s iphone.

Q:5: Strategies that worked for BlackBerry:

(a) FMA worked significantly well for BlackBerry when it stated its operation.
(b) It gave the company a dominant market positioning by unparalleled worldwide
subscriptions.

Strategies that worked for iPhone:

(a) Capturing the market by providing a unique product with maximum level of innovation
in accordance to customers need.
(b) High quality of the product satisfied the customers as well as provided value.
(c) Augmented product lead to acquiring a much higher Brand equity for iphone.

Q:6: Strategies that did not work for BlackBerry:

(a) Black Berry’s inability to adapt to consumer needs and strive for innovativeness.
(b) Lack of business research to develop a sustainable FMA strategy.
(c) Fewer efforts on creating a higher Brand Equity via value creation.

Q:7: My suggestions for BlackBerry would be to look out for options of merger and acquisition
with other leading telecommunication companies in order to sustain the competition. Also, they
can rebrand their products by adapting to recent technologies and incorporating them to the
brand image.