R&D Outsourcing Case Study: Blackberry 10 Development
* R&D Outsourcing Case study: Blackberry 10 development
Outsourcing of R&D functions of company is not a new concept. Its history can be traced way back to 1970’s and 1980’s when companies in United States were contracted by the government to carry out R&D activities on behalf of them. During the early 1990’s, concept of outsourcing R&D expanded rapidly. Today many global players in the market outsource at least a small portion of their R&D activities to other countries like India, China and Brazil. Companies like Microsoft, GE, Boeing, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo to name a few have set up their R&D centers in offshore destinations.
So as to match the pace of the market and to keep in pace with the competition, companies are forced to review the whole or part of its spending especially on its R&D activities. To justify the technology needs to cater to the changing market demand, companies in large are opting to outsource their R&D functions.
Research In Motion (RIM) is a global leader in mobile devices and given below is a case on outsourcing of R&D activities by RIM to develop their new OS BlackBerry 10.
The Company
Research in Motion is the pioneer in wireless innovation and they revolutionized mobile hand set market with the invention of smartphone BlackBerry in 1999. Their product line includes BlackBerry tablet, BlackBerry smartphone and software for business and services that connect people and content.
Challenges faced
BlackBerry who was once the market leader in the smart phone category started bleeding at an alarming rate with dominance of Apple’s iOS and Google’s android devices in the smartphone and tablet market. The market share of BlackBerry in the smartphone market fell to meager 6% for the first quarter of 2012 and this was a major setback for the company which was already reeling under declining revenue and margins.
Decision to outsource Blackberry 10 development
The falling market share and declining sale set a
Outsourcing of R&D functions of company is not a new concept. Its history can be traced way back to 1970’s and 1980’s when companies in United States were contracted by the government to carry out R&D activities on behalf of them. During the early 1990’s, concept of outsourcing R&D expanded rapidly. Today many global players in the market outsource at least a small portion of their R&D activities to other countries like India, China and Brazil. Companies like Microsoft, GE, Boeing, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo to name a few have set up their R&D centers in offshore destinations.
So as to match the pace of the market and to keep in pace with the competition, companies are forced to review the whole or part of its spending especially on its R&D activities. To justify the technology needs to cater to the changing market demand, companies in large are opting to outsource their R&D functions.
Research In Motion (RIM) is a global leader in mobile devices and given below is a case on outsourcing of R&D activities by RIM to develop their new OS BlackBerry 10.
The Company
Research in Motion is the pioneer in wireless innovation and they revolutionized mobile hand set market with the invention of smartphone BlackBerry in 1999. Their product line includes BlackBerry tablet, BlackBerry smartphone and software for business and services that connect people and content.
Challenges faced
BlackBerry who was once the market leader in the smart phone category started bleeding at an alarming rate with dominance of Apple’s iOS and Google’s android devices in the smartphone and tablet market. The market share of BlackBerry in the smartphone market fell to meager 6% for the first quarter of 2012 and this was a major setback for the company which was already reeling under declining revenue and margins.
Decision to outsource Blackberry 10 development
The falling market share and declining sale set a