The Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) board of directors isn't getting roaring applause from investors for its appointment of PayPal president Scott Thompson as the Internet search engine provider's new CEO. After the announcement of Thompson's appointment, Yahoo's stock price fell 3 percent on Wednesday and continued the decline in pre-market trading on Thursday. Investors, it seems, don't much like the move, nor do they see it as a panacea for whatever ails Yahoo.
It isn't about to get a ringing endorsement from me here, either. Thompson might turn out to be Yahoo's much-desired savior, but there's no denying the extensive damage that has been done to the company by the dithering of the board of directors and their inability to take difficult decisions in the past. It has lost significant ground to Google in the search engine market, and it's failed to expand into other market areas where it could leverage the millions who visit the site daily.
Yahoo didn't have to be in this position. The company is troubled today partly because co-founder Jerry Yang didn't recognize a great deal when one landed on his lap. This is the bottom line: Yahoo should have sold itself to Microsoft when it had the opportunity four years ago. In February 2008, Microsoft offered to purchase Yahoo for approximately $46 billion. Yahoo declined the offer and has since been stuck in a rut. Today, Yahoo has a market value of about $19.7 billion, about where it was when Microsoft made its offer in 2008.
BlackBerry (Nasdaq: RIMM; Toronto: RIM) has a lot to learn from Yahoo's experience. Hopefully, it isn't too late for the Canada-based BlackBerry phone maker. Just as the best deal that could have led Yahoo out of the murky waters was turned down by Yang, RIM has reportedly also declined overtures from Amazon and Microsoft. (See: Six Strategic Options for RIM.)
The muddle RIM is in was a creation of its co-chairmen and co-CEOs Michael Lazaridis and James Balsillie. Lazaridis founded the company in 1984 and with Balsillie built a great company that once dominated the smartphone and enterprise messaging markets. Unfortunately, neither seems to understand how to migrate the company to a new level. Rather than carve out a definitive growth future that may involve some sort of partnership, they are holding on tightly to a sinking ship and desperately grasping for flotsam to help it stay afloat in the middle of the ocean. Help is nearer, though, even if it may have to come from nearby and bigger vessels -- competitors, telecom partners, or even new entrants into the market, including Amazon.
What RIM needs is a new direction and a drastic change of course, but are the current CEOs able to provide this -- even if this might result in their departure -- or will they rather hold on tightly to the bitter end? The company faces major challenges: Its products aren't as hot as they were, rival designs are selling faster, the enterprise market it once dominated is being attacked (successfully) by Apple and Android-device makers, and the window of opportunity for making a deal is closing, slowly but surely.
This is why Yahoo's appointment of a new CEO, years after it received a great acquisition offer, can serve to remind RIM shareholders and directors that there is a time "to hold 'em" and a time to "fold 'em." Just in case they don't know, here's a part of the lyrics from Kenny Rogers's "The Gambler." I hope RIM's co-CEOs get it:
You got to know when to hold 'em,
Know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away,
Know when to run...
RIM may not need to fold, but, as the the song continues:
The secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
And knowin' what to keep.
I am interested in your thoughts on what RIM should be throwin' away and what it should keep.
They may be afraid to make decision if they don't know what to benefits. The board has to analysed their structure and consider the various benefits of reshuffling their leadership and appointing a new head, the two CEOs also have to relinguished their current positions in the company's board.
RIM could still recover, they just need a radical strategy that can work for them. The need to focus on their strenghts and get someone capable to sort out their product map.
I don't know if RIM has ever realized that they have been distrupted in the smartphone market and are doomed to see their market share erode to irrelevance. They need to consider what their core competence is and keep it. If RIM had the right leadership and perhaps embraced just one CEO rather than two, it could take this opportunity in turbulent times to change, evolve and grow.
Jay_Bond, I agree Blackberry's email account is unparalleled. The multiple mail service offered by Blackberry is the reason my family and I couldn't get rid of our blackberry phones. I think it's best RIM merge with similar company.
Ariella, You and Anna Young seem to be having so much fun on this subject of supply chain and lyrics, I would like to commission you both to write a blog each on the lessons the electronics industry can learn from songs. Lyrics only, please and deadline? Not, "when the saints go marching in. . . "
The new government rules and regulations may prove to be a double-edged sword: achieving some positive goals but costing organizations a great amount of money and work and, perhaps, lost sales as well.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Archived Dialogues
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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