The Rise and Fall of Blackberry: Lessons for Cannabis Firms
I recently watched Blackberry, a 2023 a black comedy that chronicles the rise of fall of a generation-defining gadget that at one time commanded almost 50% of the smartphone market. This well-made though fictionalized movie provides a variety of lessons for cannabis companies, three of which are:
1. Founder Failure
Jim Balsille was a type A+ business guy. Once Blackberry took off, Balsille became obsessed with buying an NHL team (the Penguins) and moving it to Canada. You guessed it, he took his eye off the business paying little attention to governance issues, cash flow and key customers.
Mike Lazaridis had a different obsession/distraction problem. Singularly focused on technology and manufacturing, he paid scant attention to creating a product management system and empowering others, steps that would have turned the wildly successful start-up into a sustainable business.
Ultimately, these two pioneers were unable to make the transition from successful start-up leader to heads of a large $20B entity.
2. Poor corporate ‘hygiene’
I define corporate hygiene as paying close attention to important details. The Blackberry story sees the SEC fine the company for options backdating in the hiring of key technical staff. It got worse. By the end of the film, millions of Blackberry’s were ultimately scrapped because of poor quality control at their Chinese manufacturing plant. Both problems were avoidable if they were paying attention to the basics.
3. Underestimating a key competitor, Apple
Its hard to say whether it was hubris or market blind spots (or that Apple designed such a terrific product) but Blackberry clearly underestimated its world class rival. The iPhone reordered the carrier battlefield (from selling minutes to data) and delivered on some big, unmet customer needs like merging key Apple services and leveraging a huge community of app developers.
Blackberry is a parable for cannabis firms
The rise and fall of many high-flying cannabis firms bares a strong resemblance to the Blackberry saga - not to mention a Greek Drama.
A 'call to cannabis action'...
Some cannabis leaders might want to consider (or be nudged by the Board) to move on for the good of the company, shareholders and their sanity.
Secondly, the story reinforces the importance of establishing a professional organization within the confines of a fast-growing, purpose-driven cannabis firm.
Finally, the pace of change in cannabis is frenetic and uncertain. A solid market position today is vulnerable to competitive or regulatory disruption tomorrow.
#disruption #Apple #Blackberry #strategy