Review On The Mike Lazaridis’ Work
Mike Lazaridis (born 14th Mar 1961) is a philanthropist and business executive. Mihal Lazaridis a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and business executive. Lazaridis was born in Greece and raised by his parents. At age 5, he moved to Canada. Lazaridis was fascinated by science and technology since he was a child. In the Windsor Library, he was awarded a prize for reading all of the science books at age 12. Lazaridis studied science in high school to get ready for university. He also took courses in shop to allow him to experiment.
Research in Motion Mike, along with Doug Fregin and his friend, enrolled in the University of Waterloo in 1979. Mike established Research in Motion, which later became a consulting firm in electronics and computer sciences. The company focused on the development of technology for wireless data transmission, including email and text message, as well as the establishment of wireless point-of sale customer terminals. Michael Barnstijn joined them shortly after. General Motors awarded RIM, while they were still students in 1986, a $600k contract. Jim Balsillie was appointed co-CEO of RIM in 1992. RIM’s growth was largely due to the combination between Lazaridis’s visionary technical skills and Balsillie business savvy. From a small company of 10 employees with approximately 10 years ago, RIM has grown into an international corporation that is worth more than $68 billion as of 2007. The BlackBerry was responsible for a large part of this success.
Apple, which introduced the iPhone in 2007, led the way. RIM grew, reaching nearly 20 billion dollars in sales in fiscal 2011, but it was reluctant to incorporate new trends into its smartphone, like a digital camera or MP3 Player. iPhones and Android phones were more popular than Blackberry by the end 2011. RIM’s sales grew to close to 60 percent from foreign countries. RIM’s market share began to shrink as emerging markets started purchasing cheaper phones. RIM was also affected by a major disruption of service in October 2011, which was the fifth one in five year. RIM’s stock price dropped by nearly 55% despite the announcement that a new “superphone” line would be available in 2012.
Shareholders demanded a change in leadership, in particular. After months of pressure from shareholders, the shake-up in executive positions was publicly announced on 22 Jan 2012. Barbara Stymiest, Thorsten Hains’ chief operating office, replaced Balsillie Lazaridis and the two were renamed co-CEOs. Lazaridis took on the role of vice-chairman of the board, and was appointed chairperson of the new innovation board committee. Balsillie retained his position as a director of the company until 29 March 2012.
Lazaridis’ retirement was announced a year after, on the 28th of March 2013. He would continue to be involved in the computing sector, and establish (with Fregin), the Quantum Valley Investments Fund which supports quantum-computing ventures.
