S w W12914 1 RESEARCH IN MOTION: SINCERELY, A RIM EMPLOYEE (A) Paul Bigus wrote this case under the supervision of Professor Jana Seijts solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmission without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail
[email protected]. Copyright © 2012, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2012-05-03 On Thursday, June 30, 2011, at 10:45 a.m., Research in Motion (RIM) co-chief executive officers (CEOs), Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis unexpectedly found themselves facing serious public scrutiny not from the competitors, market analysts or consumers but from one of their own senior executives.2 In an attempt to have their voice heard, an anonymous senior-level RIM employee addressed an open letter to both Balsillie and Lazaridis, however, the letter was sent to the online technology news provider Boy Genius Report (BGR). Upon BGR verifying the identity of the source RIM employee, the full contents of the letter were featured in an online BGR article, which quickly spread into mainstream media.3 The details of the open letter had provided various candid criticisms of RIM’s leadership, its product development and its employee culture.