Barco Projection System

Sharp has a strong international presence and is a well known brand. It offers a variety of diverse products to its customers, including TV’s, laptops, and home appliances. A diversification of product portfolio is important as it protects company against risk of exposure in any particular line of business (Johnson, 2006). Therefore Sharp is relatively strong in this aspect. In addition, Sharp places an intense focus on research and development of new technologies and products, ensuring that their output is the best in the industry.

Given Sony’s superior 8” tube technology and its worldwide network of dealers, especially its 500 dealers in the U.S. market versus BPS’s 100, Sony’s primary goal should be capturing market share in the graphics projector segment.

20. What is the term for the extra revenue derived from the sale of one more unit?

“Bertrand's theory describes a duopoly market in which two firms are competing with each other through a price war. As per the assumptions made, if the price of a good from 'Firm 1' is less than the price charged by 'Firm 2' then, all the consumers will buy goods only from Firm 1. And, Firm 1 will be able to cater to all the consumer demands. However, if Firm 2 also reduces its price making it equal to the equal to the price charged by Firm 1, then, the total demand and the total sale will be equally divided between the two firms. If the price war continues, then firms eventually will reach a point where they will charge a 'Marginal Price'. After reaching this point none of the firms can further lower their prices and will reach a point of stagnancy.”

b. Propose potential explanations for the higher WTP/P and/or lower C/WTS of Samsung. (Recall that with Walmart we discussed the squeezing of suppliers vs. more efficient operations as potential sources of their low cost

In order to evaluate the relative likelihood of the two scenarios – price war and normal competition let us list the factors that would lead to one of the two scenarios.

Some of the biases that Sony had are synergy and skills. As Sony clearly overestimated the synergy of the combination of software and hardware, and also the lack of knowledge on the software side of the business, which lead Sony into huge losses for years after the first acquisition occurred. Through framing lock-ins that Sony perceived, it is clear that Sony did not get the big picture right. By kept investing money into a black hole and refused to face and to fix the real problem itself eventually led Sony a write-off of $3.2

In oligopoly market, each firm has substantial market power with high degree of interdependence. The key for success in a oligopoly market is to gain more market share than the competitors. Increasing the price can lead to loss of market share to the competitors, so in the oligopoly market, if a firm decreases the price, the other firms will always follow, but if a firm increase the price, the other firms will not follow. The demand curve is kinked.

They had a traditional strength in electronics and given the same tube and lens combination, BPS could achieve better performance than its competitors. Barco continually upgraded the scan rates of its most sophisticated projector line to match advances in application. For this, company committed strongly to R&D to keep them ahead of the industry experience curve. Their strategy was to limit the scan rate for each segment such as video (up to 16 kHz), data (16 to 45 kHz) and graphics (16 to 64 kHz & above). The raison d'être behind this was that they could have made it on one machine for each segment but not sold it for the highest price (determined by the Willingness-to-Pay for the customer in each segment). Different projectors priced at different price would help them to extract the maximum consumer surplus. As part of marketing strategy, BPS captured more specialized markets such as process control and simulation thus covering the breadth of industries (rail road, military, consulting, computing, entertainment). BPS also made strong ties with customers such as IBM and EEC thus creating barriers to entry. Barco forced dealers to spend time learning about Barco products, and dealers had to hire a certain number of Barco-approved technicians. The idea behind this was that dealers would know more bout Barco products than competitors and thus would push Barco products. Barco kept the number of dealers to low because more dealers will mean that

The Sonic firm would later have the opportunity to pursue either the Cost Leadership or Differentiation segment. It is important that the Sonic sustain the lowest cost to gain brand recognition in the market. Sonic can pursue targeting identified segments with multi – dimensional satisfaction that includes quality, differentiation, and price (Kotler). The Overall Cost Leadership states that firms work hard to achieve the lowest production and distribution cost. Sonic has not established their brand or image so their price for competing PDAs is lower than competitors. Differentiation sets the product apart and the firm must make the products with the best components. The Sonic PDA must be positioned as a versatile, convenient, and value added product. The focus would incorporate hands free operation for multiple communication, entertainment, and information capability.

Barco launched its first projector BV1 (scan rate of 16 kHz & priced at $11,250) in video segment in 1982. But soon Barco decided to enter the computer applications market and by the end of 1983 launched BD1 (scan rate of 16 to 18 kHz & priced at $13,500) in data segment. In 1984 Barco introduced two more projectors

On the performance scale, 1270 is positioned above BPS’s BG400, so the image of BPS as a high-end player in the projectors’ market is under serious threat. Also, the 1270 is targeted at the U.S. and European markets from which BPS had 83% of its graphics revenues. This will significantly affect share of the BG400 in these markets. If the 1270 is priced at the lower end ($15,000), it can also eat into the market share of BD600. Further, at this price level, the 1270 has the potential to serve both the data and graphics segment which will destroy BPS’s segmentation practice.

c) The additional price paid to a monopolist is thus a transfer to the monopolist, not a benefit nor a

b) In a monopolistic competition structure, although there are numerous firms, they carry different products. Due to product differentiation, each company is able to somewhat control their own pricing.

Through the years, Canon has demonstrated several core competencies that have enabled them to propel themselves to the top of the market. First and foremost, Canon has employed a pool of extremely talented engineers who made up Canon’s Research and Development team. Through their research, Canon was able to uncover new and innovative products. This varied product line, which included cameras, calculators, and photocopiers, demonstrates Canon’s diversified product line. This diverse line of merchandise is integral to the company’s survival and has enabled Canon to take a multifaceted approach to technological competition. The more diverse type of products that are offered, the more chances there are