Case Study: Barco Projection System

For VIZIO was an advantage because many of the warehouse retail channels did not have sales personnel which could influence the customers during the shopping process because of the sales quotas. For the retailer was advantageous because of lower price driven by the lack of brand name, and the fact that they require all manufacturers to sell directly to them, which subsequently eliminated costs and markups associated with middle distributing channels, which was also a plus for VIZIO.

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.

I decided to do my research on Sony due to the advancement in technology and the competition between companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and Sony. I have been around long enough to know about Sony’s products but the real reason that attracted me to them for this essay is because I actually believe that they are having a negative trend. I am starting to see less Sony items in stores and I haven’t really heard much about them. Whereas companies such as Apple are constantly being talked about and you often see people walking around with some type of apple product in their hands. Today we are going to research Sony through a horizontal analysis and through different ratio analyses. Let’s see what we find!

Looking at the price-scan rate map, the BV600, the S1031 and the BD600 all line up on the same value equivalent line. However, the BG400 lies north of that VEL. This implies that the BG400 is sold at a premium compared to the other projectors.

To regain some of its market share in its “growth driven” and “stable profit generators” sectors, Sony can reposition its competition in the minds of consumers. For instance, Sony can use comparative advertising to demonstrate that its brands are superior to its competitors. In this situation, Sony can attempt to alter the portrayed image of its competitor, Nintendo, and position its PlayStation game console as the better-quality product (Positioning(marketing), n.d).

Competition can affect a business drastically if not addressed. They could end up stealing the brand of the business and charging better prices. Brompton needs to keep in mind that their customers pay for more because they are receiving quality products. If Brompton choose to drop their prices to keep customers, it becomes harder to put them up again. In addition, it will also lower the value of the brand and product. Quality is what sets Brompton apart from its competitors.

A major issue is since reducing the price 20% reduces the profit margin to 15%, to maintain the same profit while reducing the price, the sales must be $28 million for this year. This is an increase of 233% in one year to justify reducing the price this much. This is a highly unlikely target.

The VP of Operations has suggested a 20% decrease in price to better compete with the mass merchants who are gaining a

However we feel that this strategy also has several weaknesses. Compared to the first option presented by the VP of Advertising, we would still need to advertise that our product is coming down in price. If we don’t advertise, the consumer is still going to be drawn to our competitors because they will remain unaware of the new parity in pricing. Also, if we

Barco’s business model is based on differentiation strategy, which in turns caters for a particular niche segment of the projection system market. BPS is thus able to charge a premium price for its products. In order to be competitive BPS cannot play the price war game with Sony, which has much wider presence in the electronics market. In addition, price war will erode the complete market. BPS can only sustain the differentiation game by bringing on new and better products.

After analyzing the results from the previous quarter, it was determined that the prices set for each segment were not sufficient. Product sales priority were also not properly adjusted. With the R&D investments, sales priorities needed to be changed for the main focus to become the most profitable market segments. Prices were not competitive which in turned decreased revenue, market share, and profitability. To become more competitive we altered the prices in each market segment. The Workhorse product was the first to change, the price was lowered to $2500 in an attempt to increase sales; at this price Team 4 was still making a profit on this product, as well as making the price much more competitive. The Workhorse sales priority was also lowered to 3rd in Americas and 4th in APAC and EMEA. This product was not selling as well as we had hoped, and was no longer as profitable as it once was which led to this decision. Next, the Innovator product’s price was adjusted; this involved a price increase to $4100. This price was adjusted to include the new

* Pricing: The low prices charged in the P-T segment adds to the perception of low quality brand among the P-T segment. Also, B&D faces problem of low profit margins in this segment compared to others.

“To become a leading global provider of networked consumer electronics, entertainment and services.” That’s the mission of Sony, producer of the Sony Playstation. Sony, information and

It is very difficult, generally, to increase price once it decreased. If there were innovation and Federated could appeal other additional value to customer, it could win both share and profitability again. However it cannot be expected. firstly because this product is too simple to innovate, and secondly the company doesn't have competency in R&D.

Sony's marketing strategy was to make use of its worldwide network of captive commercial video distributors which in turn worked with more than 1,500 dealers across the globe. Also Sony's strategy was to make use of brand name recognition which had a reputation of reliability and low price among dealers. Sony also took advantage of the fact that Barco was purchasing tubes from Sony Components. In some cases Sony's strategy was to be better off than Barco in terms of latest developments related to tubes with in-house supplier. Internal efficiencies were created from Sony Components – Sony projectors would know about new tubes before competitors and thus be able to design for new tubes immediately. This resulted in supply chain efficiencies of being more responsive to demand, and not carrying high inventories.