Barco Projection System

                                              BARCO PROJECTION SYSTEM

                                                   NAME-TANVI NANDA

                                          STUDENT NUMBER -1002931358

Barco Projection System was the second largest division of Barco N.V. that had 350 employees and a turnover of $35million in 1988.This represented 23% of Barco N.V.’s turnover. Through 1980’s, the company’s strategy compromised of 3 main goals. The goals were becoming a leader of niche markets, a strong commitment to R&D and to expand its international presence in sales, product development and production.

This is an evaluation case study.

BARCO’S PRODUCT LINE STRATEGY

Barco has developed 3 lines of projectors including video projectors, data projectors and graphics projectors. Their product line has evolved over the years. They developed their first video projector, Barco vision 1(BV1) in 1981.After this projector, Dejonge, Clearbout and Dursin presented future possibilities to the board. The possibilities included downgrading technology to support video applications, upgrade technology for long distance and high performance video projection or enter the untested market for computer applications. The company decided to go with the third option and developed the first computer compatible projector, Barcdata 1 (BD1) with increased scan rates. Then came BV2 and BD2 with higher scan rates and then BPS launched it’s first graphics project BG 400.  BPS engineers had field tested the first graphic designer, BD700 and were completing its modifications. This was meant to be controlled by a hand -held remote instead of being manual. Frans Clearbout explained product evolution to be ‘more of engineering solutions to problem that arose than of a specific development plan’. This strategy could be one of the reason BPS suffered during stiff competition as it lacks a strong customer focus and their niche approach leaves huge markets for competition to exploit.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS (INTERNAL)

Barco N.V. is one of the top three worldwide manufacturers in automated production control systems, computer-aided designs, graphic arts and industrial projection being number 1 in the graphics market. They’ve also won several international awards like Emmy award for studio monitors, Hi-Vi Silver Award in Japan for product contributing most to electronic visualization technology which has helped it establish a powerful brand image and loyal customers. Their strong commitment to R&D with 15% of the company’s employees dedicated to it should allow them to bring about technological advancements frequently. It also has three major international acquisitions worth 110 million. Before Sony’s launch of 1270, Barco had successfully segmented the market to target high end consumers and had differentiated their products by high scan rates. They are well established firm and have clients in the entertainment, training and presentation markets including European Economic Community, Union Pacific Railroad, IBM etc.

WEAKNESSES (INTERNAL)

BPS has entered an extremely niche market leaving the low-end market completely unexploited for competitors like Sony. This revenue earned in this market allowed Sony to have the capital and human resource to develop 1270 which threatens Barco’s market share in the industry. They also have a dependence on Sony for tubes which is 15% of the projector cost but highly valuable for its performance. It’s risky to have a key equipment that is a part of the company’s competitive advantage to be funded by a competitor. Dealers have complained that the machines are unnecessarily complex and not user-friendly. This is huge concern as customer satisfaction is essential for customer loyalty which can sustain the product through competitive phases. BPS also wrongly assumed that Sony would enter the graphics projector market in late 1990’s and they were naïve to think that Sony would abide by the rules to not enter their niche market. They also refused to buy the tube 8 version provided by Sony which was overlooking a key development.

OPPORTUNITY (EXTERNAL)

The market for video, data and graphic projectors are growing and people are looking for better technologies. There is also a geographic expansion and Barco aims at maximum Global expansion. This brings several opportunities and open doors to serve the needs of varied segments across the Globe. Also, Barco’s high quality and its high-end brand image differentiated by a high scan rate is a huge plus in increasing its market share in different countries.

THREATS (EXTERNAL)

One of the biggest threats is Sony’s 1270 model that is rumoured to be priced about 20-40% lower and has a higher performance. It replaced BPS’s BG400 at the Siggraph and won the industry’s highest performing projector award. Dejonghe estimated that BPS could lose about 75% of its forecast 1990 profit and this would be a huge blow to the company. They are also under the pressure from their distributors in France and Germany who are asking them to reduce their price to compete with 1270.