Barco Projection systems case study analysis

The problem Barco is facing is to maintain its image as a leader in technology and also
compete with Sony’s new product to maintain its profits. It either has to come up with a
superior product or it has to reduce prices to compete.
The alternatives are
1. Barco can go with the launch of BD700 in October and then start the development of
BG800.
2. It can use advances made in BD700 for a new superior product BG700. But it will still
not be able to compete with Sony’ 1270.
3. Turn immediately to development of BG800 to surpass capacity of 1270.

 Continuing to work on BD 700 and starting development of BG 800 afterwards is not

the best option as Sony will get first mover advantage and Barco will find it very
difficult to capture the lost market share to Sony’s 1270 as developing BG 800
afterwards will take a lot of time and Barco wont be able to launch it in Infocomm.
 Using the advances made to BD 700 for launching BG 700 is also not a great option
as BG 700 will still be an inferior product as compared to Sony’s 1270 and it will be in
a similar price range to Sony’s offering. It doesn’t make sense to launch BG 700 at
very low price as it will lead to reduction of profitability.
 The best alternative seems to be the 3rd alternative i.e., put all developments on
hold for now and immediately start working on BG800. This way Barco can try to
meet the Infocomm deadline and compete with 1270. If Barco is not able to meet
the Infocomm deadline, they can still target to launch the product in some other
tech exhibition and make use of their good distribution network to push their
product over the Sony’s offering. For the existing orders of BD700 they can ask their
customers to wait until Infocomm and provide them the BG 800 after Infocomm at
the same price as they were supposed to offer BD 700.
 In the long-term Barco can focus on R&D and try to develop superior quality
products to target niche markets so that they don’t get into such a situation again in
which they are surprised by one of their competitor’s product like this
 They can also focus on finding a new distributor instead of Sony for buying important
components as Sony is a direct competitor and may in the future term stop
supplying components to them which will lead to huge losses for Barco. This over
dependence of one supplier for crucial components is not a sustainable strategy in
the long term.