NMIMS Global Access

School for Continuing Education (NGA-SCE)

Course: Strategic Management
1. Founded in 2011 and launched in 2013 in St Jose California USA, Zoom Video
communications had made steady progress in the enterprise communications domain
with a structured growth pattern, the company also received regular funding from
venture funds and was listed on the New York Stock exchange in 2019.
It was also the year in which Zoom hit profit territory, in December of 2019 Zoom had
a total user base of 10 million; then, the pandemic struck, the user load of Zoom
zoomed from 10 million to 300 million by January of 2020, as the pandemic wanes
Zooms growth rate is slowing down as well, the drop in growth has seen its stock
value plummeting in 2022. In a situation like this if you are the chief strategy officer of
the company what plans would you make to acquire new customers. What would be
your USP and how would you focus on the core business strategy to make the
company more relevant for its consumers.

Answer: Being the Chief strategy officer, the prime factor to look into would be the
framework of the business strategies prevailing and applied in the organisation. It is key
factor to have clearer picture of the complete framework of the business.
Strategic formulation is the development of strategies as per long-term and short-term
goals, objectives and policies. It is the search for that fit-in policies that copes up with
external opportunities and internal resources for the desired accomplishment of goals.

First of all, we will discuss the aspects what made Zoom what it is, the key strategies
were-
 Customer-Driven Design: Zoom tried, tested and evolved a user-friendly
interface, as the customers used to find then prevailing conferencing
applications a bit complex to operate at times. So, what Zoom focused on was
interacting with customers, knowing theire experiences, understanding their
demands, developing similar product and also be present for after support.
Zoom was only focused on the customer feedback, but also listening to them and
also digesting it and acting on it until the perfect solution had been achieved that
satisfy the customers.
  Freemium Model: Zoom’s marketing strategy involves a freemium model
where the core features are free for everyone but only for 40 minutes if you
want to meet more than 1 to 100 people. And as the rule says by, Freebies are
everyone’s favorite but in order to ascertain its revenue chain it also left
customers wanting for more and making payment for other runs.
People wanted to jump into group meetings during the pandemic and wanted
the calls to last longer than 40 minutes, especially during the zoom drinking
game socials. Making the smart move, the Zoom meeting marketing team
analysed the best time for a conference call and observed that it was 45 minutes.
It then reduced those 5 minutes which was inconvenient enough for people who
were wrapping up. This encouraged them to choose a valid subscription to the
Zoom app.

 Radical Transparency: Zoom took a step further in providing transparency to its

user and build customers’ trust in the name. The company staff is vocal about
the factor why they chose this strategy and are glad with the results witnessed
there after.

Now we will focus on the Chart of zoom-

Source- Google
Due to an increase in the daily meetings in March 2020, Zoom’s stocks boosted up during the
Pandemic, despite a turndown in the stock market. It experienced a huge jump from $70 in
January to $150 in March. By June 2020, the value of the company was $67 billion. Zoom
became the most well-known video-conferencing application during the COVID-19 after gaining
about 635 % in 2020. The 9-year-old app’s (Zoom) market crossed $140 billion in October 2020,
surpassing Exxon Mobile, which was 130 years old. But due to many factors in concern, it did
witness a fall of more than 15% when the news broke in November 2020 about the vaccine’s
efficiency. It was in January 2021 only that Zoom again raised $2 billion but through a common
stock offering.

The reason of fall of the Zoom application was considered to be the security of the app.
Advanced hackers were successful in breaching the app’s privacy and access the passwords &
other useful credentials. Its privacy policy experienced a loophole in the functioning of the app.
Zoom marketing strategy that once ensured a seamless user experience resulted being
unworthy of what it claimed.

To overcome this hindrance, The makers decided to shift to End-to-end encryption instead of
transparency. Since, all the authorised apps were diagonising the same methodology and
strategies to over come this issue of security breaching, Zoom was no other. It too made sure to
work ahead to provide end-to-end encryption to its users.

Another significant reason of so many people stopping to use Zoom was the security flaw
where the Zoom Client for Meetings and Zoom Rooms for Conference Room software failed to
check the installation version in the update process, which enhances the chances of
vulnerability.

Also, We will have to make an subtle understanding of the fact that pandemic was different
time altogether, the needs of the time were different. But, after its wiping off, the normal lives
have been restarted as they earlier. So, the crowd which had jumped on to Zoom has their
survival medium, have again came into their physical beings and peer interactions. So, exact
situation is hard to be replicated. But we can assure to keep engage the potential audience
better than other competitiors in the market domain.

The custom improvement however made things better with time and we were able to reach
the conclusion for the future as-

There is no denying the fact that the last two years have been a dream for Zoom in terms of
profit and earnings. 2020 was the year when Zoom became popular. The zoom marketing
strategy worked well, and they got lucky with the pandemic as the main reason for its growth.
There were two impressive things that they did:
  They were able to handle all the growth
 They worked out their flaws and maintained the customer base.

The ability to scale rapidly is why they could hold on to so much of their revenue and usage
growth. In addition, they have adapted well to the increasing user base. The best part is that
even in the post-pandemic world, Zoom’s marketing strategy could hold on to the current user
base.

2. You are the marketing director of ISL the Indian Super league which is India’s premiere
soccer league ISL has added 16% growth of viewership in 2020 season over 2019
season but the league compares poorly with the 400 billion viewers delivered by the
IPL in 2020. What strategies would you adopt to make ISL popular amongst
consumers? Create a strategic plan with a 10-year vision.

Answer: The most crucial aspect to begin in is the through study and analysis about the
cores of the matter we are striving into. Being the marketing director, I will prefer to know
the what are the points of difference, how do they differ in this generous capacities & which
appropriate measures are to be opted for eradication of this issue.

So, before setting any expectation regarding growth or enlargement of our product, we
need to study in detail the potential crowd for its consumption. And, as all of us know, India
is a country which has highest fan-love for cricket. Take any other sport in comparison with
cricket, and Indians can swear by cricket at any point of time. Definitely, this context too has
cases of exception like any other, but in general scnerio, this is the absolute fact case.

Reason for added viewership in 2020 in comparison to 2019- One major reason for this
increase in viewership was the pandemic. During that course of time, anyone and everyone
was into their homes, chilling, relaxing, watching & exploring choices. People were watching
even the oldest of content in those days, as the new could not be processed any further.
The ISL made its grounds deep and solid in this meantime only, when people chose to watch
soccer along with cricket. It made place for itself in the cricket lovers world. But comparing
it with IPL viewership will not do the justice to the comparison. Because people in India
have mad love for that sport.

However, Soccer made its own audience for itself. This is to be viewed with optimistic
approach as the stepping stone is always harder than the rest following. Pandemic times
have done that job easier for soccer. Now, it has its own fanbase and potential future
audience too. Also, people are extending their love and support to other sports too along
with the cricket. Because cricket fanbase is too rock solid to be shaken or even shifted, but
other sports paving their ways with baby steps is recommendable.

By putting all our bets on this audience retention and be able to attract the potential
audience, we can move to acquire and establish our expansion vision to turn true. We now
have to keep this newly developed interest alive by supplying enough and good content,
leaving audience engaged, supplying quality content and creating base for potential new
audiences.

For all this, we need to make a Long-term strategic management plan, which will ensure all
the desired goals to be attained. The strategy is the planning and layout making of the top-
level managers which needs the support of low-level managers to accomplish in true sense.
The input, commitment, communication, channelisation of resources are some key
strategical factors to be performed with utmost dedication. For the attainment of success in
this ten-year vision of ISL viewership increament, we may opt for certain factors like-

Mark your presence- Not a large section of people is interested in sports and most of them
are even not aware about such leagues happening in soccer too. People’s concern lies all In
cricket, so to ensure the viewership, we must pool in the viewers. We have to adapt all the
techniques of creating buzz and news about soccer and its notable presence. This can be
done via social media platforms, newpaper, TV ads, hoardings and banners etc. so it may
grab the attention of the future audience.

Social media- Social media has become the largest platform for interaction in today’s
generation. Most big companies and organisations today, opt for advertisements and
branding through social media platforms. Facebook, instagram, twitter are ace in the game.
Almost everyone has a account on them and is eager to follow the trends they see on these
platforms. So, making own accounts, advertising through other channels, making paid
partnerships can help to create buzz about the ISL.

Developing Partnerships- Developing partnerships with complementary businesses as of

yours will help the both to grow together and facilitate in related components and
activities. Second, the pressure can also be shared when working In partnerships.

Showcasing testimonials- To make audiences and customers believe in you, you need to
show the best of your testimonials. Today is the time when to make your picture larger, the
adjustment of focus is the thing of utmost requirement. Also, this kind of self declaration
will not only boost up the business confidence but also spike up the potential audience base
for the future endeavours.
Celebrity Interactions- As we all are aware of the influence which celebrities have on
normal people’s lives, specially teenagers and youth. So, any area in which a celebrity shows
interest, or participate or post something about that, their followers are keen to know all
about it. So, we can make some celebrities endorse our ISL on their platforms and make
them our brand ambassadors.

All or some of these implications will ensure to take us on the path we wish to walk on.
These stategies are one which can result in long-term impacts of their occurrence. So, going
by all these we can ensure the increament in the viewership of ISL, may be not immediately
but definitely with a growing consistency.

3. You are the CEO of super events a successful event organization working with top
movie stars and organizing one of the marquee events in the annual entertainment
calendar. During the pandemic, your business was completely shut down. Post pandemic
the business environment is opening again.

a. As CEO of the company, what strategies would you evolve in ensuring your
organization remains relevant in the post pandemic world? Evaluate and create the type
of events your organization can get into to rebuild the business.

Answer: The main focus of the businesses post pandemic is to survive. What businesses are
finding difficult today is the issue of survival and sustainibility. Sustainibility is the
component which will make sure of your long-term run in the way you are moving forward.
Staying relevant is the next important aspect of businesses today. Because in todays
competitive and dynamic environment, it is very crucial to be familiar with the latest trends,
be adaptive, try innovative ideas, implement them at earliest, grab the first mover
advantage and maintain the stardards you have set for the business in order to make
goodwill and retain the customers. As easy said, its not that easy to be done, however
business is always about trying and moving. So, after understanding the basic concept,
strategy making is quite easier, as now you have a better ground to strive on to.

Being the top-notch in the business of event organisation industry, we can use our goodwill
as a medium of advertisement and customer acquisation. After supplying them with the
relevent stuff and quality experience, the customer repetation is something bound to come
hand-in-hand.
 We will focus evaluating and analysing the latest trends, celebrity demands, kind of concert
the audience wish to go for today, and what new can we add to enhance the overall
experience.

A show today is not hit only when its tickets are sold. But what was the number of advance
bookings, how much crowd was outside the venue, what was the zest of the audience, their
after reviews, the contentment, their feedbacks which will bring new potential customers.

 Quality experience- Providing the audience an experience like never before is the
prime key factor to induce audiences in the service sector market. Against the
money they pay, the quality content is their right and our obligation.
 Inviting current popular celebrities- The love and zest for the latest popular
celebrities has always been high among the youth. Some superstars are forever
green and cherished, but along with them are the new ones whom people are madly
excited to attend and watch.
 Targeting potential audience- The main driven factor in any field these days is the
youth of the nation. What is relevent, and whats not is majorly decided by the
opinion and liking of the youth.
 Customer acquisition- As the focus is laid on the retention of the customer, the
acquisition of it is also equally important. The pandemic has resulted in shifting of
choices largely, so the customer can be in any relevent format. What you need to
focus on is its acquisition.

Conclusion:

These are some of those points which can be opted out and acted upon in order to ensure the
sustainibility, growth and relevency in the line of event management industry. But its more
than mere forecasting, the need, demand and dynamics needs to be watch out continuously for
being associated with the current geographics and scenerios.

b. Create a blueprint for the diversifications your organization can adopt for expanding its
business.

Answer: Diversification is the method of expansion and growth followed by business, where
focus and shift of company’s objective, needs and resources in fields other than it currently
operates. It helps the companies to identify its strengths, opportunities, boosts profits and
increase sales leading to growth and expansion of the business.
Strategies for diversification of the organisation-

The first move is Market penetration where the companies focus on increament of existing
products, where they apply their experience and market knowledge for the existing product.

Second, Market development, where the company launches existing product into new market.
For this, a detailed and deep study of that market has to be collected before actually carrying
out the operations.

Third, Product development, in which companies introduce new products in existing market,
for which you need to make your product versatile enough to be able to be accepted in the
market as the older ones.

Methods of Diversification-

Concentric diversification- Here, the similar products are added to the current product line.
Such a type of diversification brings the focus of a business to a center point, thus concentric.

Horizontal diversification- Diversifying a product horizontally means introdu cing new but
unrelated goods in to the company’s product mix. Horizontal diversification is mostly followed at
the launch of complementary goods.

Conglomerate diversification- A business which is focusing on a completely different product

line in this strategy, which can be extremely risky. The company broadens its scope and targets
a different market.

SUPER EVENTS being already best in the business, can firstly focus on staying relevent, which is
utmost crucial factor. After which it can also think about, its expansion into new business of its
relativity like marriage events, cultural festivals, college and school programs; which may seem
to be smaller than what its currently operating in, but even small revenues generated on
regular and fast pace can lead to make larger profits. This can be one of the diversification
strategy super events can thrive onto and diversify itself.