Case Study Description of PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy
University of California, Berkeley-Haas collection"In 2005, Faraz Hoodbhoy and Adnan Agboatwalla founded PixSense, a company that would solve the seemingly simple problem of developing technology to get pictures off of cell phones. This was pre-Apple App Store days and the PixSense team hoped to develop technology that would silently compress photo and digital files that could be automatically uploaded and shared with friends. By the end of 2009, Hoodbhoy and his team had raised approximately $20 million dollars in several rounds of funding that included a seed round, as well as additional funding from ATA Ventures, Innovacom (France Telecom's venture arm), and Qualcomm Ventures. PixSense's revenues had reached roughly $2 to $3 million per year and the company had grown to over 100 people in the United States and Pakistan, the ethnic background of the founders. As Hoodbhoy and his team were close to marking PixSense's fifth anniversary, they reflected on the company's go-to-market strategy, wondering if all of their early decisions were the optimal ones."
Swot Analysis of "PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy" written by Naeem Zafar includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hoodbhoy Pixsense facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hoodbhoy Pixsense, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hoodbhoy Pixsense operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hoodbhoy Pixsense
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Hoodbhoy Pixsense
Strengths PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hoodbhoy Pixsense in PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hoodbhoy Pixsense has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Hoodbhoy Pixsense in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hoodbhoy Pixsense digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hoodbhoy Pixsense has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Hoodbhoy Pixsense in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hoodbhoy Pixsense to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hoodbhoy Pixsense to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Hoodbhoy Pixsense
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Hoodbhoy Pixsense does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Weaknesses PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Hoodbhoy Pixsense has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hoodbhoy Pixsense, firm in the HBR case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Hoodbhoy Pixsense supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hoodbhoy Pixsense vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy HBR case study mentions - Hoodbhoy Pixsense takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hoodbhoy Pixsense has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hoodbhoy Pixsense products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hoodbhoy Pixsense needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hoodbhoy Pixsense is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Hoodbhoy Pixsense needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Hoodbhoy Pixsense has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Hoodbhoy Pixsense has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hoodbhoy Pixsense can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hoodbhoy Pixsense to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Hoodbhoy Pixsense to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hoodbhoy Pixsense can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hoodbhoy Pixsense to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Hoodbhoy Pixsense can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hoodbhoy Pixsense in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Hoodbhoy Pixsense can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Hoodbhoy Pixsense can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Manufacturing automation
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hoodbhoy Pixsense to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Buying journey improvements
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hoodbhoy Pixsense is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hoodbhoy Pixsense has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hoodbhoy Pixsense to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy case study. Hoodbhoy Pixsense can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy are -
Increasing wage structure of Hoodbhoy Pixsense
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Hoodbhoy Pixsense.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Hoodbhoy Pixsense needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Hoodbhoy Pixsense business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy, Hoodbhoy Pixsense may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hoodbhoy Pixsense demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hoodbhoy Pixsense needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Hoodbhoy Pixsense with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Hoodbhoy Pixsense in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Hoodbhoy Pixsense will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hoodbhoy Pixsense can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of PixSense: Go-to-Market Strategy is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Hoodbhoy Pixsense needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.