Case Analysis of Barco Projection System: Global Niche Marketing IntroductionBarco NV was founded in 1934 as a manufacturer of radio broadcast receivers. At the end of the 1970s, faced with the economic recession due to the oil supply shock, the company changed its market strategy from a consumer market to an industrial niche market for projectors. This decision was based on a firm and clear vision that Barco knew which market it needed to serve. Pursuing top-of-the-line in the high-end niche market, Barco has focused on research and development to maintain the highest quality and launched a series of international expansion activities. The strategy of the most advanced player in the niche market has led to years of market leadership in the graphics projector sector of the high-end industrial market. Barco Projection System (BPS) has pretty much enjoyed the fruits of its dedication to technologically superior projectors, however, the projector market has come across an unexpected (in light of BPS) new product: the 1270 "superdata" projector (1270) from Sony. Introduced at the Siggraph trade show in the third quarter of 1989, the 1270 demonstrated its superiority in brightness, image quality, and resolution over BPS's benchtop product. Since BPS could not expect a competing product like the 1270, both the company and the distributor were shocked and mixed up. Considering Barco's size on the market, even though BPS was in the leading position in the industry, it could not defend itself from the attack of a giant like Sony. At this point, to maintain market position and share, BPS should take immediate action against Sony's market-conquering move with the high-quality but low-priced 1270 projector. At that time, Barco executives were basically considering two options: pricing option and product development option, but both options had some flaws. The strange relationship with GiantBPS was known for its high quality to distributors and end users. Based on its strategy of ranking in the top 3 in the designated market segment – ​​high-end projectors, BPS has reached no. 1 in graphics projectors and managed to be among the top 3 in the data and video projectors sectors. BPS had intentionally raised the bar by making its product "unnecessarily complex" to prevent other competitors from entering. Retailers and end users complained about this, but BPS maintained this strategy as it was seen as a necessary way to differentiate itself among competitors: Sony, Electrohome, and NEC. Sony was the strongest competitor and had a unique relationship with Barco. Competing in the industrial projector market with Barco, it supplied Barco with the main component of the projector: the tubes.