This paper examines Symantec's position in the antivirus software market through the lens of generic competitive strategies and the balanced scorecard framework. The analysis reveals that Symantec relies primarily on brand reputation rather than cost leadership or differentiation, a strategy vulnerable to competition from lower-cost alternatives and innovative competitors like McAfee internationally. The paper applies the balanced scorecard's four perspectives—translating vision into operational goals, communicating strategy to employees, business planning, and feedback mechanisms—to recommend how Symantec can strengthen its market position through product differentiation, improved customer feedback systems, and centralized operational efficiency.
Symantec is one of the leading antivirus software companies in the United States. Much like its main market rival McAfee, it offers antivirus protection for a continuing fee, along with other possible upgrades and additional security patches for additional charges. From a generic strategies standpoint, Symantec has a relatively dangerous competitive strategy to stay afloat. There are many companies that price their goods and services far lower than Symantec's, including a number of free antivirus software companies. However, Symantec does not offer any particularly unique boutique services to justify its higher price for private or business consumers.
The clientele to which Symantec caters is extremely large and generic, encompassing both commercial and non-commercial home-based users. It states that its protection is suitable for a wide variety of usage patterns. But this has proven problematic for Symantec in terms of distinguishing itself from what has been called the "Pepsi" of the antivirus software market, McAfee (Messmer 2010:1). Symantec has mainly dealt with its competition by ignoring it, stating that the antivirus software market is currently a battle between Symantec and the so-called "seven dwarves," lumping McAfee in with smaller market players, despite the fact that McAfee has often been a close market rival of Symantec in its offering of many new products and services.
Industry analysts have said that a better comparison between McAfee and Symantec is a game of leapfrog. For example, when Symantec made encroachment into the data-loss prevention market, McAfee followed. But McAfee was a leader in the data encryption market, which Symantec only entered much later.
Symantec is notable because of its brand name. It is differentiated mainly because of its reputation, but not because of its low cost or any specific additional features or services it offers. From a business standpoint, Symantec does not seem to perceive its rivals as a threat. When asked to characterize its main industry competitors in an interview, the CEO of the company merely shrugged and sneered that the market was a story of Symantec and the seven dwarfs. This fails to acknowledge the considerable influence other antivirus software competitors have been gaining, such as McAfee. The "seven dwarfs" comment seems particularly inappropriate given McAfee's technological leadership as well as its sheer financial strength and customer loyalty (Messmer 2010:1).
Abroad, Symantec's market dominance seems even shakier. The number three market player, Trend Micro, has made substantial inroads in Japan in the antivirus security software market (Messmer 2010:1). The early market for antivirus software has been called a "land grab" which Symantec claimed simply by being a first mover. It does not offer either a high-quality product or a low cost product (Messmer 2010:1). Many consumers buy a PC with a free Symantec offer already installed and continue to subscribe to the service out of habit. But now more people in the low-cost market are becoming aware of the availability of free online software. Of course, some people will assume that what someone pays for will be better than what is obtainable for free. However, other consumers are willing to take the chance, particularly given the softness of the current economy and America's determination to cut costs whenever possible. The clear evidence that it is possible to get a virus even with Symantec software may cause some customers to rationalize that they might as well use free antivirus software, since at least that way they will not have lost money from their attempts to guard their computers.
The perspective of Symantec's dominance is somewhat different outside the United States. In Japan, Trend Micro dominates 80 percent of the antivirus software market and has been praised by the Japanese for demonstrating greater innovation and effectiveness than either Symantec or McAfee (Messmer 2010:1). As the world grows increasingly global in its perspective, the dominance of other companies abroad could cause Symantec to lose some of its US market share, as publicity begins to spread about new, better, and/or lower-cost enterprises. Additionally, as so many viruses and other malware originate from abroad, businesses may look to other nations to provide guidance about how to deal with new threats.
The Balanced Scorecard approach entails four basic steps to optimize company performance. The unique perspective of the Balanced Scorecard is that it strives to balance the company's financial needs and integrate them into the firm's customer and business service approaches, internal processes, and learning and growth perspectives (Balanced scorecard, 2011, Strategic Business Plan 4u).
The first step necessary to retain competitive dominance for Symantec is translating its vision into clear and specific goals. Technological innovation would be the ideal way to justify its cost over its rivals. However, failing that, it can offer superior customer service to secure consumer loyalty. Symantec's objectives must include communicating to consumers what makes its product unique. It can no longer rest on its laurels. The Balanced Scorecard approach would advise the use of marketing strategy of communicating value and innovation to customers and coordinating this with research and development strategies that would improve product performance. Measuring satisfaction and real, stated improvements in the products would be a critical part of the strategy.
One of the problems with marketing antivirus software is that people only know that it is working when they do not have it or use an inferior competitor and get infected. This makes it difficult to communicate the importance of a Symantec-specific product to consumers. Consumers must feel that the product brings individual value to their lifestyle, regardless of whether they are business or private customers. The Balanced Scorecard approach would encourage the company to keep track of metrics on customer satisfaction after changes, such as introducing new products to measure the strategy's effectiveness.
A critical reason that McAfee has been able to challenge Symantec is its superior business planning model. It has shifted to a centralized mechanism of controlling its operations to save on costs and also to streamline and improve customer service. McAfee is smaller but has centralized its management to reduce expenditures and to manage operations in a more effective and streamlined fashion. The Balanced Scorecard approach demands tracking company efficiency and reducing waste as a measurement of enhanced efficacy.
Symantec, instead of resting on its laurels, must compare itself in a realistic fashion with its rivals and evaluate if it is offering a genuinely competitive product with additional value to justify its costs. It must solicit more feedback from commercial and residential users and use this in its product development. This can allow for a more finely differentiated strategy in approaching business and consumer markets domestically and internationally. McAfee has already done this, offering a security portfolio ePolicy Orchestrator management console to allow businesses to keep track of the various additional applications they have purchased from the company. McAfee also more frequently monitors consumer satisfaction than Symantec.
Quite simply, said one industry observer, people who use the McAfee product seem to like it and say that they like it consistently, based upon the data they have submitted through feedback forms. Symantec must initiate a more meaningful dialogue with users when developing products. The Balanced Scorecard approach once again would encourage the company to keep track of how user-generated ideas stimulated new products and product improvements.
"Product differentiation, international expansion, and Mac security market growth"
"Assessing Symantec's financial stability and urgency for strategic rebranding"
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