Go PRO
Go PRO
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I. Introduction
The aim of this strategic report is to understand how GoPro, Inc. former Woodman Labs Inc.
had become the leader of personal cameras. By thoroughly looking into the external
environment of the firm and how it managed to seize opportunities to outdo competitors,
After a personal experience and deception about the quality of movies one could realize
without a professional equipment, N. Woodman decided to create what it calls “the most
versatile cameras Enabling you to share your life through incredible photos and videos is
what we do.”. 1
Creating such cameras was the major advantage of the company that managed to sell for
$150.000 of worth and by diversifying itself GoPro had known one of the fastest growth a
To better understand the brand, we have to understand the man. Nick woodman has always
surf trip in Australia and to record its actions he used a little camera he had bought strapped
to his arm, a creation of his one. We are in 2001 and the idea is born. In 2005 he created
Woodman Labs and begin to sell his cameras which become nearly immediately a thing to-
have for all the sportifs. With the years the company has grown up, has been introduce to
the stock market, merge other firms etc… To become this incredible worldwide company
which create the camera which film the jump space of Felix Baumgarter.
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https://gopro.com/about-us
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But for months the company has been navigating a series of turbulent waves, the investors
are scared, shareholders sales their shares and the revenue of the firm declined 31% at the
beginning of 2016.
Now we will try to analyse the strategy of this firm, why it first succeed then breakdown and
Secondary activities
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A) Secondary activities
As the CTO (chief technical officer) of the company Stephen Baumer said during an interview
in 2011, the recruitment was a key solution to improve the company’s growth. In fact, he
said: “We were small at the beginning, about 7 people”2. Today, GoPro is made of 1.54K
employees3 after the recent lay out of 7% of the workforce in January 2016.
According to the data, the recruitment has a strategic need to be more competitive and
The second way for GoPro to obtain competitive advantages was by keeping their
employees and dragging important ones. In his interview in Fortune in 20144, N Woodman
explained that one of his prides was the fact that “people would want to leave other really
good jobs to come work here.” Before adding: “Now GoPro has got to be one of the most
exciting places to work because the work we do here is so loved by so many people around
the world.”
Last but not least, one of the force of Woodman’s company was the capacity to train its
employees by surrounding them with experienced people. In the same interview than before
the CEO explained that he managed to recruit Tony Bates as the president of the brand.
2
http://www.supplychainbrain.com/content/videos/2011-videos/gartner-2011/gopro-retools-supply-chain-
for-rapid-growth/
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https://www.macroaxis.com/invest/ratio/GPRO--Number-of-Employees
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http://fortune.com/2014/10/20/how-nick-woodman-modeled-gopro-after-red-bull/
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Tony Bates was the former CEO of Skype and the vice-president of Microsoft. A source of
Firm infrastructure
As every important company, GoPro works on its Organizational Structure (the arrangement
of jobs within an organization) and its Organization Design (process of making decisions) in
As the strategy of the company was to innovate, the structure was more organic, that means
with more flexibility and free-following information. But with the recent turn-over and the
difficult situation of GoPro has been in since 2016, we assist at a new approach of the
structure more mechanistic that organic that means a company which know what to deliver
So, except for this change in the internal structure, the model of the GoPro company is quite
similar to every big companies with work specializations, departmentalization and within
chain of commands.
Legal department etc. and a board of directors at the top level management.
Technological development
Still in its interview to Supply-Chain-Brain in 2011, Stephen Baumer explained that one of the
best solutions they used to fasten their growth was the installation of software “to gain a
more comprehensive look at their supply chain” and so they started to find out “more
specifics software”.
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In fact, he recognized that the infrastructures in which the group was located were not good
enough to communicate among the firm. That is why the first software they put in place was
the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) in 20110 after a “fairly explosive growth” due to an
innovation and then have continued to search the most adapted software until today.
Actually, the use of software is linked to the growth of the company which couldn’t have
been possible without the constant evolution of the cameras GoPro deployed among years.
The very history of GoPro could be explained by that. GoPro was made by an invention, the
first wearables cameras in the world. An improvement that have made GoPro the leader of
wearable cameras. The real history of GoPro started with the HERO camera but the success
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The curve of the graph5 presents the revenue of GoPro until 2013. The first important sales
started with the introduction of the wide-angle lens brought by the HERO 5. Then an
explosion occurred in 2011 with the HD HERO, first HD wearable camera granting $380.000
revenues for the firm. Then in 2013 the first “connected” GoPro 4K definition make
Woodman a billionaire with more than $1.2B of revenues for the company. Finally, in 2015,
the brand exceeds $1.6B of revenue6, their higher point before the decrease.
But to not talk about the cameras, GoPro always try to be competitive by innovating. In fact,
by looking to the past few years, R&D department was very attractive to invest in.
By looking at the Figure nearby7, we can see that in the past 4 years, the R&D investment
has been multiple by 6. From a $36.115 thousands in 2012 to a $241.694 thousands in 2015.
Morover, in 2015 GoPro relased its first drone : Karma a new innovation created by the R&D
department. And in July 2016 just after outsourcing their company in France, the group
bought out Stupeflix and Kolor to make France the “firm’s hub of R&D in Europe” as said
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Source : DEVONSHIRE CAPITAL
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ORBES : 12/31/2015
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https://www.statista.com/statistics/451127/gopros-randd-expenditure-worldwide/ Source : GoPro
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http://www.lesechos.fr/11/07/2016/lesechos.fr/0211117630157_gopro-renforce-ses-equipes-de-r-d-en-
france.htm
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difficultes encountred since the begging of the year.
Procurement
The Procurement could be done with every supplier if they follow the law and respect the
possibility to become a supplier of GoPro just by subscribing in their website to this link:
the contact to treat with the brand, the company’s financial statement, and for what service
This kind of strategy allows GoPro to never be dependent of a supplier and grant them a
B. Primary activities
Inbound Logistics
What is important about the shipping and storing of the products in GoPro is the evolution
the brand had had to face to continue its growth. That’s why in 2013 the company took the
decision to Work with the Group “One Network” and their Cloud Platform, the “Real Time
Value Network”.
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The company considered itself different in “Everything” (their headline). And It is explained
This solution was made to “maximize GoPro’s ability to see and respond to supply chain
implementation for GoPro after the incredible year 2012 where they almost doubled their
results.
Operations
What always has been attractive about GoPro is the manufacturing and more the assembly
of the elements. The firs GoPro was made by a single camera assemble with a wearable
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http://www.onenetwork.com/2013/11/gopro-chooses-one-networks-cloud-platform-global-supply-chain-
visibility/
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Today, the manufacturing of GoPro is separated in 2 parts. The first one is a manufacture
done by the company on its own country, based in San Mateo, California. The second one is
by creating partnerships with manufacturer (e.g. the company Foxconn in Brazil since 2014).
Thanks to this solutions, GoPro managed reducing considerably its costs and it’s actually in
Outbound Logistics
The Outbound logistics is linked to the Inbounds logistic by the use of the One Network’s
Cloud platform, the Real Time Value Platform that manages to simplify the shipping and the
For the distribution, the cameras can be sold Online, directly from the company’s website or
on several Retailers, distributors and resellers. As for today there is no GoPro proper store.
The marketing of the company is really customer-oriented. The very example of that is the
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During its interview for Fortune10, Woodman explains that he has based all its marketing and
the main structure of the company on the Red Bull Model. And when he thinks about Red
And so is the advertising of the firm, show what people can do, what everyone can do. It is a
relation of sharing and passion that put the customer in the first place as the next sentence
resumes it:
” Enabling you to share your life through incredible photos and videos is what we do. This is
But what makes the consumer buying is not only the advert or the promotion of the cameras
In fact, buy a GoPro is buy a camera but also buy everything needed to enjoy the camera
such as a Super Suit for the protection, stabilizers for shooting, SD Cards for memories,
floaty to go underwater. Filters for the lens, or LCD touch for the Back Pack.
More than 60 not essentials but recommended accessories in order to provide the best
experience.
Service
The strength of GoPro regarding its customers is the Quality service the brand offers thanks
to its community.
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http://fortune.com/2014/10/20/how-nick-woodman-modeled-gopro-after-red-bull/
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https://gopro.com/about-us
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The first thing is the Customer support for sharing its experiences. After buying a camera,
GoPro delivers a software for treating, mounting and sharing videos easily. And this software
is about to be enhance thanks to a new service (currently in Beta Version) “PLUS” that allows
A new way to share that can be explained with the numbers of videos shares everyday on
the YouTube channel of the company which has today 4.3 M of subscribers and their last
advert for the HERO5 + Karma drone more than 5.5M of views in one month.
A social media solution that allows the firm to collect information about what customers
GoPro VRIN
(before 2016) Value Rare Inimitable Non-Substitutable
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Source : GoPro website
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Human resources: a no-sustainable advantage
One of the key resources of GoPro is the human resources starting by his leader: Nick
Woodman. Nick Woodman created the company without a huge amount of money or
experience. Indeed, it was the second experience as an entrepreneur after the failure of his
But as presented before, the history of GoPro was not only the story of a single man but one
a specific team chosen for competencies they could bring. Tony Bates as president, Jack
Lazar as CFO (chief financial Officer) or Nina Richardson as COO (Chief Operating Officer),
GoPro managed to build a team that pushed them to the highest place.
But not only the Boards of Directors, employees too were attracted by the Company as
Human resources of GoPro clearly had their value (before 2016) and couldn’t be replace that
However, since 2016, most of the staff have changed, some decided to abandon ship (e.g. J.
Lazar) other were fired (more than 7% of the employees) which put forward the non-
A tangible resource is basically the financial & physical resources a company is able to deploy
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In terms of resources, GoPro possess no much compares to competitor but enough to had
And it is a fact that their product is a competitive advantage. It’s rare because they were the
first brand to produce it (a creation of a market is always profitable more than new
(that’s why the HERO3 was the most sold camera in 2013). It
But even if their cameras are protected by patents, the market of mini-wearables camera is
now developed and GoPro has to face competitors with same particularities but another
design.
Here is a camera developed by TomTom, the GPS Brand called the TomTom Bandit. It
possesses the same capabilities than the GoPro HERO5: 4k Video, Stills resolution of 16M
But the real difference is on the price where GoPro is lot more expensive €429.00 on GoPro
Actually, GoPro products are a strength and a competitive advantage for the firm. But it is
not sustainable and nowadays a smart could easily become a wearable camera.
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. Brand Image and Customer relationship: a sustainable competitive advantage
Before 2016, the image of the brand was spotless, the results were excellent and the firm
has known of the fastest growth ever seen. But the best result they ever had and still have is
In term of value, they actually didn’t answer a need of customers but they anticipated it by
offering not only a new product but a new way of communication by the possibility of
sharing videos. They seized the opportunity given by the growth of social medias and
allowed customers to use their products in their activities. Sharing exiting experiences and
For the first time, the brand image did not lie on the company marketing team but on the
consumer whose made themselves the advertising of the product. So here is the rare point.
e
So the brand image is already a competitive advantage. but regarding at the history of the
brand and the fact that it was based on the very image of the customers, it seems difficult
for a company to do the same. Furthermore, the company is now well known and thinking of
wearable camera is thinking of GoPro. That make they quite inimitable and a unique case in
Finally, the only sustainable competitive advantage of GoPro is the brand itself, because it is
based on the customer more than on the firm or the product deliver. And the moto of the
firm is the exact transcription of what they expect for their users: be a hero and share it with
the world.
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3) Ressources and Capabilities.
GoPro.inc has many ressources, so, to be more efficient in our analysis we will separate the
ressources in two different groups: The tangible ressources (Financial and Physical) and The
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a) Tangible resources :
So we can see the GoPro.inc has know for more than 120 millions of dollars for its Property,
Plant and Equipment. Unfortunately it’s impossible to find the details of this balance sheet on
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Internet, but it will really help us in the second part of our study, the business strategy section.
But we already know, even if the year is not finished, that 2016 had been rude with GoPro
which has announced that they will be laying off 7% of their 1,500 workers . « They had a
worse 4th quarter than expected and are suffering from a drop in their stocks » according to
W.A.C.D
b) Intangible resources :
First of all the technological advance, indeed GoPro as pioneer in this market, it has a true
advance in therm of innovation, even if it rest on its laurels a little bit in 2015. We can see that
everywhere on Internet there is site which compare GoPro cameras with its concurrents and
there always a model from GoPro.inc better with a good price. Quality of image, time for
recharge, autonomous, connectivity, grip, connectivity, resistance … It deals perfectly with all
this parameters. Gopro.inc was the really first in all these categories but with the time
concurrents become more and more efficient, so, GoPro.inc has to evolute; That is why we
know its big project it is to invest in drone technology to become to sell drone-camera GoPro.
One of the most important thing for GoPro is the Brand Identity, its reputation, its image:
Gopro.inc has many accreditations that shows the quality of the products. The name inspiring
every extreme sport goers to GO PRO, meaning becoming pro. The slogan: « become a
Hero » it is not about a localisation, a culture, or even a particular sport it touch everybody
who want to excel in sport, it provoques excitement. GoPro.inc has a really big advantage on
internet too. Indeed the majority of GoPro’s promotion comes through viral videos that are
publicized through social media (Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) and the
http://www.gopro.com website.) : It is the consumers who make the advertising when they
publish the video of them using the camera. GoPro « is releasing multiples video every day
after stumbling on a technique that leads to thousands of hours of free publicity a week »
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Currently about 6000 video a day are posted on Youtube with the word GoPro in the title or
description
The actioncams - all the embedded cameras like Gopro - pull the market upward and the
On this market, GoPro stays the leader. Because this company owned 68% of the market
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http://www.leclubdesmanagersdusport.fr/2015/03/la-marque-gopro-est-elle-indetronable-sur-le-marche-
des-action-cam-concurrencee-certes-un-peu-tardivement-par-les-grandes-instances-de-lelectronique-digitale-
la-marque-gopro-qui-a-elle-mem/
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http://www.magazinevideo.com/actu/marche-de-l-actioncam-et-du-camescope/32380.htm
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http://www.lesnumeriques.com/action-cam/2015-bilan-annee-charniere-pour-action-cams-a2515.html
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This chart shows the evolution of the sales of all the video recorders (actioncams and
camcorders) and the cameras between 2012 and 2015 on the French market.
We can conclude that: The amount of sales of cameras is decreasing while the amount of
This chart shows the evolution of the sales of actioncams and camcorders between 2012 and
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We can conclude that: The amount of sales of camcorders is decreasing while the amount
This chart shows the evolution of the prices of actioncams and camcorders between 2012
We can conclude that: The prices of actioncams are hugely decreasing like the prices of
camcorders.
Abroad, GoPro owns 80% of the market shares in Europe and in the United States, so Gopro
In 2012, Gopro owned more than 90% of the market shares in France
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The californian start-up managed to sell more than 3 million of actionscams between 2009
We decided to use Porter’s five forces Framework in order to highlight the external
environnement of GoPro in the action cameras market. We will explain in details how each
In the market of the Action cameras traditional cameras don’t seem to be a viable
alternative to the GoPro Hero when it comes to filming during sports activities.
On the other hand we can highlight the fact that smartphones could be considered as a
substitution however even with an increasing quality of their camera technology they
coudn’t replace the role of action camera of a brand such as Gopro because they are not
meant to be used on extreme situation. Furthermore we can see on the latest features of
the Iphone 7 or the Samsung Galaxy 7 that they are waterproof,they are still not meant to
be used for sportive activities because these are still fragile devices.
Traditional cameras are not used with the same purpose as action camera wich means that
custmers of action cameras are not willing to purchase cameras with less features than
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http://www.marketing-etudiant.fr/marques/gopro-marketing.html
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Finally tablets such as the Ipad by Apple or the Samsung Galaxy Tab can’t be taken as serious
threat for action cameras. Thus a tablet can’t be used as a substitution of an action camera.
According to BT.com in the first nineamonths of 2014 global camera shipments from
Japanese manufacturers dropped by a third because of the use of phone cameras. However
the market of action cameras is a growing market with great expectation of growth for the
next decade. Thus competitors who originally sell smartphone are now interested in the
B)Threat of entrants
First of all we can see that there are low entry barriers on the market of action cameras.
The market of action camera is in expanditure so we can see a lot of new competitors
entrances on the market. Those new entrants tend to provide cheaper prices than Gopro.
Still the action camera market is very competitive, the major brands operating are GoPro,
Action cameras are unlike any other kind of camera. They're designed to be attached to
helmets,usurfboards, carsyand other objects, and they're small, tough and simple, with a
The niche market we have here is very attractive to new entrants and also to the
Below we can see that GoPro has a dominant position on the market of action cameras but
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C) Bargaining power of customers
The action cameras are a new growing niche market which means that the market is
relatively very young and has a lot of potential for the next decades to come.
Indeed the bargaining power of customers can be considerated as moderate because of the
reasons below.
First of all we can say that there is a low dependance on distributors for GoPro
The product is important to customers and even if new entrants can offer the same kind of
items or equivalent GoPro is well-known in the sports sectors. GoPro build a close
relationship with their custumers by showing the experience of the product by launching a
smartphone application and a Youtube channel. Thus GoPro has a strong powerful image in
the target they are willing to reach. Their marketing strategy take a huge part in the image
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D) Bargaining powers of suppliers
The suppliers of GoPro have a low bargaining power of suppliers because of their large
number.
There is a very large number of suppliers that have the skills to produce Gopro products
which creates competion between suppliers in order to provide Gopro better prices than the
competition.
All of the products of GoPro are manufactured in China in different factories. This is the main
reason why there is a low bargaining power of suppliers. Indeed if their suppliers rise their
prices it is up to GoPro to hire a new supplier with lower prices. Gopro is not dependant at
GoPro make all their suppliers sign their GoPro Supplier Corporate Social Responsibility Code
of Conduct in order to respect the ethical values of the brand in terms of human rights and
ecological matters.
GoPro’s niche market is developping which attracts new competitors to the market.
The existing competitors are Sony, TomTom, Garmin, Ion… They share the market with
GoPro but GoPro manages to keep his leading position for the moment. Indeed this
market benefits of a high level of attractiveness since it is a large industry size and it
Moreover the existing competitors attract custumers with lower budgets by applying
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This rivalry affects the profit of GoPro. Thus in order to be more competitive GoPro
3. P.E.S.T.E.L. analysis :
a) Political :
- For the moment, there is no government intervention in the actioncams’ market (laws
b) Economic :
- Global recession : due to the inflation and the economic crisis, people have less and
- Thanks to the growing of population in the world : more people can be potential
buyers.
- Customers are ready to buy more for their hobbies, so they spend more and more
- On the market, there are cheaper rival cameras, like Sony for example.
c) Social :
- People like more and more Gopro’s lifestyle : extreme sports, life on edge,
adventure…
d) Technological :
- Gopro always wants to innovate and update its products to stay the leader on the
market.
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- Gopro has his own Youtube channel : a huge partnership for Gopro.
- Gopro is the most durable & technology advanced tiny high-definition camera today.
e) Environmental :
- Because of the global warning : companies have to reduce their CO2 emissions. Gopro
- Gopro respects a lot of commitments : the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct, the
- But Gopro has to work on the environmental respect : like it’s packaging for example.
f) Legal :
multinational companies.
- Gopro, in order to stay in a monopolistic situation, owns a lot of licenses & patents.
- Gopro tries to have an ethical and trade relationship with its customers and employees.
- Due to the high number of problems with the respect of private life (like in social
networks), Gopro is facing all the laws concerning the private life.
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