shure award write up
TRANSCRIPT
BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH
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Contents
Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 3
Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 3
Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact ........................................ 4
Conclusion........................................................................................................... 8
Significance of Company of the Year ............................................................................. 9
Understanding Company of the Year ............................................................................. 9
Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................. 10
Best Practice Award Analysis for Shure Inc .................................................................. 10
Decision Support Scorecard ................................................................................. 10
Visionary Innovation & Performance ..................................................................... 11
Customer Impact ............................................................................................... 11
Decision Support Matrix ...................................................................................... 12
The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ..................... 13
Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 13
Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................. 14
About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 15
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Company of the Year Award Announcement
Frost & Sullivan has a global team of analysts and consultants continuously researching a
wide range of markets across multiple sectors and geographies. As part of this ongoing
research, we identify companies that are true industry leaders, delivering best practices in
growth, innovation, and leadership. These companies have a keen eye to the future, and
drive innovation that meets future needs before they become commonly visible; thereby
are often the first to market with new solutions.
They focus on delivering the best products at optimal prices to maximize customer value
and customer experience, and by doing so are growth leaders in their respective
industries. Identifying such companies involves extensive primary and secondary research
across the entire value chain of specific products and/or markets. Against the backdrop of
this research, Frost & Sullivan is pleased to recognize Shure Incorporated as the Company
of the Year in the professional and commercial microphones industry.
Background and Company Performance
Industry Challenges
The North American professional and commercial microphones industry has been facing
considerable challenges that are limiting its overall growth.
Continued price erosion, due to growing and evolving competition, is restraining overall
revenue. The North American professional and commercial microphones industry is highly
fragmented. Over 40 manufacturers target multiple segments with wired and wireless
microphone solutions. In realms such as the studio market, large commercial studios in
North America have been fading away in favor of home-based and decentralized project
studios. The exponential emergence of home-based studios has been accompanied by the
increased availability of new audio products at declining price points. In realms such as
the broadcast target market, on the other hand, the rise of the consumer and prosumer
segment has increased the role of low cost audio suppliers to the detriment of established
audio equipment brands. Due to the ever-growing availability of portable microphones and
the lack of adequate education/guidance on audio quality, many prosumers, content
creators and emerging artists are acquiring low cost audio products with “good enough”
capabilities at the expense of better performing studio microphone equipment.
At the business level, huddle rooms – small meeting spaces typically seating 2-6
attendees – have been on the rise, curtailing the opportunity behind audio and video
equipment deployed in larger conferencing spaces. In huddle rooms, cost-effective video
conferencing endpoints and tabletop audio conferencing devices with built-in microphone
capabilities have been efficiently eliminating the “huddling” aspect of small meeting
spaces rooms. In essence, built-in microphones within portable audio or video
conferencing endpoints reduce the need for microphone extension deployments.
Finally, inadequate strategic planning for new wireless spectrum allocation could
considerably deter wireless microphone sales for certain vendors. With the transition to
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digital television, the FCC reorganized the broadcast spectrum in 2007 and allocated the
700 MHz band for mobile broadband and public safety communications use. This meant
that microphone vendors and users could not utilize the 700 MHz wireless spectrum after
June 2010. In March 2016 the FCC commenced a new auction for the 600 MHz band
starting at 698 MHz and moving downward, cutting spectrum availability further for
microphone manufacturers and users. The basic purpose of the auction has been to set
aside airwaves for next generation services, such as those offered by mobile telecom
providers. The new reallocation of wireless spectrum will inevitably result in reduced
bandwidth for wireless microphone operations and impact the business of both
manufacturers and end users who operate wireless microphones in the 600 MHz range.
Professional and commercial microphone vendors that proactively prepare for and
efficiently respond to evolving market trends, through innovative products, can most
effectively stay on the cutting edge to satisfy customer demands. Microphone vendors
with a more diversified offering will be more successful in sustaining a leadership position.
Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact
With more than 90 years of experience, and with a well-established visionary strategy and
execution excellence, Shure Incorporated has set the worldwide standard for professional
and commercial microphones. Multiple factors are contributing to its success, including:
addressing unmet needs; successfully identifying key mega trends; effective implementation
of best practices; leveraging a strong brand equity; and providing a high customer
purchase and ownership experience.
Addressing Unmet Needs:
Implementing a robust process to continuously unearth customers’ unmet or under-served
needs and creating the products or solutions to address them effectively is a key criterion
where Shure excels. With a background in audio innovation since 1925, Shure created its
first microphone product in 1932, after gradually setting aside its radio parts catalog
business. Following a series of microphone product releases, Shure created the legendary
Unidyne® Model 55 Microphone, which became the most recognized microphone in the
world. In 1941, Shure secured a prominent contract to supply the United States Armed
Forces with microphones during World War II, and the T-17B Microphone became the
most widely used audio device by the U.S. Army and Navy. In 1951, Shure launched the
55S, a variant of the original Unidyne model, which, later became known as the “Elvis
mic” due to its frequent use by Elvis Presley himself. Continuously striving for product
innovation, Shure introduced its “Vagabond” system in 1953, one of the first wireless
microphone systems for performers.
In the following years Shure continued with its relentless desire to unearth unmet
customer needs with the launch of several successful microphone models into the market,
including the Unidyne III in 1959; the SM57 (the U.S. President main lectern microphone
since Lyndon B. Johnson); the iconic Shure SM58®, the bread-and-butter of the Rock and
Roll industry; the SM11, the world’s smallest dynamic lavalier microphone; and other
industry-first microphone models. In 1990 Shure re-entered the wireless microphone
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market with the L-Series and dominated the wireless product category worldwide within a
decade.
Over the next 26 years the company continued to announce innovative wired and wireless
microphone products, conferencing systems, audio processors, earphones and
headphones, and software systems that fueled Shure’s expansion both nationally and
globally to become the undisputed microphone market leader within the institution,
corporate, house of worship, and live performance target segments and a strong
contender in the theatre, broadcast and studio target segments. Throughout the years
Shure has demonstrated the ability to not only identify, prioritize and pursue emerging
growth opportunities, but also lead the market in terms of industry innovation. Holding
more than 40 percent of the North American professional and commercial microphones
market, Shure has always pursued customer under-served needs with relentless vigour.
Successfully Identifying Key Mega Trends
Visionary market leaders most effectively identify unmet customer needs and incorporate
key market trends in their growth strategies. More specifically, their long-term success is
determined by the ability to identify and properly address mega trends.
Shure has consistently identified and successfully bet on key mega trends when developing
its portfolio. These mega trends include mobility, millennial population, social media, and
connectivity/convergence.
In terms of mobility, the world is becoming increasingly mobile and individuals are
relentlessly demanding evolving and flexible mobile communications solutions. The trend of
mobility is in line with a “wireless everything” society. This reality is also true in the
professional and commercial microphones space. In spite of the wireless spectrum allocation
challenges posed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), wireless microphone
revenue is expected to continue to grow as more businesses and users demand wireless
technologies across all sectors. Shure has been at the forefront of this trend, working on the
issue of spectrum allocation for many years now from both the public policy and technology
perspectives. Today, the company offers a wide array of sophisticated, spectrally efficient
wireless microphone systems in the VHF and UHF spectrum as well as alternatives operating
in the unlicensed 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and digital enhanced cordless telecommunications
(DECT) spectrum. Shure has led the industry transition to digital wireless technology, which
offers unique audio and spectral efficiency benefits, and the company offers Mac, PC, and
mobile software products that enable larger system users to monitor, control, and
coordinate wireless frequencies for maximum performance. The company fully understands
that customers will continue to demand sophisticated wireless products, in spite of new
spectrum allocations, and is fully committed to make it happen.
Two other mega trends that Shure has been addressing are the increasing growth of the
millennial population (individuals between 15 and 34 years of age) and the explosion of
social media usage. Millennials are causing revolutionary changes in terms of connectivity
and collaboration. They are a tech savvy population that has easy adapted to sophisticated
products and services and collaborative work culture. The large millennial worker population
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and the increased usage of social media tools have been exacerbating the growth of
consumer and prosumer content creators. Exponential growth of social media, digital
collaboration, and video/Internet-enabled consumer technologies have created a new breed
of celebrities, teachers, mobile journalists, and aspiring online creators who are filming,
recording, transmitting and broadcasting YouTube-like clips, episodes, programs, sketches,
and life moments on a daily basis for an ever-expanding online audience. As more aspiring
content creators transform their hobbies into commercial venues, they will need to invest in
better, more professional broadcast and studio equipment, such as microphones. Shure has
been carefully monitoring this ever increasing target market and has created various
microphone solutions and educational modules geared towards this new and growing breed
of broadcasters and studio recorders.
The growth of connectivity, convergence, and unified communications and collaboration in
the workplace has compelled Shure to focus attention on this growing corporate target
market. Not only are collaborative spaces growing within the corporate environment, but
more meetings are being held per company than ever before. During the 21st century, the
shift from large traditional audio and video conferencing hardware to desktop and mobile
experiences continues to considerably accelerate with the proliferation of innovative
collaboration solutions. In North America, collaboration services are increasingly being
deployed company-wide. Active host/full deployment type models are opening conferencing
services to more users than when previously these services were reserved for select groups
due to cost. The use of visual collaboration, in particular, has considerably grown and what
was once a checkbox on an RFP now holds serious weight in purchase decisions. As a
consequence of this growth, Shure has been actively offering innovative wired and wireless
microphone solutions, including the MXW and the MXA lines, which provide multiple
connection and power options (e.g. USB, CAT5), software integration capabilities, and
portability to satisfy evolving user demands. Corporate conference room aesthetics are also
an important consideration. For example, the Shure MXA Ceiling Array Microphone provides
complete audio coverage for the entire room from a multi-element system that mounts in
the space of a ceiling tile and carries power and audio on a single cable.
Shure’s success continues to be determined by the ability to identify and properly address
mega trends.
Implementation Best Practices
Since its early days in the professional and commercial microphone industry, Shure has
harnessed many best practices that have helped it to operate a successful business and
expand its user base. Early on Shure recognized the requirement to build processes and
tools that deliver consistent outcomes. The military specification quality standards that
earned Shure the US government E-Star of Excellence in WWII were not relaxed after the
war and remain as a foundation to this day. In the following decades, a growing number
of best practices have been used internally to improve business processes as well as
externally to guide customers and potential customers to better use and deploy Shure
technology. With more than 90 years of experience in all target segments, including
institutions, corporate, house of worship, theater, live performance, broadcast, and studio,
the company has effectively embraced the attributes of successful microphone designs
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and applications and has accordingly provided full documentation, best practice material,
and diagnostic tools to a wide ecosystem of channel partners, institutions, and end users.
Shure’s Product Technical Support Department has built and maintains an extensive FAQs
database—featuring more than 4,500 entries—and published numerous industry-specific
educational publications. The mission of the company has always been to help the
customer to take full advantage of Shure products and solutions. In order to retain this
vision, Shure has established multiple internal practices to streamline product releases,
including continuous product hardware and software updates, testing tools across different
environments, continuous channel interaction, and ongoing customer feedback.
In its important role as the market leader of the industry, Shure strives to continuously
improve its processes and educate the market with best practices applicable for each
individual scenario.
Customer Purchase Experience
With one of the widest portfolio of professional and commercial microphone products,
Shure seeks to ensure customers feel they are buying the most optimal solution to
address their unique needs and constraints. Whether sound is amplified or recorded,
customers choose Shure solutions compelled by the company’s legendary brand
reputation, high-quality products, broad range of options, product customization
capabilities, and the company’s continuous commitment to technology innovation. In
North America, Shure continues to be the most purchased brand among musicians, audio
engineers, corporate and education facilities, houses of worship, government entities, and
sound contractors. Wired product lines such as the entry-level PG ALTA™ models, the
world-renowned industry standard SM line, premium Beta® classics, high-end KSM
microphones, customizable Microflex® installed models, and the portable digital recording
MOTIV™ line are chosen by thousands of customers on a daily basis. Shure’s expansive
wireless microphone portfolio addresses user needs and environments across all price and
performance tiers, with premium lines such as Axient® and UHF-R® visible daily in live
concert venues and television shows, as well as on special event broadcasts such as the
Super Bowl, The GRAMMY Awards, and the US political conventions. With a distinguished
set of products, a variety of deployment methods, and service levels, Shure strives to
ensure customers have what they need to conduct their activities. The iconic model SM58
celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016 and continues to grow in unit sales year over year,
making it the most visible and trusted microphone in the world.
Customer Ownership Experience
Shure customers have always expressed their high satisfaction and positive experience
when acquiring the company’s professional and commercial microphone products. Case
studies of satisfied customers within different target segments and environments abound
with individuals and organizations praising Shure products for enabling efficient audio
amplification and recording. Having received a special GRAMMY award for the company’s
technical contribution to the music industry, Shure has amassed unpaid endorsements
from more than 500 artists, including The Who, Demi Lovato, Iggy Pop, Jennifer Lopez,
Henry Rollins, and Maroon 5, among others. To keep its users happy throughout the
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lifetime of its products, Shure offers not only end-to-end product support and expert
advice, but also provides various product incentives and promotions, enabling individuals
and businesses to stay current when it comes to audio equipment.
Brand Equity
In the audio communications environment, Shure has done a commendable job to become
the leading professional and commercial microphones brand name. The Unidyne series
itself has marked Shure’s brand for over 75 years as the most iconic microphone product
used in North America. The White House has used Shure microphones for every U.S.
President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For over 40 years, the Presidential lectern has
been equipped with two SM57 microphones on a custom mount. The Unidyne line has
been used by countless political figures and legendary recording artists, including Ella
Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther
King Jr., and even Fidel Castro. Today, channel and customer perception of Shure is
synonymous with high-quality products, superior audio, innovative technologies, and solid
customer support. Brand awareness amongst business users and individuals is unmatched
within the industry. Buyers know to ask for Shure by name. The company tagline
“Legendary Performance” speaks to Shure’s unrivaled reputation for product reliability as
well as its association with many of the most memorable moments in cultural and political
history for nearly a century.
Conclusion
Shure continues to hold a strong leadership position in the professional and commercial
microphones market. The company’s pursuit to address unmet customer needs, its solid
implementation strategy, differentiated and innovative portfolio that target key evolving
trends, tight customer focus, and strong brand recognition in the professional and
commercial microphones market are among the factors that have helped the company to
excel in this industry and stand out from the competition.
With its strong overall performance, Shure has earned Frost & Sullivan’s 2016 Company of
the Year Award.
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Significance of Company of the Year
To win the Company of the Year award (i.e., to be recognized as a leader not only in your
industry, but among your non-industry peers as well) requires a company to demonstrate
excellence in growth, innovation, and leadership. This kind of excellence typically
translates into superior performance in three key areas: demand generation, brand
development, and competitive positioning. These areas serve as the foundation of a
company’s future success and prepare it to deliver on the two criteria that define the
Company of the Year Award (Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact).
Understanding Company of the Year
As discussed above, driving demand, brand strength, and competitive differentiation all
play a critical role in delivering unique value to customers. This three-fold focus, however,
must ideally be complemented by an equally rigorous focus on visionary innovation to
enhance customer value and impact.
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Key Benchmarking Criteria
For the Company of the Year Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated
two key factors—Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact—according to
the criteria identified below.
Visionary Innovation & Performance
Criterion 1: Addressing Unmet Needs
Criterion 2: Visionary Scenarios through Mega Trends
Criterion 3: Implementation Best Practices
Criterion 4: Blue Ocean Strategy
Criterion 5: Financial Performance
Customer Impact
Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value
Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience
Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience
Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience
Criterion 5: Brand Equity
Best Practice Award Analysis for Shure Inc.
Decision Support Scorecard
To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance
categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool
allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to
the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that
basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation;
ratings guidelines are illustrated below.
RATINGS GUIDELINES
The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Visionary Innovation & Performance and
Customer Impact (i.e., the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the
definitions for each criteria are provided beneath the scorecard). The research team
confirms the veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which
confirms that small changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a
significant change in the overall relative rankings of the companies.
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The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the
interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players
as Competitor 2 and Competitor 3.
DECISION SUPPORT SCORECARD FOR COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD
Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent)
Company of the Year
Visionary
Innovation &
Performance
Customer
Impact Average Rating
Shure Inc. 9.0 9.0 9.0
Competitor 2 7.0 9.0 8.0
Competitor 3 6.0 7.0 6.5
Visionary Innovation & Performance
Criterion 1: Addressing Unmet Needs
Requirement: Implementing a robust process to continuously unearth customers’ unmet
or under-served needs, and creating the products or solutions to address them effectively
Criterion 2: Visionary Scenarios through Mega Trends
Requirement: Incorporating long-range, macro-level scenarios into the innovation
strategy, thereby enabling “first to market” growth opportunities solutions
Criterion 4: Implementation of Best Practices
Requirement: Best-in-class strategy implementation characterized by processes, tools, or
activities that generate a consistent and repeatable level of success.
Criterion 3: Blue Ocean Strategy
Requirement: Strategic focus in creating a leadership position in a potentially
“uncontested” market space, manifested by stiff barriers to entry for competitors
Criterion 5: Financial Performance
Requirement: Strong overall business performance in terms of revenues, revenue growth,
operating margin and other key financial metrics
Customer Impact
Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value
Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar
offerings in the market
Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience
Requirement: Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that
addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints
Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience
Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company’s product or service, and have a
positive experience throughout the life of the product or service
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Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience
Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality
Criterion 5: Brand Equity
Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty
Decision Support Matrix
Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,
analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to
visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at
best-in-class levels.
DECISION SUPPORT MATRIX FOR COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD
High
Low
Low High
Cu
sto
mer I
mp
act
Visionary Innovation & Performance
Shure
Competitor 2
Competitor 3
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The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best
Practices Awards
Research Methodology
Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research
methodology represents the analytical
rigor of our research process. It offers a
360-degree-view of industry challenges,
trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of
Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.
Too often, companies make important
growth decisions based on a narrow
understanding of their environment,
leading to errors of both omission and
commission. Successful growth strategies
are founded on a thorough understanding
of market, technical, economic, financial,
customer, best practices, and demographic
analyses. The integration of these research
disciplines into the 360-degree research
methodology provides an evaluation
platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-
in-class levels.
360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN
THE CHAOS
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Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching,
Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices
Frost & Sullivan Awards follow a 10-step process to evaluate award candidates and assess
their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the Awards are
based on close adherence to this process.
STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT
1 Monitor, target, and screen
Identify award recipient candidates from around the globe
Conduct in-depth industry research
Identify emerging sectors Scan multiple geographies
Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria
2 Perform 360-degree research
Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline
Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners
Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria
Rank all candidates
Matrix positioning all candidates’ performance relative to one another
3
Invite thought leadership in best practices
Perform in-depth examination of all candidates
Confirm best-practice criteria Examine eligibility of all
candidates Identify any information gaps
Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates
4
Initiate research director review
Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles
Brainstorm ranking options Invite multiple perspectives
on candidates’ performance Update candidate profiles
Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper
5
Assemble panel of industry experts
Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders
Share findings Strengthen cases for
candidate eligibility Prioritize candidates
Refined list of prioritized award candidates
6
Conduct global industry review
Build consensus on award candidates’ eligibility
Hold global team meeting to review all candidates
Pressure-test fit with criteria Confirm inclusion of all
eligible candidates
Final list of eligible award candidates, representing success stories worldwide
7 Perform quality check
Develop official award consideration materials
Perform final performance benchmarking activities
Write nominations Perform quality review
High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes
8
Reconnect with panel of industry experts
Finalize the selection of the best-practice award recipient
Review analysis with panel Build consensus Select winner
Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria
9 Communicate recognition
Inform award recipient of award recognition
Present award to the CEO Inspire the organization for
continued success Celebrate the recipient’s
performance
Announcement of award and plan for how recipient can use the award to enhance the brand
10 Take strategic action
Upon licensing, company may share award news with stakeholders and customers
Coordinate media outreach Design a marketing plan Assess award’s role in future
strategic planning
Widespread awareness of recipient’s award status among investors, media personnel, and employees
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About Frost & Sullivan
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