Veeco case study - Results and Payback

Veeco case study
Saved $1 million and 18 months
Primary Market Research surfaced the real customer needs
Veeco had the wrong strategy!

The problem and my assignments
Process, methods, and tools
M/E Ratio™, an investment in Marketing
Results and payback
A role model for established companies
About Veeco

Results and payback
Financial, strategic, and human results

Veeco received my 185-page final report on their schedule, in two weeks elapsed time, concluding that:

Customers wanted to spend more money, not less, and desired higher performance. Price was unimportant. Lower thruput was not acceptable. Veeco had the wrong strategy!

I uncovered those performance areas (sensitivity and repeatability) that customers were willing to spend more money for, and what higher price they would pay for specific improvements in those two areas.

A competitive analysis told Veeco which of their competitors (brand X) had the right technology; which one would be on target for the way customer needs were evolving.

`rank`	`weight`	`benefit`		`brand X`
`----- customers WILL spend money -----`
			red is BAD	green is GOOD
1	high	sensitivity, 0.3 micron now 0.1 micron in 18-36 months	.3 micron in 18 months	.3 micron now .1 micron in 18 months
2	high	repeatability	3 %	3 %
3	mandatory	thruput, 60 wafers per hour minimum	30 wafers per hour	60 wafers per hour
4	coming	patterned wafers	NO	in development
5	coming	thin films	NO	in development
...		benefit ...
`----- customers will NOT spend money -----`
N		benefit N
`----- customer attitude on spending money -----`
other	high	Price. Will spend 3x to 5x for more sensitivity and repeatability	half price	full price

I sized the market, and confirmed that customers already had purchase intent for more units in the next three years than they had bought cumulatively to date. My numbers were larger than Veeco had been projecting. This gave Veeco confidence to make an additional investment.

Within 24 hours, Veeco used my advice to abandon their internal project and to begin a multi-million dollar acquisition bid for the competitor who did have the right technology. That move stirred the industry and Eastman Kodak outbid them, but that's another story.

My Primary Market Research enabled Veeco to immediately save $1,000,000 and 18 months.

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