Take control of your destiny
Richardson’s final steps of Mad Catz’s repositioning plan included moving the company back into the game publishing business.
The company is creating software for the next generation of hot
games that fall under the emerging category called social gaming,
where the gaming experience requires greater levels of human
interaction by participants. This time around, Mad Catz won’t
merely ride along on the coattails of the console makers during the
marketing upsurge phase, it will publish the games and manufacture the customized accessories, bundle the products and exercise
much greater control over its own destiny.
“While I think that adding incremental growth capability has
been the right move for our company, it has to be achieved through
the right products that can achieve our desired value position and
stabilize our revenue,” Richardson says.
Along those lines, the company also just started marketing a new
interactive audio device that sits outside the ear, allowing music
listeners using iPods and MP3 players to engage in the listening
experience while remaining more aware of their surroundings.
The new product capitalizes on the company’s existing distribution system and further diversifies its product lines.
The complete suite of new products has helped Richardson
achieve his ultimate goal of repositioning the company as a value
leader by enhancing its position with major retailers such as Best
Buy, Wal-Mart and GameStop. Mad Catz is no longer simply a niche
vendor of low-margin products to the big box stores. Richardson
has the sales team acting as category specialists offering both a
suite of high margin, emerging technology products along with
space and product placement expertise to retailers.
While Mad Catz has increased its head count back up to 260 employees, primarily through acquisitions, the assimilation process is
challenging for a company of its size, and the pressure is on
Richardson and his team to show more top-line growth in 2008 and
a return for the acquisition expense.
“To move a company to a position where it shows consistent
growth can take many years, and you have to be incredibly persistent because you are bound to hit some bumps along the way,”
Richardson says. “My advice to other CEOs is to really do some
soul-searching when you hit a difficult year and agree on a strategy quickly and act on it decisively. We really didn’t have a lot to lose
after 2006, so there was nothing holding us back from making the
changes. Now, you can actually see some improvements, and that’s
helping everyone feel better about our direction.”
HOW TO REACH: Mad Catz Interactive Inc., www.madcatz.com