Kabam's Pivot Strategies: A Case Study in Management and Survival

This case study analyzes Kabam's strategic pivots, highlighting the company's journey from a social network platform to a gaming company. Initially focused on Facebook applications, Kabam faced challenges due to recession and changing market dynamics. The company successfully shifted its business model by developing strategy games like 'Kingdoms of Camelot,' transitioning from an advertising firm to an in-app gaming company. Key issues included decreased market sustainability, the impact of recession, and Facebook's tax policies. Kabam's ability to adapt its marketing strategies, understand customer preferences, and leverage the pivot framework allowed it to compete with industry leaders like Zynga. The case concludes that the pivot framework is crucial for businesses to remain sustainable by implementing new strategies and adapting products and services to market demands. Desklib offers numerous resources for students.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
[Pivot Survival Tactics from Kabam's 3 Near-Death Triumphs]
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
One of the contemporary ideas in management is known as pivot that helps a
company in focusing on the strategical development within the company on a repeated
manner. it allows the company in selecting a better model of business so that the products and
services can be sold in the market at an increased rate. It helps in changing the viewpoint of
the company towards the existing products or services with a help of a new business model so
that it can gain the maximum attention of the customers. This affects the level of profit for the
company in a direct manner as well. The channels of distribution and marketing also changes
due to the introduction of new products and services inside the organization (Francopoulo
2013).
Overview
Analysis
 The Kabam case study shows that the company in its early stage was s platform for
social network that turned its business in to a sports company followed by a gaming
company at a later period
 After these changes were made, the company was eventually sold off for $800
million, as it was incompetent in gaining an advantage in the market
 The interview has been given by Kevin Chou who was one of the founders of the
company, which highlights the steps that the company had taken up so that it can
survive in the market
Discussion
He had stated that the profits of the company started by making application for the
online social media Facebook. The profits decreased due to the impact of recession, as the
advertisements that were being done by the company could not earn a high level of income.

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This made them change their business model and shifted their business towards the
development of strategy game called ‘Kingdoms of Camelot’ so that it can help in increasing
the revenue generation. The change in the business model had allowed the company in
changing its strategy from an advertising firm to an in-app gaming company. The other issue
that affected the company was that after the game was developed, the company was unable to
sell it among the customers. Instead of laying off their employees, they decided to sell their
strategic game applications to Facebook (firstround.com).
Issues and concepts
Major issues
 The major issue with the company is that the sustainability in the market had
decreased to a great extent with respect to the manufacturing of the products and
services
 Due to the effects of recession, the company being an advertisement firm suffered a
decrease in their profit levels, which made them shift their products and services
 Facebook levied an additional rate of 30 percent of tax that led to the company in
changing their strategy again
 The company started to become a gaming studio and focussed more on developing
their own games rather than the in-app purchases for Facebook
 This helped the company in competing with Zynga, which is a popular gaming site
that resulted in increasing its level of profit
 The change in the rate of tax by Facebook made them in shifting their model of
business so that the product can be changed. This increased the rate of growth for the
company, which allowed them in competing with the companies present in the market
(Spieth, Schneckenberg & Ricart, 2014).

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Change strategies
 It is important for the company in understanding the necessary changes that needs to
be done in the marketing strategy, which will help the business to be successful
 The first thing that the company needs to understand that the tastes and preferences of
the customers need to be taken in to consideration
 The customer’s preferences are changing on a constant manner, which needs to be
understood by the company so that the development of the product can be done in
accordance to it
The surveys that will be done by the company will allow them in understanding the change in
their preferences so that the products can be developed properly (García-Gutiérrez &
Martínez-Borreguero, 2016).
Analysis of data
 The use of the pivot framework will help the company in taking up the competitive
strategies so that the competitive advantage can be increased in the market
 The use of proper strategies can be used by hiring employees and engineer who are
highly skilled, as it will help them in changing the product portfolio
 It will result in manufacturing the products with a higher quality so that customer
attraction can be increased
 The other major factor is that it is necessary to understand the lifecycle of the
products. The saturation of the product will help in bringing out new ideas so that it
can be developed newly (Lucas & Rawlins, 2015).
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that the pivot framework is important in business,
which allows the senior management in taking up new strategies for the company to be

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sustainable in the market. The changes in the products and services will also take place due to
the application of pivot framework within the company.

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Reference List
Francopoulo, G. (Ed.). (2013). LMF lexical markup framework. John Wiley & Sons.
García-Gutiérrez, I., & Martínez-Borreguero, F. J. (2016). The Innovation Pivot Framework:
Fostering Business Model Innovation in Startups: A new tool helps entrepreneurs
design business models by identifying the sources of competitive advantage
embedded in an innovation. Research-Technology Management, 59(5), 48-56.
https://firstround.com/review/pivot-survival-tactics-from-kabams-3-near-death-triumphs/
Lucas, K., & Rawlins, J. D. (2015). The competency pivot: Introducing a revised approach to
the business communication curriculum. Business and Professional Communication
Quarterly, 78(2), 167-193.
Spieth, P., Schneckenberg, D., & Ricart, J. E. (2014). Business model innovation–state of the
art and future challenges for the field. R&d Management, 44(3), 237-247.