As a kid, I used to love going to Blockbuster and search for movies to watch. Each week I would rent up to 4 movies and return them 3-5 days later. You could buy candy and even rent video games. Most of us who are from the mid 80’s - early 20th century, know about Blockbuster. It was a landmark for many teenagers and families looking for a good movie night. Blockbuster was modern until the big boom happened in the 90’s. Blockbuster went from an innovative company to an antiquated store I used to go as a kid. Blockbuster grew exponentially worldwide and was known for its big selection of movies, but failed to adapt to the new streaming era that is now controlled by technology. David Cook, owner of a computer software business which was the provider to oil and gas industry in Texas saw the opportunity to open up a DVD rental business. In 1985, he opened up his first Blockbuster official store in Dallas, Texas. Cook combined his computer software techniques with his new LLC, Blockbuster. By having a computerized checkout and having at least over 8,000 movie titles. Many other small stores around town had only a small variety of movies to offer. Making blockbuster the best option in the DVD market rentals. In 1986, John Melk financed Blockbuster and called his friend Wayne Huizenga in November. Wayne Huizenga did not feel compelled by the idea and stated “I did not own a VCR, I had never gone to a video store. You know.. Never rented a video” (Huizenga, interview). Wayne
On the horizon, Blockbusters number of competitors should steadily increase from new emerging technologies. If Blockbuster extends into the realm of VOD, Legal Movie Downloads, or Digital Video Recorders (DVR), it must realize there are existing and powerful players in these markets already. This new technology is shaping the market for many deals or partnerships. They will face fierce competition, but in the future, Blockbuster must not find it self on the outside looking in.
The movie rental industry is a living industry; there are constant changes with advances in technology, rights management, and the slow, but steady, move away from physical Media. Companies such as Netflix, Hulu, RedBox, and Blockbuster are being forced to look at new business models and try to keep up with these changes.
Blockbuster implemented a new strategy for customers to access their rentals in “five channels of distribution: in-store, by mail, through vending machines and kiosks, online, and at home (direct to the TV)” (DATAMONITOR, 2009). However, this strategy was a reactive approach to the problem produced ten years behind schedule. Wooldridge et al., (2007) stated that Blockbuster should select and adapt their strategy to respond to the fast changing market and maintain a competitive position. This was an obvious failure for Blockbuster. The changes in the market produced a decline in profit at a faster pace than the strategies that Blockbuster implemented to combat these losses.
Q 1. Some of Netflix’s capabilities and core competencies are mentioned in the case. Go
Blockbuster was “the largest movie rental chain” in the Movies industry around the world (Biesada a). According to Rourke, Rothburd and Stansell (2006), Blockbuster mainly focused on “providing in-home rental, retail movie, and game entertainment”. It created 9,100 video stores and provided services to almost three million of customers in America and 24 other countries (p. 74). In 2010, the company filed for bankruptcy since it failed to adapt new technology in their strategies, and “was sold to satellite TV service provider DISH Network in 2011” (Biesada b).
The third issue affecting Netflix is the age of movies that they offer to their customers. Netflix cannot deliver the newest movie titles online because they are not offered through VOD for at least a month after they come out on DVD. This is a huge disadvantage to their customers that exclusively use Netflix’s online service. This is the only advantage that Blockbuster still has over Netflix, because if someone wants to see a movie the day that it comes out on video then
If researched you find that the internal political struggles within the Blockbuster organization ultimately lead to its downfall. Power struggles that stemmed from the change in ownership as David Cook sold controlling his share of Blockbuster to Wayne Huizenga, John Melk, and
The movie studios want customers to be able to get their movies and entertainment as easily as possible. The easier it is for people to acquire their products the more likely it is that they will. By offering many different options for customers to obtain movies and entertainment, Blockbuster has a strategic advantage over its competitors. The convenience that Blockbuster can offer in their ability to distribute the movie studios products is a definite advantage. Another advantage
Blockbuster’s restructuring of the company under its new owners shows how they were open to organizational change. The text describes organizational change as the movement of an organization from one state of affairs to another. Blockbuster completely changed their strategy and technology in order to compete with the new technology based companies that put them in this position in the first place. Simply put, no one visited the stores to rent movies when they could just turn on their television to order on-demand showings for the exact same price without leaving their home or grab a couple movies for a dollar apiece while grocery shopping. If they did not change they were sure to fail as a business and the company would disappear into the long list of companies that failed in the economic recession. The change was forced by other companies’ utilization of technology that caused a drastic change in the market conditions. This shift enabled the cheaper, more convenient home entertainment to steal a huge chunk of market share from Blockbuster’s traditionally structured company. Blockbuster enjoyed a long period on top of the movie rental/ home entertainment industry and this could possibly be what caused the success of these newer
The competitive forces in the movie rental industry are quite strong, as I will explain through the five forces model. There are a vast amount of substitutes for watching a movie. You can go to a play, sporting event, concert, out the lake/beach, go for a run, watch regular television, go shopping; I could go on and on. Also, torrenting or pirating movies is growing increasingly popular. Buyers have a strong presence in this industry mainly because they are picky about how much they will pay to rent or stream a movie. With the amount of substitutes and their pickiness, they make this
untouchable and we were all doomed to a lifetime of late fees and limited movie
Blockbuster was too confident in their brand and their reach that failed to see the threat from the online rental business, meanwhile Netflix took advantage of their slow entrance to build a market and leverage on growing technology (DVD) that took off really quickly.
Competition in the Movie Rental Industry in 2008: Netflix and Blockbuster Battle for Market Leadership
At the beginning the company was considered leader of its industry due to its capacity to customize a store to its neighborhood,
With the introduction of new technologies and the development of electronics products, people are now having more opportunities to view movies. However, home viewing is still the most popular way of watching movies. Accordingly, Movie rental has become an industry. This essay will give a detailed analysis of the global leader in the movie rental industry, Blockbuster.