Critical Thinking Assignment: Comcast Case Study Macro- and competitive environment
Any change in the factors that make up the macro-environment can have a direct impact on the Comcast Corporation. These factors can affect the Porter Five Forces that shape their strategy and their competitive advantage over other firms.
Among these factors; Political, Economic, and Social are the three most critical factors in Comcast’s macro-environment. Political factors can impact Comcast’s long-term profitability in a certain country or market. Comcast is diversified in more than a dozen countries which exposes them to different types of political environmental risks such as pricing regulations, work week regulations and wage legislation. Comcast can use country’s economic factors such as industry growth rate and consumer spending to forecast organizational growth. Other economic factors that should be considered are the comparative advantage over host country, unemployment rate, and economic growth rate. A society’s culture which is comprised of shared beliefs and attitudes impact the culture of an organization. Comcast can use social factors such as demographics to understand the customers of a given market and how to market to those customers.
After compiling Porter’s Five Forces; buyer power, the threat of substitution and competitive rivalry are all high making these the most critical factors in Comcast’s competitive environment. Customers want the best offer available while paying the least amount possible. The smaller the customer base gives them higher bargaining power to seek increasing offers and discounts. The threat to substitute is high since there are several services such as online streaming, cable and satellite providers that meet similar customer needs. High rivalry among existing competitors will drive down prices for more services and play competitors against each other. Overall, these three forces will affect the long-term profitability of the organization. Nature of the threats
The Comcast Corporation is currently exposed to several threats with the competition continuing to increase in the industry. The biggest of these facing the organization are regulatory changes and technological changes.
The Five Forces Model as defined by Dr. Michael Porter of Harvard University uses five different strategic factors to explain Competitive Rivalry a company or industry faces. The fiver forces that comprise the model are Bargaining Power of Suppliers, Bargaining Power of Buyers, Threat of Substitute Products, Potential Entrants and Completive Rivalry (Porter, 2008). The intent of this analysis is to rank-order each of these five factors from the standpoint of their influence on Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) and their competitive position in the retailing industry. Each of the five forces are rank-ordered in terms of their importance to Target.
Most of the concerns regarding the proposed merger are regarding how large the combined company would be and its overwhelming market share. Comcast, was already the No. 1 cable provider in the U.S., this deal would give them 8 million more subscribers and 30 percent of the market. After the merger the combined company would serve over 30 million homes, and that’s after divesting of about 3 million customers. This deal would have created a company with the most broadband and video subscribers in the nation, along with the ownership of significant programming and/or content.
Please keep in mind the prices for the package above does not include the additional equipment and services on the account. In addition to the package price there will be a $10.00/month modem lease, HD Technology fee of $10.00/month and the two boxes on the account are $9.95/month each.
How are you? I’m currently in Philadelphia on an engagement with Comcast. I recently submitted a proposal to Prince George’s Community College. I wasn’t awarded the contract but the Procurement office said they were impressed with my qualifications. I should be back in Houston by the end of the year. I look forward to getting more contract advice from you.
1. Given the current situation and the threats facing TiVo, the chief executives must rapidly decide upon the most favorable course of action. The decision is rather difficult to make for the simple reason that each of the three alternatives stand alone, tie up with Comcast or third, content distribution reveals both benefits as well as limitations. However, given the existent constraints, the second solution seems the most adequate one for the following advantages it creates:
The reason why Time Warner and Comcast is being researched in this paper is due to a research assignment evaluating financial foundation principles. Time Warner and Comcast are both prominent cable and communications providers. Looking at both company’s mission and vision statements, ethics policy, and ethical principles, one can discover the company corporate governance structure. In detail the report research will compare and contrast the company financial records, code of ethics, and search out key competitors within their industry.
Although it is well known that Time Warner Cable and charger offer internet and phone services this merger Drew my attention because of it's television programming. It should be noted that before this merger I never paid attention to mergers between companies before although I was aware of them because I every year that I have did enrolled at some school I've taken some form of business class that has kept me away or of everything in the business world. But one of the biggest reasons I tuned into this besides the fact that I'm an avid TV watcher is because it was speculated that Comcast was trying to buy Charter Communications at one time and at another time it was trying to buy Time Warner Cable but that deal fell through and that deal only fell through only a couple months prior to the announcement of this new merger. Then all of a sudden out of the blue you hear that Charter Communications has merged with Time Warner Cable and Bright House. Dishing out a whopping 60 billion dollars for Time Warner Cable and assuming 21 billion dollars of their debt and then another 11.4 billion dollars for
In 2006 Comcast seen an increase in sales revenue for their cable business of 12% (Comcast, 2007). Comcast has continued to see a steady increase in their sales revenue, as sales of cable, telephone, and internet services have continued to rise. Comcast has seen sales revenue increase by at least 5 percent for each of the last 10 years.
AT&T received a notice from the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Marcia Lewandowski regarding qualifying for the discounted Internet program. AT&T records confirmed Ms. Lewandowski was authorized on the account information provided.
I would recommend Pat to pursue the opportunity at AOL and Time Warner because from the big picture, what seems important in the long run is the culture of the company and the ability to acquire and use new skills. With her experiences in the mainstream media industry and her track record of accomplishing whatever she’s asked of, moving back into the industry in a position higher than she’s held before can give her not only more exposure and responsibilities, but also an opportunity to liaise with all departments and pull different levers to get things done. I do understand that Pat has improved WebMD’s business by a tremendous amount.
The primary objective of this assignment is to analyze the strategic business position of AT&T U-Verse. This assignment will take the opportunity to further establish the business strategies currently employed, the company’s future prospects, threats to its position and opportunities that it can exploit to further advance success in new markets. The assignment conducts a rigorous analysis of the company’s endogenous and external milieu by reviewing performance reports, resource allocation strategies, industry trends and policies engulfing AT&T U-Verse. AT&T as a whole consistently boasts a good brand name and strong market position. However, in order to sustain AT&T U-Verse’s achievements, it must begin to eliminate numerous threats and utilize available prospect market. AT&T U-Verse is a subdivision of AT&T Inc., the second largest telecommunication company, which offers phone, TV, and Internet services in 22 states of the United States. The people who had contributed were my Store Manager, Area Retail Sales Manager, Director of Sales, and VPGM. Several external and internal resources were utilized throughout the entire Survey Assignment in order to collect valuable and relevant information regarding the strategic planning of AT&T U-Verse.
The next study that is examined was the Five Competitive Forces. This shows the industry’s competitors, threats of new entrants and substitutes, and the power of the customers and suppliers. The main rival competitors within the TV service providers industry are Dish Network, Direct TV, Comcast Cable, Time Warner Cable, and Atlantic Broadband. The rivalry of these competitors could lead to lower profits due to price competition and new technology as each is trying to stay competitive in the industry.
The Porter’s Five Forces Industry Analysis in the Internet Software and Services Goal is to analyze the level of competition within their company’s industry, and thus assess current and potential lines of business. The Porter’s five includes Supplier’s Power, Buyer’s Power, Competitive rivalry among firms in the industry, Product Substitutes and Potential Entrants. Help manage and set their profitability expectations, because as profitability decreases, competition increases.
As identified by Mr. Michael E. Porter (Porter’s Model) in1979, the five forces that determine the competitive landscape of industry and market are definitely true. For example, new substitute product (latest media platform-website) has entered the market. This new entrant increases the bargaining power of buyers and substitute the traditional newspaper industry. With the easy
Secondly, increased competition from large corporations also has been a major influencing external force within the telecom industry that has impacted heavily on the performance of the company. The competitor has largely affected the company business strategies and decision forcing the firm’s CEO to change some decisions concerning external financiers with an intention of remaining competitive in an ever changing business environment.