Using Exhibit 1-1 : What External Components Might Be Most Important For Managers

EdgeMark Cinemas are a chain of movie theaters located in 37 states with 475 theaters in those states covering the west coast, east coast, and Midwest. EdgeMark’s profits, like other cinemas, have been in a small but constant decline over the last 12 years. Industry Wide Average of 2.05% ticket sales decline per year for the last 12 years also, when adjusted for inflation, revenue has dropped an average of 1% a year for the past 12 years (Domestic Movie Theatrical Market Summary, 2015). The chain is currently looking to increase ticket sales, loyal customers, and profits by adding additional products and services.

In Porter's 5 forces model, the five underlying forces for an industry's structural attractiveness are the barriers to entry for new competitors, the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, the threat of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the bargaining power of buyers. In analyzing Blockbuster's business model and current position, it is evident that it faces issues in all five areas.

Founded in 1976 and headquartered in West Hollywood, California, Ticketmaster is the world’s number one live entertainment ticketing and marketing company. Ticketmaster operates in over twenty markets worldwide, serving more than 9,000 clients across multiple event categories. It provides exclusive ticketing services for leading arenas, stadiums, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums, and theaters. Ticketmaster’s pledge to its clients is, “To provide the best systems, services, and tools for the optimal sale of tickets to the widest possible audience. For Ticketmaster consumers, its pledge is, “To provide convenient,

2. What forces are driving changes in the movie rental industry? Are the combined impacts of these driving forces likely to be favorable or unfavorable in term of their effects on competitive intensity and future industry profitability?

Blockbuster revolutionized the video rental industry. Founded in 1985, by David Cook, the company became the leader of the video chain industry by 1988 (Wooldridge, B. R., Matulich, E., & Riddick Jr., J. C. 2007; “First Blockbuster,” 2012). However, by September 2010, Blockbuster filed for section 11 bankruptcy (Ahmed, 2011). The external changes in the market forced Blockbuster to reassess its business model and ultimately lead to the bankruptcy decision. An analysis of Blockbuster’s organizational challenges identifies failure in risk response and planning, thereby impacting performance, process, growth, and personnel prior to implementing new business strategies.

Discussion Question 3.1: Why is it important for an organization to study and understand its external environment?

The Canadian entertainment industry that is served by Cineplex has been recording sustained growth since 2011 where a growth of 5 percent was recorded. PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook for 2014-2018 (PWC, 2014) indicate that the industry is set for a take-off. The industry has a

| THREATS * Weather * Competing forms of entertainment – video games, other sports, movies, jobs * Consumer loyalty for competitors * Demand fluctuation * Revenue lower than projections * Underestimated costs

This graph shows the size of the entertainment industry. It shows that, even in the economic crisis, the market still remained constant, which is very remarkable. This shows that entertainment is a must for people, and that they spend money on it, even when the economy is not at its best.

2. What forces are driving changes in the movie rental industry? Are the combined impacts of these driving forces likely to be favorable or unfavorable in term of their effects on competitive intensity and future industry profitability?

Concession sales and ticket sales are the two biggest sources of revenue for a movie theater. Both continue to increase in cost to the consumers and may have reached a price point that is starting

A market analysis was first taken out on Reading Courtenay; one cinema under the Reading brand name situated in Wellington. From this analysis, it became apparent that the Internet was one of the company’s largest competitors. Upon further research, the problem revealed to be at such a large level, one single cinema would not be able to control it alone. The view for the marketing plan had to be changed and instead would now support a company-wide view.

Blockbuster is the largest movie rental retailer. With its opening in 1985, Blockbuster has pursued an ambiguous program of growth and expansion. Currently, Blockbuster owns and operates over 9,000 stores both domestically and internationally. In addition, Blockbuster franchises about a quarter of its stores. It is important to note that Blockbuster is undergoing a managerial struggle at the present time. The current CEO, John Antioco, and a major shareholder, Carl Icahn, are disputing Blockbuster’s strategy. Mr. Antioco has threatened to resign if Mr. Icahn succeeds at attaining a position on the Board of Directors1. Mr. Antioco believes that Blockbuster needs to develop new strategy to respond to the current market

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

One the one hand, the fertility of the industry opened the doors to corporations that sighted substantial growth potential. New entrants with big pockets such as Walmart could pose a certain threat to Netflix, by exploiting a playing card based on cost reduction. On the other hand, barriers to entry became relatively significant as established video rental retailers such as Netflix have the experience and the knowhow to market movies to people. In this industry, firms that do not have a technological advantage can’t compete. The best example is Netflix’s CineMatch program that offered personalized film recommendations based on customer’s rental patterns. This way, Netflix was able to better serve its subscribers. From a cost perspective, the movie rental industry requires high capital expenditures, and the major expenses are highly related to acquisitions of DVD library and investments in technology (exhibit 2 continued). Thus, we may say that entry is difficult in this industry as the competing firms have reputation, experience and recognizable brand names.