Bucks New University Faculty of Design, Media & Management School of Applied Management & Law
Strategic Management – CW2 Organisational Strategic Choice
Module Co-ordinator/Tutor: Dr Cicely Davey Module code: BM607 Student code: 21015609
Word count (excluding charts, abstract and conclusion): 2171
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Contents
1 The organization ……………………………………………………………….2 1.1 The company…………………………………………………………..2 1.2 Strategic purpose…………………………………………………….3 2 External and internal environment analysis…………………………..3 2.1 Key competitors…..………………………………………………….3 2.2 Market analysis……………………………………………………….5 2.2.1 Issues in the Market – PESTEL……….……………………..5 2.2.2 Competitive Environment - 5 Forces……….……………..6 2.2.3 Market Analysis summary – SWOT……….………………..7 2.3 Industry Life Cycle Analysis – ADL Matrix……………………9 3 Current Strategy………………………………………………………………10 3.1 Corporate Level Strategy – Ansoff matrix..……………….10 3.2 Business Level Strategy………………………………………….11 4 Development of strategic choices……………………………………….12 5 Evaluation of strategic choices…………………………………………..13 5.1 Stakeholders Mapping.…….…………………………………….13 5.2 SAFe framework. ………………………………………………....14 5.2.1 Suitability....…..………………………………………………………14 5.2.2 Acceptability..……….……………………………………………….15 5.2.3 Feasibility…..…..………………………………………………………16 6 Recommendations and conclusion ……………………………………18 7 References .………..………………………………………………………….19
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Abstract The aim of this paper is to identify the current strategy of Netflix UK and suggest an alternative business strategy. Firstly Netflix will be introduced as an organization and its main strategic purpose will be outlined. Secondly the macro and competitive environments in which Netflix UK operates will be analysed in depth in order to outline the set of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the company is currently facing. In the third part the current Netflix strategy will be analysed on two levels: the corporate level, which includes elements of international expansion, and the business level, focusing on the UK business unit. Finally an alternative business strategy for Netflix UK will be introduced and compared with the current one through the SAFe framework in order to draw strategic recommendations.
Definitions and abbreviations The analysis performed in this paper concerns specifically Netflix UK and Ireland, a business unit of Netflix Inc., and the related market. VoD: video on demand SVoD: subscription video on demand TVoD: transactional video on demand
1 The organization 1.1 The company Netflix is an internet provider of SVoD content operating in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom and Ireland (Netflix, 2013). Based in the U.S.A., Netflix is a subscription based SVoD service providing unlimited movies and TV programs for the fixed monthly price of ÂŁ5.99.
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Members can instantly watch movies and TV programs streamed to PCs, Macs, TVs and over 800 devices which support Netflix streaming (Morse, 2012). The service has been launched in UK and Ireland on January 2012, and passed the 1 million subscribers mark in six months (Sweney, 2012b). At the end of 2012 Netflix had 33 million total subscribers of which 6 million outside the U.S.A. (Associated Press, 2013)
1.2 Strategic purpose Mission Netflix is the World’s leading internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV Programs (Netflix, 2011). Their mission is to maintain this leading position and grow domestically and internationally focusing on customer’s satisfaction and quality of content. Vision Netflix promises their customers stellar service, their suppliers a valuable partner and their investors the prospects of sustained profitable growth (Netflix, 2011). Values •
Productivity, creativity: constant technological improvement.
•
Honesty, communication: focus on customers.
•
Reliability, passion: constant product portfolio expansion.
Objectives (Agnello, 2012)
Maintain competitive advantage.
Grow domestically & globally.
Expanding Product Portfolio
Continually be the pioneer in the internet delivery of TV Shows and Movies.
Continuously improve customer experience.
Extend streaming service to even more Internet-connected devices.
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2 External and internal environment analysis 2.1 Key competitors SVoD services gained popularity in the last few years as means to cheaply watch movies and TV series without the constraints of traditional TV and rental services (Mintel, 2012b). With these new players in the video entertainment industry the fight for market share got tougher, with traditional broadcasters feeling the need to enter the streaming sector (Mintel, 2012a). Lovefilm Lovefilm is arguably the UK market sector leader by number of customers with more than 2 million subscribers (Lovefilm, 2012). Lovefilm offering is slightly cheaper than Netflix (£4.99/month) and places a greater emphasis on streaming films than it does on TV shows. Blinkbox Blinkbox is a pay-per-view streaming service with no fixed subscription fee: prices for films and TV episodes range from 99p to £3.49 to rent and £6.99 to £10.99 to buy. Blinkbox positions itself with unique selling points such as HBO TV shows, and access new film releases close to their DVD launch date (King, 2012), but its pay-per-view policy makes it far more expensive than competitors. NowTV Powered by Sky, NowTV is basically an on demand streaming version of Sky Movies channels allowing subscribers to access films before they’re available anywhere else. Anyway, with just 5 films added each month, NowTV library is limited if compared to competitors while the price, £15.99 per month, is significantly higher (Gibbs, 2012). Netflix position Netflix positions itself as value for money player offering a relatively large content library at a reasonable price. Blinkbox has a wider content library while Lovefilm is the cost leader in the market; Netflix follows and hybrid strategy offering a product well balanced between quality and price.
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2.2 Market Analysis 2.2.1 Issues in the Market - PESTEL (Aguilar, 1967)
Issue (negative in bold)
Impact
Source
Removal of Low Value Consignment Relief (1/5/12)
Bricks and mortar stores no longer be required to match online competitor prices
(Mintel, 2012d)
Government 2015 superfast broadband plan
Likely to accelerate market digital evolution
(DCMS, 2010)
Low consumer confidence
Impact on big ticket digital items purchase: slow market digital shift
(Mintel, 2012c)
Ageing population
65+ are the less likely age segment to have broadband
(Mintel, 2012a)
Preference for hardcopy media
Resistance to digital shift
(Mintel, 2012a)
UK birth rate at 36-year high
Customers with children are twice as likely to purchase streaming services than those with no children
(ONS, 2012)
Video streaming services usage likely to increase due to more favourable technological conditions.
(Mintel, 2012c)
Restrictive licensing
Limited offer of latest blockbuster for online streaming providers.
(Barnett, 2012; Mintel, 2012b)
4G disputes and competition issues
Slow smartphone internet connection, slow digital market evolution.
(Mintel, 2012c)
Political
Economic
Social
Technol.
Increasing broadband penetration Increasing ownership of internet enabled devices
Legal
The main issues for Netflix can be found on the legal side: video content producers licensing policies generally favour pay-TV services resulting in little new material available for streaming SVoD companies (Mintel, 2012b).
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2.2.2 Competitive Environment - 5 Forces (Porter, 1979) (Mintel, 2012a) (Mintel, 2012b)
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Threat of Substitutes
High
High
Netflix Revenue is majority customer sales based. Switching costs are very low.
Many Competitors from all sides of business. Pay-TV is the main substitute.
Rivalry among competitors
High 3 Kinds of competitors Existing Pay-TV distributors TVoD Services Streaming-only companies power of suppliers
High Content is a Key Input in Netflix Business. Suppliers = Content Owners Limited number of Suppliers have high quality content.
Threat of new entrants
Medium - Low Capital Requirements, content costs money. Economic moat around streaming business for new entrants. Relatively low barrier for existing competitors with enough money.
Netflix must thrive in an industry where competitive advantages are not sustainable in the long term because of high competition: the video industry is characterized by dynamic and complex uncertainties and strong competitive forces. There are numerous competitors and substitutes from all sides of the business. Both suppliers and buyers have high power due to the Netflix reliance on content acquisition and low customer switching cost.
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2.2.3 Market Analysis summary - SWOT (Boddy, 2008)
Strengths
Weaknesses
- Constant quality improvements - First mover advantage - Exclusive rights - Exclusive content - Strong brand equity
- Cash constraints - Hybrid strategy - Low pricing power - Non exclusivity of majority of content
Opportunities
Threats
- Growing Market - Growing target segment - Broadband penetration - International markets
- Low consumer confidence - Increasing Competiton - Incremental subscribers challenge - Power of suppliers - Low customer switching cost - Short product lifecycle
Strengths A - User Experience Netflix constantly improves user experience through innovation: it was the first SVoD platform to introduce HD and 3d movies and to develop its own content delivery network (Fitchard, 2012); in addition the company constantly captures great amounts of data about viewing habits to improve movies recommendations (Harris, 2012). B - Quality of content Netflix agreed to a deal with Disney and Paramount (Stelter, 2010), securing the exclusive rights to stream their content, in addition Netflix produced a series on its own in 2012 and it’s planning to follow this path in the near future (Flacy, 2012); as a result Netflix offering currently appears to be the most valuable on the SVoD market.
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Weaknesses C - Cash constraints Because of undiversified income sources Netflix must rely on quality programming and natural expansion to increase its income (Warman, 2013): no-adverts policy and International expansion costs resulted in a short-term cost burden on Netflix. D - Reliance on content acquisition Netflix doesn’t own the majority content it provides and must invest a large amount of capitals to acquire it. Content producers generally favour the more profitable pay TV business leaving dated content to SVoD platforms (Mintel, 2012b).
Opportunities E - International expansion New markets will allow Netflix to reach a larger subscriber base and increase revenues but this strategy is highly risky and doesn’t focus on existing customers. F - Differentiation 86% of subscribers say that in-house produced drama “House of Cards” makes them less likely to cancel (Lieberman, 2013) therefore differentiation through exclusive content offering appears to be the way to improve customer loyalty.
Threats G - Major Industry shift to Content Streaming One of the major trends in the video industry is the shift to online video viewership (McMillan, 2013). The consequent fierce competition is resulting in the lowering of barriers to inimitability; as a result Netflix is losing competitive advantage.
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2.3 Industry Life Cycle Analysis – ADL Matrix Netflix is currently at a delicate stage. Its competitive position is favourable thanks to the great value for money of its offering. On the other hand continued cost pressure and increased competition can undermine profits in the medium/long term: Netflix is facing numerous rivals of equal strength and has to invest to maintain competitive advantage (Mintel, 2012b).
Competitive Position
Stages of maturity: Growth
Dominant
Strong
Aggressive push for market share. - Need to improve competitive advantage - Invest to implement positioning and growth
Favourable
Differentiate, focus, growth with industry. - Need to implement competitive advantage and market share - Selectively invest to implement market positioning
Tenable
Netflix UK
Need to implement competitive advantage and market share. - Selectively invest to implement market positioning
Weak
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3 Current Strategy 3.1 Corporate Level Strategy – Ansoff matrix (Ansoff, 1957)
Products
Existing
Existing
New
Market Penetration
Product Development
Market Development
Diversification
Market
New
Market development Market development is a growth strategy where the business seeks to sell its existing products into new markets. Netflix is pursuing this corporate-level strategy targeting new international markets, exporting its product to new countries: UK and Ireland are the last ones in chronological order. This strategy allowed Netflix to gain 6 million new subscribers outside U.S.A. but at on the other hand it is expensive and risky: international losses hit $105 million for 2012 Q4 (Hempson, 2013).
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3.2 Business Level Strategy Hybrid companies offer products at a low cost but with a high perceived value building customer loyalty (Johnson et al., 2011). Netflix is currently following this strategic path, offering a significant amount of exclusive high-quality content at low price. This strategy is good as an entry strategy in a market with established competitors where the aim is to take market share and establish a foothold from which move forward (Stonehouse et al., 2004).
Bowman’s Strategic clock (Faulkner and Bowmann, 1994)
High Differentiation Focused Differentiation
Value
Hybrid
Low price
Netflix UK
Increased price / low values
Low price / low value Standard price / low values
Low
increased price/standard product
Price
Current strategy Proposed strategy
High
Success of Hybrid strategy depends on the ability to deliver enhanced benefits at low price while gaining sufficient profits for reinvestment to maintain and develop differentiation features (Stonehouse et al., 2004).
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This is possible only if operating costs remain stable or market share increases constantly but in the long term this is unlikely in the market where Netflix operates (Mintel, 2012b).
4 Development of strategic choices Proposed alternative: Differentiation As early adopters and streaming enthusiasts have already subscribed, getting incremental
Generic Strategy Industry force Differentiation
subscribers is going to be a slower and more Entry Barriers
Customer loyalty is the best barrier against potential entrants.
Buyers Power
Buyers have less negotiating power because of the small number of close alternatives.
Suppliers Power
Better able to pass on supplier price increases to customers.
Threat of Substitutes
Threat of substitutes reduced thanks to customers becoming attached to exclusive attributes.
Rivalry
Brand loyalty keeps customers from switching to rivals.
expensive task: this is already happening in the U.S.A (Trefis, 2012) and it is likely to happen in the UK as market matures over 2013. SVoD
services
will
need
to
differentiate
themselves otherwise the risk is to devolve into a
one-of-many platform
with
high
rate of
consumer churn (Mintel, 2012b). A unique brand identity is increasingly difficult to maintain as more platforms launch. The services are likely to be differentiated almost exclusively
by
the
content
offered
(Mintel,
2012d). Given the successful launch of original content in the past few months, Netflix should follow the path of American cable TV HBO increasing production of exclusive content to be made available at premium price (Greenfield, 2013).
Another source of differentiation could be collaboration with the streaming music provider Spotify: this would give subscribers the opportunity to listen to their favourite films soundtracks. In terms of pricing there should be the opportunity for users to choose from two different ranges of price, basic and premium, based on the exclusivity of the offerings.
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Proposed strategy summary: SBU: Netflix UK. Business strategy: Differentiation. Pricing ranges: Basic and premium options.
5 Evaluation of strategic choices
5.1 Stakeholders Mapping In order to evaluate strategic choices is essential to understand the current perspectives of relevant stakeholders; specifically, it is critical to understand which aspects of the business they consider to be important (Thomas and Rose, 2010).
High level of power
Low level of power
High level of interest
Low Level of interest
Manage closely
Keep them satisfied
Customers, Investors
Suppliers
Keep informed
Monitor
Customers: these stakeholders are characterised by high levels of both power and interest. Netflix revenue depends entirely on customers subscriptions (Greenfield, 2013), in addition the slow switching costs give customers high power. Netflix must fully engage these stakeholders and make the greatest efforts to satisfy them. Suppliers: content producers have high level of power but low levels of interest. Netflix has low buying power due to fierce competition (Mintel, 2012b) therefore Netflix is at the mercy of their licensing deals. Suppliers tend to favour pay TV business which generates more value.
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Shareholders/Investors: return of investment is their main priority. Netflix must enhance dividends and minimise losses adopting a business strategy that is less risky (La Monica, 2013) than the current one, a strategy that allows Netflix to maximise profits from existing customers.
5.2 SAFe Framework
(Johnson et al., 2011)
5.2.1 Suitability Suitability Criteria Mission and vision As business strategy changes, Netflix must stay focused on corporate mission and vision in order to maintain strong brand equity and consumer loyalty. SWOT issues These are the main internal and external issues Netflix has to face in the short/medium term; profits, hence the survival of the company, depend on the efficacy of the strategy adopted to tackle them: C - Cash constraints D - Reliance on content acquisition G - Major Industry shift to Content Streaming Industry Life cycle stage and competitive position. Strategy selection process involves deep understanding of the state of the streaming video industry and how Netflix fits into it. In order to be effective, strategy must address the unique combination of competitive position and industry maturity at any given time.
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Criteria
Organizational Strategic Choice]
Hybrid
Differentiation
Support Netflix Mission and vision (Netflix, 2011)
Not in the long term.
Yes. Higher profits mean higher
High quality standards require high investments and the actual pricing policy can’t guarantee long term profits.
investments in technology improvement and content quality.
Addresses SWOT Issue C: cash constraints (Hempson, 2013)
No. Cash flow problems due to
Yes. Increased income due to
the international expansion and disadvantaging pricing policies.
the premium price. Collaboration with Spotify: increased buying and selling power.
Addresses SWOT Issue D: reliance on content acquisition (Mintel, 2012b)
No. Content production
Yes. Increased income would
requires huge capitals that can’t be accumulated through the current pricing strategy.
allow major investments in content production and mitigate content acquisition dependency.
Addresses SWOT Issue D: Major Industry shift to Content Streaming (McMillan, 2013)
No. current strategy is not
Yes. Differentiation strategy
making Netflix clearly distinguishable from competitors.
would allow Netflix to stand out of the crowd, to make the best use of competitive advantages and increase consumer loyalty.
Suitable for industry life cycle stage and competitive position (Mintel, 2012b)
Not in the long term.
Yes. A differentiation strategy
The shifting market environment is making the current strategy ineffective.
addresses the combination of current industry maturity and Netflix competitive position.
The hybrid strategy appears to be dangerous in the medium/long term as high quality content implies high operating costs that can’t be sustained by firms which do not hold a stable leading position in the market: this is true for Netflix, especially in the likely case of slowing new subscriptions rate. In addition this strategy doesn’t address the main weaknesses and threats affecting Netflix therefore doesn’t guarantee long-term competitive advantage. On the other hand a differentiation strategy appears to be more suitable as it can potentially tackle the main SWOT issues, reinforce strengths and build competitive advantage.
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5.2.2 Acceptability Acceptability criteria Risk of losses and Return of investment Investors are vital for Netflix and potential losses and dividends are the main evaluation criteria for Netflix shares. Reaction of stakeholders These are the main players in a business environment: their reaction to a strategic change is important in order to evaluate the efficacy of the strategy itself.
Criteria
Hybrid
Differentiation
Risk of losses (Reuters, 2012) (Forbes, 2013)
High. International expansion
Medium. Due to the high
resulted in a short term cost burden that can be sustained for a short period only.
investment required, content production can be considered relatively risky in the short term.
Return of investment (Sweney, 2012a)
Low. The current pricing policy
High. Differentiation strategy
is resulting in quarterly losses on international level.
and collaboration mean high barriers to imitability and safer profits.
Reaction of customers (Lieberman, 2013)
Relatively low customer loyalty because of low
High customer loyalty due
switching cost due to lack of differentiation between competitors. Reaction of Suppliers (Mintel, 2012b)
Reaction of investors (La Monica, 2013)
SVoDs considered second tier customer because of
exclusivity of content and inimitability of the offering.
Lower power of suppliers.
their low profitability.
This will arguably lead to lower price of acquired content
Sell shares. Netflix shares are
Buy shares. Higher profits
considered volatile by investors because of risky hybrid and international strategies adopted.
and stability will encourage investors to buy Netflix shares.
Hybrid strategy is not acceptable by shareholders in the long period as it is likely to result in low profits and in a ruinous “low price/low value� strategy.
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On the other hand differentiation strategy can reduce risk of losses and increase return of investment: the shareholders would receive increased dividends, customers would enjoy high quality experience and suppliers would lose power.
5.2.3 Feasibility Feasibility criteria Capabilities Capabilities are “the resources and competencies an organisation needs to survive and prosper” (Helfat et al., 2007) and pertain to the organization’s ability to reconfigure resources and strategy in rapidly changing environments such as SVoD market (Barney, 1991).
Technology
Financial resources
Information resources
Criteria
Hybrid
Differentiation
Do the existing technological assets support the strategy? (Fitchard, 2012)
Yes. Company’s data volumes have reached petabyte levels but
Are the current financial resources enough to implement the strategy effectively? (Reuters, 2012)
Yes but not in the long term. Company’s cash is
Is information available enough to implement the strategy effectively? (Harris, 2012) (Leber, 2013)
Yes. Netflix is constantly
Yes. Netflix knew why its
investing to implement movies recommendation algorithms.
original TV series would be a hit based on data about the viewing habits of its users. This is a great advantage in the creation of original content.
the new content delivery network allows Netflix to handle the increasing data traffic.
expected to fall to $450 million in 2013 from its current $800 million.
Netflix is still cash rich but needs to quit temporarily the international expansion to stop losses.
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Netflix capabilities can sustain both hybrid and differentiation strategy: technology and information resources at Netflix disposal put the company in a leading position in the market. The only issues are related to financial resources but Netflix still have cash to be invested in the short/medium term.
6 Conclusion and Recommendations The analysis of macro and competitive environments in which the company operates revealed that Netflix UK is currently going through a delicate period: the high rivalry and the fast-changing nature of the market is forcing Netflix to look for new subscribers through
risky
international
market
development
and
hybrid
business
strategy
characterized by high product investment and low-cost pricing policy. This strategy is likely to result in a failure in the long term because of the high operational costs and the low competitive advantage obtained. A shift from hybrid to differentiation strategy is recommended for Netflix: this new strategy should involve higher investments in original content production, premium price policy and temporary interruption of international expansion. This will potentially reduce the new subscriptions rate but it’s likely to enhance the current customers’ loyalty resulting in profit maximization and advantage over rivals.
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7 References
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Forbes (2013) Netflix Earnings Preview: High Content Costs Moderate Subscriber Gains Expected [online]. Forbes. Available from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/01/22/netflix-earnings-preview-high-contentcosts-moderate-subscriber-gains-expected/ [Accessed: 25 February 2013]. Gibbs, S. (2012) The Netflix vs. LoveFilm vs. Now TV SmackDown: Which One is Worth Your Money? [online]. Gizmodo. Available from: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/07/the-netflix-versus-lovefilmsmackdown-which-one-is-worth-your-money/ [Accessed: 22 February 2013]. Greenfield, R. (2013) The Economics of Netflix's $100 Million New Show [online]. The Atlantic Wire. Available from: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/02/economics-netflixs-100million-new-show/61692/ [Accessed: 4 March 2013]. Harris, D. (2012) Netflix analyzes a lot of data about your viewing habits [online]. Gigaom. Available from: http://gigaom.com/2012/06/14/netflix-analyzes-a-lot-of-data-about-your-viewing-habits/ [Accessed: 24 February 2013]. Helfat, C., Finkelstein, s. and Mitchell, W. (2007) Dynamic Capabilities: Understanding strategic change in organizations. Oxford: Blackwell. Hempson, R. (2013) With Overseas Subscribers Topping 6M, Netflix Puts A Hold On Expanding Into International Markets [online]. Tech Crunch. Available from: http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/23/with-international-user-base-now-at-6m-netflix-puts-a-hold-onglobal-expansion-in-first-half-of-2013-cuts-losses/ [Accessed: 28 February 2013]. Johnson, G., Wittington, R. and Scholes, K. (2011) Exploring Strategy. 9th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. King, M. (2012) iTunes or Blinkbox – which is better? [online]. Guardian. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/oct/19/itunes-blinkbox-which-better [Accessed: 22 February 2013]. La Monica, P. (2013) Netflix stock: Fold this house of cards [online]. CNN Money. Available from: http://buzz.money.cnn.com/2013/02/07/netflix-stock-house-of-cards/ [Accessed: 4 March 2013]. Leber, J. (2013) “House of Cards” and Our Future of Algorithmic Programming [online]. MIT Technlogy Review. Available from: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/511771/house-ofcards-and-our-future-of-algorithmic-programming/ [Accessed: 7 March 2013].
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Stelter, B. (2010) Netflix to Stream Films From Paramount, Lions Gate, MGM [online]. New York Times. Available from: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/netflix-to-stream-filmsfrom-paramount-lionsgate-mgm/ [Accessed: 2 March 2013]. Stonehouse , G., Campbell, D., Hamill, J. and Purdie, T. (2004) Globa and Transnational Business Stategy and Management. 2nd ed. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons. Sweney, M. (2012a) Netflix non-US losses hit $100m but subscribers increase [online]. Guardian. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/24/netflix-losses-100m-subscribersincrease [Accessed: 26 February 2013]. Sweney, M. (2012b) Netflix reaches 1 million UK subscribers [online]. the Guardian. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/20/netflix-reaches-1000000-uk-subscribers [Accessed: 2 February 2013]. Thomas, P. and Rose, K. (2010) White Paper: Scenarios [online]. World Energy Council. Available from: http://www.worldenergy.ch/file/Publikationen/Aktuell/White_Paper_Scenarios.pdf [Accessed: 15 January 2013]. Trefis (2012) Netflix: 2012 In Review And What The Future Holds [online]. Seeking Alpha. Available from: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1088601-netflix-2012-in-review-and-what-the-future-holds [Accessed: 26 Fegruary 2013]. Warman, M. (2013) What will Netflix do next? [online]. The Telegraph. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9889892/What-will-Netflix-do-next.html [Accessed: 3 March 2013].
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