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Case Assignment

Netflix Headquarters

Los Gatos, California

CEO Reed Hastings started Netflix in 1997 after becoming angry about paying Blockbuster Video $40 for a late return of Apollo 13. Hastings and Netflix struck back with flat monthly fees for unlimited DVDs rentals, easy home delivery and returns via prepaid postage envelopes, and no late fees, which let customers keep DVDs as long as they wanted. Blockbuster, which earned up to $800 million annually from late returns, was slow to respond and lost customers in droves.

When Blockbuster, Amazon, and Walmart started their own mail-delivery video rentals, Hastings recognized that Netflix was in competition with "the biggest rental company, the biggest e-commerce company, and the biggest company, period." With investors expecting it to fail, Netflix's stock price dropped precipitously to $2.50 a share. But with an average subscriber cost of just $4 a month compared to an average subscriber fee of $15, Netflix, unlike its competitors, made money from each customer. Three years later, Walmart abandoned the business, asking Netflix to handle DVD rentals on Walmart.com. Amazon, by contrast, entered the DVD rental business in Great Britain, expecting that experience to prepare it to beat Netflix in the United States. But, like Walmart, Amazon quit after four years of losses. Finally, 13 years after Netflix's founding, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy. With DVDs mailed to 17 million monthly subscribers from 50 distribution centers nationwide, Netflix is now the industry leader in DVD rentals.

However, its expertise in shipping and distributing DVDs won't provide a competitive advantage when streaming files over the Internet. Indeed, Netflix's Watch Instantly download service is in competition with Amazon's Video on Demand, Apple's iTunes, HuluPlus at Hulu.com, Time-Warner Cable's TV Everywhere, and DirectTV Cinema, all of which offer movie and TV downloads. Moreover, unlike DVDs, which can be rented without studio approval, U.S. copyright laws require streaming rights to be purchased from TV and movie studios before downloading content into people's homes. And that creates two new issues. First, does Netflix have deep enough pockets to outbid its rivals for broad access to the studios' TV and movie content? Second, can it convince the studios that it is not a direct competitor? HBO, for instance, won't license any of its original shows, like The Sopranos, for Netflix streaming. It also has exclusive rights for up to eight years for content from Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures. HBO co-president Eric Kessler says, "There is value in exclusivity. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for high-quality, exclusive content." If other studio executives think this, Netflix will not acquire the video content it needs to satisfy its customers. Planning involves determining organizational goals and a means for achieving them. So, how can Netflix generate the cash it needs to pay the studios? How can it convince them it's not a competitor so they will agree to license their content?

Netflix must also address the significant organizational challenges accompanying accelerated growth. Hastings experienced the same problem in his first company, Pure Software, where he admitted, "Management was my biggest challenge; every year there were twice as many people and it was trial by fire. I was underprepared for the complexities and personalities." With blazing growth on one hand and the strategic challenge of obtaining studio content on the other, how much time should he and his executive team devote directly to hiring? Deciding where decisions will be made is a key part of the management function of organizing. So, should he and his executive team be directly involved, or is this something that he should delegate? Finally, what can Netflix, which is located near Silicon Valley, home to Google, eBay, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Facebook, some of the most attractive employers in the world, provide in the way of pay, perks, and company culture that will attract, inspire, and motivate top talent to achieve organizational goals?

If you were in charge of Netflix, what would you do?