Monday, January 27, 2020

Examining Netflixs Business Model

Examining Netflixs Business Model Analyze Netflixs business model? How does Netflix change the video distribution industry? Business Model Business Model describes how a company produces, delivers and sells a service or product to create value for its customers, shareholders and other stakeholders. Netflix a pioneer in the online DVD subscription services operates in the in-home entertainment video market. In-home distribution channels include home video rental and retail outlets, cable and satellite television, pay-per-view, VOD (video-on-demand), internet streaming and broadcast television. (Source:- Netflix Annual Report 2005 Section Industry Overview) Netflix started operations in 1997 and relied on the DVD format as the medium of in-home entertainment, although this format of viewing was restricted to a small population of affluent, technology-savvy customer base. Over a period of time DVD became accepted as the choice and its penetration into every household rose exponentially. Netflixs business model revolves around its home-grown proprietary software Cinematch which powers its website and a comprehensive information system to manage operations. The comprehensive information system allows it to manage and integrate business across order processing, customer service and fulfilment operations. This leads to maximum utilization of library and operate with a decreased number of customer reps. It had 100 customer reps to handle 115,000 customers in the early days, now it has 43 to handle 3.2 million customers. From a business perspective management, organizational and technical elements are aligned towards customer focussed innovations. Warehouse workers get free Netflix subscriptions and DVD players. Corporate Employees are kept happy with perks so that they are eager to solve tough engineering problems to improve user experience. Netflix and the video distribution industry Netflix changed the video distribution from a store based rental channel to an online subscription based distribution channel. The web-site enables subscription account signup and management, personalized movie merchandising, inventory optimization and customer support (Source:- Netflix Annual Report 2009). Coupled with features such as social networking (Friends) and queue management (Profiles) it compares each subscribers movie preferences derived from the individuals past ratings and rental patterns with preferences of other users contained in the database and comes up with personalized movie recommendations unique to each subscriber. The company leveraged on the power of Internet and technology to achieve two purposes (a) Enhance customer experience by providing them a web-based portal tailored to individual preferences. It comes up with a customer specific recommendation list based on the individuals ratings of past viewings. Customers can set up their queues and receive delivery through mail. There is no return deadline; no charges and the DVDs can be mailed back through pre-paid envelopes. (b) Enhance operational efficiency Traditional Video rental retail outlets would have to compromise on the number of titles available in each of its stores because of space constraints. Netflix has an advantage in being able to offer a much wider range of titles since the stock is piled in its warehouses. One of its core business strengths is its vast catalogue of not so popular and old time movies and TV show content which is cost effective to procure and profitable to sell, but is not available in conventional retail stores. Cinematch also avoids suggesting out-of-stock movies and ensures maximum utilization of inventory. An effective and comprehensive Information system enables it to distribute DVDs from the nearest warehouse through US Mail. There are 100 shipping points across the United States which enables the company to provide delivery in one business days for 97% of its customers. Advantages and Disadvantages to potential customers Advantages Personalized DVD rental services and movies through internet streaming. The recommendation software is quite accurate and is built on the customers historic choices and ratings. Coupled with the social networking feature (Friends) it avoids the customer to go through the hassles of selecting and ending up with something he does not like. Availability of a wide range of not so popular and old titles which are not available in a conventional DVD rental stores. Disadvantages The recommendation software purposefully omits out-of-stock titles and hence influences the choice of the customer. It is intentionally slowing down delivery to high volume customers which are not so profitable. Instead it gives a preference to the low volume members. Hence preferential treatment is given to the more profitable low volume customers. Ability to fight competition and sustain its own markets (Source: Annual Report 2009. From Sec Filings of 2010 Subscribers have increased to 20,010(in thousands), Revenues have increased to $2,162 Million and Net Income has increased to $161 Million) Netflix has continued to increase its subscription base, revenues and net income over the years. The following analysis is based on how information systems can address Porters competitive forces model Traditional Competitors, New Market Entrants, Substitute Products and Services, Customers and Suppliers Low-cost Leadership Netflix uses its information systems to ensure maximum utilization of inventory and avoiding recommending out-of-stock titles. The information system integrates order processing and customer service and this has given it a cost advantage with increase in scale of operations, driving down per-unit cost and Netflix has been able to price its service offering at levels difficult for competition to meet. Product Differentiation Netflixs personalized web based movie selection services and technological innovations in the movie recommendation algorithm are a huge entry barrier for new entrants. Although the software and technology is not hard to replicate Netflix has the advantage of a database of over half a billion movie ratings and takes in more than a million new ones every day. Focus on market niche Unlike competitors like Amazon, Netflix has built its information systems targeted to the in-home entertainment industry. It has engaged with partners to expand the number of devices which can support streaming videos from Netflix. Strengthen Customer and Supplier Intimacy Almost 60% of the movies customers put in their queue comes from Netflixs recommendation system and ensures customers run a lesser risk of wasting time on a movie that they will not enjoy. This increases the switching costs for the customer. Although the case study does not state anything explicitly, the annual reports of 2010 indicate that Netflix obtains content through streaming content license agreements, DVD direct purchases and DVD and streaming revenue sharing agreements with studios, distributors and other suppliers and our assumption is that suppliers would benefit from Netflixs recommendation software which could boost up sales of their not so popular titles. All new titles do not end up becoming blockbusters and the less popular ones could get recommended to customers with specific preferences based on Cinematch algorithm. Competitive strengths of Netflix include an iconic brand, personalized merchandising, growing scale without substantial increase in cost and an information system catering to convenience, selection and fast delivery. Principal competitors are DVD rental outlets and kiosk services, such as Blockbuster, Movie Gallery and Redbox (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Video package providers with pay-per-view and VOD content including cable providers, such as Time Warner and Comcast; direct broadcast satellite providers, such as DIRECTV and Echostar; and telecommunication providers such as ATT and Verizon (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Online DVD subscription rental web sites, such as Blockbuster Online (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Entertainment video retail stores, such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Amazon.com (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Internet movie and TV content providers, such as Apples iTunes, Amazon.com, Hulu.com and Googles YouTube. (Source: Netflix Annual Reports 2010) Popularity of alternative entertainment mediums which can be distributed using a similar business model like Netflix (Example Gaming CD and DVDs) Threats Currently the time for distribution in DVD format is shorter than release to other mediums (VOD, premium TV etc) after a theatrical release of a movie. This gives a competitive advantage to the DVD market. However this competitive advantage may go if the distribution to these multiple formats happens simultaneously. The proprietary technology and information systems are also based on a certain historic scale of operations which has increased substantially and this could lead to systemic disruptions and negatively impact operations. The DVD format would probably give way to Internet movie and TV content providers and Netflix would be left stranded with its warehouse and sophisticated mail handling systems. However the one thing which will continue to survive is CINEMATCH and its database of billions of movie ratings which will give a competitive edge to Netflix when it decides to switch over to other formats of movie distribution. AOL, Yahoo to Charge for Email Question: Yahoo and AOL are relying on some durable economic laws to support there new email product. What are these? What are the new opportunities that they can exploit by Certified mail product? Durable economy: Assumption: 1. Net Neutrality Legislation will not be approved by the congress. 2. Certified mails also have an opt-out feature that allows recipients to unsubscribe. A sustainable or durable economy requires the development of programs, policies, and implementable initiatives that encourage activities that will empower communities and conservation of resources; promote environmental justice; preserve ways-of-life; and promote by example and through discourse the ideas of ecological and participatory democracy and its real world implications. The basic principal of economy is to distribute the scare resource to most needy ones. In reference to this caselet, the spam mails are using the network bandwidth preventing the internet users to do there legitimate work. The real value produced by information providers comes in locating, filtering and communicating what is useful to the consumer. The certified email service allows email service providers to deliver only the legitimate emails to end users. As the legitimacy and the background of the email originators are already verified by the service providers like GoodMail, this will help in reducing the spam detection cost for AOL and Yahoo. Also, spam and Phishing is bigger threat to web based mail users. To keep the user experience, companies spending huge amount of money to reduce the spam. The fundamental factors that determine the profitability is industry structure and sustainable competitive advantage. By offering these service AOL and Yahoo can out perform there competit ion. There aint no such thing as a free lunch .The economic theory, and also the lay opinion, that whatever goods and services are provided, they must be paid for by someone. The information production and delivery systems requires significant amount of investment in Hardware, Software, network systems. To sustain this business, they need to recover the cost and make profit. The free mail based service cost the mail service providers close to $10-$12 per user. By charging the business to deliver there message to its users, they can recover this cost. Yahoo, AOL mail users will also benefit from this as the information sent to there inbox is useful to them and also they will have an option to unsubscribe these certified mails if they wish too. The business will be willing to pay these charges for sending the mails as this toll will allow them maximize there ROI. Opportunities for AOL and Yahoo: Customer care in a service-based industry and priority email delivery In the information age, service based industry rely heavily on email based communication. Companies want to make sure that, there product information, quires and customer concerns are addressed in stipulated time. The internet traffic is growing year by year and which creating the bandwidth issues. Yahoo and AOL can start the priority email service (similar to the Fedx, USPS, US post which charges for faster delivery) where they can provide the guarantee of delivering mails and to user inbox in stipulated time by charging the legitimate fees. They can work with ISPS to prioritize there mail traffic by sharing the revenue they earn. Eg. Distributed Document Processing services. Govt agencies wanting to reach out to mass public to explain there policies. Yahoo and AOL can offer products to government agencies where they can deliver there communication directly to users inbox. On line Advertising By collecting information about their interests, what particulars mail users want ( based on the responses to the certified mails),Yahoo and AOL can customize adds that can be displayed alongside users mail box page. Reduce the spam and provide security to there users. Phishing and online identity theft are the fastest-growing threats to the email users. By using certified email service Yahoo and AOL can fight the spams better which will help in en-reaching the user experience. This will attract more users.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

How does Byron present the lovers Essay

Byron feels very strongly about love, believing it to be a very good thing, especially when found in the young. Thus he presents the two lovers as sweet and beautiful. A third adjective, innocent could be added to the list and in Juan’s case certainly should be-however, throughout the passage we find hints that it does not apply to Julia. In stanza 106 Byron says that â€Å"her creed in her own innocence† was â€Å"immense. † So she believes forcefully that what she is doing is innocent and not wrong, and yet she knows it is: ‘†¦. she inly swore†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. she never would disgrace this ring she wore. ‘ However, Byron does not damn her for thinking of ‘Don Alfonso’s fifty years,’ instead he justifies this behaviour in the hole of stanza 108. This is most probably because of Byron’s own feelings on the matter of love – he would not have backed away from extra-marital or adulterous love, believing infidelity to be a social normality. He believed that no shackles should be placed on love; it should be natural, and indeed this is how, to some extent, he does portray the love which blossoms here, though not as much as Juan’s later relationship with Haidei , ‘unconsciously she leaned upon [Juan]†¦ ‘ So, Byron shows us that Julia is aware of the wrongness of her impending deed, but he does not condemn her. Indeed it could be argued that Byron presents her infidelity as sweet and innocent in itself. The evidence for this can be found in the rhyming couplet at the end of stanza 105. ‘One hand on Juan’s was carelessly thrown, Quite by mistake – she thought it was her own. ‘ Clearly Julia knows the hand is Juan’s, but the lines are very tongue-in-cheek, and seem to be actually poking fun, very gently, at Julia’s pathetic attempts to make it seem as if she isn’t doing what she is. Byron is amused at her mock innocence and this in turn leads us to see her actions as less brazen and more innocent than they might seem. The fact remains though, that Julia is not innocent of adultery and this is conclusively shown in the lines, ‘Yet still she must have thought there was no harm, / Or else ’twere easy to withdraw her waist. ‘ So she is portrayed, seemingly paradoxically as a sweet and innocent, but knowing, adulterer. Don Juan, on the other hand, being only a young boy of sixteen is portrayed as completely nai ve and innocent. ‘His young lip thanked it with a grateful kiss And then abashed at its own joy, withdrew In deep despair, lest he had done amiss. ‘ The reader knows that he is completely nai ve, having previously read of his ‘breeding, which was strictly moral. ‘ So it comes as no surprise then that in this, his first romantic encounter, he should be ignorant of what to do and that Byron should portray him as he does. In conclusion then, the lovers are portrayed in some ways similarly but very differently in other respects. Byron reflects his attitude to love in portraying Juan and Julia as helpless in the face of their over-riding emotions – he describes love as ‘strengthening the weak and trampling the strong. ‘ This conclusion will suffice in the case of Juan but Julia is helpless in a different way. She is more worldly wise than Juan, having been married, and thus, almost certainly, sexual intercourse. She is portrayed as one caught in the middle of two pulling forces – her own ‘honour, virtue, truth and love for Don Alfonso,’ and her love for Juan. She knows that to display this love physically would be wrong, but she does it anyway – ‘And whispering, ‘I will ne’er consent’ – consented. ‘ Byron, however, does not condemn her for her actions, because of his belief in the power of love, and he portrays her still as a virtuous and sweet young woman, despite her ‘immoral conduct’. ‘A little still she strove and much repented,’ at the end of the passage shows she is still a woman of integrity, rather than one of loose morals. This is how Byron portrays the individual lovers. Together, they are depicted as a beautiful couple – ‘how beautiful she looked,’ – full of the initial exuberance of first love. Byron emphasizes the purity and goodness of their love over its illegitimacy in the eyes of the world and society, justifying it as much by describing its beauty as by showing why Julia’s marriage with Alfonso is not pure and good in stanza 108. In this respect Byron’s portrayal of the lovers in this passage is a continuation of the general theme of the hypocrisy of society in ‘Don Juan’. Ironically, Byron shows us, Julia’s legitimate marriage is un-natural and not really that good, whereas her illegal relationship with Juan is described with beautiful poetry, and is clearly more natural and proper than that of the former.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Call Center Manager

The BCG matrix method is based on the product life cycle theory that can be used to determine what priorities should be given in the product portfolio of a business unit. To ensure long-term value creation, a company should have a portfolio of products that contains both high-growth products in need of cash inputs and low-growth products that generate a lot of cash. It has 2 dimensions: market share and market growth. The basic idea behind it is that the bigger the market share a product has or the faster the product's market grows, the better it is for the company. Placing products in the BCG matrix results in 4 categories in a portfolio of a company: †¢ Cash Cow – a business unit that has a large market share in a mature, slow growing industry. Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that can be used to invest in other business units. †¢ Star – a business unit that has a large market share in a fast growing industry. Stars may generate cash, but because the market is growing rapidly they require investment to maintain their lead. If successful, a star will become a cash cow when its industry matures. Question Mark (or Problem Child) – a business unit that has a small market share in a high growth market. These business units require resources to grow market share, but whether they will succeed and become stars is unknown. †¢ Dog – a business unit that has a small market share in a mature industry. A dog may not require substantial cash, but it ties up capital that could better be deployed elsewhere. Unless a dog has some other strategic purpose, it should be liquidated if there is little prospect for it to gain market share. pic] Some limitations of the Boston Consulting Group Matrix include: †¢ High market share is not the only success factor †¢ Market growth is not the only indicator for attractiveness of a market †¢ Sometimes Dogs can earn even more cash as Cash Cows The BCG Matrix method can help understand a frequently made strategy mistake: having a one-size-fits-all-approach to strategy, such as a generic growth target (9 percent per year) or a generic return on capital of say 9. % for an entire corporation. In such a scenario: A. Cash Cows Business Units will beat their profit target easily; their management have an easy job and are often praised anyhow. Even worse, they are often allowed to reinvest substantial cash amounts in their businesses which are mature and not growing anymore. B. Dogs Business Units fight an impossible battle and, even worse, investments are made now and then in hopeless attempts to ‘turn the business around'. C. As a result (all) Question Marks and Stars Business Units get mediocre size investment funds. In this way they are unable to ever become cash cows. These inadequate invested sums of money are a waste of money. Either these SBUs should receive enough investment funds to enable them to achieve a real market dominance and become a cash cow (or star), or otherwise companies are advised to disinvest and try to get whatever possible cash out of the question marks that were not selected.

Friday, January 3, 2020

The Wife Of Baths Tale Analysis - 1047 Words

Men in the middle ages looked upon marriage as being a disadvantage because they considered wives to be gold diggers in which men would pay for their fancy lifestyle. The â€Å"Wife of Bath’s Tale,† was written around the year 1386, by Geoffrey Chaucer who tells a tale about a wife that wants sovereignty over her husbands. Book 18 of â€Å"Le Morte d’Arthur,† was written by Thomas Malory, he tells a tale about Queen Guinevere who wanted to follow the traditional role of a wife, who wanted to marry Sir Lanucelot but never could and have happiness because of the tragic that she had. Even though the two women were of the same era, they had different beliefs on the role of a woman like the wife who was a gold digger that married many husbands, the Queen†¦show more content†¦She wanted a marriage where she could get everything that she wanted and to have control. She married five husbands and took money from them and giving her body to them. Queen of Guinevere who was married to King Arthur had a strong love towards Sir Launcelot who was the best knight of the world. King Arthur later had accused Queen Guinevere of adultery and told her to fight for her lover. Sir Launcelot was the knight of her choice. Her characteristics are being a beautiful woman who could not achieve true happiness because of the tragic she had when she was accused of poisoning the apple. She wanted a marriage where she could find true love and happiness and not worry about anything in the world. She wanted Sir Launcelot who would always fight for her and defend her. Queen Guinevere wasn’t about greed or lust, she wanted a happy marriage. She is characterized as a beautiful queen who wants a healthy marriage. Her love is towards Sir Launcelot because of him caring for her. In comparing the Wife of Bath’s Tale with Queen Guinevere, both show adultery because the wife in â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale† is married to her 4th Husband and sees a good looking young man and tells herself that she wants to marry him. Queen Guinevere is married to King Arthur where she sees a good looking knight that she begins to talk to. Both are religious to God who follows his rules. Queen Guinevere is rich because she is married to the king and the wife is rich alsoShow MoreRelatedThe Wife Of Baths Tale Analysis793 Words   |  4 Pagesthere were knights, kings, queens, and crusades because adultery was looked as a sin due to the fact that in the mid-1400s there was no law higher than the church. In the passage The Wife of Bath’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer characterizes the Wife of Bath as a woman who uses men for her needs and pleasure. For example, the wife explains she has many husbands but desires to lust and love other men she acknowledges. In the second passage La Morte D’ Arthur, Thomas Malory explains how people use each otherRead MoreWife Of Baths Tale Analysis1265 Words   |  6 PagesIn The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives multiple examples in â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale† of Alice, The Wife, intellectually manipulating her husbands, which portray her as a rebel against female norms of her day and a trailblazer for women going forward. However, there are some incredibly conflicting aspects of the Wife of Bath’s portrayal of women. Certainly, it can be said The Wife of Bath’s Alice was far ahead of her time. In a period when men ruled and women were expected to be subservient, sheRead MoreEssay on Summary and Analysis of The Wife of Baths Tale1857 Words   |  8 PagesSummary and Analysis of The Wife of Baths Tale Prologue to the Wife of Baths Tale: The Wife of Bath begins the prologue to her tale by boasting of her experience in marriage. She has married five men already, and ignores the idea that this is a reproach to Christian principles. She is merely adhering to the Christian principle of be fruitful and multiply. She cites the case of King Solomon, who had multiple wives, and tells the group that she welcomes the opportunity for her sixth husbandRead MoreAnalysis Of The Wife Of Bath 1660 Words   |  7 PagesThe Canterbury Fails: An Analysis of Misogyny in the Wife of Bath’s Tale At first glance, you wouldn’t think that the Wife of Bath’s tale is anything other than feminist. She is, undeniably, the only non-religious female character in The Canterbury Tales and therefore is the only character who is approached from a point of view that was generally uncommon. We don’t have many— or even any, as far as I’m aware— pieces of medieval literature written by or for women or with a main female protagonistRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath s Prologue1134 Words   |  5 PagesThe Wife of Bath uses bible verses in â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.† Further, she employs the verses as an outline of her life to find reason in God to justify her actions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the verses differs within each stanza of the poem. The Wife of Bath is a sexually promiscuous, lustful, and manipulative woman. She marries men one after the other as they get older and die. In order to combat and overthrow the speculation and c riticism being thrust upon her by societal norms becauseRead More Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay - Women in The Wife of Bath1433 Words   |  6 PagesWomen in Chaucers The Wife of Bath Chaucers The Wife of Baths Prologue and Tale is a medieval legend that paints a portrait of strong women finding love and themselves in the direst of situations. It is presented to the modern day reader as an early tale of feminism showcasing the ways a female character gains power within a repressive, patriarchal society. Underneath the simplistic plot of female empowerment lies an underbelly of anti-feminism. Sometimes this is presented blatantlyRead MoreThe Wife Of Bath, By Geoffrey Chaucer Essay1487 Words   |  6 Pagesas they were subverted into a secondary class position that deprived them of agency and sexual satisfaction. Throughout Geoffrey Chaucer’s â€Å"Canterbury Tales,† the Wife of Bath provides didactic social commentary on the discrepancies between marriage and virginity and expounds the idea of giving sovereignty to women in relationships. Although the Wife of Bath is portrayed and characterized to some antifeminist stereotypes, her fervent and unorthodox commands enrich the reasoning behind her sexual voraciousness:Read MoreThe Wife Of Bath, By William Chaucer2261 Words   |  10 Pages(Chaucer 183). The Wife of Bath is portrayed as a very flamboyant and domineering character. She enjoys things such as romance, traveling, and talking. The Wife of Bath is a feminist who depicts through her tale her radical belief that women should have dominion over their husbands. As shown in the opening quotation, the Wife of Bath is not afraid to admit that she had experienced five marriages. The Wife of Bath’s radical beliefs are demonstrated through the phylogeny in â€Å"The Wife of Bath PrologueRead MoreUse Of Satire In Canterbury Tales1301 Words   |  6 PagesChaucer’s Satyric Attack (An analysis of Chaucer’s use of satire to reach his intended audience in his Canterbury Tales) Satire is defined as â€Å"the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize peoples stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues† (Oxford). Another term that people would be more familiar with to describe this would be sarcasm. Language can be utilized in a nasty way, especially when wanting to demoralizeRead MoreEssay about Common Sense, Ethics, and Dogma in The Wife of Bath3354 Words   |  14 PagesSense, Ethics, and Dogma in The Wife of Bath In his Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer assembles a band of pilgrims who, at the behest of their host, engage in a story-telling contest along their route. The stories told along the way serve a number of purposes, among them to entertain, to instruct, and to enlighten. In addition to the intrinsic value of the tales taken individually, the tales in their telling reveal much about the tellers. The pitting of tales one against another provides a