Netflix’s Strategy Making Approach
Background to Assignment 1 (setting the scene):
You are a renowned business consultant, with specific expertise in the media industry. You start a consulting business where you offer professional strategic advice and consult to organisations in the media industry. As part of your consulting work, you have been asked to complete the following tasks (questions). Read the Netflix case study (Annexure B) and answer the questions that follow.
Question 1:
DECLARATION 1. Insert the declaration template (Annexure C) here and complete it as part of your assignment. Failure to complete the declaration of your own work will result in a zero (0) mark for the entire assignment.
Question 2:
2. Critically evaluate Netflix’s strategy making approach. As part of your evaluation:
- Apply theory on Deliberate and Emergent strategies to Netflix (see Figure 1.2 in Louw & Venter 2019:18).
- Argue and substantiate which strategy making approach is applicable to Netflix using appropriate theory and examples from the case study.
- Do not include figures, bullets or tables in your answer.
- In addition to incorporating and referencing theory from your prescribed material into your answer for Question 1, you must locate, incorporate and reference 1 (one) applicable academic article of your choice (published after 2012) from the Unisa Library into your evaluation. Total: [16]
Question 3:
Consider the following excerpt from the Netflix case study: The company, which was barely 21 years old in 2018, has a stock-market value of nearly $165 billion (about R274 trillion) more than Disney. If there were an Academy Awards for business performance, Netflix would sweep all the categories (Taylor, 2018). Apply the “inside-out perspective” to the Netflix case study and critically discuss how Netflix developed a competitive advantage and earned superior returns. As part of your answer:
- Apply theory on the inside-out perspective to the Netflix case study.
- Critically discuss the elements in Figure 1.4 (Louw & Venter, 2019:25) and demonstrate how Netflix achieved competitive advantage and superior returns using this perspective
- Use appropriate theory and examples from the case study to support your discussion.
- Do not include figures, bullets or tables in your answer.
Question 4:
Critically analyse strategic innovation at Netflix. As part of your analysis:
- Apply Blue Ocean and Red Ocean theory (Table 9.1 in Louw & Venter 2019:298) when analysing Netflix.
- Introduce the concepts of disruptive innovation and value innovation in your analysis and apply them to the Netflix case study.
- Incorporate appropriate theory and use examples from the Netflix case study.
- Do not include figures, bullets or tables in your answer. Total: [16]
Question 5:
The compulsory graded activity, linked to Lesson 2 must be included in assignment 01 as Question 5. This activity contributes towards the total mark of assignment 01 and cannot be captured separately. Follow these instructions:
- Go to the discussion forum on the myUnisa site titled “The Contemporary Business Environment (Assignment 1 Graded activity from Lesson 2)” and complete the graded activity (instructions are in Lesson 2).
- Insert three screenshots of the answers you have provided to the three online questions that have been posted on the discussion forum activity in your assignment. < Your answer should be 1 page i.e. 3 screenshots on 1 page> Total:
Question 6:
Please briefly answer these reflection questions:
- Do you feel that you have achieved the learning outcomes in this assignment?
- In what way did this assignment contribute to your understanding of the course concepts?
Technical requirements:
- Table of contents
- Short overall Introduction to assignment
- Structure, academic writing style
- Short overall conclusion to the assignment
- Technical specifications
- In-text references Harvard method
- List of references Harvard method