The Napster brand has had a varied history. Its initial incarnation was as the first widely used service for ‘free’ peer-to-peer (P2P) music sharing. The record companies mounted a legal challenge to Napster due to lost revenues on music sales which eventually forced it to close. But the Napster brand was purchased and its second incarnation offers a legal music download service in direct competition with Apple’s iTunes. The original Napster Napster was initially created between 1998 and 1999 by a 19 year old called Shawn Fanning while he attended Boston’s Northeastern University. He wrote the programme initially as a way of solving a problem for a friend who wanted to find music downloads more easily online online. The name Napster came from Fanning’s nickname. The system was known as Peer to Peer since it enabled music tracks stored on other Internet users hard disks in MP3 format to be Continue reading
Business Analysis Case
Case Study: The Strategic Alliance Between Renault and Nissan
Renault and Nissan are two major automobile brands working independently as well as are in a 19-year old alliance where Renault holds 43.4 percent stake in Nissan and Nissan owns 15 per cent in Renault. The Renault-Nissan Alliance is the first of its kind involving Japanese and a French company. Renault was identified for modern design and Nissan for the excellence of its engineering. The two companies had just decided to a most important strategic alliance in which Renault would take for granted $5.4 billion of Nissan’s Debt in return for a 36.6% equity share in the Japanese company. Before the alliance it was concluded that the combined company would be the world’s largest car-maker. In the case of Renault-Nissan, it is preferable to have an alliance than merger for many reasons. Alliances would facilitate more than mergers the entrance for companies to new geographical phases where there are Continue reading
Case Study of FedEx: A Powerful Partnership of Strategy and Corporate Communication
FedEx, an international company that provides shipping by air and ground and a range of logistics and trade consulting services, must provide speed and dependability globally not only for its core businesses with customers but also in its communications with constituencies about key business objectives. Employees at FedEx work in 200 countries 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. The corporate communication function must operate in as broad a landscape with speed, high impact, and precision. Given the company’s core businesses, communication challenges can arise in many quarters–in anything from crisis management, such as managing communications in the aftermath of a plane crash or computer outage, to e-commerce initiatives, to the rapid implementation of a new business model. According to corporate vice president Bill Margaritis, the corporate communication function needs to add significant value to the business and must be fully aligned with those making high-impact strategic decisions for Continue reading
Case Study: A Critical Analysis of Restructurings by Sony Corporation
Restructuring is considered to be the corporate management term of reorganizing an organisations ownership, operations, legal and other structures within in order to make the company more profitable and more organized with its needs to be successful. There are many reasons for why restructuring includes the changes of the owner ships or the organisational structure, or a reaction towards a crisis or a change such as a change in the financial position, the company becomes bankrupt or it repositions or it bought out. Sony had restructured themselves approximately five times over nine years. They have reorganized operation systems, they have restructured management teams, and they have added structures in the purpose to make profits. Due to all their problems they faced, Sony tried to correct them by changing structures and even eliminating some to try solving the problems. Sony has restructured itself firstly by restructuring of electronics business, It has Continue reading
Case Study: The International Growth of Zara
The emergence of global fashion has transformed the way fashion is perceived in the contemporary world. In the recent years, there has been a surge of global fashion brands; triggered by the intensive involvement of internationalization processes in the fashion industry. Large retailers in search of sustained growth increasingly decide to expand overseas, responding and contributing to the globalization process. Operating internationally is an increasingly common option for organisational growth. The process becomes a necessity when the domestic market shows increasing levels of competition and commercial saturation. Incidentally, there are increasing numbers of born-global companies deciding to internationalize their businesses from the beginning of their activities, regardless of the domestic market situations. The desire to benefit from the exposure of exclusive brands to foreign markets was one of the key motive for internationalization. Notwithstanding, internationalization strategies differ across retailers and also their results. During the initiation of an internationalization strategy, Continue reading
Starbucks Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
Starbucks Coffee Company’s success in the coffee business echoed resoundingly across the globe. Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 16,635 stores in 49 countries, including 11,068 (6,764 Company Owned, 4,304 Franchised) in the United States, followed by nearly 1,000 in Canada and more than 800 in Japan. Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, snacks, and items such as mugs and coffee beans. Through the Starbucks Entertainment division and Hear Music brand, the company also markets books, music, and film. Many of the company’s products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks-brand ice cream and coffee are also offered at grocery stores. Starbucks marketed itself as the “Third Place” — a place where people can go aside from home and the Continue reading