Netflix lærer oss bedriftsøkonomi 101

Netflix er en tjeneste som startet i USA i 1997. Forretningsideen var å kutte ut mellommannen (tv-kanalene) og gi kundene filmer og serier rett hjem i stua, på et tidspunkt kundene og ikke tv-selskapene valgte. På nittitallet var båndbredde en stor beskrankning, så den teknologiske løsningen var å sende DVD-plater i posten. Visjonen fra starten var imidlertid å kunne levere innholdet rett til folks stue (derfor Netflix, og ikke mail-DVDflix eller noe). #

Wired har skrevet en god artikkel om fenomenet. Den anbefaler jeg. Så hvor kommer bed.øk.-undervisningen inn? Det er spesielt to paragrafer jeg synes var interessante, i tillegg selvsagt til viktigheten av å være fremsynt og å ha en visjon å jobbe mot. Ta for eksempel starten av artikkelen: #

It had taken the better part of a decade, but Reed Hastings was finally ready to unveil the device he thought would upend the entertainment industry. The gadget looked as unassuming as the original iPod—a sleek black box, about the size of a paperback novel, with a few jacks in back—and Hastings, CEO of Netflix, believed its impact would be just as massive. Called the Netflix Player, it would allow most of his company’s regular DVD-by-mail subscribers to stream unlimited movies and TV shows from Netflix’s library directly to their television—at no extra charge. #

The potential was enormous: Although Netflix initially could offer only about 10,000 titles, Hastings planned to one day deliver the entire recorded output of Hollywood, instantly and in high definition, to any screen, anywhere. Like many tech romantics, he had harbored visions of using the Internet to rout around cable companies and network programmers for years. Even back when he formed Netflix in 1997, Hastings predicted a day when he would deliver video over the Net rather than through the mail. (There was a reason he called the company Netflix and not, say, DVDs by Mail.) Now, in mid-December 2007, the launch of the player was just weeks away. Promotional ads were being shot, and internal beta testers were thrilled. #

But Hastings wasn’t celebrating. Instead, he felt queasy. For weeks, he had tried to ignore the nagging doubts he had about the Netflix Player. Consumers’ living rooms were already full of gadgets—from DVD players to set-top boxes. Was a dedicated Netflix device really the best way to bring about his video-on-demand revolution? So on a Friday morning, he asked the six members of his senior management team to meet him in the amphitheater in Netflix’s Los Gatos offices, near San Jose. He leaned up against the stage and asked the unthinkable: Should he kill the player? #

Dette er et skoleeksempel på en god kultur hvor man klarer å se bort fra det vi kaller ‘sunk cost’. Netflix innså at de burde konsentrere seg om å levere en god service til sine kunder, og dermed var all tid og prestisje (og kapital) investert i avspilleren irrelevant for beslutning om vei fremover. #

En annen interessant policy er hvordan de ansatte blir avlønnet. #

His main directive is that everyone act like an adult: Netflix has no vacation policy (take as much as you need, when you need it), pay is flexible (stock or cash, your choice)… #

Enkelte blir motivert av mulighet for høye bonuser og kan velge selv å ha en stor andel aksjebasert avlønning, mens andre blir motivert av å ha en høy fast lønn, og kan velge det. #

En interessant historie altså, både strategisk og økonomisk. #

(Illustrasjon av dolphinsdock med CC-lisens).
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