final submission

UGB 202; Introduction To Strategic Management; Michael Winship

Table Of Contents;

Introduction Page Three

Section One

Company Background Page Three

Section Two;

The General Environment Page Four

What Is Strategy? Page Five

Why Develop Strategy? Page Six

Pestle Analysis Page Seven

The Competitive Environment Page Ten

Porter’s Five Forces Page Ten

Porter’s Value Chain Page Eleven

Swot Analysis Page Twelve

Competitive Advantage Page Fourteen

Balanced Scorecard Page Fifteen

Section Three;

Formulation Page Sixteen

Business Level Strategy Page Seventeen

Corporate Level Strategy Page Eighteen

International Strategy Page Twenty1


Section Four

Implementation Page Twenty One

Section Five

Conclusion Page Twenty Four

Product Life Cycle Page Twenty Five

References

Books Page Twenty Five

Websites Page Twenty Six

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Introduction

This report will look at the strategic management functions of the flagship music store

HMV, HMV has been chosen to look at due to the current situation of the retailer. The

retailer is is a dire situation in terms of trying to attract customers to use the retailer

rather than online. Over the past few years HMV has found it hard to try and compete

with the rising amount of retailers that are using online as a place to sell. Many more

customers now use online in order to do their shopping as a result of this HMV is

suffering. HMV desperately needs a new structure in order to ensure its safety on the

high street.

The first section to look at is the company background. It is important to look at the

company background as this gives a brief insight as to who and what the company is.

Section One; Company Background

HMV is an online and high street entertainments retailer that sells not only CD’s and

DVD’s but also offers specialist entertainment products. HMV was founded in July 1921

when it launched its now flagship store in London’s Oxford street, and become instantly

symbolic through its trademark of the dog and at the time a wind up phonograph. Today

HMV prides itself in being able to enable its customers to get ‘closer to the music’

wherever they are through the use of its ‘live’ experience. HMV has stores in other

countries other than the UK such as Ireland, Hong Kong and America.

The HMV logo has been rebranded in recent times in order to give the company a more

contemporary feel, HMV said that the rebranding of the famous logo ‘will take the role of

a quality mark in order to gently reassure customers about the heritage and expertise.

(Daily Mail)

HMV also is proud to be able to offer an unrivalled access to ‘today’s popular culture

through a number of complementary channels’. (Hmv.co.uk) Within the UK HMV houses

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over 200 high street stores which all offer a complementary range of services designed

with the customer in mind, in recent years the products that HMV offers have diversified.

In the market that HMV is in, the entertainments market it is believed that HMV are one

of the biggest retailers in this market however in recent times new entrants have

entered in to the market such as play.com which have undermined HMV’s position on

the high street and online. Challenging events in this market has lead HMV to announce

that they are planning a strategic over hall to determine which of the many high street

stores that it has are going to close in order for the business to be able to save costs

and be able to continue offering the best choice of service to customers.(BBC Business)

Sales in HMV have dropped over recent years indicating how strongly competitive the

market that HMV operates in is. The operating profit from the balance sheet indicates

that HMV international lost around two million year on year in 2009 whilst overall profit

was up ten million. (HMV Group)

The next section of this report will be to look at is analysis and more particular the

general environment. The general environment is important because this involves

looking at what the market is like at the present point and trying to establish what the

future market might look like.

Section 2; Analysis

The General Environment

Scenario Planning

Possible scenarios for retail in the future include;

Between now and the next five to ten years the retail industry will face it’s most

challenging time of recent years this is due to the economic downturn in the UK and

consumers being more cautious with what they spend and how they spend it. Due to the

severity of the downturn consumers more than ever are looking for the best possible

deal at the best possible price. The result to retail is that increased competition within

some markets e.g the entertainments market will mean that consumers will search for 4


longer to find the best price and retailers will become more competitive than previously

known.

The way people shop will change from what people normally do now, the rise of the

internet has fuelled the opportunity for the consumer to be able to shop whenever they

want and not just when they have to. Internet shopping means that you can do the

shopping one minute and then have it delivered at a time that is suitable for you

meaning that you can do other things then shop. Shopping on the high street will

change for the worst some signs of this can already be seen in figures showing the rise

in online spending/shopping. Shopping on the internet tells us that consumers and now

wanting ways to try and fit other things in rather than spending time doing the same old

things such as shopping.

Consumers will want to shop at a time that suits them not at a time that suits the

retailers opening hours, this theory is why supermarkets now are open 24 hours a day

and are quite busy at early times of the morning. Consumers want to shop at this time of

the day due to them not having time to do their shopping at other times of the day,

internet shopping allows consumers to be able to do their shopping at a time that suits

them and be able to pick a delivery time that is convenient to them. Internet shopping

also allows the consumer to save time as repeated orders take seconds if they want to

buy the same things that they have previously bought. This also allows customers to not

buy things that they don’t need to buy.

Consumers will want to shop at places that are relevant to them and places that have

the relevant products to them. More retailers are now trying to attract consumers away

from where they currently shop through using special offers and other promotions.

What is Strategy?

‘Strategy is quite simply an outline of how a business intends to achieve its goals. The

goals are the objective, the strategy sets outs the route to that objective. In the early

stages, business objectives are fairly simple; to survive, and to achieve growth targets’

(A. Henry 2009)

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Why develop Strategy?

Strategy needs to be developed in order to make sure that the business has a clear

objective and aim for going forward, many businesses heavily rely on a strategy in order

to see them through bad spells and identify where strategy needs to be used to make

them stronger. Strategy can also be used in order to make sure that a business is

different from its competitors by ensuring that the products and services that they offer

are different from key competitors.

The use of strategy also helps business managers and owners to be able to see current

trends within the market that they are operating in and be able to see what they need to

do in order to continue making themselves a viable business. By seeing what the

current market looks like this helps the business to clearly understand the trend that it is

working within. If the current trend is good this will help the retailer to try and offers

products and services that it thinks will work. (http://ezinearticles.com)

The use of strategy means that businesses are able to see particular areas where they

can do well and areas where they can do better, strategy helps a business to be able to

clearly identify aims and objectives for them to work at to make the business a bigger

success. If the owners and leaders of the business plan ahead and make changes to

their strategy when needed this makes them more of a successful business.

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Pestle Analysis

Poltical Political factors include what is happening within the country.. Factors surrounding political such as Government also including taxes and laws.

Political factors have affected HMV as in January 2011 the rate in which VAT is paid rose from 17.5% to 20% resulting in HMV having to pass this on to consumers already hard hit by the economic downturn.

Economic Economic factors are all about what it happening with the economy. Whether the country is financially secure and can live within its means. Other factors that play a key part include, exchange rates, interest rates, inflation etc

Economic factors have played a big part in what HMV is today, VAT rose in January 2011 meaning that the business will have to pay more in tax to the government. The tough economic conditions in the UK have prompted HMV to need to close some high street stores in order to remain a financial viable company. Inflation rates have rocketed over recent months indicating that the price customers are paying is higher than it normally should be. Spending on the high street is at its lowest level in over a year at the time of writing (9th March 2011) indicating more people are spending cautiously. (Financemarkets.co.uk)

Social Social factors is all about what Is The spending habits of the

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happening within the area in which you are operating. Population growth rates and age rates are big social factors as this shows an organization the type of customers it is attracting.

UK have affected HMV because of the products that it sells. The rise of internet shopping can be considered to be one of the downfalls of HMV. Although HMV has an online website that offers all of the products that it does in the high street, other players have came into the market such as play.com that have undercut HMV. Illegal downloading has also hit HMV as more people chose to buy their must illegally then rather paying for it. Socially HMV has lost its way from a few years ago when it was considered to be a big player in society, however now it is considered that HMV is not in tune socially with its key competitors.

Technological Technological factors are things that are happening within the technical world that your business is trying to use in order to make sure that they are continuing to offer customers the best type of products possible. Some of the major technological factors include the likes of Mobile phones, social networking, blogs.

Technological advances have meant that HMV is always trying to keep up with the competition a recent major restructure saw them upgrade to selling Ipods and Mac’s. You can now even buy an ipad from HMV a sign of the times that HMV is now trying more than ever to offer its customers want they want, however with increased online presence this still remains a challenge for HMV.

Legal Legal factors are all about what is Under the new coalition

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happening within the law, Such examples may be legislation which has an impact on jobs.

Government there has been talk about scrapping the national minimum wage this would impact on HMV as it would have to pay workers a different rate of pay which may influence the company’s financial position. The increase in the minimum wage in October 2011 will also impact on the financial position of the company.

Environmental Most environmental factors will link in with social and economic. Although ecological and environmental factors will also be considered.

Some of the major environmental factors for HMV include the economic downturn which has seen the major loss of many jobs within certain sectors of the economy. Social factors are saying that more people tend to be not buying on the high street and instead choosing to buy online.

Competitive Environment9


Porter’s Five Forces

Source; www.notesdesk.com

Industry Competitors Many competitors in the market that HMV serves, such as play.com, Zavvi, Amazon, Itunes means increased choice for the customer but more competition for the retailer.

Potential Entrants Major new entrants could enter the market at any time as all they need to do is to set up a website that is offering the same products and services as HMV and offer them cheaper. This will impact on the prices that HMV charges for customers.

Substitute Services In the sector that HMV serves there are many substitute services, supermarkets are now more competitive with HMV then

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Porter’s five forces is a key tool in business strategy as it allows businesses to be able to see where the bargaining power lies, one of the main advantages of using porter’s five forces model is that it helps a business to be able to identify the strength of the position within the market and determine whether they need to do anything in order to maintain their strength in the market. Porter’s five forces model also demonstrates the ability to be able to see what needs to be done when they are focusing their efforts on attacking a new market.

http://www.notesdesk.com/


ever before as they tend to be offering most of the products that HMV offer. Sometimes when a new product emerges on the market supermarkets tend to undercut their high street rivals in order to attract business.

Suppliers Suppliers within the entertainments industry that HMV serve are not just supplying to HMV but also their key competitors it is up to HMV how much they decide to charge in order to attract customers to the high street or online. Some people once argued that HMV was one of the cheapest places to go in order to get music, however these days have long gone with the emergence of online shopping and retailing.

The Value Chain

Source; http://enduragement.wordpress.com

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http://enduragement.wordpress.com/


Swot Analysis

Strengths; HMV has its own brand which lets customers ‘get closer to the music’ some of its key competitors such as play.com do not have their own branding and rely heavily on the fact that they offer free delivery and tend to be cheaper then HMV on the high street. Although HMV do tend to have more advertisements on television then play.com making potential customers aware of some of the current prices for most wanted items.

Weaknesses; HMV in is a market that is currently too big. New entrants over the past five years have meant that there is now even more pressure on HMV to perform on the high street as it is considered one of the key players in determining how good or bad the high street is performing. With the news on 8th March 2011 that the high street is in a worse state then previously thought this just emphasis once more the need for HMV to have a radical overhaul in order for it to continue a viable business on the high street.

Opportunities As previously mentioned in this assignment HMV plans to close some stores. In terms of strategy this is a good opportunity for HMV to be able to focus all of its efforts into the stores that are doing well or that are doing better than others. HMV should ensure that they continue to

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The value chain helps the business to be able to see how they are in relation to key competitors if they have all of the areas in the value chain correct then the products should be difficult to imitate and mean the business will have a competitive advantage against their competitors.


offer customers the chance to ‘get closer to the music’ through its live experience as this is offering customers a shopping experience when they do visit HMV. In terms of an opportunity the opportunity that HMV has from closing stores is that it can make its balance sheet more sustainable and use the spare funds to try and offer new products that will differentiate themselves from their key competitors such as play.com. The importance of an online presence should be interfered with, this continues to be one of HMV’s main area for generating income (HMV Global) this is why the money that is saved from closing stores should be reinvested into either online or the existing stores.

Threats HMV closing stores is a major threat to the survival of the brand, if the stores that remain open do not perform as well as they should be this could be a sign that HMV intends to close all high street stores and solely remain a online business. This threat is one that undermines the core stability of the high street since HMV has had a presence on it since the early 1920’s.(HMV.co.uk)

Competitive Advantage13

Opportunities Continued


Source; Henry A (2009)

Obtained From; www.12manage.co.uk

Balanced Scorecard

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The competitive advantage diagram from Porter shows four key stages in trying to

maintain a difference from competitors. What it also shows is the stage in which a

competitor would like to be at from their competitors. Applying this to HMV. HMV would be

in the cost focus section of competitive advantage this is due to the company trying to

save money where they can in order for them to try and remain financially competitive.

Although being In the cost focus section is not good for HMV because other competitors

will be trying to focus on cost leadership and differentiation focus to try and ensure that

they are different from what HMV is trying to do.

http://www.12manage.co.uk/


Source; Henry A (2009)


The next section is all about formulation. Formulation is essentially how you formulate a

strategy; this is one of the most important parts in strategy if not the most important.

Section Three; Formulation

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Balanced scorecard is about looking at the day to day running of the business and

seeing what it needs to be done in order to create a vision and strategy for the

business to grow. If the balanced scorecard strategy is used it will allow the

business to know that they have a difference from key competitors as they will

have clear vision for what the business is wanting to do in terms of going forward.

All staff and senior management will need to contribute towards the balanced

scorecard strategy In order for it to work. If the strategy works it will results in

customers wanting to come back to use the business again.


Strategy Formulation can be defined as a careful analysis of the firm’s internal

environment and the needs of the external environment will allow the firm to be assess

where it can best achieve a strategic fit between the two. (Henry A, 2009)

Strategy formulation is all about trying to devise a strategy in order to ensure that the

business can operate successfully and can try and take customers away from their

competitors. If all areas within a strategy have been considered then the business

should be able to ensure that competitors find it hard to imitate them in the same way.

In terms of the chosen retailer that I am looking at HMV, it can be said that they are in

desperate need of a strategy formulation plan due to the current severity of the market

that they are operating in. As have previously been mentioned HMV is now the only

major entertainments retailer on the high street as other retailers have disappeared and

are now only trading on the high street. This shows clearly that the strategy HMV has is

not working as customers would rather go somewhere else to purchase their CD’S,

DVD’S and downloads HMV needs to develop a strategy that will allow them to be able

to resurrect what they once had on the high street which was a constant flow of

customers and market dominance.

In this section on strategy formulation there are three key areas which need to be

looked at these are;

Business Level Strategy

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Business Level Strategy

Corporate Level Strategy

International Strategy


Business level strategy is a means of separating out and formulating a competitive

strategy at the level of the individual business unit. This is sometimes referred to a

strategic business unit. (Henry A, 2009)

A business level strategy is what HMV is lacking at this moment in time due to the

increased competition in the market place. The current strategy that HMV has is based

on its ‘get closer’ branding which allows customers to be able to get themselves closer

to the products that HMV sells however current economic conditions would stipulate that

customers today are now more price conscious then ever and would rather pay less

than get themselves closer to a brand.

Obtained From; www. http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net

This diagram shows the 7-s framework devised by Mckinsey, what it shows is the seven

main ways in which an organization operates, all seven of the s’s are important to the

organization as if one of the seven s’s is ignored then this can have an effect on the rest

of the s’s. What is important from this diagram is strategy links to not only all of the s’s

but more to staff highlighting the need for a dynamic and working strategy, If an

organization does not have a working strategy this may mean that they are not making

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http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/


as much money as they would like to. An organization not making as much money as

they would like to means customers will go elsewhere and will result in staff losing jobs.

A business level strategy can work for HMV but it needs to be tailored to what the

current market conditions are and also what customers are looking for, customers are

looking for that bargain somewhere where they can go to get a product where they

know they will be paying the cheapest for it. HMV for years has been known as the most

expensive around and this may be why it is facing major problems in the current

economic climate. The business level strategy that needs to be used could be to try and

restructure the organization, what does HMV need to sell and what does HMV not need

to sell, such examples of this include books. Diversification maybe but HMV does not

need to sell books when other are already specialists in this area. My suggestion would

be for HMV to stop selling books as there is no market for them to do so.

Corporate Level Strategy

Corporate level strategy focuses on the fundamental question of what business (or

businesses) do we want to be in? it is the task of most senior executive to formulate a

coherent corporate strategy. (Henry A, 2009)

The corporate level strategy for HMV at the moment in my opinion is fine this is based

upon some of the markets that HMV serves although the overall picture for HMV is not

good as customers are not there in terms of trying to attract them HMV is doing all it can

to make them want to shop there. Over the past few years HMV has diversified itself

from what they normally sold, this included the likes of just DVD’S, CD’S and console

games to now selling books, t shirts, headphones, ipods and even drinks amongst other

products. HMV selling new products is a sign of the corporate strategy that was

implemented which must have been to try and offer products that you would not

normally associate with HMV. The problem with HMV offering these products is that

everything you can buy at HMV you can buy somewhere else cheaper. CD’S and

DVD’S you can buy cheaper on the internet, books already have two major retailers

which lead the market in selling them. However HMV is now thinking of a major

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strategy overhaul, it has been reported that HMV now plans to allow customers to trade

used games online as a way of trying to draw customers back to the business. Allowing

customer to trade used games on the website is a good idea for HMV as there are not

many people who are currently doing this, PLAY.com offers a similar service where

users can sell unwanted games although do not offer a trade in service.

Furthermore to this it has also been reported that major music labels within the UK are

keen tio try and help the recovery of HMV through a scheme where they do not have to

pay upfront for back catalogue music. Many music labels see HMV as a way of trying to

tackle the online giant Amazon and are considered a way of trying to allow HMV to use

a sale or return scheme in order to try and cut around 10-15 million from their capital

requirements. If this scheme worked for HMV this cut be one of a number of ways of

HMV trying to rejuvenate what is a declining market and help them to be able to draw

up a new corporate strategy (Daily Telegraph)

Obtained From; http://courseware.finntrack.eu

International Strategy

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This diagram above shows the corporate level strategy against the business level

strategy, it clearly shows how each of the strategies are classed as the way they

are. Corporate level strategy is looking for the industry attractiveness whereas

business level strategy is looking for a competitive advantage against its

competitors.

http://courseware.finntrack.eu/


International strategy within HMV could be considered as being good this is because

the accounts for HMV indicate that internationally HMV is doing better than it is in the

UK this may be due to the fact that the UK has a high rate of illegal downloading and

also the high amount of competitors.

The international strategy that HMV has should be looked upon and considered why it is

doing better internationally then it is in the UK. If HMV were to do this they be able to

pull some of the good things about that strategy and try and use them in the UK. Any

strategy that HMV can use that would help the business would be considered good due

to the current strategy not working and could also be classed as not fit for purpose.

Although trends can be different from what they are in other countries, clearly HMV’s

expertise is internationally where on its accounts it was showing that it had more money

internationally then it had a year before a sign maybe of the underlying problems of

being in the entertainments market within the UK.

The next section is implementation, this will look at how the strategy should be

incorporated into the business.

Section Four; Implementation

Implementation is all about how a strategy is used and worked into the day to day

running of the business. The implementation stage of a strategy should be linked

closely with the Formulation of a strategy this is due to the strategy that is being worked

into the business being the strategy that was decided upon in the formulation section.

Organization Structure and Systems

‘Organization’s exist because they are more efficient at undertaking economic activities

than individuals are on their own. Therefore organizations are a means by which human

economic activities can be coordinated’ (Henry A, 2009) HMV operates in the market

that it does because it is far effective then other retailers have been in this market,

although in 2011 this dominance of the UK market has been overturned by the

presence of major online retailers.

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Strategic Leadership

‘A key factor in effective strategic implementation is the quality of strategic leadership at

the top of the organization. The ability of leaders to communicate organizational goals

clearly and guide employees to focus their attention on achieving these goals is crucial

to success’ (Henry A, 2009) The leadership of HMV could be considered as being bad

this is because they didn’t react to change in social trends to try and make the business

more viable to customers.

Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance is inextricably bound up with one’s view of the purpose of

corporations and indeed, how one defines a corporation or business. Although different

definitions of corporate governance exist, these only really make sense when we place

them in context of the purpose of the organization. (Henry A, 2009)

Throughout this report into the strategy of HMV it has been made clear the HMV is in

trouble in terms of the current strategy that it is using due to many of it’s customers that

it has had in previous years finding cheaper ways to shop and alternatives to the

products that they are selling.

In the formulation strategy section of this report it was mentioned how HMV are selling

products that in theory they do not need to be selling such as books and IPad’s this is

due to other retailers selling these products so why would HMV want to be challenging

itself with other competitors when it is struggling in its own market.

The strategy that was decided that HMV should consider using was to try and look at

some of the products that are popular with current customers such as the most popular

albums of the week and try and capitalize on this. The majority of HMV’s customers are

using the store because they know exactly what they are wanting when they go into the

store and therefore are not interested in any of the other products in the store. HMV

should try and ensure that the product range that they are offering to customers is

specific to what they want, would a customer who is going in just for the latest number

one album really want to buy a book or an I pad? Probably not.21


In terms of HMV trying to implement the strategy that was decided upon it might be a

good idea if HMV was to not implement all of this straight away and decided upon

implementing little parts at a time so that customers don’t see that big of a change. If

customers see a big change in the way HMV is selling products to them this may be off

putting to them. To start with HMV should alter the way in which it sells the current most

popular albums, if you were to walk into any branch of HMV today you would see that

HMV mainly has the most popular albums at the front of the store. HMV should change

this so that they are in more than one place in order to emphasis the importance of

these. This will also benefit customers too as this will mean that if they are looking for

something that they cannot find then they will be able to find it more quickly if it is in

more places then one.

Another one HMV should try and implement the strategy relating to books that they sell

is rather then get rid of all of the books they sell at once they should prioritize the books

that they do sell in order to work out which type of books are selling and which books

aren’t. HMV prioritizing which books are selling and which aint will mean that they can

enhance their product ranges in specific areas and not sell books that they don’t sell.

The way HMV should go about this is to first leave things as they are and over the

course of two month carry out research into which books would be best not to sell and

which books to continue to sell. In the formulation section of this report it was mentioned

how HMV should not sell books and it should be left to its other company Waterstones

to sell

The reason in which HMV is in so much trouble is because of the overall strategy that is

uses, it can be argued that although HMV sells the products that customers are wanting

they are not offering customers a reason to want to go back to the retailer. Over recent

times HMV have started to use a rewards based system called pureHMV in which

customers can claim points for their purchases either in store or online once customers

have enough points they can redeem them for money can’t buy gifts at HMV online, this

is one way in which HMV have tried to make sure that customers come back to the

retailer.

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Another way in which HMV could try and implement some of the issues that have been

raised during this report is through pricing, some customers who used to shop at HMV

have identified price as being one of the main reasons for why they now no longer shop

at HMV, whilst HMV can’t do much about price it could introduce special promotion such

as buy this and get this for a specific amount or highlight in its pricing how it is cheaper

than some of it’s competitors this would allow customers to see that it is wanting them to

shop there rather then somewhere else. The way in which HMV would implement this

would be to first implement the special offer promotions in which customers can buy one

item and get another item cheaper this would be by using a major sale campaign this

could be done around summer time which could be a great time to highlight the

importance of the high street chain. Benefits of doing a major campaign around summer

time would mean that whilst some people would use the retailer just for the special

offers some customers might see what has changed and start using the retailer again.

Recent reports have suggested that HMV might be trying to negotiate a sale or return

contract in which if products don’t sell then they can return them without having to pay

for them this is a good way for HMV to try and change from the current strategy that it is

currently using. This would allow HMV to free up space for products that are selling and

for products that customers are wanting.

Overall what needs to happen to HMV in terms of implementation is it needs to

implement some serious and radical changes in order for them to keep up to date in this

constantly changing environment. If HMV were to use some of the changes that have

been highlighted this may result in customers wanting to use the store in order to buy

the products that they are offering however if HMV don’t use this then they may find that

they continue to struggle.

Conclusion

In conclusion to the strategic report into HMV some major problems have been

highlighted that HMV need to address in order for them to remain a financially and

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competitively viable business. One of the most serious threats to have been identified

from this report is the fact that HMV is struggling to retain the market share that it once

had due to the emergence of major online retailers such as play.com and Itunes. HMV

has lost its way over the past five years due to the rapid decline in the entertainment

sector and the rise of downloading and illegal downloading music. It could be claimed

that the demise of HMV started way back in 2004 when downloads were first allowed to

be entered into the weekly singles chart but HMV failed to see this until they started

allowing downloads to be bought from their website. Although HMV was one of the few

who said that they would be introducing their own chart rather than having it based on

the official chart indicated that they thought that they could no longer compete with what

was being downloaded.

Other factors have played a part in the demise of HMV as have been previously been

mentioned in this report such as the emergence also of streaming websites and video

sharing websites such as Youtube. In 2011 you now do not need a record deal of for

your music to be being sold at your local HMV in order for you to be heard hence the

rise of the video site Youtube which allows users to be able to upload their own videos

to the site and let viewers watch them. Music streaming websites such as Spotify allow

users to listen to a limited amount of free music each week without the need for paying

which has not helped HMV’s cause.

The overall opinion of HMV at the minute is why would you go to HMV to buy a music

CD or a film when you can buy it from the comfort of your home and watch it straight

away without waiting for it to be delivered to your home. HMV closing stores in the UK is

a real highlight as to how bad things are.

The Product Life Cycle

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The product life cycle is used to determine where a certain product is in the market.

New products will be at the beginning of the cycle and products nearing the end of their

life will be at the end of the cycle.


References

Books;

Henry A, 2009, Understanding Strategic Management, Oxford University Press

Page Six

Henry A, 2009, Understanding Strategic Management, Oxford University Press,

Page Number Nine


Page Seventy One

25

If HMV was to refer to the product life cycle it would state the company and the products

that it sells are in decline, this is due to the overall market being in decline and HMV not

really addressing the issue. Customers are now wanting a better service and price than

ever before another sign of what HMV needs to do in trying to cut prices to attract

customers back to HMV.

http://www.12manage.co.uk/



Page One Hundred and Five


Page One Hundred and Six


Page One Hundred and Sixty Four


Page One Hundred and Eighty Four


Page Number One Hundred and Eighty Five


Page Number Three Hundred And Four


Page Number Three Hundred And Thirty Eight


Page Number Three Hundred And Seventy Eight

Websites

http://2009.hmvgroup.ry.com/pdfs/hmv_ara09.pdf- Date Accessed 10th April

2011

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/navigate.do?pPageID=1083 - Date Accessed 10th April

2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-476041/HMV-listen-marketing-revamp-

famous-logo.html - Date Accessed 10th April 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12117510 - Date Accessed 10th April 2011

http://citizenl.net/2010/06/why-mckinsey-nielsen-jv-is-an-expected-trend-in-

social-media/ Date Accessed 10th April 201126

http://citizenl.net/2010/06/why-mckinsey-nielsen-jv-is-an-expected-trend-in-social-media/

http://citizenl.net/2010/06/why-mckinsey-nielsen-jv-is-an-expected-trend-in-social-media/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12117510

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-476041/HMV-listen-marketing-revamp-famous-logo.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-476041/HMV-listen-marketing-revamp-famous-logo.html

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/navigate.do?pPageID=1083

http://2009.hmvgroup.ry.com/pdfs/hmv_ara09.pdf-


http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Corporate-Strategy&id=127898 –

Date Accessed 9th March 2011

http://2009.hmvgroup.ry.com/pdfs/hmv_ara09.pdf - Date Accessed 9th March

2011

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/navigate.do?pPageID=1083- Date Accessed 9th March

2011

http://www.soopertutorials.com/business/strategic-management/3028-porter-

fiveforces-model.html - Date Accessed 10th April 2011

http://www.12manage.com/methods_balancedscorecard.html Date Accessed

10th April 2011

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_7S.html - Date Accessed 10th

April 2011

http://www.12manage.com/methods_porter_competitive_advantage.html - Date

Accessed 10th April 2011

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1571616&show=html –

Date Accessed 10th April 2011

http://www.12manage.com/methods_product_life_cycle.html - Date Accessed

14th April 2011

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_7S.html - Date Accessed 14th

April 2011

http://courseware.finntrack.eu/learners/mbacorpstrat.htm - Date Accessed 14th

April 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8441565/

Music-labels-to-help-HMV-with-CD-supplies.html - Date Accessed 14th April

2011

27

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8441565/Music-labels-to-help-HMV-with-CD-supplies.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8441565/Music-labels-to-help-HMV-with-CD-supplies.html

http://courseware.finntrack.eu/learners/mbacorpstrat.htm

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_7S.html%20

http://www.12manage.com/methods_product_life_cycle.html

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1571616&show=html

http://www.12manage.com/methods_porter_competitive_advantage.html

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_7S.html%20

http://www.12manage.com/methods_balancedscorecard.html

http://www.soopertutorials.com/business/strategic-management/3028-porter-fiveforces-model.html

http://www.soopertutorials.com/business/strategic-management/3028-porter-fiveforces-model.html

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/navigate.do?pPageID=1083-

http://2009.hmvgroup.ry.com/pdfs/hmv_ara09.pdf

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Corporate-Strategy&id=127898


Total Word Count (Excluding tables, charts, diagrams, table of contents and references)

= 4398

28

final submission

Documents