What Happened to Blockbuster?

 For this post the rise and fall of Blockbuster Video will be discussed.  Blockbuster Video was founded by David Cook in 1985 (Ash, 2020).  I remember the excitement of going into Blockbuster Video and strolling the aisle looking to find the perfect video or two for the weekend.  At its peak there were more than nine thousand Blockbuster Video stores.

Blockbuster didn’t foresee or plan for two crucial events.  First Netflix came into the market and offered to have videos sent to your home for a monthly flat fee.  Rather than needing to go to the store, the video shipped to you at a flat rate of $9.99 per month and a family could watch as many movies as they could order and return.  This was a change providing convenience and economic cost savings with an unlimited model.  The second event that Blockbuster did not plan for was the introduction of streaming services.  Now families no longer needed to go to the store to pick up videos but rather for a flat monthly fee a family could stream as many movies a month as they desired.  The was a technological change and a change that offered families with convenience.

A sociotechnical plan has the ability to assist organizations in their ability to understand and plan for changes that could impact their industry.  Blockbuster missed this opportunity as they did not foresee the economical and technological changes that could impact their business.  If Blockbuster had forecasted these technical and economic events Blockbuster could have diversified their video delivery model as they had a loyal customer base.  Today Blockbuster has one remaining store in Bend, Oregon.

For my sociotechnical plan I am focused on remote surgery facilitated by wireless technology.  For my sociotechnical plan I will need to address the technology challenges which includes moving from 5G to 6G which will continue to provide lower latency and greater speeds.  In addition, for success cultural change will need to be addressed.  Today robotic surgery is a common practice but the idea of having the surgeon in a different city or state will need to be accounted for in the sociotechnical plan.

There are numerous examples of organizations that have had great success but due to their short sightedness they are no longer in business.  There are many things that have the ability to impact the continued success of an organization.  The use of a sociotechnical plan can assist organizations in getting ahead rather than having to play the game of catch up.

References

Ash, A. (2020, August 12). The rise and fall of blockbuster and how it’s surviving with just one store left. https://www