This case study demonstrates the battle of Brockhaus, publisher of Germany's best-known encyclopedia, to survive two important challenges: (1) the arrival of digital encyclopedias marketed on CDROM and (2) the growth of on-line encyclopedias that are accessible free of charge. The business needed to left the marketplace for encyclopedias which it had dominated for over a century and finally stumbled over the growth of digital encyclopedias while Brockhaus was able to successfully take care of the development digital encyclopedias in its war against Microsoft. Section one describes Brockhaus' response to the emergence of digital encyclopedias and identifies the main reasons for why the company was able to successfully deal with this specific innovation. Section two contains a review of two theoretical notions: disruptive innovation theory and the value curve. This theory section should provide the participants with the tools required to successfully respond to them and to understand radical innovations. Section three describes Brockhaus' war against Wikipedia and the activities Brockhaus took to deal with online ecyclopedias.
WHEN DIGITAL DAVID MEETS PHYSICAL GOLIATH THE CASE OF BROCKHAUS VS. WIKIPEDIA Case Study Solution
At the end of the section, participants are asked (1) to examine how the strategic challenge caused by on-line encyclopedias differs from the challenge resulting from the rise of digital encyclopedias; and (2) to make use of the value curve concept to design possible strategies in response to the emergence of online encyclopedias. In a wrap-up following section three, the instance describes that Brockhaus ultimately failed at dealing with the emergence of on-line encyclopedias and had to leave the marketplace. This fundamental difference lies at the heart of Brockhaus's failure since the business attempted to handle both situations with the same strategic approach. Additionally, participants will learn to evaluate whether a strategic challenge is not continuous or not, to recognize typical behavioral patterns in response to discontinuous change and how these may be beat.
PUBLICATION DATE: November 22, 2012 PRODUCT #: IMD599-PDF-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE
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