The Cable business provides cable television to almost 10.9 million subscribers. The Film Entertainment segment produces and distributes motion pictures, television shows, animation, home video products and licenses rights to programs and characters. The Music segment records and publishes music worldwide. The Publishing segment publishes 133 magazines including Time, People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune. Networks business consists of cable networks, pay television programming services, a broadcast television network, and sports franchises. On 01-Jul-2002, the Group acquired Bertelsmann AG. Filmed entertainment accounted for 23% of 2002 revenues; Interactive services, 21%; Network, 18%; Cable, 16%; Publishing, 12% and Music, 10%.
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II. Introduction.
A company's goal is to be profitable and increase shareholders" value. To do that, each company should have a clear business model in place. Because of the Internet expansion, companies need to change and update their strategies. Many times, the existing approaches have to be readdressed in order to keep up with changing business environments. The Internet's potential is enormous and it should be used wisely. As Doctor Porter of Harvard Business School points out, being involved in e-commerce is not key to a company's success. On the contrary, the expansion of the Internet has had a negative effect on many businesses. Margins have been shrinking as consumers" power has been increased. Barriers to entry have been decreasing as setting up an Internet Web site is becoming cheaper. A clear Internet strategy should be implemented by any company involved in e-commerce. A business interested in staring an online company should focus on many aspects of the business world - marketing, management, financing, etc. As the Internet may still be in its development stage, competition will be getting even fiercer. Most of the traditional businesses are interested in e-business projects.
