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BROADWAY
BROADWAY ENTERTAINMENT
ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY,
COMPANY, INC.
INC.
Company Background

C A S E I NTR O D U C TI O N BEC TABLE 3-1 BEC Domestic Revenue, by Category,


Broadway Entertainment Company, Inc. (BEC) is a fic- Calendar Year 2006
tional company in the video rental and recorded music Category Revenue (in $000s) Percent
retail industry, but its size, strategies, and business prob-
Sales Revenue
lems (and opportunities) are comparable to those of real
Music Sales $572,020 34%
businesses in this fast-growing industry.
Video Sales (DVD) $154,000 9%
Video Game Sales $92,760 5%
Rental Revenue
In this section, we’ll introduce you to the company, Video Rentals $742,080 44%
the people who work for it, and the company’s Video Game Rentals $139,140 8%
information systems. At the end of all subsequent
Total $1,700,000 100%
chapters, we’ll revisit BEC to illustrate the phase of the
life cycle discussed in that chapter. Our aim is to provide
you with a realistic case example of how the systems
In addition to these store offerings, BEC is seriously
development life cycle moves through its phases and how
considering the launch of an online rental subscription
analysts, managers, and users work together to develop an
service. Over the last few years, there has been a
information system. Through this example, you’ll
significant and growing market for online rental
practice working on tasks and discussing issues related to
subscription services and to remain competitive in this
each phase in an ongoing systems development project.
business, BEC recognized that it needs to invest in this
business opportunity. BEC will leverage the use of its
existing distribution network and the Internet to
TH E C O M PA NY
compete in the online rental market. Because of this new
As of January 1, 2007, BEC owned 2,443 outlets across the
development, the company will incur a short-term impact
United States, Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica. There is
on its operating costs. But in the long run, BEC is
at least one BEC outlet in every state and in each
determined to maintain a presence in the online rental
Canadian province. There are 58 stores in Canada, 25 in
subscription business. The home video and music retail
Mexico, and 6 in Costa Rica. The company is currently
industries are strong and growing, both domestically and
struggling to open a retail outlet in Japan and plans to
internationally. For several years, home video has
expand into the European Union (EU) within a year.
generated more revenue than either theatrical box office
BEC’s U.S. operations are headquartered in Spartanburg,
or movie pay-per-view. Recently, the growth of DVD has
South Carolina; Canadian operations are headquartered
brought home video into the digital age, providing
in Vancouver, British Columbia; Latin American opera-
higher quality and broader content.
tions are based in Mexico City, Mexico.
To get a good idea of the industry in which Broadway
Each BEC outlet offers for sale two product lines:
competes, we look at five key elements of the home video
recorded music (on CDs) and video games. Each outlet
and music retail industries:
also rents two product lines: recorded videos (on DVDs)
and video games. In 2006, music sales and video rentals 1. Suppliers—all of the major distributors of recorded
together accounted for over 75 percent of Broadway’s music (e.g., EMI, Sony BMG, Univeral, and Warner
U.S. revenues (see BEC Table 3-1). Foreign operations Music Group), video games (e.g., Microsoft, Nintendo,
added another $24,500,000 to company revenues. Sony), and recorded videos (e.g., Fox, Sony, Viacom).

89

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2. Buyers—individual consumers. combine video rentals with music sales in one place. He
3. Substitutes—television (broadcast, cable, satellite), also decided that he could rent more videos to customers
subscription entertainment (such as HBO and if he changed some of the typical video store rules such as
Showtime), first-run movies, pay-per-view, video-on- eliminating the heavy membership fee and allowing
demand services, Internet-based multimedia, theater, customers to keep videos more than one night. Nigel also
radio, concerts, and sporting events. wanted to offer the best selection of videos anywhere.
4. Barriers to entry—few barriers and many threats, Nigel opened his first joint music and video store at
including alliances between telecommunications and the original BEC outlet in Spartanburg in 1985. Customer
entertainment companies to create cable television response was overwhelming. In 1986, Nigel decided to
and Web TV, which lets consumers choose from a large turn all 17 BEC outlets into joint music and video stores.
number and variety of videos, music, and other home To move into the video rental business in a big way, Nigel
entertainment products from a computerized menu and his chief financial officer, Bill Patton, decided to have
system in their homes. Indeed, one of BEC’s rivals in a public offering. They were happily surprised when all
the online movie rental service, Netflix, has already one million shares sold at $7 per share. The proceeds also
started to test this new service for videos, which is allowed Broadway to revive the dying video game line by
known as video-on-demand, which would allow the dropping Atari and adding the newly released Nintendo
downloading of movies that can be viewed on a TV game cartridges.
using TiVo hardware. Another imminent threat is the Profits from BEC outlets continued to grow
growing acceptance of Digital Video Recorders throughout the 1980s, and Broadway further expanded
(DVR), which allow the digital recording of television. by acquiring existing music and video store chains,
The most prominent provider of DVR is TiVo. including Music World. From 1987 through 1993, the
5. Rivalries among competing firms—large music chains number of BEC outlets roughly doubled each year. The
(such as Musicland and Tower Records, all smaller decision to go international, made in 1991, resulted in 12
than BEC), large video chains (such as Blockbuster Canadian stores that year. The initial three Latin
Entertainment, which is larger and more globally American stores were opened in mid-1994.
competitive than BEC), and online movie rental During 2003, the home video game industry
service providers (such as Blockbuster and Netflix, continued to expand. Nigel noticed an emerging trend
which are larger and more competitive than BEC). when analyzing the video game sales figures. Whenever a
new hardware platform or game is introduced, there is a
significant growth on sales, but the sales volume tapers
C O M PA NY H I STO RY down after a while as consumers hold back their
The first BEC outlet opened in the Westgate Mall in purchases in expectation of new platforms or games.
Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1977 as a music (record) Nigel realized that BEC can take advantage of this cyclical
sales store. The first store exclusively sold recorded music, nature of the home video game industry. A game trading
primarily in vinyl format, but also stocked cassette tapes. model has been integrated in the outlets, where
BEC’s founder and current chairman of the board, Nigel consumers can exchange games for new games or other
Broad, immigrated to South Carolina from his native used games if they can get a fair value for them. This new
Great Britain in 1968. After nine years of playing in a initiative has resulted in the revenue from video game
band in jazz clubs, Nigel used money he had inherited rentals being much higher than the revenue from video
from his mother to form Broadway Entertainment game sales.
Company, Inc., and opened the first BEC outlet. In 2007, Nigel recognized that in order for his
Sales were steady and profits increased. Soon Nigel company to remain competitive in the movie rental
was able to open a second outlet and then a third. industry, BEC has to provide an online rental
Predicting that his BEC stores had already met subscription service. The major player in this new
Spartanburg’s demand for recorded music, Nigel decided industry, Netflix, Inc., already has a significant market
to open his fourth store in nearby Greenville in 1981. At share and another big player in the movie rental industry,
about the same time, he added a new product line—Atari Blockbuster, Inc., is entering this market. To maintain the
video game cartridges. Atari’s release of its Space Invaders existing consumer base, Nigel realized that a strategic
game cartridge resulted in huge profits for Nigel. The move for BEC will be to invest in this new initiative.
company continued to grow, and Broadway expanded Instead of investing in new distribution centers, BEC will
beyond South Carolina into neighboring states. use the existing outlets as distribution points for the
In the early 1980s, Nigel saw the potential in online rental service, which will allow for shorter delivery
videotapes. A few video rental outlets had opened in times and lower operating costs. Because of the
some of Broadway’s markets, but they were all small convenience this new service will offer, BEC will be able to
independent operations. Nigel saw the opportunity to maintain the existing consumer base, while at the same

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time, bringing back customers who have been lost to files, and customer account information became unruly.
competing rental services. Like many businesses this size, the owner did not have the
From its beginnings in 1977, with 10 employees and expertise or the capital for developing the company’s own
$398,000 in revenues, Broadway Entertainment information systems. For example, Bill Patton managed
Company, Inc., grew to 24,225 employees and worldwide inventory by hand until he bought an IBM AT in 1984.
revenues of $1.7 billion by January 1, 2007. Computerizing the company made the expansion to 10
stores in 1984 much easier.
In 1985, BEC had no personnel trained in
C O M PA NY O R G A N IZ ATI O N information systems on staff, and all the BEC managers
In 1992, when the company opened its one-thousandth were quite busy coping with the business expansion. Nigel
store, Nigel decided that he no longer wanted to be chief and Bill considered hiring a small staff of experienced IS
executive officer of the company. He decided to fill only professionals, but they did not know how to manage such
the position of chairman, and promoted his close friend a group, how to select quality staff, or what to expect from
Ira Abramowitz to the offices of president and CEO (see such employees. Nigel and Bill realized that computer
BEC Figure 3-1). software could be quite complicated, and building
Most of Broadway’s other senior officers have also systems for a rapidly changing organization could be
been promoted from within. Bill Patton, the chief quite a challenge. They also knew that building
financial officer, started as the fledgling company’s first information systems required discipline. So Nigel, after
bookkeeper and accountant. Karen Gardner had been talking with leaders of several other South Carolina
part of the outside consulting team that built Broadway’s businesses, contacted the information consulting firm of
first information system in 1986 and 1987. She became Fitzgerald McNally, Inc., about designing and building a
the vice president in charge of IS for BEC in 1990. Bob custom computer-based information system for
Panofsky, the vice president for human resources, had Broadway. In 1985, no prewritten programs were available
been with the company since 1981. An exception to the to help run the still relatively new business of video and
promote-from-within tendency, W. D. Nancy Chen, the music rental and sales stores.
vice president for domestic operations, had been Nigel and Bill wanted the new system to perform
recruited from Music World in 1991, shortly before the accounting, payroll, and inventory control. Nigel wanted
chain was purchased by Broadway. Oscar Morales had the system to be readily expandable in preparation for
been hired in 1992 from Blockbuster Entertainment, Broadway’s rapid growth. At the operational level, he
where he had been in charge of Latin American realized that the video rental business would require
expansion. unique features in its information system. For one thing,
rental customers would not only be taking product from
the store; they would also be returning it at the end of the
D E V E L O P M E NT O F I N F O R M ATI O N SYSTE M S rental period. Further, customers would be required to
Broadway Entertainment Company operated from 1977 register with Broadway and attach some kind of deposit to
until 1984 without any computer-based information sys- their account in order to help ensure that videos would
tems support. As the company grew, accounting ledgers, be returned.

Nigel Broad
Chairman

Ira Abramowitz
President and CEO

Bill Patton Karen Gardner W.D. Nancy Chen Bob Panofsky Oscar Morales
VP Finance VP Info Systems VP U.S. Operations VP Human Resources VP Foreign Operations

BEC Figure 3-1


Broadway Entertainment Company, Inc. organization chart

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At a managerial level, Nigel wanted the movement of systems). BEC creates both one-year and three-year IS
videos in and out of the stores and all customer accounts plans that encompass both store and corporate functions.
computerized. He also wanted to be able to search The functions of the original in-store systems at BEC
through the data on Broadway’s customers describing have changed very little since they were installed in
their rental habits. He wanted to know which videos were 1987—for example, customer and inventory tracking are
the most popular, and he wanted to know who Broadway’s still done by pen-based, bar code scanning of product
most frequent customers were, not only in South labels and membership cards. Rentals and returns, sales,
Carolina, but also in every location where Broadway did and other changes in inventory as well as employee time
business. in and out are all captured at the store in electronic form
Fitzgerald McNally, Inc., was happy to get Broadway’s via a local POS computer system. These data are
account. They assigned Karen Gardner to head the transmitted in batches at night using modems and
development team. Karen led a team of her own staff of regular telephone connections to corporate headquarters
analysts and programmers, along with several BEC where all records are stored in a network of IBM AS/400
managers, in a thorough analysis and design study. The computers (see BEC Figure 3-2).
methodology applied in this study provided the discipline As shown in BEC Figure 3-2, each BEC store has an
needed for such a major systems development effort. The NCR computer that serves as a host for a number of POS
methodology began with information planning and terminals at checkout counters and is used for generating
continued through all phases of the systems development reports. Some managers have also learned how to use
life cycle. spreadsheet, word processing, and other packages to
Karen and her team delivered and installed the handle functions not supported by systems provided by
system at the end of the two-year project. The system was BEC. The front-end communications processor offloads
centralized, with an IBM 4381 mainframe installed at traffic from the IBM AS/400 network so that the servers
headquarters in Spartanburg and three terminals, three can concentrate on data processing applications. BEC’s
light pens, and three dot-matrix printers installed in each communication protocol is SNA (System Network
BEC outlet. The light pens recorded, for example, when Architecture), an IBM standard. Corporate databases are
the copies were rented and when they were returned by managed by IBM’s relational DBMS DB2. BEC uses a
reading the bar code on the DVD box. The light pens variety of programming environments, including C,
were also used to read the customer’s account number, COBOL, SQL (as part of DB2), and code generators.
which was recorded in a bar code on the customer’s BEC Inventory control and purchasing are done centrally,
account card. The printers generated receipts. In and employees are paid by the corporation. Each store
addition, the system included a small personal computer has electronic records of only its own activity, including
and printer to handle a few office functions such as the inventory and personnel. Profit and loss, balance sheets,
ordering and receiving of goods. The software monitored and other financial statements are produced for each
and updated inventory levels. Another software product store by centralized systems. In the following sections, we
generated and updated the customer database, whereas will review the applications that exist in the stores and at
other parts of the final software package were designed the corporate level.
for accounting and payroll.
In 1990, Karen Gardner left Fitzgerald McNally and
joined Broadway as the head of its information systems I N-STO R E SYSTE M S
group. Karen led the effort to expand and enhance BEC Table 3-2 lists the application systems installed in
Broadway’s information systems as the company grew to each store. BEC has developed a turnkey package of hard-
over 2,000 company-owned stores in 1995. Broadway now ware and software (called Entertainment Tracker—ET),
uses a client/server network of computers at headquarters which is installed in each store worldwide. Besides
and in-store point-of-sale (POS) computer systems to English, the system also works in Spanish and French.
handle the transaction volume generated by millions of As you can see from BEC Table 3-2, all of these
customers at all BEC outlets. applications are transaction processing systems. In fact,
there is a master screen on the POS terminals from which
each ET application is activated. These systems work off a
I N F O R M ATI O N SYSTE M S AT B E C TO D AY local decentralized database, and there is a similarly
BEC has two systems development and support groups: structured database for each store. Various batched data
one for in-store applications and another for corporate, transfers occur between corporate and store systems at
regional, and country-specific applications. The corpo- night (store transactions, price and membership data
rate development group has liaison staff with the in-store updates, etc.). The local database contains data on
group, because data in many corporate systems feed or members, products, sales, rentals, returns, employees,
are fed by in-store applications (e.g., market analysis sys- and work assignments. The database contains only
tems depend on transaction data collected by the in-store current data—the history of customer sales and rentals is

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SmartLAN
SmartHUB

A BEC Store

POS Server

POS

SNA

Front-end
Communications
Processor
Terminals

PCs

BEC Corporate
Headquarters

AS/400 Network of
Servers

BEC Figure 3-2


BEC hardware and network architecture

BEC TA B L E 3-2 List of BEC In-Store (Entertainment Tracker) retained in a corporate database. Thus, local stores do
Applications not retain any customer sales and rental activity (except
System Name Description for open rentals).
Data for those members who have had no activity at a
Membership Supports enrollment of new members,
local store for more than one year are purged from the
issuing membership cards, reinstatement
of inactive members, and local data local database. When members use a BEC membership
management for transient members card and no member record exists in the local database,
Rental Supports rentals and returns of all products members are asked to provide a local address and phone
and outstanding rental reports number where they can be contacted.
Sales Supports sales and returns of all All store employees, except the store manager, who is
products (including videos, music, snack on salary, are paid on an hourly basis, so clock-in and clock-
food, BEC apparel, and gift certificates) out times are entered as a transaction, using employee
Inventory control Supports all changes in rental and sales badges with a bar code strip, on the same POS terminal
inventory that are not sales based
(e.g., receipt of a new tape for rental, used for member transactions. Paychecks are delivered by
rejection of goods damaged in shipment, express mail twice a month. Employee reports (e.g.,
and transfer of an item from rental to attendance, payroll, and productivity) are produced by
sales categories) corporate systems and sent to store managers.
Employee Supports hiring and terminating hourly All other store recordkeeping is manual, and corporate
employees, as well as all time-reporting offices handle accounts receivables and payables. The local
activities
store manager is responsible for contacting via phone or

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mail members who are late in returning rented items. Each uses a local bank only for daily deposits and getting
night a file of delinquent members is transmitted to each change. BEC’s corporate bank, NCNB, arranges
store and, if a member tries to use a delinquent correspondent banking relationships for BEC so that
membership, the member is asked to return all outstanding local deposits are electronically transferred to BEC’s
rentals before renting any more items and the current corporate accounts with NCNB.
transaction is invalidated. When terminated members try to BEC’s applications are still expanding, and they are
use their cards, a BEC store clerk keeps the membership under constant revision. For example, in cooperation
card and members are given a printed form that explains with several hotel and motel chains that provide VCRs for
their rights at that point. Stolen membership cards are rental, BEC is undertaking a new marketing campaign
handled similarly, except that the store manager deals aimed at frequent travelers. At any one time, there are
personally with people using cards that have been reported approximately 10 major system changes or new systems
stolen. under development for corporate applications with over
250 change requests received annually covering
requirements from minor bug fixes to reformatting or
C O R P O R ATE SYSTE M S creating new reports to whole new systems.
Corporate systems run on IBM servers using IBM’s DB2
relational database management system, although some
run on PCs. Application software is written in COBOL, C, STATU S O F SYSTE M S
SQL (a database processing language), and several 4GLs, A rapidly expanding business, BEC has created significant
and all systems are developed by BEC. Clerks and man- growth for the information systems group managers.
agers use PCs for interactive access into corporate systems Karen Gardner is considering reorganizing her staff to
as well as for stand-alone, end-user applications such as provide more focused attention to the international area.
word processing, spreadsheets, specialized databases, and BEC still uses the services of Fitzgerald McNally when
business graphics. There are more than 20 major corpo- Karen’s resources are fully committed. Karen’s depart-
rate systems with over 350 programs and approximately ment includes 33 developers (programmers, analysts, and
500,000 lines of code. There are many more specialized other specialists in database, networking, etc.) plus data
systems, often developed for individual managers, pro- center staff, which is now large and technically skilled
jects, or special events. BEC Table 3-3 lists some of the enough to handle almost all requests.
most active and largest of the major corporate systems. Karen’s current challenge in managing the IS group
One interesting aspect of the banking application is is keeping her staff current in the skills they need to
that because stores have no financial responsibilities, BEC successfully support the systems in a rapidly changing and

BEC TA B L E 3-3 List of BEC Corporate Applications


System Name Description

Human resources Supports all employee functions, including payroll, benefits, employment and evaluation history, training, and
career development (including a college scholarship for employees and dependents)
Accounts receivable Supports notification of overdue fees and collection of payment from delinquent customers
Banking Supports interactions with banking institutions, including account management and electronic funds transfers
Accounts payable, Supports ordering products and all other purchased items used internally and resold/rented, distribution of
purchasing, and shipping products to stores, and payment to vendors
General ledger and Supports all financial statement and reporting functions
financial accounting
Property management Supports the purchasing, rental, and management of all properties and real estate used by BEC
Member tracking Supports record keeping on all BEC members and transmits and receives member data between corporate
and in-store systems
Inventory management Supports tracking inventory of items in stores and elsewhere and reordering those items that must be
replenished
Sales tracking and analysis Supports a variety of sales analysis activities for marketing and product purchasing functions based on sale
and rental transaction data transmitted nightly from stores
Store contact Supports transmittal of data between corporate headquarters and stores nightly, and the transfer of data to
and from corporate and store systems
Fraud Supports monitoring abuse of membership privileges
Shareholder services Supports all shareholder activities, including recording stock purchases and transfers, disbursement of
dividends, and reporting
Store and site analysis Supports the activity and profit analysis of stores and the analysis of potential sites for stores

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competitive business environment. In addition, staff inventory, and employee pay activities. Corporate systems
members need to be excellent project managers, are executed on a network of computers at a corporate
understand the business completely, and exhibit data center. Corporate systems handle all accounting,
excellent communication with clients and each other. banking, property, sales and member tracking, and other
Karen is also concerned about information systems applications that involve data from all stores.
literacy among BEC management and believes that BEC is a rapidly growing business with significant
technology is not being as thoroughly exploited as it demand for information services. To build and maintain
could be. systems, BEC has divided its staff into functional area
To deal with this situation, Karen is considering groups for both domestic and international needs. BEC
several initiatives. First, she has requested a sizable uses modern database management and programming
increase in her training budget, including expanding the language technologies. The BEC IS organization is
benefits of the college tuition reimbursement program. challenged by keeping current in both business and
Second, Karen is considering instituting a development technology areas. We will see in case studies in
program that will better develop junior staff members subsequent chapters how BEC responds to a request for a
and will involve user departments. As part of this new system within this business and technology
program, BEC personnel will rotate in and out of the IS environment.
group as part of normal career progression. This
program should greatly improve relationships with user
departments and increase end-user understanding of C A S E Q U E STI O N S
technology. The development of this set of technical, 1. What qualities have led to BEC’s success so far?
managerial, business, and interpersonal skills in and 2. Is the IS organization at BEC poised to undertake
outside IS is a critical success factor for Karen’s group in significant systems development in the near future?
responding to the significant demands and opportunities 3. What specific management skills do systems analysts
of the IS area. at BEC need?
4. What specific communication skills do systems
analysts at BEC need?
C A S E S U M M A RY 5. What specific areas of organizational knowledge do
Broadway Entertainment Company is a $1.7 billion inter- systems analysts at BEC need beyond the information
national chain of music, video, and game rental and sales provided in this case?
outlets. BEC started with one store in Spartanburg, South 6. Why did BEC decide to originally use an outside
Carolina, in 1977 and has grown through astute manage- contractor, Fitzgerald McNally, to develop its first
ment of expansion and acquisitions into over 2,000 stores computer applications?
in four countries. 7. What has BEC done to facilitate the global utilization
BEC’s hardware and software environment is similar of its application systems?
to that used by many national retail chains. Each store has 8. Do corporate and in-store systems seem to be tightly
a computer system with POS terminals that run mainly or loosely related at BEC? Why do you think this is so?
sales and rental transaction processing applications, such 9. What challenges and limitations will affect what and
as product sales and rental, membership, store-level how systems are developed in the future at BEC?

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