...School 9-386-019 Rev. November 15, 1987 R&R During the summer of 1983, Bob Reiss observed with interest the success in the Canadian market of a new board game called “Trivial Pursuit.” His years of experience selling games in the U.S. had taught him a rough rule of thumb: the sales of a game in the U.S. tended to be approximately ten times those of sales in Canada. Since “Trivial Pursuit” had sold 100,000 copies north of the border, Reiss thought that trivia games might soon boom in the U.S., and that this might represent a profitable opportunity for him. Reiss’ Background After his graduation from Harvard Business School in 1956, Reiss began working for a company that made stationery products. His main responsibility was to build a personalized pencil division, and he suggested that he be paid a low salary and a high sales commission. He was able to gain an excellent understanding of that market, and by 1959 could start on his own as an independent manufacturer’s representative in the same industry. His direct contact with stores that sold stationery products revealed that many of them were beginning to sell adult games. He decided to specialize in those products. In 1973, Reiss sold his representative business to a small American Stock Exchange company in the needlecraft business in exchange for shares. He then set up a game manufacturing division and ran it for that company, building sales to $12,000,000 in three years. Reiss decided to go into business for himself again...
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...R&R Case Write UP By: XXXXXXXXX Bob Reiss is an experienced player in the Toy/Game market. Currently he is deciding how to follow his successful TV Guide trivia game. He could try to create a spinoff of the TV guide game. He could launch a new proposed trivia game called Whoozit, where you guess people based on clues. Mr. Reiss has to make a decision launch Whoozit, a new trivia game, or try to spin off the TV Guide game. My recommendation is to launch Whoozit. The Whoozit game allows Trivia Inc. to leverage their skills developed in the launch of the TV guide game. Trivia Inc. has access to the channels, the manufacturers, and the pulse of the trivia market customer. The case indicates that Trivia Inc. had a preliminary royalty deal with the Bettman Archive, keeper of the images necessary for Whoozit. I think the addition of a magazine like People, Life, or Time would create a direct point of touch/access and lend more recognition to the endorsement. Another reason to launch Whoozit is the low cost of the endeavor. If analogous estimation holds true, Trivia Inc. could produce these units for about $5/unit and stand to make profits of about $2.00 per unit on 500,000 units. The total cost to launch The TV trivia game was $50K, but profits were over $2M net for Trivia Inc. If Whoozit could be executed as successfully as TV Guide TV game, it would be money well spent. Finally, the lessons that Reiss had gleaned from Trivial Pursuit’s US launch are incorporated...
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...Analysis of the Case R&R Bob Reiss was an entrepreneur. He saw an opportunity in the market to make a profit and he succeeded. The following describes his market transactions and whether they were right or wrong using transaction cost economics theories. I will use Oliver Williamson’s theories and rules to decide whether the transactions were correct. At the end I will have enough information to decide if every opportunity needs a firm and if there is room for entrepreneurs who depend on the price mechanism. Reiss’s first major market transaction was designing the game. He took this to the market and found a professional inventor, whom he knew. This was the right decision. This game only needed to be designed once. The frequency was low. Therefore there was no point in wasting time and incurring the costs of creating it. Also this product was unique. He would not have been able to create it as simply as the market, which had more experience. Since Reiss knew the designer the uncertainty of him defaulting on the contract was very low. He also knew that the designer would be motivated to complete the project because he aligned their interests together through a sales motivated contract. Next was Reiss’s responsibility to set up operations to take the game to market. He didn’t have the cash flow to do this. Instead of raising the money himself he established a partnership to create the firm Trivia Inc and went to the market to gain the funding. His new partner...
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...Analysis of the Case R&R Date: September 28th, 2011 Bob Reiss was an entrepreneur. He saw an opportunity in the market to make a profit and he succeeded. The following describes his market transactions and whether they were right or wrong using transaction cost economics theories. I will use Oliver Williamson’s theories and rules to decide whether the transactions were correct. At the end I will have enough information to decide if every opportunity needs a firm and if there is room for entrepreneurs who depend on the price mechanism. Reiss’s first major market transaction was designing the game. He took this to the market and found a professional inventor, whom he knew. This was the right decision. This game only needed to be designed once. The frequency was low. Therefore there was no point in wasting time and incurring the costs of creating it. Also this product was unique. He would not have been able to create it as simply as the market, which had more experience. Since Reiss knew the designer the uncertainty of him defaulting on the contract was very low. He also knew that the designer would be motivated to complete the project because he aligned their interests together through a sales motivated contract. Next was Reiss’s responsibility to set up operations to take the game to market. He didn’t have the cash flow to do this. Instead of raising the money himself he established a partnership to create the firm Trivia Inc and went to the market...
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...What factors created an opportunity for Bob Reiss & the TV Guide game? The following are the factors that created an opportunity for Bob Reiss and TV Guide game: * Having a prior work experience in the games industry working as a consultant he had the ability to understand the nuances of the business * With his capabilities, he had increased the sales upto $12000000 within three years * He could easily foresee the rise of Trivial Pursuit in Canada and its potential market and thus success in the US market (US market had approx 10 times the sales of Canada) * TV guide thought of involving themselves because of the monetary gain that the venture assured and supported the idea of working with a small company instead of a big one * Apart from the this Bob due to his earlier network had come up with an amazing idea of coming up with a TV board game * As an average American spent 7 hours on an average watching TV and thus the theme had chances of being enormously successful (The success of Trivia) * Kaplan had ample experience to be a good business advisor and guide * Lastly, an association with Kaplan brought Reiss in contact with Swiss Colony and HellenFactoring who were the other partners in Trivia 2) What risks & obstacles have to be overcome in order to pursue the opportunity successfully? How did Bob Reiss accomplish this? (Cover the Risks & Obstacles and steps by Bob Reiss in pursuing the opportunity successfully) * In this...
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...Bob Reiss and TV Guide game: * Having a prior work experience in the games industry working as a consultant he had the ability to understand the nuances of the business * With his capabilities, he had increased the sales upto $12000000 within three years * He could easily foresee the rise of Trivial Pursuit in Canada and its potential market and thus success in the US market (US market had approx 10 times the sales of Canada) * TV guide thought of involving themselves because of the monetary gain that the venture assured and supported the idea of working with a small company instead of a big one * Apart from the this Bob due to his earlier network had come up with an amazing idea of coming up with a TV board game * As an average American spent 7 hours on an average watching TV and thus the theme had chances of being enormously successful (The success of Trivia) * Kaplan had ample experience to be a good business advisor and guide * Lastly, an association with Kaplan brought Reiss in contact with Swiss Colony and Hellen Factoring who were the other partners in Trivia 2) What risks & obstacles have to be overcome in order to pursue the opportunity successfully? How did Bob Reiss accomplish this? * Offering incentive, 5% ad allowance, to department stores for placing ad in print * Free media publicity * In this industry the fad of products was really high * The industry was highly competitive with big retailers having maximum say and share * R and R...
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...R&R Case Study What factors created an opportunity for Bob Reiss and the “TV Guide Game?” In order for Bob Reiss to be successful with the “TV Guide Game,” he had to be aware of a multitude of factors that would lead to his success. For starters Bob had a background in business from Harvard Business School, one of the most prestigious school in the nation. This business education gave him many key insights into the market and how to conduct a successful business. For example the article cites that when he started his own company he “kept overhead very low, even in good years, and never own or be responsible for a factory.” He had great people skills. This was proven by the fact that he wanted to be paid a low salary and a high sales commission. This is not something that most people ask for when first starting off. He must have been confident in his intrapersonal skills and understanding what people wanted when being sold a product. Bob saw an emerging market, in Canada alone there were 100,000 copies sold of the trivial pursuit game. He knew the market well enough to understand that there were be 10x the sales in the U.S. that would be 1million copies merely starting out. He worked for a couple other companies before starting his own to understand the business and how to build sales. At the time there were not many competitors in the market-space so he was able to act quickly enough before all the major game manufacturers jumped on board. All of these factors combined...
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...opportunity for Bob Reiss and the "TV Guide Game?” Reiss had previous experience on the game industry, which provided him with good understanding of that business. He knew about the popularity of trivia-based games in the U.S., the preceding Canadian success of Trivial-Pursuit and he envisioned the transferability of this success to the U.S. market. Reiss also hit the target by adding the TV element to the trivia-based game, in a time when the average U.S. family spent 7 hours in front of the television. Finally, Reiss’ good contacts in different industries allowed him to get a partner, to marshal funds, and to make further contacts to secure the required resources for his enterprise’s success, obtaining large benefits, involving low cost and risk levels. 2. What risks and obstacles had to be overcome in order to pursue the opportunity successfully? How did Bob Reiss accomplish this? Reiss had to confront several risks and obstacles. First, the presence of bigger players offering similar products, which Reiss handle by differentiating its product with the introduction of the TV element. Second, Reiss had to deal with seasonality of the toy industry, with the short life-cycle of game products, and with potential early market saturation. He managed to put its product in the market on time, finding the opportune associates to secure manufacturing inputs, and figuring out ways to simplify processes (i.e. replacing question-cards with printed booklets). Third, Reiss managed to find...
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...1. Risk shifting works best when interests are aligned. Discuss this statement making reference to R&R. * Interests were aligned because he was giving the sales reps commission, royalties to business partners. Everyone was rewarded when the company did well * He outsourced everything * TV guide: Sam Kaplan provided resources to the project that were an asset to R&R * Kaplan provided; they wouldn’t have been able to do that if they didn’t have the same interest * Everyone had the same vision which allowed it to be successful * Reiss could have outsourced all tasks and paid for the services provided; however, would the end product be of the same quality? * Reiss gave up a greater initial share to others willing to take on the risks in order to make a more successful business in the long term * Social capital was crucial * Reiss had a great partner; this allowed him to receive a line of credit and use his office to handle day to day activities * His partner had the connections which made the venture what it is * The media helped Reiss with advertising * Reiss was able to use Toys-R-Us as a seller * Toys-R-Us perceived as trustworthy and people knew them; he put them in TV Guide, they had free advertising and he had shelf space 2. Management team members must compliment each other, and employees must be willing to follow. Discuss this statement making reference to Vermeer...
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...Bob Reiss was a passionate entrepreneur with a strong background in the gaming industry. He was very successful with his new game venture with sales of $12,000,000 in three years. Once successful, Reiss decided to continue in this space and started his own business under the name of R&R. The toy and game industry was an established market with a very short lifecycle, frequently of no more than two years. Based on the case, I think Bob did the following things right which made him highly successful with his Trivia game: What did he do right? 1. Market awareness- He was an experienced professional when it came to the gaming industry. He acknowledged that entering an established market is going to be challenging and understood the pros and cons of launching the game in such a market. 2. Experience- Bob Reiss had been successful with his last two ventures providing him the necessary experience and strategic vision to start a new business. He was an operations guy with a clear understanding of how products are manufactured for a niche but steady market. He leveraged his experience and successful track record to connect with individuals who could play an influential role for his venture. 3. Realistic Execution- Bob was aware about his strengths and weaknesses from the beginning whether it was funding, resources, etc. When he decided to enter this market, it was very critical for him to execute the strategy for him to make this venture successful and profitable. He...
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...BoReissROBERT REISS Robert “Bob” Reiss, HBS 1956, started out as a waiter at resorts in upstate New York. He moved on after HBS to run the personalized-pencil division of a small New York company. He saw that as an opportunity to learn about running a business while someone else “picked up the tab.” He then started a sales rep company and soon stumbled on opportunities in adult games like chess and magic. Eventually he sold his company to a needlecraft company. Bob then founded R&R to create and sell games, including the TV Guide Trivia game produced during the Trivial Pursuit craze in the 1980s. Bob described his entrepreneurial career in a video interview from his office in Boca Raton, Florida, in February 2001. Interviewer: Amy Blitz, HBS Director of Media Development for Entrepreneurial Management. The Early Years I grew up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. Both my parents worked. They taught me a strong work ethic and a strong sense of morality. They also taught me to never, ever complain about anything in life. I had a brother who was three years younger than me. We grew up in a very competitive environment. We weren’t aware that it was competitive since that was just the way things were. Sports were everything in our world. We had millions of street games in front of the house. Basketball was the big sport, because in Brooklyn we didn’t have the big playing fields, so everybody played in the schoolyards. Three-man basketball was the game all weekend long. In the winter...
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...Reference Book • 「Finding Fertile Ground」 ，by Scott Shane，Wharton School Publishing Grading Policy • • • Class participation 22% Case reports and group presentation 48% Mid-term exam 30% 1 Course Topics Overview Date Subject Innovation and Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurial manager + guest speech Opportunity identification Business model and strategy Access source of financing +guest speech Entrepreneurial team and management (1) Entrepreneurial team 4/8 and management (2) +guest speech Module 3：Managing the growing venture 4/15 4/22 Reward model Mid-term case exam #4: Nantucket Nectars A note on valuation Questions entrepreneur must answer #4 #3: E Ink Building a new venture team Finding Fertile Ground Ch.8,9,10 #2: Zipcar #1: R&R Cases Readings Assign Module 1：Entrepreneurial manager 2/25 3/4 The...
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...As many people know, some of the time minorities live in poor, less stable neighborhoods. According to Reiss(1970), trying to stop African Americans when they are running away and trying to break up gatherings is a pretty common practice in low income areas. This can also lead into the topic of racial profiling. Many minorities throughout time have felt like they have been racially profiled by police officers. According to Tyler and Wakslak (2004), a study was conducted with the final result being that if people have the feeling that they are being treated equally, they would not be so quick to come to the conclusion that the police are...
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...Analysis of Ritz Carlton’s Success Abstract For over 100 years The Ritz-Carlton has set the standard for luxury and lifestyle hotel service. The chain has expanded to 81 properties in 27 countries and employees 38,000 people while continuing to win quality and service awards, receive consistent accolades from independent reviewers and maintain strong financial performance. This paper analyzes the underlying factors associated with this consistently superior performance and in particular how this is accomplished on a global scale. Through a well-defined set of values and philosophies and consistent application proven leadership and management methods, The Ritz-Carlton truly has developed into the gold standard of luxury hotel accomodations. Analysis of The Ritz-Carlton’s Success The Ritz-Carlton proudly announces on their website: You can't be a legend without a great story... The Ritz-Carlton has been recognized with numerous awards for being the gold standard of hospitality. Now with 81 properties in 27 countries and 38,000 employees, The Ritz-Carlton continues to achieve this superior service level regardless of the workforce or culture of a country in which it operates. The hotel chain accomplishes this through a combination of culture, policy, procedure and management methods that they refer to as The Gold Standards. In fact they lay out these standards for the world to see. Not only are the Gold Standards outlined on their web site; they even go so far as...
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...Change management Name Institution Affiliation Change Management Introduction Change is unavoidable in the modern business environment due its dynamics. Managers have to plan for change effectively to ensure that they achieve their desired objectives and there is little resistance to change from the employees. The following discussion analyzes leadership change management intervention. Change management entails the transformation of business processes or structure of the firm to ensure the firm can adapt to the business environment. The management has to determine the factors that are necessary for change in the company such as new legal requirement or business opportunity in the market that makes the change necessary for the company (Cameron & Green, 2012). After identifies factors that promote change in the enterprise, the management has to determine the result that they aspire to gain from the change and the people that will be affected by the transition (Creasey & Hiatt, 2003). Project change phases For change to be successful, the management has to plan for the transition process. The first phase entails preparing for change. The business management has to define its change management strategy by determining what will be changed, who will be involved, and why the change. Transition in business should focus on the people in the workplace to ensure that the process goes smoothly and according to the plan (Harrington, 2006). The plan should indicate the...
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