Associate Level Material
Appendix B
Picture the Supply Chain
|Upstream Component |Internal Component |Downstream Component |
|(sourcing/procurement) |(packing/assembly |(distribution) |
| |manufacturing) | |
| | | |
|Where planning, managing, sourcing and |Packaging, manufacturing, assembling are |In this supply section, allocation and/or |
|producing of the entire activities are made|taken place in this supply section. |distribution of the finished products by |
|by external suppliers. | |external distributors are taken place. |
| |Based on the behavior of Warner Brother’s | |
|For this purposes, Hewlett-Packard is |customers and the booming in technology |Due to nature of the customer demand and |
|chosen main supplier by Warner Brothers. |with new gadgets and devices, Warner |growing technology, Warner Brothers created|
| |Brothers decided to make future investments|digital distribution platform and put its |
|The media platform that includes hardware, |into digital end-to-end business. |products into this place. Digital |
|software and services are brought to Warner| |distribution platform consists of links, |
|Brothers by Hewlett-Packard. |Warner Brothers are still keeping all its |HD-TV’s and HD-DVD etc. |
| |movies and films in shape of digital and | |
|Due to demands from Warner Brothers, |original film |Warner Brothers turned 6,000 motion |
|Hewlett-Packard ended up developing a high | |pictures into digital quality from film |
|technology performance storage package for |Nowadays, films are in forms of DVD, HD-DVD|form. All those digitalized movies are |
|its client. This way, Warner Brothers were |and Blue-ray. On top of this, Warner |storage in the Warner’s film library where |
|able to manipulate the control of the |Brothers uses Apply products and Video on |available to be watched. |
|company’s speed as Warner Brother demanded.|demand as well | |
| | |The online web site that Warner Brothers |
| | |built allows its customers to reach their |
| | |favorite movies and shows to watch and/or |
| | |download. |
The component I want to talk about is upstream. Hewlett-Packard is one of the biggest and well-known names in the computer technology world. They are one of the few companies that have ability to shape the computer world. In this perspective, Hewlett-Packard seems to be a great partner to have. Indeed! They are the one of the best partner to business with when it comes to technology. Warner brothers uses their expertise and advance technology to create a digital platform that allows Warner Brothers to reach their customers and vice versa. However, letting only one company to build the platform and have them to take care of the Warner Brothers’ digital world is a little bit risky decision despite the fact that Hewlett-Packard is the one of the strongest and leading companies in its sector. I think giving full permit to Hewlett-Packard to run the whole show is a risky move because it is like putting all the eggs into same basket. If anything goes wrong between Hewlett-Packard and Warner Brothers technologically or partnership wise, the whole warner brothers’ digital structure will be in danger.
I believe that Warner Brothers should have not given the permit to take care of the whole upstream structure. I think it would be a better choice to follow that the upstream structure designed and built by Warner Brothers with the technological help by Hewlett-Packard. This way, Warner Brothers would have full control in any cases despite the fact that it would be an expensive way to do. Plus, warner Brothers wouldn’t be stuck with Hewlett-Packard and its way if Hewlett-Packard gets surpassed by other companies technologically. In that case, Warner Brothers could replace Hewlett-Packard quickly and still have a strong digital structure to serve. 