MBA501: Dynamic Strategy and Disruptive Innovation
Assessment 2
Organisation Case Study – Fantasy Film
Structure
Fantasy Film is a digital animation studio that specialises in animated feature films,
digitally animated advertising, digital animation software, and digital special effects
for live action films.
Although the organisation has production facilities in Brisbane, San Francisco, and
Los Angeles it remains centrally controlled by a senior executive team from
company headquarters located in Sydney. The managerial structure is ‘top down’
meaning that all decisions such as project appraisal and selection are made by the
senior executive team and then filter down to the lower levels in the organisational
hierarchy.
Four Businesses
Fantasy Film operates the following four strategic business units:
1. Fantaspace
This business produces digital animation feature films generating $4.8 billion in
revenue. The Fantaspace production “Slippery Bob” won the Academy Award
last year for best animated feature film.
2. Advantage
This business creates digitally animated advertising for television and the
Internet and generates $1.9 billion in revenue for Fantasy Films. Important
clients include Amazon, Tesla Motors, and Apple.
3. Anisoft
This business builds digital animation software generating $200 million in
revenue. DreamWorks has just signed on as a client subscriber.
4. DigiFX
This business produces special effects for live action feature films and
generates $150 million in revenue. The business has just been contracted to
perform the digital special effects work on the upcoming film ‘Aquaman’.
2
The findings of a recent report into these four business and their respective
markets are presented in the following tables:
Business Findings
Market Findings
New Product Fiasco – ‘Script Doctor’
Anisoft recently completed a new product development project called ‘Script
Doctor’. The software program helps storywriters and film directors to identify
potential problems in early drafts of movie scripts such as weak characters and
underdeveloped scenes. The product cost $3 million and six months to develop.
When the managers of Anisoft presented their completed product ‘Script Doctor’
to the managers of Fantaspace for their feedback they discovered that Fantaspace
had already been using a very similar (but slightly superior) script analysis program
they had developed themselves over five years ago. In fact, Fantaspace believe
their Academy Award for “Slippery Bob” would not have been possible without their
own in-house script analysis program.
The situation has raised some serious concerns for the senior executives of
Fantasy Film. Why did the managers of Fantaspace fail to realise their script
analysis program could be packaged and marketed to Anisoft clients? And why did
the managers of Anisoft waste $3 million and six months developing a product that
already existed within the organisation?