A BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY ANALYSIS OF IMAXs MOVE TO GO HOLLYWOOD

Abstract

The IMAX Corporation is a large format film production and Distribution Company who found their niche market in the early 2000s challenged not from competitors, but from other sources of entertainment ranging from home theater, sporting events, computers and other entertainment options. Changing dynamics, demographics and technologies led to a deterioration of profitability and share price for IMAX. The resulting financial problems caused IMAX to consider dramatic changes to their core values, strategy and operations. Faced with a challenging and uncertain future, IMAX decided to go Hollywood and embarked in expansion from their niche market in predominantly educational movies and documentaries shown in museums and zoos to new partnerships with theater chains and the conversion of full-length Hollywood blockbuster movies, animations and 3-D format in the IMAX format. The present paper will examine the given situation IMAX was facing at the time and analyze whether these changes constituted a new Blue Ocean for IMAX utilizing the Blue Ocean Strategy analytic framework.