Blockbuster Gone South


When it comes to organization planning and innovation, there are more aspects than technical planning that must be taken into consideration. Social structures, roles, rights, cognitive systems, and systems theory are all parts of innovative design. This is exactly what sociotechnical planning is. A socio-technical system applies a combination of perspectives to “inform the design of systems that involve communities of people and technology” (Interaction Design, 2021). 

One organization that has proven to be impacted by the changes in sociotechnical plan is Blockbusters. The video-rental company was one of the most famous chains in the United States. The company had undergone multiple transitions, like that of VHS to DVD. However, as new technologies were rapidly introduced, such as online video-streaming websites, Blockbuster was no longer able to remain on the top of the entertainment chain. Websites like Netflix and Hulu quickly dominated this industry by offering more convenient options that can be accessed at any time, and from anywhere. 

The changes in customer demand is one of the most prominent forces that may impact almost any industry, especially the tech industry. Once customers are introduced to a simpler or more accessible solution, they will easily divert to it. This is exactly what happened with Blockbuster, where hard copy DVDs were no longer of interest, especially because they required relevantly expensive equipment. This brings us to another force, cost over leisure. While a recurring monthly payment may sound more appealing than buying a single $20 DVD, the fact that customers can “purchase” and cast their movies online without any additional steps is much more convenient. 

The challenging aspect in a sociotechnical environment is to effectively plan for the rapid changes of technology, while ensuring that new products or services are tailored to meet such changing demands of our society. Blockbuster rapidly found itself under massive amounts of debt and some major competition, and maintaining the business was no longer feasible (Newman, 2010). This is potentially due to poor planning on the organization’s end, where the advances in technology were not accounted for.

References

Interaction Design. (2021). What are Socio-Technical Systems? The Interaction Design Foundation. Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/socio-technical-systems


Newman, R. (2010, August 19). 10 Great Companies That Lost Their Edge. U.S. News. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2010/08/19/10-great-companies-that-lost-their-edge

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