Title: Unboxing Hulu: a tale of strategic alliance to survive in the sharing world

Authors: Harchitwan Kaur Lamba; Abhilasha Meena; Saurabh Srivastava; Tran Tien Khoa

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Vishwakarma Bhawan, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New India 110016, India ' Department of Management Studies, Vishwakarma Bhawan, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New India 110016, India ' Department of Management Studies, Vishwakarma Bhawan, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New India 110016, India ' Rector of International University, Vietnam National University, KhuPhố 6, ThủĐức, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract: Video on demand (VoD) industry is a dynamic industry in the 21st century driven by changing customer preferences, technology factors like bandwidth availability and monetisation and scalability opportunities due to its platform focused business model. Major players have their own VoD service, emphasising the importance of content-driven platforms. This paper explores the VoD industry, its evolution over time, strategic interactions between its stakeholders in the form of alliances, from the single but complex case of Hulu. The insights from this research are useful to understand the complex business model of VoD and how different stakeholders including the incumbents, complementors, and competitors strategise their actions. The value, rarity, imitation, organisation (VRIO) framework has been used to analyse the key strategic resources. In the context of Hulu, the future competitive behaviour of other stakeholders after the merger of Disney and Hulu has been explored.

Keywords: Hulu; VoD; video on demand; strategic alliance; case study methodology; RBV; resource based-view; value; rarity; imitation; organisation (VRIO) framework; online streaming; Netflix; Amazon Prime; Disney.

DOI: 10.1504/JGBA.2020.111015

Journal for Global Business Advancement, 2020 Vol.13 No.3, pp.296 - 320

Received: 11 May 2020
Accepted: 13 May 2020
Published online: 05 Nov 2020 *

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