Cinemex Harvard Case
Cinemex
Cinemex is a Mexican venture started by two Mexicans (Dávila and Fastlicht) and one American (Heyman) entrepreneurs, which met while doing their MBA degree at Harvard University. The venture consisted in creating a new cinema experience, including more screens and movie prints (4-14) per theater, excellent seating/service and outstanding projection and sound presentations never seen before in Mexico.
1. Defining the Problems
There are several decisions that need to be done as Cinemex is leaving behind its start-up phase. Some of the major issues faced by Cinemex are: expanding advertising in advance of each presentation to increase revenues, limit the number of seat sales for each presentation (Dávila 10% vs Heyman 3%), the expansion of LINEA Cinemex and the new proposed investment in live entertainment productions. All these problems are great opportunities indicate that the company has been following the right path.
2. Recommended Solutions
The first two recommendations are based mainly on my experience attending cinema complexes in four countries: Mexico, United States, Canada and Hong Kong. As I lived for 18 years in Mexico, I am quite familiar with the Mexican culture and how business is done. I used to go to Cinemex Toluca when I was a kid because it offered a great experience, a vast variety of films and several projection times. I can still remember buying candy from “La Locura” before each presentation. Cinemex being the first company to offer world class service and a vast choice of movie presentations was getting a lot of attention.
Firstly, expanding advertising before each presentation is a possibility, however there are several factor to take in consideration. The 3-minute run of the 72 seconds Cinemex Trailer, 3 movie trailers and the advertising cannot be extended. Increasing it could potentially damage its brand reputation as a first-class cinema. I recall it being very annoying to wait for such a long time in order to see the movie.
Cinemex is a Mexican venture started by two Mexicans (Dávila and Fastlicht) and one American (Heyman) entrepreneurs, which met while doing their MBA degree at Harvard University. The venture consisted in creating a new cinema experience, including more screens and movie prints (4-14) per theater, excellent seating/service and outstanding projection and sound presentations never seen before in Mexico.
1. Defining the Problems
There are several decisions that need to be done as Cinemex is leaving behind its start-up phase. Some of the major issues faced by Cinemex are: expanding advertising in advance of each presentation to increase revenues, limit the number of seat sales for each presentation (Dávila 10% vs Heyman 3%), the expansion of LINEA Cinemex and the new proposed investment in live entertainment productions. All these problems are great opportunities indicate that the company has been following the right path.
2. Recommended Solutions
The first two recommendations are based mainly on my experience attending cinema complexes in four countries: Mexico, United States, Canada and Hong Kong. As I lived for 18 years in Mexico, I am quite familiar with the Mexican culture and how business is done. I used to go to Cinemex Toluca when I was a kid because it offered a great experience, a vast variety of films and several projection times. I can still remember buying candy from “La Locura” before each presentation. Cinemex being the first company to offer world class service and a vast choice of movie presentations was getting a lot of attention.
Firstly, expanding advertising before each presentation is a possibility, however there are several factor to take in consideration. The 3-minute run of the 72 seconds Cinemex Trailer, 3 movie trailers and the advertising cannot be extended. Increasing it could potentially damage its brand reputation as a first-class cinema. I recall it being very annoying to wait for such a long time in order to see the movie.