Development In The History Of Music

1. One landmark in the development in the history of music retail was the creation of the player piano. The player piano became very popular because the developments in technology gave way to giving people live music in their households when they want it player, and at a master level of performance. The next major thing to hit the music retail industry was radio technology developments. Unfortunately for the creators of the player piano, player pianos became much less profitable. Radio gave people professional recorded songs broadcasted directly to their homes, which had not previously been possible. In the 60's the rise in music popularity skyrocketed which led to the development of many record and music stores. The next major development is the invention of CDs. With the CD came the added convenience of being able to carry your music with you instead of lugging around a bulky LP. The perhaps biggest innovation to sweep the industry was the Internet. Once the Internet became widely used, artists could self promote and share their music far more easily, and consumers have the ability to find new music.

2. One key issue facing Smolover in the National Guitar Summer Workshop was the increasingly high rates of interest on musical instruments. When the instruments cost more to purchase, it makes them less available to potential musicians. With less people playing instruments, the demand for a guitar workshop is substantially affected. Another issue was the constant growth of NGSW. It eventually grew so much it caused many branches to become unprofitable besides the main branch. Another problem that was encountered was that many of the managers at the camp were creative musicians who were not necessarily as focused on managing as they were on playing their instrument.

3. The NGSW business logic was to expand and diversify operations as much as possible. After NGSW had been around for a couple of years it started opening up satellite campuses and other areas too which later lead to deals with companies like Barns & Noble. One competitive advantage of diversifying your scope of operations is that if one idea fails, it can just be discarded and rely back on the other successfully running companies. Another competitive advantage is the ability to rule the market. Since NGSW began to diversify in so many different areas within the music industry, each company begins to benefit each other. The more companies that are running and generating a profit, the more money you have to spend in areas that are in desperate need of help. Essentially, the more successfully running businesses you have the more each company can begin to 'self service' one another.

4. I think Smolover should stop focusing on the expansion, and focus on current market trends. A lot has changed since the 1990's, and as a result the business practices Smolover had practiced are probably no longer are as efficient as potentially available. While diversifying business practices can help sustain other businesses, it reaches a point where enough is enough. In the next 10 years a maximum of 3 new businesses should be created to help minimize distraction from already operating companies. Within these ten years, the operating businesses should be evaluated to see if they are profitable and are meeting market demands. If something doesn’t match up, it is important to decide what can be done to fix it or determine if closing those doors is the most practical move. In 10 years the companies that are still running would hopefully be generating a lot of money very efficiently which would allow them to expand more rapidly once again when the profits were there and high enough to allow them such luxuries.