Reference no: EM133577284

Sampa Video, Inc. Sampa Video, Inc. was the second largest chain of videocassette rental stores in the greater Boston area, operating 30 wholly owned outlets. Begun in 1988 as a small store in Harvard Square catering mostly to students, the company grew rapidly, primarily due to its reputation for customer service and an extensive selection of foreign and independent movies. These differentiating factors allowed Sampa Video to compete directly with the leader in the industry, Blockbuster Video. But unlike the larger rival, Sampa had no ambitions to grow outside of its Boston territory. Exhibit 1 contains summary financial information on the company as of their latest fiscal year-end. In March 2001, Sampa Video was considering entering the business of home delivery of movie rentals. The company would set up a web page where customers could choose movies based on available in-store inventory and pick a time for delivery. This would put Sampa in competition with new internet-based competitors, such as Netflix that rented DVDs through the mail and Kramer and Cityretrieve that hand delivered DVDs and videocassettes. While it was expected that the project would cannibalize the existing operations to some extent, management believed that incremental sales would be substantial.