<p>Problem area and purpose</p><p>Nowadays, 2006, the downloading of music and movies is an increasingly more burning issue. But while the music industry has made great progress in using the Internet as a distribution channel the film industry has been at a standstill for several years. Recently however there has been progress in the form of a few film companies beginning to offer their customers legal ways to acquire films over the Internet. But with this progress one central question arises, which this report will try to answer; what are the important factors for selling films as the Internet moves from primarily being a information channel to also functioning as a distribution channel? The purpose is to examine what the consumers find important when purchasing film, and to establish to what degree there is a substitution effect between DVDs and downloadable films.</p><p>Method</p><p>The report is first and foremost based on an Internet survey with a total of 383 participants. The respondents are divided into two separate selections, the first consisting of people already with a genuine interest in film (both watching and purchasing) and the second selection consisting of people with a more average interest. To get a wider perspective, but also to get an in-depth view of the business, we interviewed a Swedish journalist with strong connections both with the film companies and with the consumers.</p><p>Theory</p><p>The survey is based on three theoretical concepts; added value, differentiation and substitution. Together these concepts form two variables, Inclination to purchase DVD and Inclination to pay for downloading. Depending on the respondents’ answers to the survey, different values are given the variables, which in turn shows how inclined the different groups are to substitute DVD with downloaded films.</p><p>Result and conclusion</p><p>The report’s result shows that the first selection is not very inclined to replace DVDs with downloaded films, while the second selection shows slightly more interest. In conclusion, the most important factors for the consumers when, or rather if, downloading films are low price and an easy and functional system. When looking at the industry today this is not what the companies are offering the consumers, which puts the film industry’s role as Internet distributor in question.</p>

Television viewers have no material control over the broadcast program. They cannot choose the time, when they will watch selected program that is under the command of the broadcasters. Television serial is the most asymmetric form. Every episode of the given serial promotes the next one and provides audience in advance. It is very interesting to find out, how people, who download serials, treat them. They can watch the serials, how they want. Presented work, through the qualitative analysis of the interviews with people, who watch downloaded shows, inquires whether the material control over the program sequence is the main and only motive for downloading, and also how these persons use the serials and how they communicate about them. The results and conclusions are compared with an inquiry about the respondents' way of (present or previous) watching TV (and especially serials).

Sedan 2001 har skivindustrin förlorat en tredjedel av sin totala försäljning och framtiden för musikkonsumering är näst intill dagligen debatterad i media. På ena sidan finner man förespråkare för fri nedladdning och fildelning över Internet, medan den andra sidan består av artister och skivbolag som förklarar att man inte kan klara sig utan intäkter för musiken som produceras. Ett försenat lagförslag, ämnat att träda i kraft i juli 2005, som skulle förbjuda nedladdning av otillåtet material på Internet behandlas just nu av riksdagen. Framtiden är oviss, men det råder inga tvivel om att musikindustrin just nu undergår stora förändringar. Syftet och avsikten med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka hur stora skivbolag i Sverige hanterar de omvärldsförändringar som skett till följd av nedladdning över Internet. Vårt fokus ligger på strategiska val, aktiviteter och organisatoriska förändingar som implementeras av ledningsgrupperna på respektive företag. Vi har använt oss av tidigare studier och teorier inom strategi och change management som en plattform för att analysera företagens aktiviteter och inställning till nedladdningsfeno-menet sedan problemet identifierades. På deras respektive huvudkontor i Stockholm intervjuade vi representanter från de tre största skivbolagen i Sverige; EMI, Universal Music och Sony BMG. Datan som samlades in baserades på de frågor vi formulerat med hänvisningar till olika delar av managementteorin som behandlar diskontinuerlig förändring. En slutsats som vi dragit är att skivbolagen reagerat för sent för att till fullo ta tillvara på möjligheterna som musikdistribution over Internet trots allt besitter. Anledningarna är många, men deras relativt statiska strukturer och det faktum att man varit fast i gamla mönster är en stor del av förklaringen. Trots att man från skivbolagens sida reagerade ganska sent på förändringen så har man nu hunnit i kapp utvecklingen avsevärt och efter att ha tagit många strategiska steg på rätt väg är man nu till en större utsträckning förberedd att möta framtida behov. Den här uppsatsen innehåller mer detaljer och specifika element av deras strategiska respons, bland annat personalbyten, tydligare omvärldsanalyser och strategiförändringar. / Since 2001 the recording industry has lost a third of its total sales and the future of music consumption is almost daily debated in media. On one side there are voices proclaiming free downloading and music sharing over the Internet and on the other side there are artists and record companies explaining that they need the revenues to survive. A currently delayed law proposal to illegalise unauthorized downloading, planned to be implemented from July 2005, is being considered by the Parliament. The future outcome is uncertain, but the music industry is currently and unquestionably experiencing big change. The purpose and intention with this thesis is to examine how major record companies in Sweden are managing the environmental change, imposed by downloading over the Internet, focusing on strategic choices, actions and organizational change implemented by subsidiary level top management. We have used previous research and theories within the area of strategy and change management as a platform for analyzing what approach these companies have to this phenomenon and also what measures have been implemented since the problem was first recognized. In Stockholm we met with representatives from the three largest record companies in Sweden; EMI Sweden, Universal Music and Sony BMG. Our data was collected from these interviews, which were based on our questions referring to different parts of the management process when experiencing big change. One conclusion we have drawn is that the reaction from the recording industry has been too slow in order to fully capitalize on the possibilities in music distribution over the Internet. The reasons for this are many, but their relatively static structure and the fact that they have been caught up in old patterns are certainly part of the explanation. However, even though the record companies were somewhat slow from the beginning, they have now caught up substantially and since many of the measures suggested by previous research have been implemented, they are now to a larger extent equipped to meet the future needs. This thesis contains more specific elements on what responses to downloading the record companies are currently working with, such as restaffing procedures, rethinking the operational environment and reshaping strategies.

Problem area and purpose Nowadays, 2006, the downloading of music and movies is an increasingly more burning issue. But while the music industry has made great progress in using the Internet as a distribution channel the film industry has been at a standstill for several years. Recently however there has been progress in the form of a few film companies beginning to offer their customers legal ways to acquire films over the Internet. But with this progress one central question arises, which this report will try to answer; what are the important factors for selling films as the Internet moves from primarily being a information channel to also functioning as a distribution channel? The purpose is to examine what the consumers find important when purchasing film, and to establish to what degree there is a substitution effect between DVDs and downloadable films. Method The report is first and foremost based on an Internet survey with a total of 383 participants. The respondents are divided into two separate selections, the first consisting of people already with a genuine interest in film (both watching and purchasing) and the second selection consisting of people with a more average interest. To get a wider perspective, but also to get an in-depth view of the business, we interviewed a Swedish journalist with strong connections both with the film companies and with the consumers. Theory The survey is based on three theoretical concepts; added value, differentiation and substitution. Together these concepts form two variables, Inclination to purchase DVD and Inclination to pay for downloading. Depending on the respondents’ answers to the survey, different values are given the variables, which in turn shows how inclined the different groups are to substitute DVD with downloaded films. Result and conclusion The report’s result shows that the first selection is not very inclined to replace DVDs with downloaded films, while the second selection shows slightly more interest. In conclusion, the most important factors for the consumers when, or rather if, downloading films are low price and an easy and functional system. When looking at the industry today this is not what the companies are offering the consumers, which puts the film industry’s role as Internet distributor in question.

IEEE 802.11 PHY supports multiple transmission rates according to multiple different modulations and coding schemes. Each WiFi station selects its own transmission rate according to its own algorithm; in particular, the IEEE 802.11 standards do not specify the bit-rate selection method. Although many adaptive bit-rate selection algorithms have been proposed, there is limited research and evaluation on the performance of such algorithms for roadside networks, especially in cases with multi-vehicle roadside multi-vehicular WiFi networks. In this thesis we propose an opportunistic highest bit-rate algorithm, Opportunistic Highest Bit-Rate Multi-Vehicular WiFi Networks (OHBR-MVN), specifically for roadside multi-vehicular WiFi networks. Our proposal is based on three key characteristics of such networks: (1) vehicles will drive closer to, and eventually pass, the roadside WiFi station, experiencing a progressively better transmission environment; (2) the vast majority of data transmitted in single-vehicle drive-by downloading scenarios occurs at the maximum transmission rate; (3) vehicles that transmit at less than the maximum rate do so at the expense of those that could send more data at a higher transmission rate. We therefore believe that transmitting only at the highest possible bit-rate is the preferred algorithm for such networks. Further, this approach keeps the bit-rate selection extremely simple, avoiding the complexity and resulting problems of adaptive approaches. Through a series of experiments that compare the throughput of both fixed and adaptive bit-rate selection algorithms we show that our approach yields both higher throughput and better fairness characteristics, while being significantly simple, and thus more robust.

<p>Sedan 2001 har skivindustrin förlorat en tredjedel av sin totala försäljning och framtiden för musikkonsumering är näst intill dagligen debatterad i media. På ena sidan finner man förespråkare för fri nedladdning och fildelning över Internet, medan den andra sidan består av artister och skivbolag som förklarar att man inte kan klara sig utan intäkter för musiken som produceras. Ett försenat lagförslag, ämnat att träda i kraft i juli 2005, som skulle förbjuda nedladdning av otillåtet material på Internet behandlas just nu av riksdagen. Framtiden är oviss, men det råder inga tvivel om att musikindustrin just nu undergår stora förändringar.</p><p>Syftet och avsikten med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka hur stora skivbolag i Sverige hanterar de omvärldsförändringar som skett till följd av nedladdning över Internet. Vårt fokus ligger på strategiska val, aktiviteter och organisatoriska förändingar som implementeras av ledningsgrupperna på respektive företag.</p><p>Vi har använt oss av tidigare studier och teorier inom strategi och change management som en plattform för att analysera företagens aktiviteter och inställning till nedladdningsfeno-menet sedan problemet identifierades. På deras respektive huvudkontor i Stockholm intervjuade vi representanter från de tre största skivbolagen i Sverige; EMI, Universal Music och Sony BMG. Datan som samlades in baserades på de frågor vi formulerat med hänvisningar till olika delar av managementteorin som behandlar diskontinuerlig förändring.</p><p>En slutsats som vi dragit är att skivbolagen reagerat för sent för att till fullo ta tillvara på möjligheterna som musikdistribution over Internet trots allt besitter. Anledningarna är många, men deras relativt statiska strukturer och det faktum att man varit fast i gamla mönster är en stor del av förklaringen. Trots att man från skivbolagens sida reagerade ganska sent på förändringen så har man nu hunnit i kapp utvecklingen avsevärt och efter att ha tagit många strategiska steg på rätt väg är man nu till en större utsträckning förberedd att möta framtida behov. Den här uppsatsen innehåller mer detaljer och specifika element av deras strategiska respons, bland annat personalbyten, tydligare omvärldsanalyser och strategiförändringar.</p> / <p>Since 2001 the recording industry has lost a third of its total sales and the future of music consumption is almost daily debated in media. On one side there are voices proclaiming free downloading and music sharing over the Internet and on the other side there are artists and record companies explaining that they need the revenues to survive. A currently delayed law proposal to illegalise unauthorized downloading, planned to be implemented from July 2005, is being considered by the Parliament. The future outcome is uncertain, but the music industry is currently and unquestionably experiencing big change.</p><p>The purpose and intention with this thesis is to examine how major record companies in Sweden are managing the environmental change, imposed by downloading over the Internet, focusing on strategic choices, actions and organizational change implemented by subsidiary level top management.</p><p>We have used previous research and theories within the area of strategy and change management as a platform for analyzing what approach these companies have to this phenomenon and also what measures have been implemented since the problem was first recognized. In Stockholm we met with representatives from the three largest record companies in Sweden; EMI Sweden, Universal Music and Sony BMG. Our data was collected from these interviews, which were based on our questions referring to different parts of the management process when experiencing big change.</p><p>One conclusion we have drawn is that the reaction from the recording industry has been too slow in order to fully capitalize on the possibilities in music distribution over the Internet. The reasons for this are many, but their relatively static structure and the fact that they have been caught up in old patterns are certainly part of the explanation. However, even though the record companies were somewhat slow from the beginning, they have now caught up substantially and since many of the measures suggested by previous research have been implemented, they are now to a larger extent equipped to meet the future needs. This thesis contains more specific elements on what responses to downloading the record companies are currently working with, such as restaffing procedures, rethinking the operational environment and reshaping strategies.</p>

Στην παρούσα εργασία παρουσιάζεται η διαδικασία ανάλυσης απαιτήσεων, σχεδιασμού και υλοποίησης ενός δικτυακού τρισδιάστατου μουσείου. Παρουσιάζονται τα αποτελέσματα συνεντεύξεων με πιθανούς χρήστες, και η διαδικασία ανάλυσης των απαιτήσεων που θα έχουν από μία τέτοια εφαρμογή, η διαδικασία σχεδιασμού των υποσυστημάτων της εφαρμογής και η υλοποίηση τους. Η εφαρμογή έχει ικανοποιητική απόδοση, ενώ με τον σχεδιασμό και την υλοποίηση του συστήματος δυναμικής μεταφόρτωσης αντικειμένων, δίνει την δυνατότητα στον χρήστη να ξεκινάει την περιήγηση του στον χώρο του μουσείου ενώ ταυτόχρονα να μεταφορτώνονται τα αντικείμενα στο παρασκήνιο. Έτσι ο χρόνος αναμονής για την εκκίνηση της εφαρμογής είναι μικρός και σε εφαρμογές όπου αναμένεται ο χρήστης να κινείται αργά μέσα στον χώρο ζητώντας πληροφορίες για τα εκθέματα η περιήγηση γίνεται ομαλά, χωρίς να αντιληφθεί την διαδικασία μεταφόρτωσης. Επίσης ο σχεδιασμός της βάσης δεδομένων είναι τέτοιος ώστε να είναι επεκτάσιμος και να μπορεί να ακολουθήσει τα πρότυπα (standards) που δίνονται από διεθνείς οργανισμούς για την περιγραφή μουσειακών εκθεμάτων, ενώ είναι εύκολη η χρήση της ίδιας βάσης για την εξόρυξη της πληροφορίας σε απλή πύλη (portal). / The process of collection and analysis of requirements and the design and development of the application is presented in this project. The performance of application that is developed is considered to be satisfactory. By embedding the dynamic downloading algorithm, there is no need for prefetching of the 3D objects and that leads to very small waiting time for the application to start running. Meanwhile the 3D objects are downloaded while the user walks through the scene. In scenes like virtual museums etc where the user doesn’t walk fast from one room to the other, but stays in front of an object to get more info, the walkthrough is continuous and the downloading process isn’t noticeable by the user. Also, the database has such a design that can easily include well known standards for museum exhibits. Apart from the client application, the data stored can be retrieved from portals and thus a site edition of the virtual museum is easy to be done.

IEEE 802.11 PHY supports multiple transmission rates according to multiple different modulations and coding schemes. Each WiFi station selects its own transmission rate according to its own algorithm; in particular, the IEEE 802.11 standards do not specify the bit-rate selection method. Although many adaptive bit-rate selection algorithms have been proposed, there is limited research and evaluation on the performance of such algorithms for roadside networks, especially in cases with multi-vehicle roadside multi-vehicular WiFi networks. In this thesis we propose an opportunistic highest bit-rate algorithm, Opportunistic Highest Bit-Rate Multi-Vehicular WiFi Networks (OHBR-MVN), specifically for roadside multi-vehicular WiFi networks. Our proposal is based on three key characteristics of such networks: (1) vehicles will drive closer to, and eventually pass, the roadside WiFi station, experiencing a progressively better transmission environment; (2) the vast majority of data transmitted in single-vehicle drive-by downloading scenarios occurs at the maximum transmission rate; (3) vehicles that transmit at less than the maximum rate do so at the expense of those that could send more data at a higher transmission rate. We therefore believe that transmitting only at the highest possible bit-rate is the preferred algorithm for such networks. Further, this approach keeps the bit-rate selection extremely simple, avoiding the complexity and resulting problems of adaptive approaches. Through a series of experiments that compare the throughput of both fixed and adaptive bit-rate selection algorithms we show that our approach yields both higher throughput and better fairness characteristics, while being significantly simple, and thus more robust.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Economics, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.