When Videocassette Recorders First Became Popular in the Mid-1980s,a New

question 47

Essay

When videocassette recorders first became popular in the mid-1980s,a new form of "mom and pop" small business sprang up across the country: the video rental store. At the time,new videotapes of popular movies cost anywhere from $80 to $200. As the popularity of videocassette players grew,these small,independent video rental stores grew rapidly to meet the demand of consumers for inexpensive movie rentals. There was considerable competition between stores to be the first to have new movies available for rental. However,some stores disappointed customers by not having enough copies of new films when they were most in demand. Within about five to eight years of competition,most of these mom and pop video rental stores were ultimately put out of business by the large regional,and then national,chains,such as Blockbuster. Using the concept of sustainable competitive advantage along with the four conditions required to produce it,explain how such a transition from hundreds of independent mom and pop video stores to a few national chains could have taken place so quickly.

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Definitions:

Green Chemistry

The design of chemical processes and products that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances, promoting sustainability.

Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions in living organisms by lowering the activation energy, thereby playing essential roles in metabolic processes.

Richard Reid

Known as the "Shoe Bomber," a British terrorist who in 2001 attempted to detonate an explosive device hidden in his shoes while on an American Airlines flight.

Explosives

Substances that undergo rapid chemical reactions producing an immense amount of heat and gas, leading to an explosive force.