Instruction for Academic Task 1

Course: General Management

1. Achievement to evaluate:
At the end of the unit, the student analyzes the business environment and its influence on
management.

2. General indications:
In groups of 4, students must present an analysis on 1 of the 3 business cases found in
Annex 1.
The analysis will mainly deal with how a company's external elements and competition
(environment) can influence its business. The assignment of cases is at the discretion of
the teacher.
Search for complementary information on the Internet to enrich your analysis.

3. Specific instructions:
• The practical case will be solved and presented in groups.
• The presentation of the case must provide a solution to the following questions:

1. Brief description of the company's history, identifying four key moments.

2. How does the case company generate profits and what does it offer its users?
3. What are the main aspects of the economic environment that impact the
company? Take into account the global presence of the case company, the period
(moment) in which the case is raised and the positive and negative impact they
cause.
4. Who is the competition of the case company and how does it act? Identify and
describe at least two of the main competitors and how they create value for their
customer-users.
5. What other external elements of the environment are relevant due to the impact
they have on the company? Identify at least two and describe them, considering
positive and negative aspects.
6. Identify 5 interest groups of the company under study.

• The practical case developed will be uploaded to the Canvas platform with the
following name: Academic task_n°.doc; and its exhibition will be within the week

programmed.
 • All students must upload their file to the platform.
• The work will be presented in written form through a Word document or converted to
PDF in addition to the ppts that will be presented with the resolution of the case.

4. Recommendations
• Include cover with the name of the members
• Comply with assigned delivery times.
• The font will be Arial and the size will be 12 and line spacing 1.5
• They must organize the work according to the proposed index in specific instructions.
• The cases are found in annex 1

6. Evaluation criteria

• In Canvas you can find the evaluation rubric with which your performance will be
evaluated.
 ANNEX I
CASE 1
Adapted for educational purposes from:
BBC News World. (February 2022). Fortnite: why did Apple and Google decide to remove the popular
video game from their application stores? BBC.com.
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-53781908

Fortnite: why Apple and Google decided to remove

the popular video game from their application
stores
August 14, 2020
 In 2017, Epic Games, an American company specialized in video game development, launched
a title that changed the industry: Fortnite, Battle Royale. According to University of Scotland
researcher Andrew Reich, "the game is popular because it has been carefully created to deliver an
experience that is very engaging." And he adds: "In addition to the fact that the experience is different
for each player and changes all the time."

Fortnite, with more than 125 million users in the world, has been one of the biggest
phenomena in recent times. One of its main strategies to gain followers is that it can be purchased for
free and a specific console is not needed: it can be played on an Xbox or on a cell phone. However, if
the user wants to optimize their characters or have more weapons, objects or "movements" that help
them improve the gaming experience, they must first purchase the game's own currency by paying
with a credit card. In this way, the developers managed to raise more than US$100 million in the first
year of its launch.

Fortnite was initially available to download for free on Xbox and PlayStation consoles, in
addition to Windows and Mac software platforms. Later, its Battle Royale version was included for cell
phones and could be downloaded from the Apple App Store and more recently, on the Android
Google Play platform. However, reaching these mobile platforms was not easy. Epic Games had
indicated its initial reluctance to enter these virtual stores due to the percentage that the owner
companies (Apple and Google) take for each transaction a user makes.

Epic Games was always a harsh critic of the commission collection percentages of these
platforms. However, the movement against the policies of large stores, which Epic had made public
on different occasions, had its definitive point when the creator of Fortnite introduced a direct
payment method within the game, thus avoiding commissions. the platforms.

In August 2020, Fortnite was removed from the two most important application platforms in
the world, Apple Store and Google Play. The companies indicated that Fortnite breached several of
the legal terms that govern their virtual stores. According to specialized technology media, Epic
Games introduced a new payment method in which it offered a 20% discount to the user if they used
the direct payment available within the game instead of using the Apple or Google payment system.
With this direct charge, the developer avoided the 30% commission that, for example, Apple invoices
for each transaction within the games that are on its platform.

The Apple company said in a statement: "Epic Games enabled a feature in its application that
was not reviewed or approved by Apple and did so with the express intention of violating the App
Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that are required of all developers who sell digital goods
or services." Upon learning of Apple and Google's decision, Epic Games counterattacked and
announced that it had already filed a lawsuit against the technology giants.

In addition, he accused Apple of "exercising its enormous power to impose irrational restrictions and
illegally maintain its 100% monopoly on charges for applications that are in its stores."

Epic Games has claimed for years that the charges Apple imposed on it are exorbitant. Their
argument is simple: that Apple's control over the App Store is anti-competitive. Consider that
developers have the right to create applications for smartphones without having to pay large sums to
Apple (and also to Google, for its Google Play store). Other companies like Spotify have also pointed
out that Apple's charges are unfair. It is estimated that Apple has made hundreds of millions of dollars
from Fortnite payments alone. Epic Games' argument is that if they don't pay, where would they sell
their products? Finally, Epic Games decided to sue the Apple company.
 CASE 2
Adapted for educational purposes from:
Carlos Cueto, José for BBC News Mundo. (February 2022). What is Twitch and what is behind its
million-dollar audiences? BBC.com. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-55826329

What is Twitch and what is behind its million-dollar

audiences?
February 2, 2021

Twitch is an online live video platform that has been consumed by your younger children,
siblings, nephews, and cousins in recent years. For them, it is their television.
On Twitch, this is usually a person who puts a camera in front of their computer, starts the
live broadcast and from their chair chats directly with their audience about any topic that comes to
mind while playing a video game, analyzing a news story or comment on posts on the web. At first,
Twitch was mainly used by gamers, video game fans who broadcast their games with an entire
network of followers. Millions, in many cases.
In recent times, the platform has mutated rapidly and has been filled with content creators
with channels of all kinds: influencers, chefs, travelers, journalists or artists. Being a streamer - as
those who broadcast are known - seems to be in fashion.
Every day Twitch receives an average of 26.5 million visitors and every month more than 6
million people stream their own content, according to platform data. Several of the most popular
content creators earn millions in advertising, sponsorships, and donations. But what is really behind
the success of Twitch and its million-dollar audiences? Will these types of platforms be the future of
television as we know it?
 Many experts agree that Twitch's big boom occurred when Amazon bought it for US$1 billion
in 2014. "It was already a consolidated platform before, but after the purchase by Amazon and the
rise of video games like Fortnite, Twitch took off definitively," Elena Neira, professor of
communication studies at the Open University of Catalonia, tells BBC Mundo. in Spain.
To many it may seem strange, or at least curious, that so many people can entertain
themselves by watching others play video games. The American sociologist TL Taylor, a specialist in
online gamer culture, says that this pleasure comes from afar: "Watching others play is a powerful
modality that has been tried to be carried out since the 80s, what happens is that now a lot of
progress has been made." for the improvement of internet infrastructure and devices such as
cameras, headphones and microphones. Furthermore, "Twitch has arrived at the right time and has
exploited it. The expansion of gamer culture and technological improvements have been wonderful
for him," he added.
But, not only the purchase of Amazon boosted the platform. Like many other internet
services, the coronavirus pandemic has also consolidated a paradigmatic change for Twitch. "During
confinement, it has perhaps become more evident that Twitch has somewhat abandoned the video
game niche and has quickly become a platform with more typical broadcasts, a serious alternative to
YouTube," explains Neira. As of the second quarter of 2020, with many of the national confinements
around the world due to the pandemic already consolidated, Twitch experienced a growth of 56% in
the total hours consumed, surpassing the five billion mark between April and June. hours, according
to data from specialized consulting firms. "I think a big part of the key to Twitch's success is because it
perfectly combines the enjoyment of watching content with a powerful sense of community. "This is a
global phenomenon," Taylor says.
The growth is such that many debate whether the consolidation of various services such as
YouTube, Netflix, and now Twitch are leading to the decline of traditional television. Professor Taylor
understands that it is a valid debate and gives an example: "Before, e-Sports organizers dreamed of
their competitions being broadcast on traditional television, but little by little they have become
convinced that they don't really need it." ". However, Elena Neira believes that it is a mistake to
present the Twitch phenomenon as a "thief" of television audiences. "What happens is that now we
consume a lot of diverse media. But it is true that television on the grid is aging and in very specific
cases it cannot be renewed," he explains.
How to monetize on Twitch can be a little more complicated to understand, Taylor warns,
since virtually most content creators are experimenting and there doesn't seem to be a clear path. "At
the moment we are seeing advertising, but also sponsorships, donations and subscriptions. Money is
made, but really all models are being experimented with," explains the expert.
Like other platforms on the internet, Twitch is also not free of concerns over privacy and
inclusivity issues. In late December, the service announced new policies on hateful conduct and
harassment aimed at protecting its users. On the other hand, Neira warns, there is another "perverse"
part of Twitch about the way it collects our data, consumption habits, keywords we use, geographic
location and content we consume. This information allows you to optimize advertising based on user
tastes.
 CASE 3
Adapted for educational purposes from:
McCallum, Shiona for BBC News Mundo. (February 2022). Instagram backtracks and suspends its
plans to imitate TikTok after a barrage of criticism from users and celebrities. BBC.com.
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-62354203
BBC. (February 2022) What is Instagram Stories and how is it different from Snapchat?
BBC.com. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-36962958

Instagram backs down and suspends its plans

to imitate TikTok after the rain of criticism from
users and celebrities
June 29, 2022

Instagram is an application and social network of American origin focused on photography,

owned by Meta. It was released on October 6, 2010. It quickly gained popularity, having 300 million
users as of December 2014. As of January 2020, it was the sixth most used social network worldwide,
with around 1 billion monthly active users. By November 2022, the account with the most followers is
Instagram itself, with more than 592 million followers. The most followed man is the footballer
Cristiano Ronaldo with more than 552 million followers, while the most followed woman is the
American model and singer Selena Gómez with more than 387 million followers (Wikipedia, 2023).
There were many innovations on Instagram. In early 2011, Instagram added hashtags to help
users discover photos that others were sharing on the same topic. It thus encouraged its users to add
relevant and specific hashtags with the aim of making the photographs more popular, attracting a
greater number of fans and getting more likes. In September 2011, new live filters were included, the
option to apply blur effects to specific areas, high-resolution image editing, optional borders, and a
rotate image button. (Wikipedia, 2023).
 Instagram has always been leading innovations in social media. However, the pressures to
keep up with their consumers' preferences and their competitors' own innovations were shaping the
future of their app features.
In 2016, Instagram launched a new tool that everyone compared to the innovation of its
competitor Snapchat. The new tool was “Instagram Stories”. In the words of Instagram's CEO:
"Instagram Stories" (or Stories) allow users to share moments and then personalize them with text,
drawings and emojis. When Instagram's CEO was asked if Stories were taken from Snapchat, he
stated: "Totally. (Snapchat) Deserves all the credit," he responded to a journalist's question about the
similarity with that platform, at the launch of the new function. "When you're an innovator, that's
fantastic. Just as Instagram deserves credit for making filters relevant. It's not about who invented it.
"It's about a format, and how you bring it to a network and put your own spin on it," he added. "You
can't just recreate (or reproduce) another product," the executive added. "But you can say 'what's so
amazing about a format? How can it be applied to our network?"
Implementing features from rival companies is a recurring theme among all companies in the
social media sector. However, the public does not always accept these copies of functionality in good
manners. During 2022, Instagram announced the postponement of the launch of the new functions of
its application after the criticism it has received from users, influencers and celebrities. Among the
new features was an increase in recommended video content, in a similar style to rival app TikTok.
The display and streams were criticized, as users felt they couldn't see photos of friends and family
like before. Meta, Instagram's parent company, said it wants to "take the time" to make the right
changes.
Instagram's shift toward more video content appears to respond to the growing popularity of
competitor TikTok, where users post and watch recordings rather than photos. According to data
from digital analytics company Sensor Tower, TikTok has been downloaded more than three billion
times worldwide, making it the first non-Meta-owned app to reach this figure.
Instagram boss Adam Mosseri told a magazine that the trial version of the revamped app will
be phased out within weeks. "I'm glad we took a chance; if we don't fail from time to time, we're not
thinking big enough or being bold enough," he said on his Twitter account. "We definitely need to
take a big step back. We must learn and then we will come back with some new idea. "So we're going
to work on that," he added. Mosseri had previously posted a video explaining the changes and saying
that full-screen videos would be promoted over photos. But after some harsh criticism, they clarified
that they will continue to "support the photos."
Instagram celebrities were not left out of the controversy. In response to Mosseri's initial
video, American model Chrissy Teigen said that users "don't want to make videos." Meanwhile,
celebrities Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner also shared an online "request" to "make Instagram
Instagram again" on their stories. Toni Tone, author and content creator, posted how frustrated she
was with the changes and how Instagram was much better when she received content from the
people she chose to follow.
A Meta spokesperson told the BBC: "Based on our findings and community feedback, we're
pausing the full-screen test on Instagram so we can explore other options, and we're temporarily
decreasing the number of recommendations you see in your feed. so we can improve the quality of
your experience." "We recognize that changes to the app may be an adjustment, and while we
believe Instagram needs to evolve as the world changes, we want to take the time to make sure we
get it right," he added.