Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop Background Sesame Street is an American children's television sequence and a forge of the modern educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. Sesame Street features Muppets characters created by Jim Henson and premiered on November Nov ember 10, 1969, making it one of the longest running children's programs on television and also the longest running series broadcasted on television. The show is produced in the United States by the nonprofit organization Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop, founded by Joan Ganz Cooney and Ralph Rogers. In 1966, Joan Ganz Cooney was commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation, an American foundation, to do a study on the feasibility of using television for the education of preschool children. At the time, Cooney was a successful producer in educational television. Based on the study’s findings, Cooney urged that an experimental television series devoted to preschool children be established. The Carnegie Foundation agreed, and with the support of the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Office of Education, a grant of $8 million was raised from government and private sources. The grant was to be used for pre-broadcast research and production, a seven-month broadcast period, and national evaluation of the broadcast season. The Children’s Television Workshop was founded in 1968 to conduct the study. A set of curriculum goals was developed in various categories: social, moral, and affective development; language and reading; mathematical and numerical skills; and reasoning, problem-solving, and perception. Research was conducted to determine how to best develop an operational model. Five test shows were developed and evaluated in August 1969. Based on the results of the tests, the first show, called Sesame Street , aired in November 1969 on stations of the Public Broadcasting Service, a commercial-free television network supported by government and private funding. The show was an immediate success and in the first season, the estimated audience was about seven million of the 12 million target audience. Children’s Television Workshop changed its name to Sesame Workshop .Within Sesame Workshop, there was a consensus that many interesting international growth opportunities existed. For example, Sesame Street was not broadcast in Brazil, France, or India. There were also opportunities for co-productions in many of the countries where the English-language version of 1
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop the show was broadcast. However, capitalizing on the opportunities had to be balanced with various factors. Sesame Workshop’s mission was to educate children and their families globally. But, even though Sesame Workshop was a not-for-profit organization, creating a financially viable and growing organization was a necessity. According to Sesame Workshop, “Our mission is to create innovative, engaging content that maximizes the educational power of media to help all children reach their highest potential.”Sesame Workshop core values were described as: Innovation: We seek new ways to make the world of media more valuable for
children, with a Keen appreciation of children’s imagination and inquisitive spirit. Optimism: We champion the educational potential of media in the lives of
children. Knowledge: We ground our work in research to expand our understanding of
What appeals to Children and what helps them learn, develop, and grow. Diversity: We create places where all children can see themselves and
appreciate others. Soon after Sesame Street premiered in 1969, Children’s Television Workshop began receiving inquiries from producers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other English-speaking countries about the rebroadcast rights to the series (Exhibit 1 shows international milestones). In addition, producers from other countries where English was widely spoken approached Children’s Television Workshop with requests to rebroadcast the series with slight modifications. In Israel, for example, the series first aired in English with occasional commentary in Hebrew. In Japan, the American version of Sesame Street was broadcast until 1998 unedited and unaltered, with the purpose of teaching English as a second language to children, teenagers, and adults. In 1998, NHK, the Japanese broadcaster, began offering a dubbed version of the show. Similarly, countries in the Caribbean used the series as a means of teaching English. In 1973, the international evolution continued with the introduction of a new series of 130 half-hour episodes entirely in Spanish for the Mexican market. Half the 2
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop material came from the U.S. series and the other half was produced in Mexico. To avoid duplicating the look of the American series, a distinctive Latin Americanlooking set was designed around a neighborhood square. New music was recorded, and writers and producers were hired from Mexico and other Latin American countries. Two new puppet characters were created exclusively for the series. Financial support came from several Latin American sources and a grant from Xerox Corporation. Plaza Sésamo’s debut in 1973 achieved the highest audience share of any television program ever broadcast in Mexico. First, Sesame Workshop worked with local co-producers, usually a local broadcaster, to establish a board of advisors to set local curriculum standards. Based on the establishment of local goals and standards, Sesame Workshop collaborated extensively with co-producers on all production issues: writers, musicians, animation, sets, etc. Because Sesame Workshop believed that good writing was the key to success, about 25-30 people would be brought to New York for training on writing educational and entertaining segments for the show. Sesame Workshop also constructed puppets for local productions that reflected local cultures and customs. Sesame Workshop owned the characters and licensed them to the foreign productions. About half the shows’ content came from Sesame Workshop and was dubbed into the local language. Typically, street scenes were 100% local production. Live action and animation were 50% Sesame Workshop and 50% local. Muppet segments, such as Bert & Ernie and Cookie Monster, were drawn from Sesame Workshop material and dubbed. The co-producer could also use material from Sesame Workshop’s library of culturally neutral international segments. Entry into China began when Sesame Workshop contacted four Chinese universities with the message that Sesame Workshop was interested in China and would like to visit to discuss education and children’s programming. Several people from Sesame Workshop went to China and conducted three-day seminars about Sesame Workshop, writing for children’s programming, pr ogramming, and possible partnerships. The seminars were sponsored by universities and their departments of education. The result of the trip was that almost every broadcaster contacted was interested in partnering with Sesame Workshop. Eventually, the firm signed a contract with Shanghai Television, which broadcast to about 100 million people. The contract, negotiated over a year, included a provision for syndication throughout China, which at the time was a difficult process. The contract also required that Sesame Workshop find $5 million for the co-production.
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Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop Sesame Street in Russia was initiated as part of a USAID program to the former
Soviet Union. The program had three objectives: democratization, business principles, and education. Ulitsa Sezam, Sesame Workshop’s Russian coproduction, was launched in 1996 after six years in the making. Many issues, such as transportation, communications, office accommodations, and electricity proved to be major hurdles. A grant from George Soros and sponsorship by Nestlé S.A. made the production possible. The initial production included 52 halfhour shows, which created the first educational television series produced in Russia. About 70% of the show was written, filmed, and produced in Russia. From year 2001 Sesame Workshop Worksh op was involved in different multiple activities regarding children. For example television, film, and video in cluded television programming, feature films, home video, and various products on cassette and CD. Noggin, a joint venture between Sesame Workshop and the cable channel Nickelodeon, was launched in 1998 as the first commercial-free 24-hour cable television channel and online service dedicated to educating and entertaining children. In 1999, Sesame Workshop launched Dragon Tales, a half-hour animated fantasy adventure program designed to encourage children to approach new experiences with confidence. Dragon Tales quickly became a huge success in the United States and markets such as Australia, U.K., and Hong Kong. Dragon Tales was being dubbed for markets such as Brazil and Mexico. From the beginning of SESAME at 1992 it runs run s the company smoothly. First in 1999 and 2000 the company faces deficit positions. Though the condition in 2000 was more comfortable than 1999; situation is like this resulted in various new product initiative and fundraising efforts. In 2000, the Sesame Street show and related products accounted for the majority of revenue generated by Sesame Workshop. Revenue in 2000 grew by 19%, mainly as a result of the introduction of Dragon Tales. Publishing and product licensing revenues increased 1% and 2%, respectively. Reductions in corporate staff resulted in a decrease in general and administrative costs. The total number of employees was about 300, down from more than 400 in 1999. When Sesame Workshop internationalized in the 1970s and 1980s, television in most countries was dominated by public broadcasters. Many of these broadcasters were prepared to pay Sesame Workshop fees to cover production and other costs. In the 1990s, especially with the growth of commercial broadcasting via satellite and cable, the television industry worldwide became much more competitive. With new competition, audiences dropped for individual broadcasters and especially for the former monopoly public broadcasters. As well, the children’s programming area was not a primary area for most 4
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop commercial broadcasters. Historically, most government-owned channels were not allowed to interrupt programming for young children with commercials. However, the increase in cable and satellite broadcasting was putting pressure on Sesame Workshop’s commercial-free philosophy. For the future plan, the managers of the international group saw many opportunities and plenty of challenges like, in Japan SEASEM created a lot of opportunities. a large market in Japan was teenage girls and young women. Sesame Street was watched primarily as a vehicle for learning English, which was never Sesame Workshop’s intention for Japan. As well, Japanese girls were very fond of characters on products like clothing, purses, T-shirts, key chains, earrings, etc. The Sesame Street characters were very popular, and many offers for product licenses had to be turned down because they were deemed inconsistent for the brand. So, now it’s a great challenge to the top managments of this company to move the company to the right direction addressing the global challenges.
Theme Sesame workshop is very old organization and a combination of various kind of activities. Activities done by Sesame Workshop cover 80% of the expense of Sesame Street. The remaining 20% was planned to cover by managing a security portfolio in Capital market, but there is no security that the budget defiance’s will be covered by managing portfolio. The Organization is top heavy and full of senior managers, basically they lack the knowledge how to manage that, which becomes its own worst enemy. There is also a lack of job security, layoffs became an annual occurrence. Increasing pressure for commercial breaks by the commercial broadcaster became a threat to the mission of Sesame workshop. Product licensing was also an area that offered interesting challenges. Products were becoming out of date in less then six months time; the trend was changing very fast.
Main Issue 5
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop To become and sustain a successful global educational program workshop what factors should Sesame workshop take under consideration considering the problem in the top management.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Translated in many languages including local languages
Sesame Street, a locally produced version vers ion of a show was broadcast in almost 150 countries including English-speaking countries like; Canada, Australia, New Zealand and non English speaking countries like; Israel, Japan, Caribbean. So, the show was translated in many different languages so that the English and non English spoken people can understand the theme and the content of the show clearly as, the purpose of the show was to educate the children. The show was also co-produced in the local languages in 20 countries with local actors, writers, musicians, animations, and sets and in other o ther countries, the show was either in English-language American version, or the American ve3rsion with some segments dubbed in the local language. Income generated from the workshop was tax free
Sesame Workshop, the producer of Sesame Street was a not for profit company so, the income generated by the educational activities was exempt from taxation other than that the income generated by the activities unrelated to the workshop’s educational purpose was taxable.
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Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop Commercial free television program
Sesame Street broadcasted under the Public Broadcasting system which is a commercial free television network supported by the government and private funding. Significant for not only educational purpose but also for cognitive and social development
Studies showed that the show made a significant and lasting contribution to preschoolers’ cognitive and social development. Studies also showed that the children who watched more have learned more and that gains were made by the children from both middle and the low income background. Sesame workshop was a global one but maintained the individual local culture and custom
As the workshop worked with the local co-producer, usually a broadcaster, so, it followed the local gals and curriculum standards, cultures and customs. Therefore no contradiction happens due to different cultures and languages. Globally produced products to fund the projects
Sesame workshop doesn’t only associated with educational purpose but it also produced many products in partnership with firms like Proctor and Gamble ,Sony, Kmart etc. which in turn helped the workshop to fund for educational projects. Outreach and Strategic partnership to reach to the children globally
Its outreach products and strategic partnership were created through national and community partnership and were design to reach to the children in need and low income and minority families.
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Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop Globally licensed workshop programs
Sesame licensed its brands with more than 400 licenses throughout the world to fund the educational projects with the revenue generated from the workshop. Multiple activities of the workshop to sustain in the global market
Sesame workshop had multiple activities with the publishing and media divisions like the magazines, books, video games, CD-ROMs and also the web-based content with the presence of internet to provide their educational recourses. There were also some theme parks in many locations of the world so that people can always recall their program just by looking at the park name and can also pass their time in the park. This was another recreational source for the sesame workshop besides the educational source.
Weaknesses Difficulty with dubbing with the live characters identity
Although some segments of the Sesame Street were easy to dub like the live actions but some other segments were not that easy to dub because of the segment using live actors. So, the dubbing of the entirety could not possible to make. Difficulty with Sesame Workshop reorganization
The decision of the reorganization program to reduce the managerial time spent on smaller markets and focuses on the larger markets with high potential lead the workshop in difficulties. This decision could affect the workshop because some of the oldest customers from small segments could have been scaled back by this decision.
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Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop Decision making was influenced by external founders
Some market entry decisions were made by external founders like; After Sesame’s success in Russia, USAID asked Sesame Workshop to consider Egypt to launch next, which actually was not initially considered a high potential market. Same thing happened in India. Sesame workshop did not get funding when they wanted to enter in the market of India. Difficulties with the administration
After resigning the group president, a whole new division was created to manage the projects. The new division made some projects, but the projects had limited product licensing opportunities. That lead the workshop the difficulties to make the programs globally. Sesame also had no office outside the United States, so, the agents had to manage the daily business relationships through international markets. Sesame workshop lacks control over program content
Although Sesame Workshop had many activities but, it lacks the control over contents due to lack of workers and managers. On top of that they have to rely on co-producers decisions in many ways. Like Sesame Workshop had to authorize the creation of Da Niao, a Chinese cousin to Big Bird. This was a big compromise to their mission of diversifying globally. Sesame workshop doesn’t have enough efficient workers and way too many top managers to cover its whole network
The workshop’s total television network management were manage by many few people like with only 16 people and a head so, the difficulties raised due to less number of workers. Moreover there are many senior employees who were with Sesame Workshop from beginning and most of them became directors or VP later. These top managers are drawing 100K each every year for doing nothing in most cases. For example instead of recruiting more managers, two regional director posts were created in China. 9
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop Less development in co-production
Sesame were facing with the development of the production as a result many countries could not be the viewers of the workshop as, the production was very expensive for the Sesame. This problem leaded Sesame to remain separate from the whole global distribution f their program. Failure to provide job security
Sesame workshop failed to secure the job of it middle and lower management. Lay-off was a annual occurrence. Even the person who had the responsibilities to lay-off other employees his/her job was not even secured. This is ironic for an organization that teaches children about how to dream.
Opportunities Potentially interested markets
There were some potentially interested markets, in which the sesame workshop can enter to fulfill their mission there, as those countries have large numbers of viewers. Sesame was trying to enter into that market. Opportunities in Brazil, France, and Italy
There were some countries that were always target for the workshop to enter into. By entering into that, sesame could also make a strong relationship with them with great potential. Japan with huge opportunity
Japan was a country with huge opportunity as the program could work as the vehicle for learning English. And Japanese girls were very fond of characters on products like clothing, purses, T-shirts etc. 10
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop Threats Competition with for-profit companies
As Sesame was a not-for-profit organization organ ization so it didn’t concentrate on the profit purpose. Thus it had certain overhead, production cost, marketing expenses to just fulfill its mission “to educate the children”, but the other profit seeking companies would then grab the market by providing high quality shows, which could be a threat for Sesame. Diversifying programs
After the use of wide range of cables, people used to watch many other programs other than the public broadcasting. As a result, viewers of Sesame could shrinked; because if once they lose their popularity it would have been difficult to overcome that. Increasing number of preschool programs
Other than on PBS, there were many other preschool programs on other channels so, there were a big competition for the preschool programs. Growing number of channels lead the license fee down to broadcast
For growing number of channels, license fees paid by the broadcasters have been going down, almost zero. So, if Sesame was to expensive then the broadcaster would not take that anymore and that was a threat for the Sesame. More sponsorship to the competitors
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Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop PBS programs are commercial free but other commercial channels wanted commercial breaks as a result more sponsorship went to the competitors. Because the more commercial breaks the advertisements sponsors will get. Complexity among the partners, customers, sponsors, and other relationships
As PBS broadcaster paid everything including management fees and more, Sesame had a broadcaster to bear the whole cost but due to less governmental fund the sponsorship often cancelled. As a result the relationship among the partners could be broken. Challenges with Product licensing
Insufficient Product licensing could have made the program popularity from hot to cold. It was another big challenge for Sesame in compare to the other competitors. Trends were changing very fast
Product licensing was also an area that offered interesting challenges. Products could go from hot to cold very quickly. Sesame workshop was too restless when it came to launching a new product. As a result new product ate away old product’s revenue.
Human Resource Issues This organization is so top-heavy and full of senior managers who don't know how to manage that it becomes its own worst enemy. WAY too many people who have been there 20+ years and moved up from administrative positions to VP positions, and they become completely entrenched and more focused on keeping their 100K salaries than managing their staff and actually doing real work and making positive changes. In some cases, Sesame has VP's reporting into VP's-the reporting structure there makes NO sense at all (China); and Sesame execs have been told this on numerous occasions when they have brought in outside 12
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop consultants. Advancement comes less from hard work and competence and more from political positioning. Also, layoffs were almost an annual occurrence. Management would start the rumor that layoffs were coming, and the staff would spend months speculating who was going to get the axe-a terrible way to build morale. Some people who even consulted on who should be laid off themselves were on the "the list". From what we learn, this company was a paradise up until the mid-90s, when ineffective management first arrived. They have problems in training and recruiting, in first season they gave training to 25 writers to perform the job perfectly, but later on they did not focus on this training and recruitment process. Sesame workshop do not have any active Human Resource department for that employee was not trained properly which decreased the efficiency at a larger extent and which was affecting the company performance. Sesame workshop wanted to enter in the new market; it was very challenging work for them said by the Sesame Manager. They claimed their company as a not for profit organization, but their statement was to make profit at same point because without profit they wont exist in the market. So, they started recruiting employees from different region but they did not have any complete training facility. Basically the main problem was that, they were recruiting employee s from different region and straight way put them into work without giving them properly training. Mainly the company was lacking training session, employees were not trained and they can not give their best effort to do the job because they were not sure how to perform the job.
Recommendations
So far we have analyzed the case in terms of SWOT analysis, Human Resource Issues and Theme, it is signified that how Sesame Street has the problem in the compensation. The problem that occurred at Sesame Street was due to a fundamental imperfection in the HR policy. The problems they faced like they are fostering efficient top managements, loss of vision after the aggressive growth commercial channels, lack of investment in Sesame Street, the recruitment of the employees, failure to modernize the plan, lack of creativity, fairness refraining in the contract, conflict of culture, the change in Government, too much dependant on governments and the rules and regulations of Government. In the following pages, we are chronologically placing our recommendations, which will include what we are recommending and the reasons for giving the ideas. 13
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop
Top managements should be reorganized properly
There are too much managers for the given amount of responsibilities. The post of top managers should be reduced to a limited number to perform efficiently and effectively.
There is too much top management; in fact there are more top managers than needed. As a result there are managers who had nothing to do but are drawing 100k every year.
Sesame Workshop was operating smoothly until 1999, before 2000 Sesame Workshop stood as the icon for family type entertainment that would provide education to preschool viewers.
HR department should be restructured
An effective department of human resource will help the organization to build an effective workshop that can contribute more in the organization. The reasons are as follows.
Sesame Street is viewed by all groups of adults and children. There is a deep impact of this show among the population. But regarding the gravity of the work activities; the employee do not have enough training to perform their best. New recruits take more time and consume more resources before they become synchronized with the organization. The reason is there no separate training facility for them.
More concentration should be given when launching a new product
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Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop Before launching any action figure Sesame Workshop should consider the current trend of the market. After creating any action figure Sesame Workshop should observe the market reaction thoroughly. The reasons behind this are
Market demand changes rapidly in this sector. Children tend to lose attraction of old puppet when a new one arrives in the market.
In some markets Sesame Workshop’s ability was very limited to promote their new product on television.
The shows were basically targeted to 3 to 6 year old children and its running for years. There is a fear that one day the children will reject the shows out of boredom.
Sesame Workshop should find new ways to get funding. Reduce its dependency over co-producers.
Sesame Workshop should retain and do exercises more control on the coproductions and for that it should invest more segments and keep the equity balancing just right. The reasons behind this recommendation are stated below
Many of the co-production failed to pay Sesame Workshop its fees, asking them to collect it from sponsors. Sesame Workshop was losing control over here.
Many co-production companies were asking for commercial breaks disregarding the integrity of the show.
Develop the compensation and recruitment policy of employees
Sesame Workshop needs creative employees in order to create good shows and building of the global network. They had to depend on the local labor market in 15
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop order to recruit the employees. While recruiting the employees Sesame faced a lot of challenges and for those they should follow a well-developed and appropriate recruitment policy. The facts that have caused to recommend the idea are stated below:
As a requirement from most of the governments, Sesame had to focus to the local labor markets. The overall recruitment criteria were to employ people with good communication skills, were outgoing, like to be around people and spoke in multiple languages.
The HR prospect of the company would be facing a relentless difficulty and it will cause harm to the employee productivity due to dissatisfaction. The Sesame Workshop should plan a recruitment policy first that all specifically state the terms and conditions of the recruitments.
While entering in a market with wide spanned diversity like India; huge workforce is needed to cover the whole. The main reason of Sesame failed to enter in Indian market was lack of sufficient human capital.
Concentrate on Employees opinions
The other problem it was identified that the leader or the top level mangers did not prefer the opinions of the other employees and it created dissatisfaction among the employees as they were not valued properly. Consequently deteriorating employee performance and as well as the viewers were also declining. To solve this problem employee should be evaluated well and it should be given more emphasizing for the following reasons:
There is practically no direct connection between top management and the regular employees. All the big decisions came from the top disregarding the reaction of people who would be implementing it.
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Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop
Implementations
Implementing a solution of managerial problems and conflicts
There are more seniors in organization than needed. In some cases more than more than one manager is created to do a one man job. This results extra costs for these manager compensations and other benefits. To redeem this problem Sesame should:
Recruiting excess and ineffective managers should be avoid and should maintain a strict policy and also Managers should be placed exactly to the right position. Because of too many managers there are too many clashes among the managerial decisions. The HR department can solve this problem effectively. The HR department should introduce the managers with their exact duties and should make clear their job description. If there is any excess of managers then needed then the best one should be selected and another should be rejected.
In some countries there is conflicts between VP’s like China. The HR department should provide them proper guide line and a structure telling then who will report to whom.
A complete and perfect HR can lead the company in a manner that can put the company to the higher position in all aspect. It should inter linked with one department to another so that the best production can be take out. The regular meeting should be held on time. Different tour facility
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Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop should be provide to the employee so that they can introduce to different culture and can implement those in their work.
Implementing compensation and recruitment policy
Sesame Workshop should have a well-defined requirement policy as well as a compensation package for the employees. It will be essential for them to hire talent and skillful employees for this large organization. The HR of Sesame can develop their compensation and recruitment policy in the following ways:
As this is a very big problem regarding the human resource policies in the organization this may affect the whole employee base. The HR prospect of the company would be facing a severe problem and it will cause harm to the employee productivity due to dissatisfaction. Sesame should plan a recruitment policy first that all specifically state the terms and conditions of the recruitments. The HR should mention the qualifications and the requirements of the positions. The age limit should have been specifically mentioned and hence that should be published in the advertisements of the vacancies.
The other thing that we would like to focus on is, the Sesame should try to have strong part timer employee base. The students and youth will gladly work with the organization and the company would get several creative, enthusiastic and smart candidates. The other good thing in having a part timer base is that the organization does not have to put an intensive effort to prepare HR issues for those part timers. The compensation and regulations regarding the part timers would be a bit relaxed.
Sesame must have clear idea about the law of compensation and benefit system of different countries; they must know what is the standard 18
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop
Rate for paying minimum level of compensation and benefit package to the employees. The proper discussion with government agencies related to the compensation package and observing the salary or wage rate of other foreign investors. The management of Sesame can also collect different wage rates of different organizations and compare those to find out the best one for the local people who will work for Sesame.
Implementing training programs
To build a creative, energetic human capital ca pital Sesame needs a complete training facility. This will boost up employee morale and enrich the quality of the employee performances.
The HR department should conduct more training for the employee and workshop worker’s. They are repeatedly mistaking by putting the Employee to the job directly. It should be avoided to take out the best from them them.. Afte Afterr recru recruit itin ing g give give them them prope properr and and job job rela relate ted d trai traini ning ng then then release them to the main work stream
The recruiting process should be globalized and circular should publish globally, so that the competitor from the whole world can attain and the company can get the best and talented for the required position.
Since this Industry is spreading day by day and worldwide so in near future they can establish a complete training school and recruit students there there.. Amon Among g those those stud student ents s who who will will score score bett better er can can be recru recruit it for for sesame workshop.
Implementing an appropriate product development strategy
For decades Sesame Street was the first priority for broadcasters. But now there are a lot more successful preschool programs in the network. Increasing pressure for commercial breaks between shows challenging Sesame’s commercial free 19
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop philosophy. Sesame has to come up with new ideas to face these new challenges. We saw what happened with Elmo. This was a hot brand; parents were buying Elmo ties, Elmo boxers, Elmo this and Elmo that. But sudde nly Elmo products lost 60% sales in six months time. It went to the other license like “Teletubby”
Sesame should target more aged children like 7-12 years old. Shows like Teletubbies and Rugrats are already in the market with this kind if shows.
Sesame should do more analysis before releasing any action figure in the market. Kids love these figure but there should a interval between releasing consecutive characters in the market. As soon a new action figure comes in the market it kicks out the old version. So Sesame has to forecast upcoming demands and take actions accordingly.
Find more efficient ways to gain adequate capital
Sesame do have enough budget to cover its expenses but still they need to secure its future. Sesame is a non-profit organization competing against for-profit organization. So Sesame has to come up with more innovative ideas.
Sesame can issue security in the capital market to raise capital. If they do so they won’t have to give too much emphasize on managing portfolio.
By issuing bonds they can raise capital for any show for which they previously looked for sponsors. By doing that Sesame will be able to make decisions out of any influences of external factors. This will improve the quality of the show.
They should manage the investments properly. They should offer more opportunities for the investors and make the way easy for the investors. The investors always find better security and benefits for their investment so they can offer more benefits and security for the investors. 20
Group N Case 2 # Sesame Workshop For doing this their policy should be more modified and make more comfortable environment for the investors. Day by day it is becoming more difficult to run a company through globally. Whatever the company is for profit or not for profit but it needs money to do this. So the CFO or the financial departments should try to bring new investors and should try to create fund.
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