This research develops a strategic analysis on the firm widely known publicly at Excite@Home. Excite@Home is the public operating name of At Home Corporation. This paper uses both names interchangeably. At Home Corporation originally provided high-speed Internet access to individuals and businesses while Excite.com originally provided content to users of the World Wide Web. When At Home Corporation (2001b) acquired Excite.com, At Home Corporation merged the services and began operating under the name Excite@Home. The legal name of the surviving company, however, remains At Home Corporation (2001b).
The presentation of the strategic analysis follows in four major sections. These sections are as follows: (I) Background Analysis; (II) Mission Statement; (III) Situation Analysis; and (IV) Summary of Issues and Opportunities.
The background analysis covers three topics. These topics are (1) type of business, (2) description of the company, and (3) an industry overview.
Excite@Home provides (1) broadband Internet access to more than 3.6 million residential customers through the company's @Home division and to more than 12,000 business customers through the company's @Work division, and (2) World Wide Web content through the company's Excite Network portal. Excite@Home offers high-speed Internet access via both cable modem and DSL (digital subscriber line) technology (Hoover's Online, 2001a).
To provide speedier Internet access, At Home, created, at a cost of $38 billion, a proprietary network using high-speed cable modem and two-way hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) cable technology to create what the company called a "parallel Internet", which it named the @Network, to serve customers in the United States and Canada. The company later integrated DSL technology into the @Network. In conjunction with partners, At Home extended its Internet access business to the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. AT&T acquired a major interes...