ell-suited to such a move in that as the premier bookseller, it was able to extend its competencies into a product or business segment that did not deviate from its overall strategic mission. Imitability comes into play in that a bookseller can certainly expand with synergies into publishing. Further, expansion into cyberspace with the same brand suggests that Barnes & Noble was able to imitate the success of rival Amazon.com with an important exception: Barnes & Noble was well-established as a market leader in bookselling, and has not tried to move too far beyond that segment of its product line while adding products with natural synergies with publishing.
Barnes & Noble (2, 1) has become the world's largest Internet bookseller, despite the well established presence of Amazon.com. The company states that it leverages the power of its Barnes & Noble retail brand to offer online customers not only books, but music, DVDs, video games, and related products and services. Here, value is acquired by expanding an established brand into a new market; Barnes & Noble has been able to do so by using its online business as an extension of its brocks-and-mortar retail stores.
Recently, Barnes & Noble (3, 2) reported a 12 to 15 percent increase in earnings per share over 2004. Additionally, the firm stated that sales for the third quarter of 2005 were $1,081.8 million, an increase of 4 percent from $1,042.3 million a year ago. Barnes & Noble (3, 1) states that:
"Sales at Barnes & Noble stores were $930.5 million, increasing 4% over the prior year.ß Comparable store sales at Barnes & Noble were 1.5% for the quarter, in line with company guidance for a low-single digit increase.ß The company estimates comparable store sales were negatively impacted by 0.5% due to the effects from the
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