Internet Rapide

Abstract

This case concerns a company's advertising and redesign decisions for a DSL service. These decisions affect the switching of customers among various classifications, including those who currently use the service. The focus of the case will be on modeling the dynamics of the system and related optimal decision-making. How to structure spreadsheets using influence diagrams can be part of the discussion. The case provides an opportunity to discuss decisions using different time horizons. Excerpt UVA-QA-0617 INTERNET RAPIDE CEO Daryn McGliesh looked at the map of Canada. Her company, New Amsterdam Cable and Media, had just finished its second year of offering Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service in the northeastern United States, and it had formed a subsidiary, Internet Rapide, to offer the same service in Quebec, Canada. The first two years of U.S. service had been successful, and initial market research showed that customer behavior in Quebec would be similar to the behavior of New Amsterdam's current customers. Internet Rapide was among the first to offer DSL in Quebec. Based on current cable-customer demographics, New Amsterdam's market researchers believed that the potential customer base was one million customers, who would fall into one of three classifications: · Type A had never purchased Internet Rapide's DSL service · Type B currently used Internet Rapide's DSL service · Type C had formerly used Internet Rapide's DSL service . . .