2. World Wrestling Entertainment
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Strategic Management, 3/e
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. World Wrestling Entertainment
How did Vince McMahon grow World Wrestling Entertainment?

4. World Wrestling Entertainment
What resources does WWE have?
How valuable are these resources?

5. World Wrestling Entertainment
Evaluate WWE’s diversification efforts.
What went wrong?

6. World Wrestling Entertainment
What are the future prospects for WWE?
What can be done to expand or grow the business?
Who might take the business over from Vince and Linda?
Should it be kept within the family?

7. Q1. Entrepreneurial Issues
Vince McMahon challenged the existing regional structure of industry by going for a national audience.
Televised road shows appealed to a larger audience.
Sold matches less as contests (admitted that they were scripted) and more as entertainment.
Drove out competitors through aggressive expansion. E.g., of Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling – acquired at a bargain price of $5 million.
Exhibited all 5 dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation
Autonomy
Innovation
Proactive
Competitively aggressive
Risk taking

8. Q2. Resources Tangible Intangible
Financial: high cash flow; low expenditures
Technological: Rights to characters
Organizational: Tight family-run business
Intangible
Human: Wrestlers with acting capabilities; good script writers
Innovation: Capabilities for developing compelling characters and storylines

9. Q2. Resources (contd.)
Reputation: Strong brand name, relationship with sporting arenas, relationships with television networks

10. Q3. Diversification
Difficulty in following the path of related diversification
Expansion into books, music, and merchandise successful as it leveraged core competencies in wrestling.
Expansion into restaurants failed
XFL did not have any link to wrestling (unscripted)

11. Q4. Prospects Looking at more focused related diversification
Loss of WWF name seen as good because it helps focus on the “E” in entertainment
Increase road shows to get more content, particularly for 24/7 subscriber video channel, movie channel, etc.
Children (Shane and Stephanie) immersed in business
Publicly owned but controlled by the McMahons