Oscar Strategy

For us, the most important business has been and will be the cinemas, but we also handle - through the operations of subsidiaries - cinema advertising and sponsoring. We are active on the real estate market, which is an element of our strategy. We are about to built a shopping malls in Plovdiv and Ruse, where, after our successful project in Sofia, we will open our multiplexes, . Alongside the cinema operations we also handle film distribution in Israel, Poland and Hungary. We are the exclusive distributors for films by the Walt Disney Company on these markets and the distributor for many other independent producers. We take part in marketing activities promoting the films. We regard these as methods for diversifying our operations.

In my view CCI is carrying out an offensive strategy by entering further countries where there are local leaders. In his book Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Michael Porter writes that an elementary rule of offensive strategy is not to make a frontal attack, using imitation, because the leader will be sure to handle such an attack. Is that CCI's assumption too?

Zobacz również:

  • GenAI jednym z priorytetów inwestycyjnych w firmach
  • Szef Intela określa zagrożenie ze strony Arm jako "nieistotne"
  • International Data Group powołuje Genevieve Juillard na stanowisko CEO

- First, I don't think that CCI has an offensive strategy; I wouldn't look that way at taking advantage of opportunities. Romania has 22 million people and only two multiplexes We are going there to build 25 multiplexes, an investment of EUR 60 million. That is not an offensive strategy. We aren't attacking the competition, because there's hardly any there. The competition didn't want to take a risk in Romania. In my view the best strategy for conquering new markets is not to be too offensive or too defensive. You have to analyze the situation, point by point. We have three cinemas in Cracow and we want to build a a fourth. Probably somebody could interpret this as an offensive strategy, and someone else would say it's defensive. Business in this sector involves analyzing the profitability in the place where our customers want us to be. Our customers are more important to me than our competitors, because our customers are our partners in this business.

Should the attacker take a different strategy? According to Porter, the methods for attacking a market are "reconfiguration," or attacking by introducing innovations along the value chain, or changing the overall configuration of the value chain; "redefinition," where the attacker redefines its field of competitiveness against the leader; and "expenditures alone": an attack thanks to financial resources allowing for greater investment. Which of these methods is characteristic for CCI?

- Definitely the first method is the closes to CCI. It's important for us that we show the best films. But not only that: our cinemas also have to have the most comfortable seats, the most state-of-the-art sound system. In building the value chain, we enter a market with cinemas with a new level of quality. What's important for us is not just the equipment, but also the atmosphere at the cinema created by our employees, who give a genuine smile when they see a customer. The atmosphere in the lounge: if you've been walking for 30 minutes before the show, you don't want to stand, you want to sit on a comfortable sofa. It's not enough to sell popcorn and soft drinks. That's why we're opening cafés in our cinemas.

Why did CCI debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange? Was it because it has the most assets - specifically cinemas - in Poland? Does the announcement of a new strategy mean that CCI will consider listing its shares also on another exchange?

- Poland is the number one market for us. It's the largest market in Central Europe. Poland has become our home. Warsaw is the capital of the region. It's no surprise that the Warsaw Stock Exchange was the best for our IPO.

It follows from the cyclical theory of life that after an IPO there comes a time for further issues of stock, and then bond issues. Are you thinking of further issues of stock, or warrants? What effect does the January market break have on those considerations?

- We are not planning now to enter any other exchanges or to carry out new stock issues. We are not preparing an issue of corporate bonds, because we're not at that stage in the life cycle of the firm. We don't need additional external sources for financing new investments. We have a high EBIDTA, a sufficient amount of cash, and good credit lines in place at the banks. But in the future everything is possible.

CCI was founded as a family firm. Will it remain so, retaining a majority stake?

- It has been 80 years since our family built its first cinema. Before the IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange we were a classic family firm. Now we are a public company controlled by a family, which is a different thing. As a family, we are have been in this business for many decades. We are connected to the cinema business with our hearts and I don`t think it would change in the near future.

Thank you.


TOP 200