But 180-degree reversals are a potential signal that the company doesn't have a coherent strategy, or that management doesn't really understand their market.
Not really a problem in a highly autonomous firm, but I'm surprised to see this in a publicly-traded company like Netflix. Seems to have have worked for them, though.
I'm not saying they should stick with an unpopular decision at all, just that the typical publicly-traded company would be highly likely to do so in order to avoid being perceived as incoherent or disorganized.
Netflix painted themselves into a corner here, and had no easy way out. Other companies would have chosen a different solution.
The time to make the decision was before they added streaming to Netflix. Had Netflix launched Qwikster in the first place instead of Netflix Streaming, they might be in a stronger position today.
Not really a problem in a highly autonomous firm, but I'm surprised to see this in a publicly-traded company like Netflix. Seems to have have worked for them, though.