Difficult to Copy? Netflix: Freedom and Responsibility in Rewards Netflix is the leading global provider of streaming movies and TV series with over 75 million subscribers. It started as an American DVD-by-mail service in 1998 and began streaming in the United States in 2007. It began offering instant streaming service to the international market by launching its operations in Canada in September 2010. With subscribers all over the world (except for China, Crimea, North Korea, and Syria), their strategy is all about innovation, and their corporate culture is defined as freedom and responsibility. The strategy requires a high-performance workforce, and therefore they "hire adults and expect adult behaviour." The company has no formal structure, no career paths, no health club, no ping-pong tables, no recognition program, and no performance bonuses. Benefits are traditional. When it comes to rewards, freedom and responsibility rule. The company considers the opportunity to do challenging work to be the greatest reward. Compensation is very generous (90th percentile). Employees decide at the beginning of each year how to split their compensation between cash and immediately vested stock options. Up to 15 percent of compensation can be used to buy deeply discounted, immediately vested stock through the