This article points out the importance of re thinking a business to be viable in the long run. Netflix are pathfinders and others follow. They started by changing how customers purchased/borrowed movies and kept pushing the envelope to reduce costs and reduce mailing of movies back but using online streaming. Zygna has followed on using cloud computing and these are two companies that are showing other businesses how important cloud computing is and how profitable it can be.
http://www.cloudscaling.com/blog/cloud-computing/cloud-innovators-netflix-strategy-reflects-google-philosophy/