Exploring Strategy Text and Cases 11th Edition Gerry Johnson, Richard Whittington, Patrick RegnÈr, Kevan Scholes, Duncan Angwin - Solutions

1. What are the key macro-environmental factors that influence the strategy in this case?2. What have been the steps in the strategy development process at KFSH? How deliberative have they been?3. How will KFSH maintain/enhance its position?
What challenges were faced by the hospital CEO in implementing the strategy to achieve Foundation status?
1. What strategies are being followed by the main NTOs?2. Which strategic options are available to NTOs (at the time of the case study)?3. How might these strategic options be evaluated?4. What strategic options are open to the government and which strategic choices should the President make?
1. Describe and evaluate the strategy directions pursued by CRH.2. Describe and evaluate the corporate parenting roles employed by CRH.3. Discuss CRH’s acquisition strategy and its contribution.4. Discuss how the Group’s corporate strategy creates value for CRH.5. Describe and evaluate the
1. What were the drivers for internationalisation that led to Teva’s rapid acquisition programme?2. Describe the key motivations behind Teva’s acquisition programme and comment on how well the programme met the ambitions of the international growth strategy?3. What were the key reasons that
1. How innovative is Apple? Is it a strategic innovator?2. What is your evaluation of Steve Jobs as a leader?3. What are your recommendations to Apple as it continues in its new era under Tim Cook?4. Should Apple rethink its closed system, proprietary ecosystem approach?5. Is Apple off the
1. How did Ningbo Smarter Logistics succeed in gaining the attention of very senior global managers in a large multinational like IBM?2. How can MNC relationships be leveraged as a pathway to innovation by small and young entrepreneurial firms?3. What does this case help you to understand about the
1. Handelsbanken is known for its culture being different from that of its competitors. Characterise Handelsbanken’s culture and discuss how the culture is spread and kept alive in the bank.2. What entry modes into foreign markets has Handelsbanken applied throughout its history? Discuss in
1. Using Yip (Figure 9.2 in Exploring Strategy), what drivers of internationalisation have encouraged the development of the IPL?2. Considering Porters Diamond (Figure 9.3 in Exploring Strategy), what advantages and disadvantages have you observed in the Indian base of the IPL that might help or
1. What are the factors driving the diversification of Tune Group?2. What is the Tune Group portfolio, what contribution does each SBU make and, therefore, what is the dominant logic for this Group?3. Looking at the SBU strategies, do you see any problems arising for the Tune Group?4. How does Tune
1. Identify the growth directions and corporate logic that SABMiller has adopted in its development and the reasons for its success.2. Explain (a) the strategic position in which SABMiller finds itself in 2015 and (b) the strategic options SABMiller could pursue prior to the bid. Is being acquired
1. What is the importance of entrepreneurialism and innovation in designing and implementing strategy?2. How are the pillars of strategy defined in both organisational structure and human relations terms?3. What is the significance of strong client relationships for strategy and what innovative
1. Why has Ryanair been successful thus far?2. Is Ryanair’s new strategy sustainable?3. Would you recommend any further changes to Ryanair’s approach in changing environmental circumstances?4. Evaluate the strategic leadership of Michael O’Leary.
1. Was the success of Widespace the result of good business practices (internal view) or were they just in the right place at the right time (external view)?2a. What are concrete options that Patrik and Henrik could employ to continue the growth successfully? What are the advantages and risks?2b.
1. What is strategy at Adnams?i) How would you describe the strategy at Adnams? What is making this company successful?ii) What influences are at play on the strategy?iii) What should the future Adnams strategy be ?iv) If this SME was acquired (by, for example, Heineken) what might change?2. How is
1. Identify the different forms of ownership that might be adopted by MUFC and how these might lead to different expectations.2. Identify the main stakeholder groups involved in MUFC and using Figure 5.3 map their power and level of interest. How might the expectations of the various stakeholder
How might institutional logics shape such strategic choices as diversification, innovation and internationalisation (see Chapters 8, 9 and 10) for (i) a family-business owner looking to pass on the business to the next generation of children(ii) a state-owned enterprise from a commodity-hungry
1. Map Vanguard’s corporate culture to the cultural web elements of paradigm, stories, symbols, power, organisation structure, control styles and rituals and routine.2. How do the various elements of the web interrelate? Do any of the elements not fit together?
1. Why do you think that creating a common culture might be important for a company like AB InBev?2. What mechanisms are used to reinforce such a common culture (see also Chapter 14).
1. Which of the reasons for strategic drift are evident in the Kodak story?2. Drawing on the lessons from Part 1 of the book as a whole, how might Kodak’s problems have been avoided?
1. How would you sum up (i) the strategy (ii) the culture of Indian Railways in the early years of this century?2. In what ways can you trace this strategy and culture to the Indian Railways’ history?
1. Consider the governance chain leading from the various shareholders of UBHL to the managers in the main businesses, with particular reference to United Spirits. Why might there be breakdowns in accountability and control in this chain?2. Group the various key stakeholders discussed in this case
What would you argue as a director of a benefit corporation when the survival of your company depended on suspending expenditure on social objectives?
1. Where would you place H&M in terms of the four stances on social responsibility in Table 5.2?2. What are the kinds of triple-bottom-line measures that would be appropriate for a sustainable strategy in clothing retail (see also Section 12.2.1)?Table 5.2 Sources of power Within organisations
1. To what extent does Volkswagen reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the stakeholder model of governance (Section 5.3.2)?2. What should Volkswagen have done with regard to governance and management after the resignation of Martin Winterkorn?
1. Which parts of the governance chain – principals and agents (see Section 5.3.1) – failed at Toshiba?2. What problems (knowledge, monitoring or incentives) led to the scandal? What would you change to avoid these problems in the future?
1. Compare the power and attention of Mozilla’s various stakeholders with regard to: (i) the former CEO Brendan Eich’s position on gay marriage(ii) the development of the Firefox OS (see Section 5.2.2).2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Mozilla’s ownership model (see Section
1-Based on the data from the case use the frameworks from the chapter and analyse the resources and capabilities of Rocket Internet:a. What are its resources and capabilities?b. What are its threshold, distinctive and dynamic resources and capabilities?2-Based on your initial analysis and answers
Pick an organisation mentioned in this chapter (e.g. Apple, IKEA, Microsoft, Ryanair, Starbucks, and Zara) or one you admire and would like to work for. What micro foundations (e.g. individuals and their competences, skills, networks, choices, activities) do you think underlie their resources and
1. What type of dynamic capabilities could help mobile phone companies like Apple and Samsung avoid becoming stuck in their old resources and capabilities?2. Based on your own experience of using mobile and smartphones:a. What are the possible future opportunities in mobile telephones?b. How could
1. What does SWOT analysis tell us about the competitive position of Pharmcare within the industry as a whole?2. How readily do you think executives of Pharmcare identify the strengths and weaknesses of competitors?3. Identify the benefits and dangers (other than those identified in the text) of a
1. Draw up a value system and value chains for another business and organisation in terms of the activities conducted within each part (see Figure 4.5).2. Would it make sense to integrate or outsource some of the various value chain activities in this value system in relation to the focal
1. Andrew Mason admits that Groupon has thousands of copycats, yet his assessment is that imitating Groupon is difficult. Do you agree?2. Assess the bases of Groupon€™s resources and capabilities using the VRIO criteria (Figure 4.2 and Table 4.2).3. If you were the new Groupon CEO, what
1. Categorise the range of resources and capabilities highlighted by the executives above in terms of Section 4.2 and Table 4.1.2. To what extent and why might these resources and capabilities be the basis of sustained competitive advantage?Table 4.1 Resources: what we have (nouns), e.g.
1 Carry out a five forces analysis of the advertising industry in 2015. What is the strength of the five forces and what underlying factors drive them?What is the industry attractiveness?2 What are the changes in the industry? Which forces are becoming more negative or positive for the major
How would you compare the ‘value capture model’ with Porter’s five forces when making an industry analysis? What’s the benefits and drawback of each?
1. How would you describe the current charity industry structure? How could it change if consolidation increases and what would be the benefits and disadvantages?2. Which of Porter’s five forces are creating problems for the UK’s charity sector?
1. Help Emily and go through each step above. Answer the questions and make a complete analysis. What is your assessment of the industry?2. Based on your analysis: How should Emily handle the different forces? What strategic options should she consider?
1. Why are network effects important for Facebook? Would you switch to another social network if it had better features even if it was considerably smaller?2. What other social media networks and apps do you use that you think could beat Facebook? Why?
1. Evaluate the strengths of the banking industry’s entry barriers according to Porter’s criteria?2. How would you evaluate the ethical behaviour of banks trying to keep competition out?
1 Carry out a PESTEL analysis of Alibaba at the time of the case. Evaluate the balance of opportunities and threats, using the same kind of figure as in Illustration 2.1.2 Draw a basic sociogram of Alibaba€™s network (see Section 2.2.3 and Figure 2.5). Explain why this network may be
1. What do you need in order to succeed in Formula One?2. Why you think your team were successful during this period?3. Why were they unable to sustain this success? What could they have done to sustain their success further?
1. In which areas does H&M have significant resources and capabilities and what are they? What are H&M’s threshold and distinctive resources and capabilities? What are the implications of these resources and capabilities for international strategy of the company?2. In what areas and
1. What was Ricoh Canada Inc.’s strategy in the past and why is it no longer sustainable?2. How competitive is the services industry?3. How should Ricoh Canada Inc. compete in the services market?
1. Assess the brewing industry environment, including a PESTEL analysis.2. Assess the UK brewing industry using Porter’s five forces analysis.3. Identify how the factors identified above might be prevalent in the student’s local brewing market.
1. Using the trends identified by Siemens in Figure 1 (or other environmental forces you consider important) which would you consider to be key drivers for change for Siemens and why?2. Are there other megatrends that might be important for Siemens?3. Construct (5 or 10 year) scenarios for
1. Identify the main macro-environmental forces that affect the global pharmaceutical industry.2. Use scenario planning techniques to consider the key drivers of change which will affect the global pharmaceutical industry in the future.3. Analyse with the five forces framework, to identify
1. Using the pyramid of strategy practice (Figure 16.1), describe strategy-making in the city of Vaasa.2. Comment on the strategy process being followed at Vaasa. In what ways does this depart from the previous way of doing strategy?3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the tools used in
What skills and experiences should a recruiter look for in hiring each of five types of strategist identified above?
Identify the hypothesis testing steps in the illustration.
1. Evaluate the design of the two workshops in terms of the guidelines in Section 16.4.1.2. If you were a facilitator, how would you have organised the workshops differently?3. What benefits (or disadvantages) might such workshops have in comparison with other approaches to strategy development for
1. Why are informal settings such as dinners useful?2. Could the consultants have influenced the agenda in more formal ways? How?3. If you had been one of the managers at the Italian restaurant, what would your views of the meeting been?
1. What do you think were the direct and indirect benefits of Ashok Vaswani’s initiatives to involve Barclays’ employees in the strategy?2. If you were a smaller company, without the information technology resources of Barclays and IBM, how might you be able to get employee input into strategy
1. What would be the attractions of this job for you? What would be the disadvantages?2. What relevant skills and experience do you already have, and what skills and experience would you still need to acquire before you were able to apply for this job?
1. In relation to Section 15.3, what were the types of change pursued at Fiat and Chrysler? Were these appropriate to the change contexts?2. How would you describe the leadership style of Sergio Marchionne? Was this appropriate to the change contexts?3. What levers for change were employed by
1. Identify the various change levers (Section 15.5) used by these five leaders.2. Do you think that a diabetes charity or the US military have anything to teach business organisations about change?
What might the problems be in devolving strategy to a European division?
1. In terms of the eight contextual features in the change kaleidoscope (Figure 15.2), how receptive is the context for strategic change?2. In the light of capability and readiness (Figure 15.3), what leadership style would be most appropriate to bringing about change?Figure 15.2Figure 15.3 Time
1. Which leaders are more transformational, which more transactional and which situational (see Section 15.2.1)?2. Compare the different views of leadership, particularly with regard to knowledge, courage and people. What are the commonalities and differences?
1. Assess the pros and cons of Hirai€™s structural changes.2. What other initiatives beyond structural change might be necessary in order to create €˜One Sony€™?Kazuo Hirai€™s April 2012 appointment as Chief Executive Officer of Sony Corporation would
What types of industry or sector would this model be likely to work best in, and in what types might it not work well at all?
1. In this account, what elements of UBS’s systems appear to have been deficient, with regard to Adoboli and more generally?2. What roles might the merger and growth strategy have played in the various failures at UBS?
1. Consider the kinds of cultural and performance targeting systems the police, fire and ambulance services are each likely to have. How compatible are they?2. Would you agree with Matt Wrack that the more obvious links are between ambulance and fire services?
1. In what respects is the change consistent with Alfred Chandler’s phrase, ‘structure follows strategy’?2. Why do investors think that the new Alphabet structure is worth an extra $29 billion?
1. How do the pros and cons of the Qwikster structure fit with those associated with the divisional structure (see Section 14.2.2)?2. In the light of the planning, cultural, market and targeting systems discussed in Section 14.3, what else would Netflix have needed to do to manage the separation of
1. Explain how Google’s strategy has been developed over the years.2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of its approach?3. In what ways should Google’s approach to strategy development change in the future?Google is one of the few companies whose main product’s name became so synonymous
Pick three different industries and environments. What different strategy development styles (classical, adaptive, shaping or visionary) would be appropriate in them?
1. Are the different accounts mutually exclusive?2. What different insights can the two accounts provide? How can they be useful?3. Do you think Honda would have been more or less successful if it had adopted a more formalised strategic planning approach to the launch?
1. With reference to these views of strategy development, what are the main advantages of developing strategies incrementally? Are there disadvantages or dangers?2. Is incremental strategy development bound to result in strategic drift (see Section 6.4)? How might this be avoided?3. Under what
1. What types of strategic issues are likely to be most significant at each stage and level of the planning process?2. How might a planning process differ in other types of organisation (e.g. local government or a university)?3. How do other processes of strategy development explained in this
What else would you emphasise as an important contribution CEOs make to strategy development?
1. Identify the main strategic issues facing ITV.2. Suggest a number of strategic options that ITV might pursue.3. Create tables to assess the SAFe of your strategic options (refer to Table 12.1).4. Rank your strategic options and recommend a strategy for ITV to pursue. Does a proposed strategy
What strategic fundamentals would you consider for an option if you didn’t trust the numbers?
What are the advantages of the real options approach to this evaluation over other approaches (a) to building the brewery; and (b) to other ideas being considered?
1. What do you feel about the appropriateness of the listed benefits?2. How easy or difficult is it to assign money values to these benefits?
1. Which option would you choose? Why?2. What would be the main risks attached to that option and how would you attempt to minimise these risks?3. Create another option (strategy C) and explain the kind of break-even profile which would be needed to make it more attractive than either strategy A or
What should the company do if its marketing campaigns fail to stop real price erosion:1. Push to achieve more sales volume/capacity fill?2. Reduce unit costs of production?3. Something else?
1. Try reversing the sequence of the three parameters (to diversification, investment and growth) and redraw the decision tree. Do the same eight options still emerge?2. Add a fourth parameter to the decision tree. This new parameter is development by internal methods or by acquisition. List your
1. Comment on the measures used to evaluate Moss’s performance. What measures would you see as fair and appropriate?2. Should Andrew Moss and Lord Sharman be held responsible for their strategic bet on European markets rather than Asian markets?
1. Why did Sainsbury bid for Argos?2. With reference to the post-acquisition integration matrix (see Figure 11.3) consider how Sainsbury might best integrate Argos?3. With reference to the €˜buy, ally or DIY€™ matrix (see Figure 11.6) consider whether the acquisition of Argos is
What are the arguments for and against using an M&A function in post-acquisition integration?
1. Why did the Bharti–Walmart joint venture break down?2. What issues should Walmart now take into account pursuing its Indian strategy?
1. What are pros and cons of Apple’s tight control of licensing?2. What role has ‘ecosystem’ played in Apple’s competitive advantage?
1. Using the post-acquisition integration matrix, Figure 11.3, compare Google€™s early style of acquisition management with the integration of Nest.2. How has Google managed to be successful in retaining entrepreneurial talent?Figure 11.3 Acquired firm level of autonomy Low High Low
1. How do the bidders’ acquisition motives differ?2. What are the strategic and organisational fit implications of both bids?
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Rovio’s current business model?2. Do you agree with the company chairman Kaj Hed when he says he is satisfied with Rovio’s current situation?Rovio Entertainment Ltd is most famous for its Angry Birds smartphone game, in which colourful birds are
Google, now Alphabet, is often celebrated as a highly entrepreneurial and innovative company. To what degree do you think they have relied on discovering or creating opportunities?
1. Why might some groups be apprehensive about the cloud computing era?2. What are the advantages of a visual roadmap of this kind? What are the limitations to this visual approach?
1. Identify the various features of Muruganantham’s approach that make his sanitary towel business a typical or not so typical ‘frugal innovation’.2. Could a large company such as Procter & Gamble imitate this strategy?
1. What do you learn from the experience of Goldberg and Ting which could be useful to launching a new enterprise?2. Are there any unmet needs in your community, at college or elsewhere, that could be turned into a business opportunity?
Based on the experiences of HP, Apple and Facebook what elements of skills and expertise do you think a new venture requires?
1. Considering Yip€™s globalisation framework (Figure 9.2), what drivers of internationalisation do you think were most important when Wanda entered the US market through its AMC and Legendary acquisitions?2. What national sources of competitive advantage might Wanda draw from its Chinese
Why would institutions be of particular importance for strategy in emerging economies?
1. Can you imagine any risks or dangers that Western companies might face in pursuing base of the pyramid strategies?2. Is there anything that Western companies might learn from base of the pyramid strategies in emerging markets that might be valuable in their home markets?
1. Consider NIP’s services in light of the CAGE framework and analyse how they may help reduce distance.2. What might be the drawbacks in being located in an industrial park?
1. What internationalisation drivers (Figure 9.2) do you think were most important for Blue Skies€™ decision to enter its specific markets?2. How does Blue Skies€™ strategy fit into a broader international value system including suppliers, channels and customers (see also Figure
1. What are the internationalisation drivers Walmart International has struggled with?2. What might be the dangers for a large Western retailer in staying out of emerging markets?
1. What directions of strategic development have been followed by Virgin over the period of the case (use Figure 8.2 as a guide)?2. Which type of corporate parenting role (as per Figure 8.5) best describes the Virgin Group? Justify your choice.3. How does the Virgin Group as a corporate parent add
Evaluate the arguments for and against corporate strategy for Berkshire Hathaway or the Greystone Foundation.
1. What parenting advantages did McDonald’s perceive it might bring to Chipotle?2. Despite its success, why was Chipotle spun-off?

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Exploring Strategy Text and Cases 11th Edition Gerry Johnson, Richard Whittington, Patrick RegnÈr, Kevan Scholes, Duncan Angwin - Solutions

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