Exploring Strategy 9th Edition Gerry Johnson ,Richard Whittington ,Kevan Scholes - Solutions

.4 Write an executive report on how sources of funding need to be related to the nature of an industry and the types of strategies that an organisation is pursuing.
.3 Undertake a risk assessment to inform the evaluation of strategic options for an organisation of your choice.
.2 Using the criteria of suitability, acceptability and feasibility undertake an evaluation of the strategic options that might exist for easySolution, Aids Alliance* or an organisation of your choice.
.1 Undertake a ranking analysis of the choices available to easySolution, Marks & Spencer (C)*, or an organisation of your choice similar to that shown in Illustration 11.1.
What approaches to the evaluation of strategic options would you propose, and why?
What are the arguments for the evaluation of strategic options being based on an emphasis:i) on financial bases of evaluation; ii) broader strategic bases of evaluation?
Suggest why the chaos occurred.
Identify the key resources and activities that would have contributed to an effective‘grand opening’.
How easy or difficult is it to assign money values to these benefits?
What do you feel about the appropriateness of the listed benefits?
Add a fourth parameter to the decision tree.This new parameter is development by internal methods or by acquisition. List your 16 options in the right hand column.
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?
Consider the most favoured options in terms of acceptability and feasibility criteria.
How could you improve the ranking analysis?
Are there other options or factors that you think Simon, Ruth and Raj should consider?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the alliance strategy, and what problems might Square Enix anticipate over time?
How should Square Enix manage its Eidos acquisition in order to maximise value creation, and how might that management approach change over time?
Explain why Square Enix chose alliances in some cases and acquisitions in others.
.6Q Systematically compare the advantages of corporate entrepreneurship with independent entrepreneurship (section 9.5). What are the skills and personality characteristics the independent entrepreneurs and corporate entrepreneurs need most, and how do they differ between the two types of
.5 Explain why family-owned companies might prefer organic development to either alliance or acquisitions.
.4Q Critically evaluate the proposition that alliance strategy is ethically superior to competitive strategy because it involves cooperation and the mutual creation of value.
.3Q Compare the M&A integration processes in the case studies Ferrovial* and Mergers in Education*.What do you conclude about effective and less effective practice?
.2Q For a recently announced acquisition, track the share prices (using www.bigcharts.com for example) of both the acquiring firm and the target firm in the period surrounding the bid? What do you conclude from the behaviour of the share prices about how investors regard the bid. Which company’s
.1 Write a short (about ten lines) statement to a chief executive who has asked you to advise whether or not the company should develop through M&A. Write a similar statement to a chief executive of a hospital who is considering possible mergers with other hospitals.
Identify a hostile takeover threat from press reports. What action did the company’s management do to resist the takeover?
For a recent large merger or acquisition, track the share prices of the companies involved (using www.bigcharts.com, for instance), for several weeks both before and after the announcement. What do the share price movements suggest about the merits of the deal?
In what respects did co-evolution break down in the Areva NP joint venture?
To what extent do Oxfam’s principles apply to private-sector business, and how might they be adapted to increase their relevance?
How does Oxfam approach the issues of co-evolution and trust in its alliances?
What are the pros and cons of maintaining a‘hands-off’ relationship with accessoryproducers such as Griffin?
What are pros and cons of Apple’s tight control of licensing?
How might Tata’s approach change in the economic crisis?
In the light of Haspeslagh and Jemison’s matrix, assess Tata’s initial approach to the integration of Jaguar-Land Rover
What must Roche do to ensure the success of this takeover?
Assess the strategic and organisational fits of Roche and Genentech
What went wrong with eBay’s acquisition of Skype?
What are the advantages, and what are the possible limits, of Skype’s business model?
.6 Consider a for-profit or social entrepreneurial idea that you or your friends or colleagues might have. Drawing on section 15.4.4, outline the elements of a strategic plan for this possible venture.What more information do you need to get?
.5 Use the internet to identify a social entrepreneurial venture that interests you (via www.skollfoundation.org, for example), and, with regard to section 9.5.3, identify its social mission, its organisational form and its business model.
.4 With reference to the entrepreneurial life cycle, identify the position of either Dyson (Chapter 3), Google (Chapter 12), Web Reservations*, Ekomate* or Leax *. What managerial issues might this case company anticipate in the coming years?
.3Q With regard to a new product or service that you have recently experienced and enjoyed (as in 9.1), investigate the strategic responses of ‘incumbents’ to this innovation. To what extent is the innovation disruptive for them (see section 9.4.3)?
.2 Go to a web traffic site (such as alexa.com) and compare over time trends in terms of ‘page views’or ‘reach’ for older sites (such as Amazon.com) and newer sites (such as spotify.com, or any that has more recently emerged). With reference to section 9.3, how do you explain these trends
.1Q For a new product or service that you have recently experienced and enjoyed, investigate the strategy of the company responsible. With reference to the dilemmas of section 9.2, explain whether the innovation was more technology push or market pull, product or process driven, or technological or
What kinds of managerial action might you consider if you were trying to increase the innovativeness of a large firm in a high technology manufacturing industry?
What would be your advice to Bart Weetjens as he searches for a secure long-term business model?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a social enterprise approach in this kind of domain?
What does your university or college do to support student entrepreneurship?
What challenges would you anticipate for Ba-Alawi’s DCS Designs company if it takes off? How should she deal with them?
Propose three ways that Twitter could make money and consider their respective pros and cons.
How should investors in Twitter interpret Alexa.com’s daily reach data?
What potential competitive advantages did Blockbuster have as a company as the new business models emerged in the last decade or so?
Compare the pros and cons of the various business models for movie consumption.
If a big company like Nike or Adidas was looking to grow in this market, what would you advise them to do?
For what reasons is it important to be‘authentic’ in the skateboarding shoe market?
Now that Lenovo is international, what type of generic international strategy should it pursue– simple export, multidomestic, complex export or global?
In the light of the CAGE framework and the MacMillan et al. competitor retaliation framework (Figure 8.6), comment on Lenovo’s entry into the American market.
What national sources of competitive advantage might Lenovo draw from its Chinese base?What disadvantages derive from its Chinese base?
.6 As in 8.3, use the four international strategies of Figure 8.4 to classify the international strategy of Tesco*, Ekomate* or any other multinational corporation with which you are familiar. Drawing on section 13.2, how does this corporation’s organisational structure fit (or not fit) this
.5Q Take any part of the public or not-for-profit sector (for example, education, health) and explain how far internationalisation has affected its management and consider how far it may do so in the future.
.4Q Using the CAGE framework (section 8.5.1), assess the relative ‘distance’ of the United States, China, India and France for a British company (or a company from a country of your choice).
.3 Using the four international strategies of Figure 8.4, classify the international strategy of Tesco*, Ekomate* or any other multinational corporation with which you are familiar.
.2Q Taking an industry you are familiar with that is strong in your home country (for example, fashion in France, cars in Germany), use the four determinants of Porter’s Diamond (Figure 8.3) to explain that industry’s national advantage.
.1 Using Figure 8.2 (Yip’s internationalisation drivers), compare two markets you are familiar with and analyse how strong each of the drivers is for increased international strategy.
How many countries in the world have you visited in your lifetime? How many countries had your parents visited by the same age?
Make a list of products and services which are getting more ‘global’ over time; then make a list of products and services which are still very ‘local’.
What managerial challenges will GNI face as it grows?
Analyse GNI’s value network in terms of cost advantages, unique capabilities and national characteristics.
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?
Can you imagine any risks or dangers that Western companies might face in pursuing Base of the Pyramid strategies?
Suggest three reasons for Vale’s different reception in Canada and Mozambique.
Is there any downside to Vale’s ties to the Chinese market, and what should Vale do to mitigate this?
Boeing will still subcontract some production work for later variants of the 787.What criteria should guide its choice of subcontractors?
What are the pros and cons of specifically international outsourcing?
What might be the dangers for a large Western retailer in staying out of the Chinese market?
What are the pros and cons of the different China strategies pursued by Carrefour and Wal-Mart?
What would be the challenges faced by a successor to Richard Branson, and what might he or she do?
Assess whether moving further into the banking industry is the right strategic option for Virgin.Does the continued pursuit of this industry suggest a more careful hidden strategic plan that is not revealed to outsiders?
How does Virgin add value as a corporate parent? Is there anything more it should do to add value?
Describe Virgin’s various diversification moves in terms of Ansoff’s axes (Figure 7.2).
.5 Take a case of a recent merger or acquisition (see Chapter 10), and assess the extent to which it involved related or unrelated diversification (if either) and how far it was consistent with the company’s existing dominant logic. Using share price information (see www.bigcharts.com or
.4Q For any large multi-business corporation (as in 7.2), plot the business units on a portfolio matrix(for example, the BCG matrix: section 7.7.1). Justify any assumptions about the relative positions of businesses on the relevant axes of the matrix. What managerial conclusions do you draw from
.3 For any large multi-business corporation (as in 7.2), explain how the corporate parent should best create value for its component businesses (as portfolio manager, synergy manager or parental developer: see section 7.6). Would all the businesses fit equally well?
.2 Go to the website of any large multi-business organisation (for example, Google, Tata Group, Siemens) and assess the degree to which its corporate-level strategy is characterised by(a) related or unrelated diversification and (b) a coherent ‘dominant logic’ (see section 7.3).
.1 Using the Ansoff axes (Figure 7.2), identify and explain corporate strategic directions for any one of these case organisations: CRH*, Ferrovial*, SAB Miller*.
Consider a diversified corporation such as(food, personal care and household):what kinds of hard-to-trade knowledge might it be able to transfer between product and country subsidiaries and is such knowledge likely to be of increasing or decreasing importance?
Identify and evaluate the various synergies in ITC’s business.
How well does ITC’s portfolio fit in terms of the BCG matrix?
Suggest some industries and businesses, or types of industries and businesses, that Warren Buffett is likely never to invest in.
In what ways does Berkshire Hathaway conform (and not conform) to the archetypal portfolio manager described in section 7.6.2?
If you were outsourcing aircraft maintenance, what might you be concerned about and how might you design the contract and the tendering process to reduce those concerns?
Compare the arguments for defence outsourcing from strategic capabilities and transaction costs points of view.
What are the advantages and potential dangers of its decision to focus on the aircraft products market?
Explain the ways in which relatedness informed Zodiac’s diversification strategy over time.
Using the Ansoff axes, what other options could Döpfner pursue?
Referring to Figure 7.2, classify the various strategic directions Mattias Döpfner is considering for Axel Springer.
Can Madonna sustain her success?
Why has she experienced sustained success over three decades?
Describe and explain the strategy being followed by Madonna in terms of the explanation of competitive strategy given in Chapter 6.
.6Q Applying game theory ideas from section 6.4.4 to issues of international strategy (Chapter 8), how might a domestic player discourage an overseas player from entering into its home market?
.5Q Drawing on section 6.4 (on cooperative strategies) write a report for the chief executive of a business in a competitive market (for example, pharmaceuticals* or Formula One*) explaining when and in what ways cooperation rather than direct competition might make sense.

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Exploring Strategy 9th Edition Gerry Johnson ,Richard Whittington ,Kevan Scholes - Solutions

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