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

.4Q Choose an industry or sector which is becoming more and more competitive (for example, financial services or fashion retailing). How might the principles of hypercompetitive strategies apply to that industry?
.3Q You have been appointed personal assistant to the chief executive of a major manufacturing firm, who has asked you to explain what is meant by ‘differentiation’ and why it is important. Write a brief report addressing these questions.
.2 Using either Porter’s generic strategies or the Strategy Clock, identify examples of organisations following strategies of differentiation, low cost or low price, and stuck-in-the-middle or hybrid. How successful are these strategies?
.1 What are the advantages and what are the disadvantages of applying principles of business strategy to public-sector or charity organisations? Illustrate your argument by reference to a public-sector organisation of your choice.
Considering the nature of their industries, and key players within them, why might these organisations adopt these approaches to conformity or differentiation?
To what extent do (a) universities and (b) car manufacturers compete by being different or the same?
Given the clear incentive to Innova to move first with a high investment strategy, what should Dolla do and what might be the sequence of decisions and pattern of outcomes then?
Suggest three reasons why it may make sense that SAA raised the price-fixing accusation, rather than any other airline.
What would be the advantages and the disadvantages of raising prices artificially during the World Cup?
What should be the response of a company with a similar original position as Starbucks(for example, Costa Coffee in the UK)?
Plot the moves of McDonald’s and Starbucks on the axes of price and perceived quality, as in Figure 6.7.
How sustainable is Volvo’s luxury bus strategy?
Rank the elements of Passey’s strategy for Volvo in order of importance. Could any have been dispensed with?
In what sense do borough councils‘compete’?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach to low-cost council services?
Why did Bourguignon’s plan fail? Do you think that Giscard d’Estaing’s plan will be more successful?
How do you explain Club Med’s difficulties in the early 1990s?
Explain the reasons for Club Med’s success between the 1950s and the 1990s.
Analyse Club Med’s culture before 2000.
What aspects of IKEA’s cultural web can be identified from the video? What do you think the other aspects of the web might include?
What does Josephine Rydburg-Dumont mean when she says: ‘The importance of IKEA culture is, in a way, everything’?
.7Q What is the relationship between competitive advantage, strategic capabilities, organisation culture, strategy development and the challenge of managing strategic change? (Refer to Chapters 3, 5, 6, 12 and 14.) Consider this in relation to a major change in strategy.
.6Q By using a number of the examples from above and taking into account the issues raised in the Key Debate, critically appraise the assertion that ‘culture can only really be usefully analysed by the symptoms displayed in the way the organisation operates’. (You may wish to refer to
.5 Use the questions in Figure 5.8 to plot a cultural web for ClubMed, Cordia* or an organisation of your choice.
.4 Identify (a) an organisation where its publicly stated values correspond with your experience of it and (b) one where they do not. Explain why (a) and (b) might be so.
.3 Map out an organisational field (see section 5.4.2) within which an organisation of your choice operates. (As a basis for this you could for example use accountancy, an organisation operating in the public sector such as Cordia* or Formula One*.)
.2Q In the context of section 5.3, undertake a historical analysis of the strategy development of Club Med or an organisation of your choice and consider the question: ‘Does history matter in managing strategy?’
.1 Identify four organisations that, in your view, are in the different phases of strategic drift(see Figure 5.2). Justify your selection.
Managers often talk about the need to‘manage organisational culture’. How feasible is this given the complex nature of organisational culture that Alvesson describes? (Reference to Chapter 14 may be helpful here.)
If, as Alvesson suggests, pragmatically some of the sins are difficult to avoid, how can managers avoid ‘privileging’ them?
Undertake a cultural analysis of an organisation. To what extent did you find yourself committing any of the ‘seven sins’?
Draw up a cultural web for an organisation of your choice.
How do the various elements of the web inter-relate?
How would you characterise the dominant culture here?
How do the different views correspond to the discussions of strategic capabilities (Chapter 3) and competitive strategy (Chapter 6)?
What may be the origins of these assumptions?
What are the underlying assumptions of the arguments being advanced by the three partners?
If you are seeking to operate in a country with a very different culture, how would you set about trying to understand that culture and its underlying assumptions?
In what other aspects of managing strategy might the differences identified here be important?
What are the benefits and potential problems of legitimising a strategy on the basis of an organisation’s history?
Identify other organisations that have employed their organisational histories to support their strategy.
Why do you think successive CEOs of Pringle decided to employ the heritage of their businesses to support the strategy?
Update the illustration. Has Motorola learned its lessons?
Given that in the 1980s Motorola had the technology and knew the digital market was developing, give reasons why it persisted with analogue technology. (See Chapter 12 and the commentaries to help with this question.)
In your view is (Product)RED an appropriate corporate activity?
What views might shareholders of Gap have of(Product)RED?
Drawing on the three perspectives in the Key Debate or the four stances in Table 4.2, what is the rationale of:(a) The founders of (Product)RED?(b) The Director of Social Responsibility for Gap?(c) The author of the article in The Times?
.7 Using specific examples suggest how changes in corporate governance and in expectations about corporate social responsibility may require organisations to develop new capabilities (Chapter 3)and influencing the choice of strategies they follow (Chapter 11).
.6 Using Illustration 4.5 as a worked example, identify and map out the stakeholders for RED, Manchester United* or an organisation of your choice in relation to:(a) current strategies;(b) different future strategies of your choice.What are the implications of your analysis for the strategy of the
.5 Identify the key corporate social responsibility issues which are of major concern in an industry or public service of your choice (refer to Table 4.3). Compare the approach of two or more organisations in that industry, and explain how this relates to their competitive standing.
.4 Identify organisations that correspond to the overall stances on corporate social responsibility described in Table 4.2.
.3 What are your own views of the strengths and weaknesses of the stakeholder and shareholder models of governance?
.2 * For an organisation of your choice, map out a governance chain that identifies the key players through to the beneficiaries of the organisation’s good (or poor) performance. To what extent do you think managers are:(a) knowledgeable about the expectations of beneficiaries;(b) actively
.1 Write mission and vision statements for an organisation of your choice and suggest what strategic objectives managers might set. Explain why you think these are appropriate.
What are the implications of the different views for managers’ development of organisational strategy?
Which view do you hold:(a) as a manager? (b) as a shareholder?
To what extent and how should the development of strategic options consider the impact on society?
How would you categorise each of the decisions in terms of the stances on social responsibility in Table 4.2?
In what ways should top management of companies behave in such circumstances?
What is the role of the Chairman (or woman)in such circumstances?
Did the investors in the respective companies intervene in appropriate ways?
What changes in corporate governance are required to prevent similar occurrences?
What other mechanisms in the governance chain should (or could) have prevented what happened?
Why might Fuld and the Lehman board have behaved the way they did?
Identify other statements of mission, vision, purpose or values that you think are especially well crafted and explain why.
Could any of them have been improved? How?
Which of these statements do you think are likely to motivate which stakeholders? Why?
Bearing in mind your answers to questions 1 and 2, how crucial is Sir James Dyson to the future of of the company? What might be the effect of his completely leaving or selling the company?
Which of Dyson’s distinctive capabilities may, over time, become threshold capabilities?
To what extent do you think any of the capabilities can be imitated by competitors?
Using frameworks from the chapter, analyse the strategic capabilities of Dyson.
What are the strategic capabilities that Maersk claim provide them with competitive advantage in the global freight market?
.6 Prepare a SWOT analysis for an organisation of your choice and in relation to competitors(see Illustration 3.6). Explain why you have chosen each of the factors you have included in the analysis, in particular their relationship to other analyses you have undertaken in Chapters 2 and 3. What are
.5Q For a benchmarking exercise for which you have access, make a critical assessment of the benefits and dangers of the approach that was taken.
.4 Undertake a value chain or network analysis for an organisation of your choice (referring to Illustration 3.4 could be helpful). You can answer this in relation to a case study in the book such as Tesco* or Ryanair* if you wish.
.3Q For an industry or public service consider how the strategic capabilities that have been the basis of competitive advantage (or best value in the public sector) have changed over time. Why have these changes occurred? How did the relative strengths of different companies or service providers
.2Q Undertake an analysis of the strategic capability of an organisation with which you are familiar in order to identify which capabilities, if any, meet the criteria of (a) value, (b) rarity, (c) inimitability and (d) non-substitutability (see section 3.3). You can answer this in relation to
.1 Using Tables 3.1 and 3.2 identify the resources and competences of an organisation with which you are familiar. You can answer this in relation to Dyson, Amazon* or Formula One* if you wish.
===+3 Is the RBV useful?
Do you agree that if it were possible to identify and manage such capabilities they would be imitated?
How specific would the identification of strategic capabilities need to be to permit them to be managed to achieve competitive advantage?
Identify the benefits and dangers (other than those identified in the text) of a SWOT analysis such as that in the illustration.
How readily do you think executives of Pharmcare identify the strengths and weaknesses of competitors?
What does the SWOT analysis tell us about the competitive position of Pharmcare with the industry as a whole?
If disaggregation (see section 3.4.3) is important, suggest what even more specific activities underpinning those in the activity map that might be important.
Assuming Geelmuyden.Kiese managers are correct that they have capabilities that provide competitive advantage:a What would competitors find difficult to imitate and why?b Are there any activities that could be done away with without threatening that advantage?
What are the strategic implications of your analysis?
Estimate the relative costs and/or assets associated with these activities.
Draw up a value chain or value network for another business in terms of the activities within its component parts.
Which are the key strategic capabilities which provide, or could provide, Sandvik with sustainable competitive advantage?
Assess the bases of Sandvik’s strategic capabilities using the VRIN criteria.
Can dynamic capability development be deliberately planned? How?
What other joint activity within, and across, organisations could give rise to dynamic capabilities? How?
How do network relationships, such as strategic partnerships, potentially contribute to dynamic capability development?
At what levels could dynamic capabilities benefit organisations?
For an organisation of your choice undertake the same exercise as in questions 1 and 2 above.
To what extent and why might these capabilities be the basis of sustained competitive advantage?
Categorise the range of capabilities highlighted by the executives in terms of section 3.2 and Tables 3.1 and 3.2.
For the three breweries outlined above (or breweries of your own choice) explain:(a) how these trends will impact differently on these different companies; and(b) the relative strengths and weaknesses of each company.
Using the data from the case (and any other sources available), carry out for the Western European brewing industry (i) a PESTEL analysis and (ii) a five forces analysis.What do you conclude?

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

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