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strategic management
Strategic Management 5th Edition John Thompson, Frank Martin - Solutions
Consider the most appropriate strategy for a sizeable UK-based company with international ambitions in the following industries (assume that your choice could be implemented): steel pharmaceuticals civil aircraft ladies’ cosmetics/fragrances.
For an organization of your choice, trace the changes of international strategy and strategic direction over a period of time. Relate these changes to any changes in strategic leadership, structure and, wherever possible, culture.
Sony is renowned as an innovative company within the consumer electronics industry, and its success has depended substantially on televisions, videos and hi-fi equipment. In recent years Sony has followed a strategy of globalization and diversification, arguably in related product areas. The
Find two businesses that have grown internationally through franchising, one a product business and the other a service business. Compare and contrast their development. To what extent are they similar and to what extent different?
How much of Freddie Laker’s downfall was the result of his own misjudgements and how much external forces?
To what extent were the pluses and minuses of Freddie Laker’s business career built into his entrepreneurial personality?
What exactly had gone wrong? Is it ever possible to apportion blame in circumstances like these?
How different is the situation at Chelsea – a club which is also gambling on success by investing over £100 million on players from around the world? Although there is a wealthy benefactor, he could change his mind if the club doesn’t win trophies.
What do you think might have happened if Weinstock’s strategy and style of management had been retained?
Was he correct to avoid risky industries or is this inevitably a flawed strategy in the long run?
Use the Internet and other sources to check the progress of Marconi in recent years. What has happened to the businesses GEC sold?
Do you believe Bulmer’s will be safer as a small cog in a large wheel than as an independent business?
As a family company, was a sale into corporate ownership always inevitable for the market leader in the niche market that cider enjoys as a long alcoholic drink?
Given that in the world of high fashion little stays still for long, what would you recommend Kim Winser should do in the future to make sure Pringle does not once again switch from growth into decline?
What future changes/additions would you recommend?
Has Rodol found a defensible ‘focused, longterm, brand-led strategy’?
Evaluate the strategies followed by Johnson at Albertson’s. Whilst they might be expected to yield cost savings, how effective do you think they might be for integrating the two businesses, generating synergies and encouraging new growth?
Do you agree with Nardelli’s decisions to target professional builders, plumbers and electricians and to diversify into installation services? Can a single store service both the professional and domestic markets effectively or is there a real risk of losing focus?
By either visiting a Debenham’s store or using the Internet (or both) try and ascertain what benefits have accrued from this change of ownership and management.
Given the fact that in June 2000 rival C&A announced it was also closing all of its highstreet stores, and the ability of relative newcomers such as Gap and Matalan to grow rapidly, what is the future for specialist clothing retailers such as Arcadia and its longestablished brands?
If you were new owner, Philip Green, what would you do to try and secure Arcadia’s future?
What has happened to Harvey Nichols since its sale by Burton in 1991. Are such specialist brands better off with greater autonomy?
Do the causes discussed in this chapter provide an adequate explanation for any corporate failure with which you are familiar?
Why might a company wish to remain a competitor in an industry despite low or declining profitability?Classify your reasons as objective or subjective. Can the subjective reasons be justified?
What factors do you feel would be most significant to all parties involved in a proposed buy-out during the negotiations? Where are the major areas of potential conflict?
What has happened to the jewellery retail group Signet since Gerald Ratner was forced to resign after his infamous quote that Ratner’s crystal glass decanters were priced as cheaply as they were because they were ‘total crap’? In the event, were his comments a ‘minor blip’ or a much more
In the 1980s, Z-scores provided by Datastream suggested that the following companies (amongst others) were in decline: Rover Group (then British Leyland) British Aluminium Renold (chainmakers) Acrow (cranemakers) Dunlop Lucas Tube Investments.The companies listed below are considered
How might you judge the relative success of Amstrad’s strategy – both ideas and implementation – over its 35 plus years of life?
Whilst licensing is clearly an excellent way to exercise technology leadership in a global industry, can it work in conjunction with an entrepreneurial management style?
What do you think might be the advantages and disadvantages of the current system?
Could you design a structure that allows greater decentralization without destroying the ethos of a ‘national’ health service?
How easy will it be for First and Scott to maintain their informal style and culture as Nantucket Nectars grows further?
What is the balance between intended and emergent strategy?
Does this structure make sense for the scope and diversity of the businesses? Why? Why not?
While the idea of a matrix structure is very attractive, it is inherently complex. Why do you think Barnevik’s structure has been described as the ‘ultimate global organization’?
How do you think it would feel to work within a structure such as this?
Is the swing between decentralization and centralization flagged in the final quote at the end of the Minicase an inevitability?
It was stated in the text that decentralization and divisionalization are not synonymous. What factors determine the degree of decentralization in a divisionalized organization?
For an organization with which you are familiar, obtain or draft the organization structure. How does it accord with the structural forms described in the text? Given your knowledge of the company’s strategies and people, is the structure appropriate?Why? Why not? If not, in what way would you
How uncertain and traumatic might it be to work in a middle or senior management position in a large organization which changes its structure relatively frequently? Despite this, is change inevitable?
Evaluate the divisionalized or holding company structure of a large, diverse, multiproduct multinational, considering the main board status of the key general managers. Does this suggest centralization or decentralization? If you are familiar with the company, do your findings accord with your
In the last ten years WH Smith has struggled to clarify its strategic position in the retail industry.There is serious competition for all its products. As a consequence its performance has both improved and deteriorated. There have been changes of leadership and rumours of a possible takeover. The
Do you think Welch’s management style could be easily copied?
Just how different is the GE approach from that adopted by BTR and Hanson?
Where does GE fit in our framework of corporate management styles?
Why exactly did the conglomerate diversification strategy of these businesses lose favour with shareholders?
Track the share price movements of these businesses during the 1990s and check their progress against the all-share index. What has happened in recent years?
Which companies have managed to change and adapt effectively, and which have not?
Which of these three new parents – Cendant, Lex Service Group and Centrica – has the best opportunity for sharing resources and transferring skills to a roadside-assistance business?
How would you summarize the ‘heartland’ of Smith’s Industries before and after the acquisition of Tube Investments?
What are your views on the final quote from Keith Butler-Wheelhouse?
How significant (relatively) is corporate strategy and how significant is operational strategy to deliver results?
What would you have done about the new millennium demand?
Given that most European manufacturers focus almost exclusively on high added value(and premium price) display fireworks, what is the future for Standard/Black Cat?
Regardless of the actual facts and motives, whose reputation do you think might be most enhanced (or at least protected) by its reaction and behaviour?
Did BA do the right thing in the circumstances or should it have reacted differently?
Did this disaster merely accelerate the inevitable? Had it not happened, would Concorde still be flying today?
Can anything sensible be done to prevent an incident such as the rogue advertisement, or does it always come down to effective reaction?
What are the key lessons for all organizations from the alternative reactions illustrated here?
As well as acting as an occasional consultant to Apple, co-founder Steve Wozniak has started two new businesses, one in the 1980s and another in the last few years. How successful were these businesses?Does this picture of Wozniak affect your views on the role and contribution of Steve Jobs?
Research and update the Apple Computers case.How would you evaluate:(a) The contribution of Steve Jobs?(b) Jobs as a strategic leader?(c) Whether Apple is now less crisis prone than it was and more in control of the change agenda?
Analyse the news broadcasts of two rival TV networks, such as the BBC and ITN, or Sky and CNN, and evaluate whether their reporting of industrial and business news is similar or dissimilar. Are they reporting to inform or to persuade about, say, the merits or demerits of government policy? To what
Select an industry or company and ascertain the forces that have brought about changes in the last ten years. How proactive/reactive have the companies been, and with what levels of success?
As a manager, what are your personal power bases? How politically effective are you? How could you increase your overall power and improve your effectiveness?
Describe a manager whom you believe is successful at using organizational politics. On what observations and experiences are you basing your decision?How might you measure political effectiveness and the elements within it?
Describe a strategic leader (any level in an organization of your choice) whom you consider to be a powerful person. What types of power does he or she possess?
Describe an event where you have personally experienced forces for change, and discuss any forces that were used to resist the change. What tactics were adopted on both sides?
Why would a programme of this scale and ambition be difficult to replicate?
This case has described a major programme of change and transformation, championed by an exceptional strategic leader, Jack Welch.While it has been reported extensively, and‘the world’ knows what Welch has set out to do and what he has achieved, few organizations have been able to replicate his
To what extent do you think the Halifax has proactively driven its change agenda, and to what extent do you think it has been responding to external forces and pressures?
From your own experiences, what might give a pizza delivery company a competitive edge?
Had you been Brandon would you have stuck with the ‘delivery only’ business model or introduced complementary restaurant facilities?
In the context of Apple, do you agree with the view that ‘the right strategy depends upon personal vision, and personal vision depends upon having the right person’?
The music download industry is really still in its infancy – what strategies should Apple adopt if it is to stay ahead of its rivals?
In August 2000 the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea after an internal explosion. The whole crew was lost and the Russian government was criticized for not calling on foreign help and expertise as quickly as it might have done.What are the lessons in risk and crisis management
Either by contacting a local councillor or using the Internet, ascertain how planning and budgeting are managed in your local authority. What have been the priority areas in the past? What are the current priorities? How have the changes in priority been decided?
Ascertain the budgeted resources and targets allocated to one manager whom you are able to interview.What measures of performance are utilized?What feedback is provided? What does the manager do with the feedback? What do you believe is the personal impact of the budget and measures of performance
For an organization with which you are familiar, ascertain the main stated policies for finance, production, personnel and marketing.How are these policies used? How were they created? How do they rate in terms of the principles of good policies discussed in the text?
Take any large organization with which you are familiar. How have its head office structure and roles changed in recent years?
Update the material on any or all of the four conglomerate businesses discussed in Minicase 16.2.Using this and details of the corporate strategies pursued by other large companies with which you are familiar, which of the following two statements do you most agree with?‘Conglomerate
Are you personally risk averse or perceived as a risk taker? On what evidence are you drawing this conclusion?
Reflect on the work of Kanter and Handy in the late twentieth century – sections 16.7.1 and 16.7.2 in the text. What view if any has best profiled the nature of the modern organization?
How do you think the need for general managers might have changed as organization structures have generally been flattened and delayered?
For which (general) corporate strategies are the financial control, strategic planning and strategic control styles of corporate management most appropriate?
Are there any comparisons or contrasts with the situation described in Minicase 16.6, the Concorde crash?
What are Richard Branson’s strengths and limitations as a strategic leader?
How have they been manifested as Virgin has developed?
Can this diverse business outlive its founder?
Or would Virgin be split up into its many constituent businesses without Branson to lead it?
What are the similarities and differences between the Branson/Virgin Atlantic strategy and those of the low-price, no-frills airlines such as Southwest and easyJet?
What routes has Branson added to his original transatlantic services?
How does McDonald’s create value for its customers?
How might it create new values in the future?
What are its important competencies and capabilities?
To what extent do you think issues of strategic leadership and culture have influenced its growth and prosperity?
What exactly is a strategy? What have you learned about different perspectives, levels and ways in which they are changed?
What are the key elements in the strategic management process?
How have Marks and Spencer sought to attain and maintain competitive advantage? What do you think their objectives might have been?
From your background knowledge, what might be the key success factors required for success in the airline business? How do you feel Virgin and easyJet have embraced these? How important a factor is‘risk taking’?
Using the Ben and Jerry’s case (or another case from Chapter 1 if you prefer) clarify what you think the business model is.
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