Questions and Answers of Strategic Market Management

Address the questions posed in the Marks \& Spencer insert.
Visible criticism has been levelled at the bottled water industry, including the claim that their product is not better than tap water in many locales (some brands are even said to have an unpleasant
Explain shareholder value analysis. Why might it help firms? Why might it result in bad decisions?
Which one do you find the most insightful? Why? Under what drcumstanees would its implications not hold?
What performance measures would you consider most important for Chinese food firm COFCO? For French car firm Renault?
Conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis for Vodafone.
What trends are driving consumers away from newspapers? Which of these are supported by underlying consumer trends? Identify these trends.
Which of these trends will be around in five years? How would you forecast the probability that the trend will persist for that long?
What are the threats and opportunities represented by these trends for other news organizations such as the BBC and CNN?
Given your analysis, could a move to charge for content on-line succeed on a wide scale?
Who are the industries and firms for which Spotify’s new business model is a threat? What is the nature of the threat? How would you go about evaluating it? How can you forecast the impact? What
Will Spotify’s business model expand the market for music, bringing in new customers, or will it simply replace the existing business?
What are the strategic options for Spotify to use its transformational business model?
Evaluate the branding and positioning of Spotify. How would you advise Spotify to manage its branding to drive growth?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of Tesco from ASDA’s and Sainsbury's perspective?
What strategies should each company adopt to compete with Tesco, and what strategies should they avoid?
Does Tesco have any areas of weakness or strategies that ASDA and Sainsbury's could exploit?
Are there any market segments that Tesco is not currently serving that ASDA and Sainsbury's could exploit?
What is a sustainable competitive advantage? Identify SCAs for LinkedIn, Henkel, Lenovo, and HSBC.
Pick a product class and several major brands. What are each brand's points of parity and points of difference? Relate POPs to KSFs, and the PODs to SCAs.
What is synergy? What are the sources of synergy? Give examples. Why is it so elusive?
What is strategic commitment? Can you name examples that fit, besides those mentioned in the book? What examples of strategic stubbornness come to mind? Why are good strategists so blind to this
What is the difference between strategic opportunism and strategic adaptability? Can you give examples of each? What is the difference between the risks of both? Can you give examples of firms that
Examine a major firm and determine its philosophy blend. Where does each of its philosophies become visible?
Consider three industries, such as hotels or appliances or cars. For several of the firms in the industry, identify what value propositions are representing their strategy. Were there multiple
Consider three of the following value propositions: systems solutions, corporate social responsibility, superior customer relationships, quality, and value. For each of these, think of two firms not
Evaluate the quality strategy of Lexus with respect to the business strategy challenges. How might Lexus add more personality and emotion to its brand? Think of role models that have achieved a
Pick a product or service offering. How would you develop a set of customer survey questions that would measure its quality on an ongoing basis? How would you administer the survey?
Consider the NetAlbum experiment. What explanation would you propose?
What is the difference between identity and position? Develop alternative positioning statements for Ajax. Include a tagline and the rationale for that tagline.
Create a brand identity for Lynx. Are there potential dimensions that are inconsistent with the brand's personality? If so, how is that handled? How has the identity been brought to life? What are
Imagine you have been asked to design a concept hotel. Think of themes stimulated by magazines or movies, and discuss how you would design a hotel around each concept. For each theme, choose five
Using the creative thinking guidelines, think about how you would increase the usage of products if you were the managers of:(a) Walkers Crisps;(b) Skoda cars;(c) Zara fashions.
Pick an industry and a product or service. Engage in a creative thinking process, as outlined in the Creative Thinking Methods, to generate an improved offering. Do the same to create an entirely new
Evaluate the following extension proposals:- The Economist operating a Business School;- HSBC going into home safes;- Lynx/Axe going into a chain of male grooming salons;- Ponsse (a Finnish logging
Pick a branded offering such as Innocent smoothies. Come up with 20 products or services that are alternative extension options. Include some that would be a stretch. Then evaluate each using the
Consider the following mergers or acquisitions. What synergy was or would be logically possible? What would inhibit synergy? Consider operations, culture, and brand equities.(a) L'Oréal acquiring
Evaluate Starbucks' extension decisions: to put Starbucks on airlines, to open Starbucks in bookstores, to open Starbucks outlets in grocery chains, to license Starbucks ice cream, to offer oatmeal,
Why didn't Hertz or Avis start an off-airport business directed at insurance companies and holidaymakers? What advantages would they have had over Enterprise? Why didn't British Airways come up with
Consider the transformational impact of Grameen Bank. What are the implications of this model for more traditional trading firms? What are the implications for those seeking to do business in the
Think of some transformational new businesses such as Ryanair, Crocs, and Grameen Bank.(a) How was each different from what came before? What was similar? Scale them in terms of 'newness' from truly
What firms have changed from components to offering systems? Have they obtained an innovator's advantage?
Access the motivations for going global. What would be the most important for a food company?
Pick a product, like a car or food brand, or a service that is offered in only a limited number of countries. Assess the advantages of expanding to a more global presence.
For a particular product or service, how would you evaluate the countries that would represent the best prospects? Be specific. What information would you need, and how would you obtain it?
For a firm such as HSBC, Danone, or COFCO, how would you go about creating blockbuster global brand-building programmes - for example, sponsorships, promotions, or advertising? How would you leverage
In 2008, Ford sold the Jaguar brand to Tata Motors. For a number of years before this, Ford had been faced with large deficits. One contributor was the Jaguar line, which involved over US\$ 12
Consider a divestment strategy. Why is it hard to divest a business? Identify some cases of divestment. What are some of the motivations that led to these divestments?
What are the advantages of decentralization? Some people argue that more centralization is needed to develop and implement strategy in these dynamic times. Express your opinion, and illustrate it
How could the problems with the DaimlerChrysler merger have been avoided? Was the problem one of strategy (ov erexpansion), or was it organizational? Why?
How would you go about changing the culture of an organization to improve the level of cooperation and communication?
If you were assigned to be the new CMO of a firm like Unilever with silo issues, what sould you do in the first 100 days? Would this plan work as well in a technology firm such as Google or Facebook?
If you were the CMO of Nestlé with dozens of product units in over 100 countries, how would you make the decision as to what elements of advertising to centralize? Of brand strategy?
What do you believe would be the best way to get a finance-oriented CEO to support marketing and its efforts to get silos to work together on offerings, brands, and mar keting programmes?
Evaluate Alltech’s decision to become naming sponsor for the FET World Equestrian Games.
Should Pearse Lyons have used a more extended process of decision-making in making the decision to act as sponsor?
How can Catherine Keogh best leverage the sponsorship of the Games to achieve the market development and sales growth objectives of Alltech?
How important is Alltech’s global reach in securing commercial benefits from its sponsorship?
How would you measure those benefits at a tactical and strategic level?
How was the Innocent strategic position conceived? How strong is its position?
How did the position that Imocent achieved drive sales growth for the company? How does Innocent maintain sustainability and relevance of its position in a fast-moving, developing market?
What impact will Coca-Cola's new role in Imocent have on the Innocent brand from a consumer perspective? From a growth perspective? From a Coca-Cola brand perspective?
What skills, resources, or competencies did HTC bring to the branded mobile phone market? If a board member, would you have supported IITC’s initial move to sell branded phones? Why? Ww hy not?
What is required of IITC in order to grow a significant position in the branded market? Would growth in this area damage the rest of its business?
What are the lessons for the many firms who have strong competencies as component suppliers but wish to enter a market ender their own brand name? Consider this in a number of different industries
How would you explain the popularity of the Tata Nano? Why have other car companies not taken advantage of this opportunity?
How serious are the environmental concerns arising from the launch and sales of the Tata Nano? To whom are these of most concern? Are the environmental costs outweighed by the improvement in the
Why should other car companies be concerned by this development? How significant is the international market potential for the Nano?
How will this new initiative affect the Tata brand overall?
Evaluate each of these five initiatives for the benefits they offer to the recipients. Are they truly beneficial?
Explain your understanding of the benefits for each of the corporations involved.
Using the benefits you have identified, construct a presentation for share holders, explaining why corporate resources were being invested in this way,
What lessons do these five examples have for those wishing to engage in similar initiatives?
Discuss three ways Netflix might defend its current customer relationships against new entrants.
You work for a big-box retailer that is on track to miss its financial targets this year and your CEO wants to cut costs by reducing the marketing budget next quarter. How would you argue against
LinkedIn, the professionally-oriented online social network, was acquired in 2016 by technology giant Microsoft for $26.2 billion. Although Microsoft was partly motivated by LinkedIn’s top-notch
Look at the strong and weak recruiters coming to your university to hire. How do these firms’ marketing assets affect their success in recruiting you and your peers?
Take your favorite Internet start-up and rate its marketing assets as might be observed by potential acquirers. What needs to be improved and what has value?
Consider the placement of Starbucks into grocery stores. Pick two different local grocery store chains in your area and rate how well each performs on brand and customer relationships. How do these
Two large manufacturers make similar products but have different branding strategies: one houses all of its products under the parent brand, but the other has a collection of different brands that
Home Depot has decided that it wants to adopt a relational value proposition. What business model should Home Depot adopt to support this strategy? Include in your answer a discussion of whether a
What are the emerging submarkets in the fast food industry? What are the alternative responses available to McDonald’s, assuming that it wants to stay relevant to customers?
Historically, middle-class Asian travelers seeking unique excursions within their own regions have found it difficult to connect with small to mid-size tour operators that lack the marketing budgets
Identify markets in which actual sales and growth were less than expected, Why was that the case? What would you say was the most important reason that the bottom fell out of the dot-com boom in
In recent years the U.S. condiments and sauces market has been upended by one product: hot sauce. Since 2000, the category has grown 150%—more than BBQ sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard
Why were some brands (like Google) able to fight off competitors in high-growth markets and others were not?
Pick a company or brand/business on which to focus. What are the emerging submarkets2 What are the trends? What are the strategic implications of the submarkets and trends for the major players?
What considerations go into forecasting when dark chocolate will peak?
What did the tablet replace? What will replace (or has replaced) the tablet?
A trend that has a critical impact on the consumer packaged goods industry in recent years is consumers’ desire for simpler, more transparent, and more natural ingredients. Many companies have
Perform a SWOT analysis for The Coca-Cola Company in the soft drink category.What are the biggest threats and opportunities? What are Coca-Cola’s relevant strengths and weaknesses? What strategic
From creating new value to disrupting existing businesses, the rise of the sharing economy has had a major impact on the hospitality and transportation industries. Built on the concept of exchanging
Develop a scenario based on the proposition that hydrogen-fueled cars will continue to improve and take 15 percent of the automotive market in a few years. Analyze it from the point of view of an
Pick a start-up you admire. What are the major trends emerging from an environmental analysis? What are the major areas of uncertainty? How would a major company in the industry handle these trends
Focusing on the airline industry, develop a list of strategic uncertainties and possible strategic actions.
Visible criticism has been leveled at the bottled water industry, including the claim that their product is not better than tap water in many locales (some brands are even said to have an unpleasant
Compare and contrast how your local grocery would position the pre-made meal area of its store if it were trying to excel on performance, price, or relational value. What value proposition do you
Discuss one company that you think is compromising its Strategic success by focusing on too many different customers. What changes do you recommend?
What are the value-creation and value-capture mechanisms that Amazon uses in its business model? How consistent are these with its value proposition?
What synergies can LinkedIn exploit? Discuss several opportunities that exist for the company now and as it might grow. Consider how synergies with Microsoft, its parent, affect your choices.

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