Questions and Answers of Strategic Management Concepts And Cases

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) include food products in which genetics have been used to extend product shelf life, deter pests, and other product innovations. Much of the food consumed in the
Despite the pharmaceutical industry’s notable contributions to human progress, including the development of miracle drugs for treating cancer, AIDS, and heart disease, there is a growing ethical
The box entitled “HowWould You Do That? 1” illustrates the five-forces model for the airline industry. Use the analysis there as an example and performa five-forces analysis for one of the
Using the value curve model illustrated in “How Would You Do That? 2,” map the strategic groups in the soft drink industry. What groups are there other than the two dominant companies? How do
What are resources?Howdo different types of resources differ?
What is a capability?
What are the five components of the VRINE model?
How do time and causal ambiguity relate to the value, rarity, and inimitability of a resource or capability?
What is the difference between a stock of resources and capabilities and a flow of resources and capabilities?
What are dynamic capabilities? How do they differ from general capabilities?
What is a firm’s value chain? How does it figure into a firm’s competitive advantage?
What is your role as a manager in linking resources and capabilities to strategy and competitive advantage?
What is the role of luck in gaining possession of a particular resource or capability? Can a firm manage luck? Give an example of a resource or capability that a firm garnered through luck and
Some firms’ products are so well known that the entire category of products offered in the industry (including rivals’ products) is often referred to by the leading firm’s brand name (which is
Companies are increasingly looking to India for outsourced IT and knowledge work. To attract and accommodate an even greater influx of foreign firms, the government has given a contract to Reliance,
What are some of the ethical issues that seem to accompany discussions of outsourcing or offshoring? What tradeoffs might a management team be weighing with a particular outsourcing or offshoring
In the box entitled “How Would You Do That? 1,” we walked through how to apply the DuPont analysis to better understand the value chain choices, and possibly resources and capabilities, that
Based on your analysis, are there activities that this organization performs differently than its rival? Start by looking at the firm’s products, services, or target markets. Do any of the rival
What are four sets of challenges to sustained competitive advantage outlined in this chapter?
What is industry commoditization? What are two strategies a firm may undertake to combat industry commoditization?
What is a new-market-creation strategy?
What is a low-end disruption strategy?
What are the three levels of activity that underlie strategies for turbulent and hypercompetitive markets?
What is the role of timing and pacing in revolutionary strategies?
What five defensive strategies might industry incumbents pursue in dynamic markets?
How might you apply real-options analysis, financially and conceptually, in the context of revolutionary strategies for turbulent and hypercompetitive markets?
What are the implications of dynamic strategies for strategy formulation and implementation?
If you were the CEO of Napster (which started out as Roxio in the opening vignette), what material from this chapter would be most relevant to you? How would this material help you to formulate a
Review the list of first- and second-mover firms in Exhibit 9. What specific resources and capabilities do you think successful first movers must possess? What specific resources and capabilities do
Some firms manage disruptive strategy threats by investing in the firms that bring them to market, so that if the threat turns out to be wildly successful it can still benefit from it financially. Is
You learned how incumbents can be blindsided by disruptive strategies. Litigation appears to be a prominent tool that incumbents can use to at least slow new entrants’growth.What might be some of
Pick an industry and use the box entitled “How Would You Do That? 1” as a template to map its value curve. What are the key success factors that define industry participation? Does there appear
Identify a firm that you believe is pursuing a revolutionary strategy. How do its actions map onto the four-actions framework?
What do we mean by generic strategies?
What criteria must be met in order for differentiators and low-cost leaders to be successful?
What is the relationship between economies of scale and minimum efficient scale?
What are economies of scope?
How does the learning curve work?
What is market segmentation? What role does it play in strategic positioning?
What is willingness to pay? How does it relate to strategic positioning?
How does the industry life cycle affect business strategy?
What are the steps in testing the quality of a strategy?
Review the opening vignette about the three bicycle manufacturers. Use the strategy-diamond and the generic strategy model to describe the positioning strategy of each firm.Based on what you know
Among the global trends facing business, it is increasingly unclear who should provide basic social services (e.g., pensions, public health services, school infrastructure), regulate business and
Environmental issues, including climate change, are increasingly discussed in the executive suite as it relates to strategy formulation and implementation. How “green” should a company be that is
Let’s revisit the learning curve and change some of the assumptions made in the box entitled “How Would You Do That? 1.” Assume that the first bike took 100 hours, the second 85, and the fourth
Based on the information in the box entitled “How Would You Do That? 1,” assume that you have determined that established leaders have such an experience advantage that you’ll never catch their
How does corporate strategy differ from business strategy?
How has the practice of corporate strategy evolved over time?
What is a conglomerate?
How can managers decide whether they should diversify into a new business?
What are the types of diversification and how is value created by each type?
What is the difference between economies of scope and synergies?
What is the relationship between diversification and firm performance?
What factors tend to limit the attractiveness of diversification?
How does a dynamic industry context affect the possible benefits of diversification?
Choose two firms that are well-known to your group members—perhaps firms that you’ve done case analyses on in the past. For each of these firms, identify their vertical, horizontal, and
Try to apply the profit pool tool to another industry. Where would you turn for data to do this? How “friendly” is that data for the purposes of using this tool? If you are having trouble being
Textbook publishers face growing competition on numerous fronts, including new models of textbook delivery. One such model provides students with online textbook content for“free,” on the
You can imagine that firms in the alcohol, tobacco, or firearms businesses may feel a need to diversify into less scrutinized or regulated businesses. How might ethical issues related to these core
The box entitled “How Would You Do That? 1” helps you see how a profit pool model is developed for a particular industry or geographic or product arena. You are given Starbucks and ready-to-drink
“How Would You Do That? 2” applies a portfolio evaluation tool to Disney. Internally,Disney executives view one of their dynamic capabilities as that of being the best at creating world-class
Do most strategic alliances succeed?
What forms can strategic alliances take?
What is the difference between an equity and a nonequity strategic alliance?
Provide an example of a nonequity strategic alliance.
Why do firms enter into alliances?
What are the three forms of strategic alliance that support business strategy?
What do the value net and industry structure models tell you about potential alliance partners?
How do alliances serve as a vehicle for corporate strategy?
What risks do alliances pose to partner firms?
How do alliances differ in stable and dynamic contexts?
What are the five critical criteria for successful alliances.Exhibit 11 1. The alliance has a clear strategic purpose-alliances are never an end in or of themselves, they provide tools to achieve a
Increasingly, firms such as P&G, Corning (www.corning. com) and Millennium Pharmaceuticals (www.millennium. com) claim to have a core competency and competitive advantage based on their ability to
Identify a firm and document its alliance activity over the past five to ten years (visit the Web site of a public firm, particularly the “history” page). Examine the list of officers at the
One of the biggest barriers for firms entering into alliances with foreign partners, and even domestic ones, are issues of trust. Does a well-crafted legal agreement prevent breaches of ethics by
You have seen many reports in the press about Adidas or Nike and how the working conditions of the foreign partners and suppliers are sometimes abysmal. Is this just a cost of doing business through
The box entitled “How Would You Do That? 1” shows how Millennium Pharmaceuticals evaluated a potential alliance partner. Apply the Millennium fit framework to the alliances of another firm you
Why would firms use acquisitions rather than create a new business internally?
What are the possible motives for acquisitions?
What are the ways in which synergies can be created in acquisitions?
How easy or difficult is it to achieve the alternative types of synergies?
What are the various types of acquisitions?
How do market-extension acquisitions and geographic rollups differ?
Give examples of product extension, overcapacity, and R&D acquisitions.
What is an acquisition premium?
How can you calculate the synergies that must be extracted from an acquisition with a given premium?
How do acquisitions tend to be used in different stages of the industry life cycle?
Pick a firm of interest to your group. Identify potential acquisition candidates. Explain why these companies would make sense as an acquisition target. Evaluate and describe possible implementation
Pick a firm of interest and peruse its annual reports over a 5- to 10-year period. Assess the information presented on M&As in the annual reports. Do you see any explicit mention of the link between
During the due diligence phase of a pharmaceutical company’s acquisition, you discover that an executive of the potential target may have funneled payments to government regulators overseeing the
While negotiating a possible buyout with the management of a firm, the CEO of the target starts to play hardball. He continues to add contingencies to the deal. In addition, he has recently raised
Identify a company that has recently announced an acquisition. Study the terms of the deal and identify to the extent possible the market value of the target, its intrinsic value, and the acquisition
What is strategy implementation?
How are formulation and implementation related?
What are the basic forms of organizational structure? When is each appropriate?
What are some common systems and processes that are relevant to strategy implementation?
How are people relevant to strategy formulation and implementation?
How can rewards affect strategy?
What are the roles of strategic leadership in successful strategy implementation?

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