This assignment serves to encourage student dialogue and collaborative engagement of course material. We will dedicate a portion of each class session to review and clarify key concepts from the assigned readings and related lecture materials. Discussion posts receiving the most 'Likes' and discussion will serve to direct the focus of class discussion time. Business-level strategies examine how companies compete in a given industry. Companies derive such strategies by executives making decisions about their source of competitive advantage is based on price or differentiation, AND whether their scope of operations targets a broad or narrow market. Four generic business level strategies emerge from these decisions: Cost leadership, Differentiation, Focused Cost Leadership, and Focused Differentiation. A company is said to be Stuck in the Middle if it does not offer features that are unique enough to convince customers to buy its offerings and its prices are too high to effectively compete based on price. Companies that are stuck in the middle generally perform poorly because they lack a clear market or competitive pricing. A company's business-level strategy should not involve trying to serve the varied needs of every different segment of customers in an industry. In other cases, companies become stuck in the middle not because executives fail to arrive at a well-defined strategy but because companies are simply outmaneuvered by their rivals. ASSIGNMENT: Reply to this thread with an answer to the discussion prompt(s) below... What is an example of a company that you would consider to be (or at risk of becoming) stuck in the middle? What would your advice be to the executives in charge of this company?