Questions and Answers of Exploring Strategy

Govern your offshored business. Finally, the company needs to develop management mechanisms to oversee activities in different parts of the world, often with different suppliers. The development of
Develop local talent. Another organizational difficulty is learning how to attract, manage and develop talent in the destination countries. Again, this task is easier if you hire the services of an
Adapt your organization to the new reality.According to our studies, in most companies, adapting business processes to the new reality entails a long learning curve. Therefore, it pays to make the
Examine destinations carefully. You should take into account variables such as labor costs, availability of talent, market potential, quality of infrastructure, acceptable risks, and the environment
Decide what you want to outsource and how.Defining a global strategy requires deciding which activities or processes are suitable for offshoring, how—through subsidiaries or outsourcing—and
Think big picture, not item by item. Offshoring that’s not linked to the overall strategy can be a one-way ticket to failure. In the search for the best capabilities at the best price, a company
What data will be required to optimally digitize your value chain, and what portion will come from internal vs. external sources?
What steps are you taking to embed digitization into your value chain—R&D, marketing, sourcing, production and service, as well as upstream and downstream value chain processes?
What opportunities do you have to leverage digital technologies such as 3D printing, eKanban or RFID in your products, services, organization and processes?
. What impact will digitization have on your products, services, organization, processes and endto-end value chain?
4. What would happen to your company’s performance if you and your co-managers stick with the status quo and fail to make any corrective adjustments after each decision round?
3. Following each decision round, do you and your co-managers make corrective adjustments in either your company’s strategy or the way the strategy is being executed? List at least three such
2. What core values would you want to ingrain in your company’s culture? Why?
1. If you were making a speech to company personnel, what would you tell employees about the kind of corporate culture you would like to have at your company? What specific cultural traits would you
Illustration Capsule 12.1 discusses W. L. Gore’s strategy-supportive corporate culture. What are the standout features of Gore’s corporate culture? How does Gore’s culture contribute to
Based on what you learned about REI from answering the previous question, how do you think the company’s culture affects its ability to execute strategy and operate with excellence?
Go to the company website for REI ( www.rei.com ). Click on the Stewardship tab, and then click on some of the tabs below to learn more about the company’s culture and values. What are the key
Explaining how new behaviors and work practices will be more advantageous and produce better results. Effective culture-change leaders are good at telling stories
Explaining why and how certain behaviors and work practices in the current culture pose obstacles to good strategy execution.
illustration Capsule 11.2 provides a sampling of motivational tactics employed by several prominent companies (many of which appear on Fortune ’s list of the 100 best companies to work for in
Company strategies can’t be executed well without a number of support systems to carry on business operations. Using your university’s access to LexisNexis or EBSCO, search for recent articles
Policies and procedures facilitate strategy execution when they are designed to fit the company’s strategy and objectives. Using your university’s access to LexisNexis or EBSCO, search for recent
I mplementing a new or different strategy calls for new resource allocations. Using your university’s access to LexisNexis or EBSCO, search for recent articles that discuss how a company has
What value chain activities are most crucial to good execution of your company’s strategy?Does your company have the ability to outsource any value chain activities? If so, have you and your
What specific actions have you and your co-managers taken to develop core competencies or competitive capabilities that can contribute to good strategy execution and potential competitive advantage?
How would you describe the organization of your company’s top-management LO 5 team? Is some decision making decentralized and delegated to individual managers?If so, explain how the
Keep Valve’s unique structure in mind. Using Google Scholar or your university’s access to online databases, do a search for recent writings on decentralized decision making and employee
Review Valve Corporation’s company handbook online: www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf . Specifically, focus on Valve’s corporate structure. Valve has hundreds of employees
Review Facebook’s Careers page ( www.Facebook.com/careers/ ). The page emphasizes Facebook’s core values and explains how potential employees could fit that mold. Bold and decisive thinking and a
Search online to read about Jeff Bezos’s management of his new executives. Specifically, explore Amazon.com’s “S-Team” meetings ( management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/16/jeff-bezos-amazon/ ).
The foundation of Nike’s global sports apparel dominance lies in the company’s continual ability to outcompete rivals by aligning its superior design, innovation, and marketing capabilities with
Instituting policies and procedures that facilitate strategy execution.
Allocating sufficient resources (budgetary and otherwise) to the strategy execution effort.
Creating a strategy-supportive organizational structure.
Developing the resources and organizational capabilities required for successful strategy execution.
Staffing the organization with managers and employees capable of executing the strategy well.
Is your company striving to conduct its business in an environmentally sustainable manner? What specific additional actions could your company take that would make an even greater contribution to
In what ways, if any, is your company exercising corporate social responsibility?What are the elements of your company’s CSR strategy? Are there any changes to this strategy that you would suggest?
Is your company’s strategy ethical? Why or why not? Is there anything that your company has done or is now doing that could legitimately be considered “shady”by your competitors?
Go to www.google.com/green/ and read about the company’s latest initiatives surrounding sustainability. What are Google’s key policies and actions that help it reduce its environmental footprint?
Based on information provided in Illustration Capsule 9.3, explain how Burt’s Bees’ CSR strategy has contributed to its success in the marketplace. How are the company’s various stakeholder
Prepare a one- to two-page analysis of a recent ethics scandal using your university library’s access to LexisNexis or other Internet resources. Your report should(1) discuss the conditions that
Widely known as an ethical company, Dell recently committed itself to becoming a more environmentally sustainable business. After reviewing the About Dell section of its website (
Is there anything in the proposed action that could be considered ethically objectionable?Would our customers, employees, suppliers, stockholders, competitors, communities, the SEC, or the media view
Is it apparent that this proposed action is in harmony with our code? Are any conflicts or potential problems evident?
Is what we are proposing to do fully compliant with our code of ethical conduct?Are there any areas of ambiguity that may be of concern?
The concepts of corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability and how companies balance these duties with economic responsibilities to shareholders.
The costs of business ethics failures.
What drives unethical business strategies and behavior.
How the standards of ethical behavior in business are no different from the ethical standards and norms of the larger society and culture in which a company operates.
How appealing is the whole group of industries in which the company has invested?
Which of the company’s industries are most attractive, and which are least attractive?
Does each industry the company has diversified into represent a good market for the company to be in—does it pass the industry-attractiveness test?
Which is the least costly mode of entry, given the company’s objectives?
Is speed an important factor in the firm’s chances for successful entry?
Are there entry barriers to overcome?
Does the company have all of the resources and capabilities it requires to enter the business through internal development, or is it lacking some critical resources?
Which one of the following best describes the strategic approach your company is taking in trying to compete successfully on an international basis?Multidomestic or think-local, act-local
To what extent, if any, have you and your co-managers adapted your company’s strategy to take geographic differences in import tariffs or import duties into account?
Assume you are the CEO of an online retailer looking to expand your services into developing-country markets. Much of the success of your business model depends on the ability to ship items quickly
Your company is an American-based footwear producer. Over the past few years, while demand for your products has been increasing, costs have been rising steadily and your production capabilities are
If your company’s product is large home appliances such as washing machines, ranges, ovens, and refrigerators, would it seem to make more sense to pursue a multidomestic strategy, a global
If your company’s product is dry soup mixes and canned soups, would a multidomestic strategy seem to be more advisable than a global strategy or a transnational strategy? Why?
If your company’s product is mobile phones, which of these strategies do you think it would make better strategic sense to employ? Why?
Assume you are in charge of developing the strategy for an international company selling products in some 50 different countries around the world. One of the issues you face is whether to employ a
Collaborative agreements with foreign companies in the form of strategic alliances or joint ventures are widely used as a means of entering foreign markets. They are also used as a means of acquiring
Chile’s largest producer of wine, Concha y Toro, chooses to compete in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, and Asia using an export strategy. Go to the Investor Relations section of the
Kaiser Permanente, a standout among managed health care systems, has become a model of how to deliver good health care cost-effectively. Illustration Capsule 6.4 describes how Kaiser Permanente has
Live Nation operates music venues, provides management services to music artists, and promotes more than 22,000 live music events annually. The company merged with Ticketmaster and acquired concert
Will buyers encounter high switching costs in moving to the newly introduced product or service?
When and how strategic alliances can substitute for horizontal mergers and acquisitions or vertical integration and how they can facilitate outsourcing.
The conditions that favor farming out certain value chain activities to outside parties.
The advantages and disadvantages of extending the company’s scope of operations via vertical integration.
The strategic benefits and risks of expanding a company’s horizontal scope through mergers and acquisitions.
When being a first mover or a fast follower or a late mover is most advantageous.
Whether and when to pursue offensive or defensive strategic moves to improve a company’s market position.
Which rival companies appear to be employing some type of focused strategy?
How would you characterize Stihl’s competitive strategy? Should it be classified as a low-cost provider strategy? A differentiation strategy? A best-cost strategy?Also, has the company chosen to
Stihl is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of chain saws, with annual sales exceeding $3.7 billion. With innovations dating to its 1929 invention of the gasoline-powered chain saw, the
Best Buy is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the United States, with 2013 sales of almost $50 billion. The company competes aggressively on price with such rivals as Costco, Sam’s Club,
The attributes of a best-cost provider strategy—a hybrid of low-cost provider and differentiation strategies.
The major avenues to a competitive advantage based on differentiating a company’s product or service offering from the offerings of rivals.
The major avenues for achieving a competitive advantage based on lower costs.
What distinguishes each of the five generic strategies and why some of these strategies work better in certain kinds of competitive conditions than in others.
Using the methodology presented in Table 4.4 , do a weighted competitive strength assessment for your company and two other companies that you and your comanagers consider to be very close
What are the key elements of your company’s value chain? Refer to Figure 4.3 in developing your answer.
What internal strengths and weaknesses does your company have? What external market opportunities for growth and increased profitability exist for your company?What external threats to your
Using the formulas in Table 4.1 and the data in your company’s latest financial statements, calculate the following measures of financial performance for your company:a. Operating profit marginb.
Using the methodology illustrated in Table 4.3 and your knowledge as an automobile owner, prepare a competitive strength assessment for General Motors and its rivals Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, and
What value chain activities might be important in securing or maintaining American Giant’s competitive advantage? Explain your answer.
How would its various costs and activities differ if the company chose to produce its hoodies in Asia?
Review the information in Illustration Capsule 4.1 concerning American Giant’s average costs of producing and selling a hoodie sweatshirt, and compare this with the representative value chain
Using the financial ratios provided in Table 4.1 and the financial statement information presented on pp. 110–112 for Costco Wholesale Corporation, calculate the following ratios for Costco for
what is the
How well the company’s strategy delivers on the industry key success factors.
Whether this is likely to change in the course of competitive interactions.
Whether the company occupies a stronger market position than rivals.
Whether industry profitability will be favorably or unfavorably affected by the prevailing driving forces.
Whether the presence of complementors and the possibility of cooperative actions improve the company’s prospects.
Whether strong competitive forces are squeezing industry profitability to subpar levels.

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