Questions and Answers of Exploring Strategy

What would its likely value be?
What systems of change does this involve thinking about?
How might these behave in future?
What specific transitional events might occur that prove to be tipping points, eg an economic slowdown, the entry of a new form of competitor to the market, a sudden surge of market growth or
How might change develop as a dynamic – using the uncertainty tunnel?
What might the ‘end game’ look like?
What are its key drivers and possible dynamics?
What are the possible strategies?
Under what conditions do any of these line up to give the necessary and sufficient conditions for success?
What triggers do you see as needing to be there to take advantage of that?
How are you going to position the contingent nature of any plan to key stakeholders and accommodate for this in the management process, eg in budgets and in communication and expectations management?
What types of value does it generate?
For each segment of value, what are the conditions under which it will crystallize?
If you were to lose that value, what would you pay to get it back (its ‘regret’ value)?
What other clues do you get about how to value it from the valuation recipes that I have mentioned above?
What are the objectives of our doing X?
What are the benefits that you see?
What are the options we have for achieving these objectives?
What do you see as the problem and what are the causes?
What do you think might be the opportunity costs of doing that?
What do you think a successful outcome will depend on?
How uncertain are those things?
Can we get sufficient stakeholder support to make it happen?
How much time do you think it might take?
What are the hidden costs?
Who might be for it and against it?
What are the options for how we will do it?
Do you think there is a risk of spreading ourselves too thinly?
Who besides myself might be well placed to do it?
Is it a really important part of our strategy?
How complex do you see this and is this really a ‘project’?
What is your feeling on its scope?
What are the main constraints as you see them?
What might be the ‘one big thing we forgot?’
Do you think we need a ‘cunning plan’ for this?
How much time input will it absorb from you as we get into it?
Do you suspect there might be change management issues at all?
Do you think it will get sufficient attention and priority at this time?
In the unlikely event that we begin to get bogged down in this, for instance when XYZ is going on, what do you think we might have to do to dig our way out of that?
Where there are problems or difficulties, why do these exist?
What are the key options?
What is your cunning plan?
Is that ‘what you really-really want?’
What’s the ‘one big thing that you have forgotten?’
The existing business’s position (eg from the strategy audit etc)?
The changing nature of your markets and of the competition?
The options that it has available?
The barriers to implementation and change?
The form of strategy most suitable for the business: deliberate, emergent, detergent, contingent etc?
The influence of stakeholders on this?
How the strategy process is currently, and should be, conducted?
The effectiveness and value added of particular tools – particularly in the context of your own organization?
What you might be advised to stop doing strategically?
Applying the tools to more everyday issues?
What your own strengths and weaknesses are – cognitively, emotionally and behaviourally, and how you can become a more effective strategic thinker, facilitator and influencer in the future, and on
1. What strategy statement would you propose for the Glastonbury Festival?2. Carry out a ‘three horizons’ analysis of the Glastonbury Festival, in terms of both existing activities and possible
1. What motives (strategic, financial and managerial) of corporate strategy can be identified in:a. the three principal M&A events identified in the case – the acquisition of Cadbury PLC, the
1. How does Tesla Motor€™s strategy fit with the various strategy definitions in Figure 1.1?2. What seems to account for Tesla€™s success?Figure 1.1 '..the determination of the
1. Construct short strategy statements covering the goals, scope and advantage of Samsung and the Southampton University. How much do the different private- and public-sector contexts matter?2.
If IKEA chose not to build on sustainable competitive advantage, how could they build on many transient advantages?
1. Besides the public sector, can you think of other business situations where war games could be useful?2. War games could possibly play a role when preparing for strategic change at a university.
1. Rank the elements of Passey’s strategy for Volvo in order of importance. Could any have been dispensed with?2. How sustainable is Volvo’s luxury bus strategy?
1. What type of competitive strategy, low-cost, differentiation, focus or hybrid, would you suggest as a way of competing with Vanguard?2. Using webcam chats is one approach to lower costs in
1. How could you use the design lens, the experience lens and the variety lens to account for the development of the mobile phone business within Nokia?2. How could you use the design lens and the
1. Which scenario would companies like Google and Facebook most desire and which would they most fear?2. What are the implications of these scenarios for industries outside information technology,
1. Using the concept of ‘varieties of capitalism’, in which countries would you expect Uber to be most successful and in which less so?2. What are the costs and benefits of Uber’s aggressive
1. Identify at least one important hub and one important broker in the Unit 8200 network.2. If you were a foreign cyber-security company, what would you do to access Israel’s expertise?
In the light of this analysis, what strategic options would you advise a Western oil producer such as Shell or BP to consider?
1 Sticking to the 35-word limit suggested by Collis and Rukstad in Section 1.2.3, what strategy statement would you propose for Airbnb?2 Carry out a ‘three-horizons’ analysis (Section 1.2.1) of
1. Is it possible for a government owned business to operate strategically and in an entrepreneurial manner given the political context in which it has to function?2. Is risk taking compatible with
1. What is the Influence of history and values on Unilever’s strategy?2. How can we judge Unilever’s performance before 2009?3. Why do you think Unilever decided to hire an outsider?4. Why might
a. Explain how the UK government is changing the strategic style for controlling schools.b. Which specific items are devolved and which remain centrally controlled in Academies and Free Schools
1. In what ways (if any), do you think the strategy development process is different in a small business (as typified by Mormor Magda) from the process in a large organisation (e.g. Apple or
1. What are the key macro-environmental factors that influence the strategy in this case?2. What have been the steps in the strategy development process at KFSH? How deliberative have they been?3.
What challenges were faced by the hospital CEO in implementing the strategy to achieve Foundation status?
1. What strategies are being followed by the main NTOs?2. Which strategic options are available to NTOs (at the time of the case study)?3. How might these strategic options be evaluated?4. What
1. Describe and evaluate the strategy directions pursued by CRH.2. Describe and evaluate the corporate parenting roles employed by CRH.3. Discuss CRH’s acquisition strategy and its contribution.4.
1. What were the drivers for internationalisation that led to Teva’s rapid acquisition programme?2. Describe the key motivations behind Teva’s acquisition programme and comment on how well the
1. How innovative is Apple? Is it a strategic innovator?2. What is your evaluation of Steve Jobs as a leader?3. What are your recommendations to Apple as it continues in its new era under Tim Cook?4.
1. How did Ningbo Smarter Logistics succeed in gaining the attention of very senior global managers in a large multinational like IBM?2. How can MNC relationships be leveraged as a pathway to
1. Handelsbanken is known for its culture being different from that of its competitors. Characterise Handelsbanken’s culture and discuss how the culture is spread and kept alive in the bank.2. What
1. Using Yip (Figure 9.2 in Exploring Strategy), what drivers of internationalisation have encouraged the development of the IPL?2. Considering Porters Diamond (Figure 9.3 in Exploring Strategy),
1. What are the factors driving the diversification of Tune Group?2. What is the Tune Group portfolio, what contribution does each SBU make and, therefore, what is the dominant logic for this
1. Identify the growth directions and corporate logic that SABMiller has adopted in its development and the reasons for its success.2. Explain (a) the strategic position in which SABMiller finds
1. What is the importance of entrepreneurialism and innovation in designing and implementing strategy?2. How are the pillars of strategy defined in both organisational structure and human relations
1. Why has Ryanair been successful thus far?2. Is Ryanair’s new strategy sustainable?3. Would you recommend any further changes to Ryanair’s approach in changing environmental circumstances?4.
1. Was the success of Widespace the result of good business practices (internal view) or were they just in the right place at the right time (external view)?2a. What are concrete options that Patrik
1. What is strategy at Adnams?i) How would you describe the strategy at Adnams? What is making this company successful?ii) What influences are at play on the strategy?iii) What should the future
1. Identify the different forms of ownership that might be adopted by MUFC and how these might lead to different expectations.2. Identify the main stakeholder groups involved in MUFC and using Figure
How might institutional logics shape such strategic choices as diversification, innovation and internationalisation (see Chapters 8, 9 and 10) for (i) a family-business owner looking to pass on
1. Map Vanguard’s corporate culture to the cultural web elements of paradigm, stories, symbols, power, organisation structure, control styles and rituals and routine.2. How do the various elements
1. Why do you think that creating a common culture might be important for a company like AB InBev?2. What mechanisms are used to reinforce such a common culture (see also Chapter 14).
1. Which of the reasons for strategic drift are evident in the Kodak story?2. Drawing on the lessons from Part 1 of the book as a whole, how might Kodak’s problems have been avoided?
1. How would you sum up (i) the strategy (ii) the culture of Indian Railways in the early years of this century?2. In what ways can you trace this strategy and culture to the Indian Railways’
1. Consider the governance chain leading from the various shareholders of UBHL to the managers in the main businesses, with particular reference to United Spirits. Why might there be breakdowns in
What would you argue as a director of a benefit corporation when the survival of your company depended on suspending expenditure on social objectives?
1. Where would you place H&M in terms of the four stances on social responsibility in Table 5.2?2. What are the kinds of triple-bottom-line measures that would be appropriate for a sustainable
1. To what extent does Volkswagen reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the stakeholder model of governance (Section 5.3.2)?2. What should Volkswagen have done with regard to governance and
1. Which parts of the governance chain – principals and agents (see Section 5.3.1) – failed at Toshiba?2. What problems (knowledge, monitoring or incentives) led to the scandal? What would you
1. Compare the power and attention of Mozilla’s various stakeholders with regard to: (i) the former CEO Brendan Eich’s position on gay marriage(ii) the development of the Firefox OS (see

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