A decade ago, Best Buy was widely considered the next big business to fail in light of growing competitive pressures from eCommerce businesses, primarily from Amazon and Walmart. Instead, they found a way to not only survive, but thrive in the new eComm space.

For your post here, please provide the following information:

$(1$a$)$ A brief value chain analysis of Best Buy in $2012,$ highlighting what you estimate is their biggest strength versus their biggest weakness.

$(1$b$)$ Connect this "biggest weakness" to Porter's five forces$$which force was the most threatening to Best Buy, and why? Briefly lay out your reasoning.

$(2)$ While pursuing the otherwise vague "Renew Blue" strategic initiatives, Joly and his team pivoted to describing "showrooming" as a competitive advantage $($rather than a disadvantage$).$ Describe two ways by which casting showrooming as a positive $($rather than a negative$)$ allowed Best Buy to grow market share against their eComm competitors. What features about Best Buy empowered them to re$-$cast showrooming as a strength for them?

$(3)$ Could Sears have used a similar "showrooming" strategy that Best Buy used? Stake a position in one of these two ways:

$-$ If you say yes, describe two similarities between Sears $($in the $90$s$)$ and Best Buy $($in the $2010$s$)$ that persuaded you.

$-$ Or$,$ if you say no$,$ describe two differences between Sears $($in the $90$s$)$ and Best Buy $($in the $2010$s$)$ that persuaded you.