How do managers claim they will create value through diversification? Using the eight Ss described in the chapter, evaluate how well you believe the company will do in its value creation strategy. For example, are there real synergies or core competencies to create? Do the businesses share a similar dominant logic?

The Eight Ss:

Exploiting and/or expanding the resources and capabilities usually come through one of eight  mechanisms. To help you remember these important elements, we’ve created a mnemonic  device, the eight Ss: employing slack, creating synergy, leveraging shared knowledge, utilizing  similar models for success, spreading human and financial capital to its best use, providing a  stepping stone for the company to a completely new business sector, stopping or slowing competitors, and staying even with of technological change. As you read through each S, try to think  about how each would help a company exploit or expand its resources and capabilities. Each of  the Ss can work through the customer-facing front end of the business or the operational and  technological back end.