Assignments

• The Delta Project
  Read: Hax, and Wilde. The Delta Project:  Discovering New Sources of Profitabilitly. Palgrave, 2001, Chapters 1 and 2.
  
  Skim: Hax, and Wilde. The Delta Project:  Discovering New Sources of Profitabilitly. Palgrave, 2001, Chapters 3, 4, and 5.

Session 2

• Porter's Frameworks and the Resource-Based View of the Firm
  Read: Porter, Michael E. Towards a Dynamic Theory of Strategy. Strategic Management Journal 12, 1991, pp 95-117.
  
  
• The Resource-Based View Of The Firm
  Grant, Robert H. The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation. California Management Review 33, No. 3, 1991.
  
  Hax, and Wilde. The Delta Project:  Discovering New Sources of Profitabilitly. Palgrave, 2001, Chapters 7 and 12.

Session 3

• Business Strategy - The Core Concepts
  Read: Hax, and Majluf. The Strategy Concept and Process: A Pragmatic Approach. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, 1996, Chapters 2 through  7.

• Industry Structure And Competitive Interaction
  Case: Cola Wars Continue: Coke vs. Pepsi in the Twenty-First Century (#9-702-442)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. Why was the soft drink industry so profitable?
  2. Compare the economics of the concentrate business to the bottling business; why is the profitability so different?
  3. How do you explain the success of Coca-Cola during the Goizueta years?
  4. Is the sustained growth and profitability of the industry coming to a close?
  

Session 5

• Competitive Positioning
  Case: Wal*Mart Stores, Inc. (#9-794-024)
  Wal*Mart  in 1999 (#9-799-118)
  Be prepared to address the following questions: 
  1. What are the sources of Wal*Mart's competitive advantage in discount retailing?
  2. How sustainable will its position be in the future?
  3. How effective will diversification into the full industry be?
  

Session 6

• Competitive Positioning
  Case: Capital One Financial Corporation (#9-700-124)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. What are the key elements of Capital One's strategy that allows to differentiate them from the rest of the industry?
  2. How sustainable is Capital One's competitive advantage? What can competitors do?
  3. Is the strategy transportable to other industries?

• Brick and Click
  Guest Speaker: Gerhard Schulmeyer (Professor of Practice, SSM)
  
  Read: Hax, and Wilde. The Delta Project:  Discovering New Sources of Profitabilitly. Palgrave, 2001, Chapter 8.
  
  Porter, Michael E. Strategy and the Internet. Harvard Business Review, March 2001, pp 63-78.
  
  Gulati, Ranjay and Jason Garino. Get the Right Mix of Bricks and Clicks. Harvard Business Review, May-June 2000, pp 107-114.

Session 8

• A Firm's Repositioning
  Case: Intel Corporation: 1968-1997 (#9-797-137)
  Intel Corporation: 1997-2000 (#9-702-420)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. What was Intel's strategy in DRAMs?  What accounts for Intel's dramatic decline in market share in the DRAM market between 1974-1984?  To what extent was Intel's failure a result of its strategy?
  2. What strategy did Intel use to gain a competitive advantage in microprocessors?  What threats has Intel faced in sustaining its competitive advantage in microprocessors and what strategies has it used to deal with each?  Why has Intel been able to sustain its advantage in microprocessors, but not in DRAMs?
  3. What is your assessment of Intel's strategy during Barrett's tenure?
  4. What are the future prospects of Intel?  What is the biggest threat it faces? Whom should it be most worried about?

Session 9

• Sustaining Competitive Advantage
  Case: Matching Dell (#9-799-158)
  Note: Creating Competitive Advantage (#9-798-062)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. How and why did the personal computer industry come to have such low average profitability?
  2. Why has Dell been so successful?
  3. Prior to the recent efforts by competitors to match Dell (1997-1998), how big was Dell's competitive advantage?  Specifically, calculate Dell's advantage over Compaq in serving a corporate customer.
  4. How effective have competitors been in responding to the challenge posed by Dell's advantage?  How big is Dell's remaining advantage?
     
     Dell is properly being presented as one of the most innovative companies, the creator of a business model that has received a great deal of attention in the networked economy. Questions 1 and 2 can be addressed using Porter's Five Forces and Porter's Value Chain frameworks respectively. The third question allows for you to do some numerical calculations to quantify Dell's advantage over Compaq.  You are welcome to work in groups in preparation of this analysis.

Session 10

• Competitive Dynamics
  Case: Leadership Online: Barnes & Noble vs. Amazon.com (A) (#9-798-063)
  A Note on Microeconomics for Strategies (#9-799-128)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. Based on your own experience of traditional bookselling and your exploration of online bookselling, compare willingness-to-pay for books supplied by these two business models.
  2. Also compare the forecast long-run cost position of a successful online bookseller to Barnes and Noble's traditional business model.  (Assume that Exhibits 4 and 7 in the case reflect average discounts of 10% off list price for Barnes & Noble's traditional bookstores and 25% off list for the online bookseller.)
  3. Assess Barnes & Noble's response to the substitution threat from Amazon.  How did Amazon respond in turn, and to what net effect?
  4. Who will be the online leader?  Will it ever make much money selling books (as opposed to selling stock)?
     
     Please contrast the competitive positioning of a traditional, off-line competitor like Barnes & Noble versus an on-line channel like Amazon.com.  With regard to question 1, a customer willingness-to-pay for a product or a service is the maximum amount of money a customer is willing to part with in order to obtain a product or a service.  The question is whether you find any significant difference in your willingness to pay for a book being acquired under these two different channels.  In question 2 you might want to use the most recent data provided in Exhibit 4 (1996 for Barnes & Noble) and Exhibit 7 (F2001E for Amazon).  Remember that Barnes & Noble provides 10% discount off list price, and Amazon provides 25%.  The case is a good vehicle also to talk about the substitution threat Barnes & Noble and how it is responding against Amazon.

Session 11

• Strategy And The Competitiveness Of Nations
  
  Read: Porter, Michael E. The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Harvard Business Review, March-April 1990.

• Corporate Strategy - The Core Concepts
  Read: Hax, and Majluf. The Strategy Concept And Process: A Pragmatic Approach. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, 1996, Chapters 9 through 16.

Session 13

• Corporate Philosophy and Culture
  Case: Johnson & Johnson (A) (#9-384-053)
  Johnson & Johnson (B): Hospital Services (#9-384-054)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. Comment on Johnson & Johnson (J&J) philosophy and culture.  Are they overdoing their decentralization policy?  What is your opinion about "The Credo?" (Johnson & Johnson A)
  2. How are strategic and operational responsibilities handled at J&J? Do you like their strategic planning process and their executive compensation? (Johnson & Johnson B: Hospital Services)
  3. By establishing the Hospital Services Group (HSG), J&J seems to be taking an action against the fiber of its decentralization philosophy and culture. Do you agree with that decision?
  4. Comment on the charter of HSG. How would you prevent possible conflicts between HSG and the J&J companies?
     
     Although these cases on the surface are quite old, they address some very critical issues that have profound relevance in management regardless of time.  The A case presents a company that is enormously consistent in terms of its culture, management processes, and philosophy.  Decentralization is the trademark of that organization.  Case B deeply challenges the effectiveness of this management structure.  I have two very interesting tapes of Jim Burke, who was CEO of Johnson & Johnson at that time that I would like for you to see.  Please try to be available until noon if at all possible because I might run over a bit.
     

Session 14

• Corporate Governance
  Guest Speaker: Prof. William F. Pounds (Sloan School Dean Emeritus)

Session 15

• Corporate Diversification and Horizontal Strategy
  Read: Prahalad, C.K. and Gary Hamel. The Core Competence of the Corporation. Harvard Business Review, May-June 1990.
  
  Case: Masco Corporation (A) (#9-389-186)
  Household Furniture Industry in 1986 (#9-389-189)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  
  
  1. How can we explain Masco's success to date?
     • Has Masco been successful as a corporation?
     • Why has the faucet strategy been such a great success?
     • How has Masco been able to make and integrate so many acquisitions?
     • What went wrong with past diversification?
       
  2. Should Masco enter the furniture industry?
     • Is the industry attractive for anyone to enter?
     • Does Masco bring special resources to the industry?
     • Can Masco transform or improve the industry?
     • Can Masco achieve a sustainable advantage?
     • What will be the cost of entry?
       
  3. What is the best entry strategy?
     • What is the appropriate mode of entry?  Major acquisition?  Several small acquisitions?  Internal development?
     • What is the best segment(s) to enter?
     • How should Masco position itself for the long term?
       
       Please do not be turned off by the fact that this is a fairly old case.  It is a classical vehicle to discuss diversification through acquisition - a very critical subject in strategy.  There are two issues that you should consider, as stated in the questions attached to the course syllabus:
       1) An analysis of acquisitions strategy in the faucet industry.
       2) An analysis of their intended entry into the furniture industry by acquisitions.

Session 16

• Guest Speaker: Hector Ruiz (President and CEO, Advanced Micro Devices)
  Read: Hax, and Wilde. The Delta Project:  Discovering New Sources of Profitabilitly. Palgrave, 2001, Chapters 6.
  
  Christensen, Clayton M.,  Mark W. Johnson and Darrell K. Rigby. Foundations for Growth: How to Build Disruptive New Businesses. Sloan Management Review 43, No. 3, Spring 2002, pp 22-31.

• Metrics Of Value Creation
  Read: Hax, and Majluf. The Strategy Concept and Process: A Pragmatic Approach. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, 1996, Chapter 17.
  
  

  America's Best & Worst Wealth Creators. Fortune. 18 Dec 2000.
  
  America's Best & Worst Wealth Creators. Fortune. 10 Dec 2001.
  
  Slywotzky, Adrian J., and Richard Wise. The Growth Crisis and How to Escape It. Harvard Business Review 80, No. 7, July 2002, pp 72-83.

Session 18

• The Balanced Scorecard and Granular Metrics
  Read: Hax, and Wilde. The Delta Project:  Discovering New Sources of Profitabilitly. Palgrave, 2001, Chapters 9 and 10.
  
  Kaplan, Robert S., and David P. Norton. Having Trouble with Your Strategy? Then Map It. Harvard Business Review. September-October 2000, pp 167-176.

• Business Processes: The Core Concepts
  Read: Hax, and Wilde. The Delta Project:  Discovering New Sources of Profitabilitly. Palgrave, 2001, Chapter 7.

Session 20

• Managing The Global Supply Chain
  Case: Li & Fung (A): Beyond "Filling in the Mosaic" - 1995-1998 (#9-398-092)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. How is Li & Fung able to maintain margins three times those of the rest of the industry?  What are its specific strengths and how does it differ from more traditional competitors?
  2. What attributes of Chinese business culture does the company exhibit?  Are these strengths for the company?
  3. What are the benefits of the Li & Fung matrix sourcing system?
  4. How does the venture capital group contribute to Li & Fung's growth?
  5. What are the challenges the company faces going ahead and what issues does it need to address in order to expand? How and where should it expand?

• Human Resources Management
  Hax, and Majluf. The Strategy Concept and Process: A Pragmatic Approach. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, 1996, Chapters 18 and 19.
  
  Bartlett, Christopher A., and Sumantra Ghoshal. Building Competitive Advantage Through People.  Sloan Management Review 43, No. 2, Winter 2002, pp 34-41.

Session 22

• Knowledge Management
  Case:  McKinsey & Company: Managing Knowledge and Learning (#9-396-357)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. How was the obscure little firm of "accounting and engineering advisors" able to grow into the world's most prestigious consulting firm fifty years later?  What was the unique source of competitive advantage developed by James O. McKinsey and later Marvin Bower?
  2. How effective was Ron Daniel in leading McKinsey to respond to challenges identified in the Commission on Firm Aims and Goals?  What contribution did Fred Gluck make to the required changes?
  3. Judging by the evidence in the three mini-cases of front-line activities in the mid-1990s, how effective has the firm been in its two-decade long change process?
  4. What is your evaluation of Rajat Gupta's"four-pronged" approach to knowledge development and application within McKinsey?  As a senior partner, what specific advice would you give him?

Session 23

• Attraction, Satisfaction, and Retention of Talent
  Case: Microsoft: Competing on Talent (A) (#9-300-001)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. Bill Gates believes that Microsoft's ability to attract, motivate, and retain superior people is its core source of competitive advantage.  Do you agree?  Why or why not?
  2. How effective are Microsoft's human resource policies and practices?  Have the informal processes of the 1980s been appropriately adapted to the company's growth through the 1990s?  What do you think of Ballmer's recent changes to Microsoft's human resource policies and practices?
  3. As of mid-1999, does Microsoft have a problem?  Is the rising senior management turnover inevitable?  Is it manageable?  What recommendations would you make to Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates?

• General Principles of Organization Design
  Read: Galbraith, Jay R. Linking Customers and Products - Organizing for Product and Customer Focus.
  
  Structuring Global Organizations. Chapter 2.

  Mohrman, Susan A., Jay R. Galbraith and Edward E. Lawler III. Tomorrow's Organisation. Jossey-Bass, 1998. Chapter 4.

Session 25

• Organizational Leadership
  Case: GE's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch's Leadership (#9-399-150)
  Be prepared to address the following questions:
  1. How difficult a challenge did Welch face in 1981?  How effectively did he take charge?
  2. What is Welch's objective in the series of initiatives he launched in the late 1980s and early 1990s?  What is he trying to achieve in the round of changes he put in motion in that period?  Is there a logic or rationale supporting the change process?
  3. How does such a large, complex, diversified conglomerate defy the critics and continue to grow so profitably?  Have Welch's various initiatives added value?  If so, how?
  4. What is your evaluation of Welch's approach to leading change?  How important is he to GE's success?  What implications for his replacement?

Session 26

• Wrap-Up and Lessons Learned
  Read: Hax, and Wilde. The Delta Project:  Discovering New Sources of Profitabilitly. Palgrave, 2001, Chapter 12 Revisited.
  
  Ghoshal, Sumantra, Christopher Bartlett and Peter Moran. A New Manifesto for Management. Sloan Management Review. Spring 1999.
  
  Mintzberg, Henry and Joseph Lampel. Reflecting on the Strategy Process. Sloan Management Review. Spring 1999.