In terms of Figure 6.4, what are Uber’s value creation, value configuration and value capture components?
> Can organizations use a combination of monitoring and punishment procedures to reduce psychological and physical withdrawal? How might such programs work from a practical perspective? Do you think they would be effective?
> Describe other ways that organizations can improve affective, continuance, and normative commitment, other than the strategies suggested in this chapter. How expensive are those strategies?
> Which type of organizational commitment (affective, continuance, or normative) do you think is most important to the majority of employees? Which do you think is most important to you?
> Assuming you possessed the right technical skills for the job, would a position at IKEA be appealing to you? What would be the most important positives associated with the position, in your view? What would be the most important negatives?
> The directors of Helena Beauty Products Ltd have been presented with the following abridged financial statements: Required: Using six ratios, comment on the profitability (three ratios) and efficiency (three ratios) of the business as revealed by the st
> Accona plc operates a successful chain of furniture retail stores. For the year that has just ended, the business reported after-tax profits of £250 million. It has 200 million £0.50 shares in issue and has a P/E ratio of 7.8 times. Some years ago, in an
> Advocates of the shareholder value approach argue that, by delivering consistent and sustainable improvements in shareholder value, a business will benefit several stakeholder groups. The performance of a business such as the Stagecoach Group plc, which
> Larunda plc operates a shipyard in the UK and has recently completed the building of a passenger ferry for a French business. The ferry has successfully completed its sea trials and final payment of €20 million is due to Larunda plc in three months’ time
> Mithras plc is a UK business that is due to receive €200,000 from a German customer in three months’ time. A money market hedge will be used to manage currency risk and the following borrowing rates are available: Country ………. Borrowing rate per year Ger
> A French business is due to pay $3 million in six months’ time to a US supplier. In order to hedge against currency risk, the French business decides to sell euro futures immediately at €1 = $1.1306 and to close its position by buying euro futures in six
> Planters plc manufactures agricultural implements, components for which are acquired from a number of sources, including some overseas ones. The implements are marketed in the UK and, increasingly, overseas. The directors are aware that the business is e
> Ndovu plc is considering investing in a new project and, in the past, it would have used a cost of capital of 10 per cent as the discount rate to assess new projects. This rate had been calculated by a team of consultants about seven years ago. However,
> Bellona Ltd is a small business that produces a single product – a thermostat that is used in a range of kitchen appliances. Information relating to the thermostat is as follows: All sales are made to kitchen goods manufacturers on cre
> Bernese plc develops and manufactures drills for businesses operating in the oil and gas industry. Although it is committed to maximising the wealth of its shareholders, the business has incurred heavy losses over recent years. A new chief executive has
> Threads Limited manufactures nuts and bolts, which are sold to industrial users. The abbreviated financial statements for 2018 and 2019 are as follows: Dividends were paid on ordinary shares of £70,000 and £72,000 for 2018 and
> Bradbury Ltd is a family-owned clothes manufacturer. For a number of years, the chair and managing director was David Bradbury. During his period of office, sales revenue had grown steadily at a rate of 2 to 3 per cent each year. David Bradbury retired o
> Thermia Ltd is a family-owned business that produces packaged foods for supermarkets. The family has recently lost interest in the business and has indicated a willingness to sell.­The senior managers of the business have decided to make an of
> Which control systems did Goldman Sachs’ primarily rely on (see Section 9.3). How did the systems support the growth strategy and in what respects did they fail with regard to the Malaysian business and more generally?
> Can you identify other technology platform companies and their ecosystem partners?
> How can ARM attract and manage so many ecosystem partners?
> Are there any unmet needs in your community, at college or elsewhere that could be turned into a business opportunity?
> Given its strategic challenges, do you agree that for Tesla a flatter organization was the right way to go?
> What do you learn from the experience of Goldberg and Ting which could be useful to launching a new enterprise?
> How would you form a venture team if you set up your own start-up?
> Based on the experiences of HP, Apple and Facebook what elements of skills and expertise do you think a new venture requires?
> How has Rovio evolved through the stages of entrepreneurial growth? At what stage of the entrepreneurial life cycle (see Section 8.2) is Rovio currently? Do you agree that the company is ready for its next phase of growth?
> How has Rovio changed its business model over time? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a freemium business model?
> Rovio has shifted its products between games, activity parks, movies, licensing etc., how has it handled different steps in the entrepreneurial process?
> What contributed to Rovio identifying its business opportunity?
> Were there alternative strategies open to TomTom post 2008?
> Explain the ways in which relatedness informed TomTom’s post 2008 strategy.
> How has Tesco’s corporate strategy changed over time?
> In the terms of Section 9.2, what kind of structure did Tesla have?
> Using the Ansoff matrix, plot Tesco’s growth over time. What do you notice about the pattern of expansion?
> With the creation of EssilorLuxottica, what would you recommend for GrandVision’s future strategy?
> How do you think that GrandVision adds or destroys value for its portfolio?
> How does GrandVision compete in its market?
> With reference to Ansoff ’s matrix, show how Luxottica and GrandVision have evolved over time. What can you conclude from each?
> Despite its success, why was Chipotle spun-off?
> What parenting advantages did McDonald’s perceive it might bring to Chipotle?
> Rank the elements of Passey’s strategy for Volvo in order of importance. Could any have been dispensed with?
> Using webcam chats is one approach to lower costs in financial advisory services as indicated above. What other ways could there be to lower costs to support a low-cost strategy in this area?
> What type of competitive strategy, low-cost, differentiation, focus or hybrid would you suggest as a way of competing with Vanguard?
> In terms of Figure 9.6, what type of change is being undertaken in 2018? What kind of leadership style would you suggest is most relevant for this change?
> How would you explain IKEA’s business model in terms of value creation, configuration and capture?
> Explain how IKEA tries to ensure that their ‘hybrid’ strategy remains sustainable and does not become ‘stuck-in-the-middle’.
> Identify how IKEA have achieved differentiation from their competitors.
> Identify where (in their value system) and how IKEA have achieved cost leadership.
> If you were the head of a traditional taxi company: how could you change your business model to compete with Uber?
> How sustainable is Volvo’s luxury bus strategy?
> In which respects does the Jamie Oliver Group exemplify issues relevant to entrepreneurial businesses (see Section 5.2.3)?
> Adapt the corporate governance chain described in Figure 5.4 to Oxfam GB. What were the weaknesses in this chain?
> Identify Oxfam GB’s various stakeholders along the lines of Figure 5.1 and assess their engagement in terms of the power/attention matrix in Figure 5.2.
> How adequate is the 2018 reorganization to Ten cent’s various challenges at that point? What else might be necessary?
> Referring to Section 5.3.1, analyse Uber’s culture under Travis Kalanick in terms of values, beliefs, behaviors and taken-for-granted assumptions (the ‘paradigm’). How much has this culture changed and how consistent is it across Uber as a whole?
> If you were a large shareholder in Uber contemplating buying more stock in the Initial Public Offering of 2019, how satisfied would you be with Uber’s governance and what changes would you seek, in particular with regard to the company’s governance chain
> In what respects did the University of Bath’s culture under Breakwell appear to diverge from that outlined in the 2016–21 strategic plan and what could be done to reduce this apparent divergence?
> Identify key elements in the university’s traditional organisational culture either in terms of Schein’s four layers (Figure 5.5) or the cultural web (Figure 5.6).
> Explain the relevance of the principal–agent model (Section 5.3) to Oliver’s trust in CEO Paul Hunt.
> What does the SWOT analysis tell us about the competitive position of Pharmcare within the industry as a whole?
> What is the importance of the Samwers brothers? What would happen if they left or sold the company?
> Based on your initial analysis and answers to Question 1, carry out a VRIO analysis for Rocket Internet. What do you conclude? To what extent does Rocket Internet have resources and capabilities with sustained competitive advantage?
> Based on the data from the case (and any other sources available) use the frameworks from the chapter and analyze the resources and capabilities of Rocket Internet: a. What are its resources and capabilities? b. What are its threshold, distinctive and dy
> Identify the benefits and dangers (other than those identified in the text) of a SWOT analysis such as that in the illustration.
> Explain the strategic reasons behind each of the reorganizations (2005, 2012 and 2018) undertaken by Tencent.
> What other social media networks and apps do you use that you think could beat Facebook? Why?
> Why are network effects important for Facebook? Would you switch to another social network if it had better features even if it was considerably smaller?
> How would you evaluate the behaviour of banks trying to keep competition out from an ethical point of view?
> Evaluate the strengths of the banking industry’s entry barriers according to Porter’s criteria.
> What PESTEL factors are driving changes in the industry? What are the main threats or opportunities that arise from the factors below?
> What strategic group dimensions and strategic groups can you identify? What are the differences between them?
> Carry out a five forces analysis of the advertising industry. What are the strengths of the five forces and what underlying factors drive them? What is the industry attractiveness?
> Based on your analysis: how should Emily handle the different forces? what strategic options should she consider?
> Students are likely to mention a range of social media platforms, for example, Snapchat and TicToc but they need to think carefully to what extent these can build on network effects to beat Facebook.
> Assess the relative importance of formal laws and informal norms for the development of Juul’s strategy in the United States.
> Returning to Section 9.3, what kind of leadership style might have been required of Balla and Courtelle? What kinds of leadership actions would you have expected them to undertake?
> If you were a foreign cyber security company, what would you do to access Israel’s expertise?
> Identify at least one important hub and one important broker in the Unit 8200 network.
> Have the Opportunities and Threats changed since 2018? How would you update this analysis?
> Taking one of the FANG companies, what do you think is its greatest macro-environmental threat, and what is its greatest macro-environmental opportunity?
> Carry out a PESTEL analysis of Alibaba at the time of the case. Evaluate the balance of opportunities and threats, using the same kind of figure as in Illustration 2.1.
> What are the different implications of these scenarios for an international consulting firm such as Deloitte? Which scenario would it like best; which would it like least?
> What other ‘uncertainties’ might have been considered beyond the two finally considered here (use the headings of political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal)?
> How do you think the different institutional environments internationally have influenced Juul’s overseas strategy so far and what kinds of countries do you think it should prioritise?
> Draw a basic sociogram of Alibaba’s network (see Section 2.2.3 and Figure 2.5): some simplification may be necessary. Explain why Alibaba’s network might be useful.
> Converting good strategic thinking into action can be a challenge: examine how Airbnb has achieved this by considering the elements seen in Section 1.3.3.
> In terms of Figure 9.6, what type of change did La Redoute undertake with its digital transformation?
> Following on from the previous questions and making use of Section 1.3.2, what alternative strategies do you see for Airbnb?
> Using the headings of environment, strategic capability, strategic purpose and culture seen in Section 1.3.1, identify key positioning issues for Airbnb and consider their relative importance.
> Carry out a ‘three-horizons’ analysis (Section 1.2.1) of Airbnb, in terms of both existing activities and possible future ones. How might this analysis affect its future strategic direction?
> Sticking to the 35-word limit suggested by Collis and Rukstad in Section 1.2.3, what strategy statement would you propose for Airbnb?
> Construct a strategy statement for your own organization (university, sports club or employer). What implications might this statement have for your particular course or department?
> Construct short strategy statements covering the goals, scope and advantage of Samsung and York University. How much do the different private and public sector contexts matter?
> What seems to account for Tesla’s success and current difficulties?
> How does Tesla Motor’s strategy fit with the various strategy definitions in Figure 1.1?
> Which leaders are more transformational, which more transactional and which situational (see Section 9.4)?
> What reforms to these systems would you recommend? What downsides to these reforms might there be?
> Compare the different views of leadership, particularly with regard to knowledge, courage and people. What are the commonalities and differences?
> How are flexible budget reports useful in management by exception?
> What is the standard overhead rate? How is it computed?
