Strategic Management

Strategic Company Case Analysis
Strategic leadership is the ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility, and empower others to
create strategic change, as necessary. The foundation of strategic leadership includes the ability to
understand organizations as complex systems, understand strategic inputs and actions, diagnose key
issues facing the organization, and the ability to determine strategic direction (core ideology and
envisioned future) of the organization.
In this course, we put you in the position of CEOs and executive consultants. The assignment for your
team (of 3 or 4 members) is to select a major publicly traded corporation that competes primarily in one
industry and study them for the semester. In this assignment, we expect that you will follow the outline
of the course and our text and develop a “Strategic Company Case Analysis” for your firm. Through
your analysis you will identify what you believe are the three (3) most important strategic issues and
one (1) ethical issue that the company currently faces and write a comprehensive final report and
present your findings to the class (a.k.a., the Board of Directors) in a final presentation. In guiding your
effort, we will discuss course material and you will present regularly in class regarding your firm. You
will need to analyze the company issues as outlined by each of the chapters by collecting information
that relates specifically to your company.
Company Selection was obviously very important. Hopefully, you selected a good firm to analyze. A
good company to study are ones that:
1. interests your team,
2. has enough complexity to analyze, and
3. is publicly traded so that there is information available.
I reviewed your company selections and believe that all teams have firms that meet these criteria. If you
are unsure or your team is considering making a change, I recommend that you do it immediately.
Strategic Case Summary Data Management System. This should be a record of the information your
team has collected and should demonstrate the research and effort all of you conducted throughout the
semester. You may develop your own team system – a binder, electronic one note file, Google file,
Drop Box, etc. (a shoe box would be awkward and is not recommended). In short, your data
management system must allow team members to collaborate throughout the semester, and
demonstrate that the team has (or at least attempted) to apply course material. One way to
demonstrate this is to find answers to the chapter information questions/recommendations listed below.
Final Strategic Company Case Analysis Report and Presentation. Your instructor is a good
sounding board for questions and ideas. At a minimum, this paper will identify 3 specific strategic
issues and at least one ethical issue facing the company. Your Final Report will likely fall around 20
pages. You may not exceed 25 pages without instructor approval. You must include a minimum of 10
external references. Your paper shall include financial analysis, tables, models, etc. that you will be
developing during the semester to emphasize and complement your written analysis. Additionally, your
team will do a 15-minute presentation of your Strategic Company Case Analysis in class at the end of
the semester.
Strategic Company Case Analysis
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Chapter-by Chapter Questions/Considerations
Included below is a list of recommended information for each chapter, including pages 516-521: How to
Conduct a Case Analysis. For every chapter, you should consider/explore the following information
about your strategic company, focusing on what your team determines to be the most salient to your
firm.
STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
Chapter 1: What is Strategy?
• Describe how your company incorporates the three key elements of a good strategy in its quest for
competitive advantage (pages 6-8)
• Briefly discuss your company’s competitive advantage(s), sustainable competitive advantage(s),
competitive disadvantage(s), and/or competitive parity (pages 8-11)
• Identify key company stakeholders using the classifications or groups identified in the text (Exhibit
1.2, page 14)
• Conduct a stakeholder impact analysis to recognize, prioritize, and address the needs of different
stakeholders (Exhibit 1.3, pages 15-19)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 2: Strategic Leadership: Managing the Strategy Process
• Describe the vision, mission, and values of the company (pages 34-40)
• Evaluate the strategic implications of your company’s vision statement as either “product-oriented”
or “customer-oriented” (pages 37-40)
• Explain how your company incorporates ethical core values into its long-term strategy (page 40)
• Examine how members of the company’s top management team became leaders in your company
(i.e., hired externally or internally) and briefly discuss their apparent leadership style (pages 40-43)
• Discuss your company’s strategic management process: does the company use top-down strategic
planning, scenario planning, strategy as a planned emergence, or a combination of these
approaches (pages 46-53)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 3: External Analysis: Industry Structure, Competitive Forces, and Strategic Groups
• Using the PESTEL model, describe the general environment in which your company operates
(pages 66-72)
• Apply the Five Forces model to evaluate the company’s industry environment and profit potential
(Exhibit 3.2, pages 72-89)
• Explain how your company’s competitive industry structure shapes rivalry among competitors
(pages 82-86)
• Identify your company’s two primary competitors and conduct a basic competitor analysis
• Does your company have any key “complementors” that they have to collect information about
(page 89)
• Discuss the effect of industry dynamics and industry convergence (if applicable) in shaping your
firm’s external environment (pages 89-90)
Strategic Company Case Analysis
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• Generate a strategic group model to reveal performance differences between clusters of firms in
your company’s industry (Exhibit 3.5, pages 90-93)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 4: Internal Analysis: Resources, Capabilities, and Core Competencies
• Differentiate your company’s core competencies, resources, capabilities, and activities (pages 108-
111)
• Name 3-4 tangible and intangible resources that are at your company’s disposal and can help it
achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (Exhibit 4.4, pages 111-112)
o Evaluate these resources against two assumptions: resource heterogeneity and
resource immobility (pages 112-113)
o Apply the VRIO framework to assess the competitive implications of your company’s
resources (Exhibit 4.5, pages 113-117)
• Evaluate current conditions that allow or negate your firm to sustain a competitive advantage (i.e.,
isolating mechanism examples) (pages 118-122)
• What dynamic capabilities does your company have in place to build and protect its competitive
advantages (pages 122-127)
• Apply a value chain analysis to understand which of your company’s activities add value and which
activities drive costs (pages 127-129). Summarize your value chain analysis in a figure similar to
Exhibit 4.8 (page 126)
• Conduct a SWOT analysis. What are the basic benefits and limitations to SWOT analysis, as it
pertains to your company? (pages 130-131)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 5: Competitive Advantage, Firm Performance, and Business Models
• Conduct a company profitability analysis using accounting data to assess and evaluate the
company’s competitive advantage (pages 143-148)
• Apply shareholder value creation to assess and evaluate you company’s competitive advantage
(pages 149-151)
• Apply a balanced scorecard to your company (pages 156-159)
• Identify your company’s efforts towards an increasing triple bottom line (page 159-160). What steps
have they taken to ensure a level of symbiosis among them?
• Identify which business model your company uses to achieve its competitive advantage (pages
163-164)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Strategic Company Case Analysis
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STRATEGY FORMULATION
Chapter 6: Business Strategy: Differentiation, Cost Leadership, and Blue Oceans
• Identify your company’s generic strategy. Give an example of why this is the case (page 178-180).
• If your company pursues a differentiation strategy, explain how it uses value drivers to achieve its
strategy (181-183)
• If your company pursues a cost-leadership strategy, explain how it uses cost drivers to achieve its
strategy (183-190)
• Assess the benefits and risks of your company’s business strategy vis-à-vis the Five Forces model
(Exhibit 6.7, pages 191-193)
• If your company pursues a blue ocean strategy, explain how its value and cost drivers allow the
company to achieve its strategy (194-200)
• Is it possible for your company to integrate overall low cost and differentiating approaches into a
combined effort? What steps can they take (or have they taken)? (pages 194-200)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 7: Business Strategy: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Pick a current product/service offering from your company. Which stage of the industry life cycle
does it fall under, and what steps can it take to capitalize on that stage/future stages to ensure
continuity of sales? (Exhibit 7.4, pages 217-225)
o Evaluate which customer segment your company is targeting given the particular
product/service (pages 225-229)
• Evaluate your company’s innovation strategy. Does it use incremental or radical innovation?
Disruptive or architectural? Identify strategic implications of its innovation strategy (Exhibit 7.10,
pages 231-238)
• Describe your company’s innovation framework for R&D: closed or open? Compare and contrast
these two frameworks in the context of your company’s strategy (Exhibit 7.12, pages 238-240)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 8: Corporate Strategy: Vertical Integration and Diversification
• Explain your company’s current growth motive(s) (pages 255-256)
• Evaluate the company’s institutional arrangements – does the firm pursue in-house (“make”)
activities or external (“buy”) activities (pages 258-264)
• Discuss your company’s vertical integration position on the industry value chain (pages 264-267)
o Identify risks associated with any current (or potential) vertical integration positions
(pages 267-270)
• Examine applicable alternatives to vertical integration for your company (pages 270-271)
• Describe your company’s types and degrees of corporate diversification (pages 273-274)
• Apply the core competence-market matrix to identify how management makes decisions regarding
diversification strategies for your company (pages 275-278)
• Discuss the company’s diversification-performance relationship and how a diversification strategy
can create a competitive advantage (pages 279-280)
• Identify where your company competes in terms of regional, national, and/or international markets
Strategic Company Case Analysis
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• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 9: Corporate Strategy: Strategic Alliances and Mergers and Acquisitions
• Identify a strategic resource gap facing your firm. Apply an appropriate corporate strategy (build,
borrow, or, by) to close this gap (Exhibit 9.1, pages 297-299)
• Identify 1-2 strategic alliances that your company has entered in the last three years and explain the
reason your firm entered into them (pages 299-304)
o Explain how these strategic alliances are governed (pages 304-306)
• If your company has an alliance management organization, describe how this capability leads to a
competitive advantage for the company (pages 307-309)
• Provide examples of when your company has partaken in a merger or acquisition (M&A) and
explain why the company decided to engage in an M&A.
• Explain how/why the M&A activity led to a competitive advantage (or disadvantage) for your
company (pages 313-315)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 10: Global Strategy: Competing Around the World
• Discuss your company’s global strategy in the context of globalization – including the company’s
engagement in foreign direct investment (FDI) (pages 329-330)
• Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages your company has experienced through its global
strategy (pages 333-338)
• Apply the CAGE distance framework to evaluate your company’s decision(s) to expand
internationally. Identify future opportunities that your company can pursue (pages 338-342)
o Describe which mode of foreign-market entry your company has used or can use in the
future to enter foreign markets (pages 342-343)
• Apply the integration-responsiveness framework to evaluate which of the four strategies your
company pursues when competing globally (pages 343-346)
• Describe how Porter’s diamond framework relates to your company’s industry and what nations
generate a competitive advantage for the industry (pages 350-352)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Strategic Company Case Analysis
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STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
Chapter 11: Organizational Design: Structure, Culture, and Control
• Describe your company’s organizational structure (include their organization chart, if possible) and
evaluate the relationship between the company’s structure and its strategy (Exhibits 11.4, 11.5,
11.7, 11.9, pages 374-384)
• Discuss your company’s organizational culture: where it came from and how it was changed (pages
384-389)
• Examine the strategic control-and-reward system your company uses (organizational culture, input
controls, output controls) (pages 389-391)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
Chapter 12: Corporate Governance and Business Ethics
• Explain the role of corporate governance in your company (pages 407-408)
• Evaluate the structure and the individuals of your company’s board of directors (pages 409-412)
• Discuss other governance mechanisms used by your company (pages 412-414)
• HOW TO CONDUCT A CASE ANALYSIS: processes, benefits and limitations of strategic
management case analyses? (pages 516-526)
IF TIME PERMITS…Shared Value Reading (Harvard Business Review):
• Describe any shared value initiatives in which your company is involved.
• Identify possible opportunities for shared value initiatives for your company.
• Discuss whether these current or possible shared value initiatives reconceive products and
markets, redefine productivity in the value chain, or enable local cluster development.
CASE ANALYSIS
How to Conduct a Case Analysis
• How does your ability to differentiate, speculate and integrate grow from case analysis?
• What are the steps involved in conducting a strategic management case analysis? (page 517)
• What steps can you take to get the most out of case analysis?
• How do integrative thinking and conflict-inducing discussion techniques lead to better decisions in
the case? How do salience, causality, architecture and resolution play a role in this process?
Strategic Company Case Analysis
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Evaluation Overview and Rubric. The Strategic Company Case Analysis Final Report and
Presentation is the culmination of your examination of your team’s selected company. You will
use the information you collected throughout the semester to develop an analysis of strategic
issues facing the company. A portion of your grade on each section of the report and
presentation is based on the degree to which you demonstrate critical thinking and analysis of
the information, beyond the information itself. Think of this as answering the “SO WHAT?”
question and the implications for business on the facts presented. In short, explain, “Why and
how the facts are important?” Specific expectations include:
Executive Summary. The first one-two pages of your Final Report is your executive
summary. It highlights the issues, your findings and your recommendations. It does not include
details, but rather it provides a roadmap and generates interest in the report for the reader.
Company Analysis. This section will include a summary of the chapter by chapter analysis
you performed during the semester. You may use chapter by chapter or another format if you
deem more appropriate. I anticipate that each chapter will take approximately 1-2 pages to
summarize key elements, depending on the nature of the company and its industry. Pages
516-526 provides helpful guidance on case analysis and the use of financial information to
assist with identifying strategic issues.
Strategic Issues Analysis. From your company analysis, select three important strategic
issues facing the company and clearly explain the issue using text, models, financial analyses,
tables, etc., as appropriate. Please propose a solution or other alternatives to the issue.
Ethical Issues. Please identify at least one ethical dilemma (or potential ethical issue) for
your company and analyze the issue using an appropriate ethical model from our or your prior
business/management classes. You may include issues of corporate social responsibility if you
choose. Refer to Chapter 12 for ethics-related information. You may also use other references.
Conclusion. Summarize the information, issues and recommendations.
Format and Length. Your Final Report will likely fall around 20 pages (single space – double
space between paragraphs, 1-inch margins on all sides, 12-point font in either Times New
Roman, Calibri or Arial style [other font styles may be approved upon request]). You may not
exceed 25 pages without instructor approval. You must include a minimum of 10 external
references. Your paper shall include financial analysis, tables, models, etc., that you will be
developing during the semester to emphasize and complement your written analysis.
Professional appearance, spelling and grammar all matter.
Presentation. At the end of the semester, your team will conduct a professional 15-minute
presentation of your strategic and ethical issues along with recommendations. You will
present as a team to your class who will act as your firm’s Board of Directors.
Strategic Company Case Analysis
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Strategic Case Analysis Final Report Grading Rubric
COMMENTS:

REQUIREMENT
POSSIBLE
POINTS
YOUR
SCORE
Executive Summary: Two-page executive summary of the final paper. 8
Company Analysis: Uses text, class models, tables and financial data to appropriately
summarize the most important company issues with regard to:
1. Strategy, Competitive Adv., Stakeholders 2. Mission, Goals, & Strat Mgt Process
3. External Analysis 4. Internal Analysis
5. Competitive Advantage Perspectives 6. Business Strat: Differentiation/Cost Ldr
7. Business Strategy: Innovation 8. Corp Strat: Integration/Diversification
9. Corporate Strat: Strategic Alliance/M&A 10. Global Strategy
11. Organizational Design 12. Corporate Governance
13. Analyzing Strategic Management Cases 14. Shared Value Initiatives (if appropriate)
45
Ethical Issue Analysis: Identifies and uses an appropriate model to analyze an ethical issue
(or potential ethical issue) the company has faced in the past or is currently facing. 10
Strategic Issue Analysis: Identifies 3 strategic issues the company is facing. Explains and
analyzes the issues using text, class models, tables and financial data. Proposes
recommendations for the company.
45
Conclusion: Appropriately summarizes and draws conclusions about the findings of the
paper.
5
Writing Quality: Paper is presented without grammatical errors, in a clear, concise and
logical fashion. The product looks and feels professional. References are complete and
properly formatted.
12
TOTAL 125
Strategic Company Case Analysis
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Strategic Case Analysis Final Presentation Grading Rubric
Requirement Possible Points Your Score
Company Analysis
Framing (Introduction/Conclusion) 5
Strategic Issue 1 10
Strategic Issue 2 10
Strategic Issue 3 10
Ethical Issue 10
Presentation
Speaking/Clarity of the Presentation 10
Slides/Media/etc. 10
Organization/Preparation/Professionalism 10
TOTAL 75