Discussion Activity 1
Personal Application
Provide your thoughts about the fundamental strategic issues
facing the industry in which your organization exists. Compare the performance
of your company against the industry within which it operates using
http://finance.yahoo.com/ (“Interactive chart” “Comparison” tool) if you are in
a publicly listed company or use a similar publicly listed company or some
other performance measure if you are not. Individual company information is
available on both Morningstar and Yahoo Finance, not a ready comparison of
industries over time. Consider the
following alternative data source:
https://biz.yahoo.com/p/s_conameu.html
Additional resources are available for those interested in
learning more about performance factors for Government and Non-profit sectors.
Please cover the following questions in your response.
Industry Perspective
Do some industries have better evolution of the stock value
than others? Why? Search for your organization or a similar one and compare its
evolution for the longest possible period to the main stock indicators (Dow,
NASDAQ, S&P500) and competitive firms.
Do some industries have inherently better profitability,
growth and market value than others?
Identify common key performance indicators used within your industry.
Compare for your firm these key factors.
What effect do different industries have on one another’s
overall performance? Provide arguments and examples to justify your response.
Company Perspective
4. Is your
organization performing well against the others in its industry? Provide
arguments and
examples to
justify your response.
5. What factors
explain the differences in company performance in the same industry
6. How can some
companies in poorly performing industries still do well?
Note: If you work in government or in a non-profit
organization, you may pick a company that your organization contracts with for
this exercise. However, we do encourage you to try to apply business strategy
concepts to your organization if you can.
Discussion Activity 2
Personal Application
Industry competitive analysis. An analysis of your company’s
industry from the point of view of Porter’s Five Forces (if your industry
operates in perfect or monopolistic competition), Game Theory (if your industry
operates in oligopolistic competition) or the Resource Based View of the Firm
(if your industry operates as a full monopoly), and any other strategy
frameworks that provide insight to your understanding of the industry.
Discussion Activity 3
Personal
Application
Competitive position of your company within its industry. An
analysis of the strengths and weaknessesof your company from the point of view
of the Resource Based View of the Firm model and any other strategy frameworks
that provide insight into your company’s strategic competitiveness. Discuss
your company’s strategy for competitive advantage (i.e. cost leader,
differentiation, etc.) and your opinion about how they might change or improve
this strategy.
Growth potential of your firm. Analyze the opportunities and
threatsof your firm, how your firm, based on its resources, can determine
business opportunities as a result of the external environments. To do this
please use the PESTEL model (politics, economics, society, technology,
environment, legislation).
Discussion Activity 4
Personal Application
Explain the evolution of the Internet and how it changes the
way customers, suppliers and companies interact.
Describe how your company utilizes the Internet and other
recent technologies. (Be sure to include both internal and external uses)
What recommendations do you have to improve and/or expand
its online use?
How do these existing and new initiatives help to create or
destroy economic value in terms of competitiveness (profits), innovativeness
(sales growth) and resources (intellectual capital)
Discussion Activity 5
Personal Application
Relying on the Staircases to growth paper, analyze each of
the seven staircases. Which of the seven staircases is your organization using
to grow? Which ones would you recommend, why? Does your organization have
enough market power so that such growth strategies may help to create value?
Which of the resources (platforms of capabilities) mentioned
in this paper is your organization implementing? Explain one by one, how they
are used, could be expanded and/or could be implemented in your organization.
Are they unique resources, why or why not?
Does your organization implement the three horizons approach
that McKinsey proposes? If so, how are they implemented? If not, make your own
proposal for each horizon. Be creative.
Discussion Activity 6
Ethics and Corporate
Social Responsibility
Propose a recent (within last 3 years) business ethics case
that you are familiar with; alternatively search on the internet or among the
following resources one business ethics case:
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/cases.cfm?fam=BUSI
http://web.tepper.cmu.edu/ethics/aa/arthurandersen.htm
http://business-ethics.com/category/csr/page/2/
Discuss this case using the following Corporate Social
Responsibility approaches:
Stakeholder Theory,
Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Social Performance; Legal, Economic, Moral and
Social responsibilities.
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