What PESTEL factors are driving changes in the industry? What are the main threats or opportunities that arise from the factors below?
> 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?
> In terms of Figure 6.4, what are Uber’s value creation, value configuration and value capture components?
> 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 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?
> In an analysis of overhead cost variances, what is the controllable variance and what causes it?
> In an analysis of fixed overhead cost variances, what is the volume variance?
> Each member of the team is to assume responsibility for one of the following tasks. a. Journalizing in the purchases journal. b. Journalizing in the cash payments journal. c. Maintaining and verifying the accounts payable ledger. d. Journalizing in the s
> Assume an airline is considering an investment in a new baggage handling system. Separate into teams and identify at least three qualitative factors that should be considered in this investment decision.
> The following calendar-year information is taken from the adjusted trial balance and other records of Dahlia Company. Required 1. Each team member is to be responsible for computing one of the following amounts. Do not duplicate your teammatesâ
> This activity requires teamwork to reinforce understanding of accounting for treasury stock. 1. Write a brief team statement (a) generalizing what happens to a corporation’s financial position when it engages in a stock buyback and (b) identifying reason
> Each team member is to become an expert on one depreciation method to facilitate teammates’ understanding of that method. Follow these procedures: a. Each team member is to select an area of expertise from one of the following depreciation methods: strai
> Santana Rey receives the March bank statement for Business Solutions on April 11, 2022. The March 31 bank statement shows an ending cash balance of $67,566. The general ledger Cash account, No. 101, shows an ending cash balance per books of $68,057 as o
> Assume that Santana Rey expands Business Solutions’ system to include special journals. Required 1. Locate the transactions related to January through March 2022 for Business Solutions in Chapter 5. 2. Enter the Business Solutions transactions for Janua
> Santana Rey of Business Solutions is evaluating her inventory to determine whether it must be adjusted based on lower of cost or market rules. Business Solutions has three different types of software in its inventory, and the following information is ava
> Describe the concept of management by exception and explain how standard costs help managers apply this concept to control costs.
> Santana Rey created Business Solutions on October 1, 2021. The company has been successful, and its list of customers has grown. To accommodate the growth, the accounting system is modified to set up separate accounts for each customer. The following cha
> The December 31, 2021, adjusted trial balance of Business Solutions (reflecting its transactions from October through December of 2021) follows. Required 1. Prepare an income statement for the three months ended December 31, 2021. 2. Prepare a statement
> After the success of the company’s first two months, Santana Rey continues to operate Business Solutions. (Transactions for the first two months are described in the Chapter 2 serial problem.) The November 30, 2021, unadjusted trial ba
> On October 1, 2021, Santana Rey launched a computer services company called Business Solutions, which provides consulting services, computer system installations, and custom program development. The company’s initial chart of accounts
> On October 1, 2021, Santana Rey launched a computer services company, Business Solutions that is organized as a proprietorship and provides consulting services, computer system installations, and custom program development. Required Create a table like
> This serial problem began in Chapter 1 and continues through most of the book. If previous chapter segments were not completed, the serial problem can begin at this point. SP 25 Santana Rey sees that Business Solutions’ line of computer
> SP 26 Santana Rey is considering the purchase of equipment for Business Solutions that would allow the company to add a new product to its computer furniture line. The equipment is expected to cost $300,000 and to have a six-year life and no salvage valu
> Santana Rey, owner of Business Solutions, diversifies her business by also manufacturing computer workstation furniture. Required 1. Classify the following manufacturing costs of Business Solutions as either direct (D) or indirect (I). 2. Prepare a sche
> Use the following selected data from Business Solutions’ income statement for the three months ended March 31, 2022, and from its March 31, 2022, balance sheet to complete the requirements. Required 1. Compute the gross margin ratio (b
> Santana Rey, owner of Business Solutions, decides to prepare a statement of cash flows for her business. (Although the serial problem allowed for various ownership changes in earlier chapters, we will prepare the statement of cash flows using the followi
