BUSI 690 ROTHAERMEL EXERCISE 2

BUSI 690 ROTHAERMEL EXERCISE 2

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Question 6.1: What are some drawbacks and risks to a broad generic business strategy? To a focused strategy?

Question 6.3: In Chapter 4, we discussed the internal value chain activities a firm can perform in its business model (see Exhibit 4.8). The value chain priorities can be quite different for firms taking different business strategies. Create examples of value chains for three firms: one using cost leadership, another using differentiation, and a third using an integration business-level strategy.

Question 7.1: Select an industry and consider how the industry life cycle has affected business strategy for the firms in that industry over time. Detail your answer based on each stage: introduction, growth, shakeout, maturity, and decline.

Question 7.2: Describe a firm you think has been highly innovative. Which of the four types of innovation—radical, incremental, disruptive, or architectural—did it use? Did the firm use different types over time?

Question 7.4: Much has been said about competitive advantage gained from innovations such as the Internet, high-technology gadgets, and apps. The chapter points out, however, that low-technology innovations such as the razor–razor-blade business model can also create value. Think of other low-technology innovations that are/were novel, useful, and successfully implemented so that the innovating firm gained a competitive advantage. Find information about the entrepreneurial story behind the innovation.

Question 8.1: When Walmart decided to incorporate grocery stores into some locations and created “supercenters,” was this a business-level strategy of differentiation or a corporate strategy of diversification? Why? Explain your answer.

Question 9.1: Horizontal integration has benefits to the firms involved. Consider the consolidation in the event-promotion business when Live Nation bought Ticketmaster. List some specific advantages of this acquisition for Live Nation. Do you see any downside to the merger?

Question  10.3: Professor Pankaj Ghemawat delivered a TED talk entitled “Actually, the World Isn’t Flat.” Do you agree with his assessment that the world is at most semi-globalized, and that we need to be careful not to fall victim to “globalony”? View the talk at: http://www.ted.com/talks/pankaj_ ghemawat_actually_the_world_isn_t_flat.html [17.04 min].