JWI540 Strategy
Week 2 Discussion
Defining Your Playing Field
The first step of the strategic development process is to determine the “Where to Play” choice that will then help you identify the segment of the market you are targeting and the competitors you will face.
Review the Strategy Project Company Selection Guidelines Click for more options and specify the company (and specific division or product if your company is large and diverse) you will use for Assignments 1, 2, and 3.
How would you define the Playing Field for this business? This should include focused parameters such as the market, segment, product, service, geography, and price where you will choose to compete.
Using the guidance from Martin’s article on Porter’s Five Forces, as well as Chapters 2 and 3 from Sherman, what predictions do you have about the profitability of this Playing Field? Support your assessment by discussing each of Porter’s forces as they relate to your company.
JWI540 Strategy
Week 3 Discussion
Generating Growth
Using the company you have selected for your Strategy Development Project, describe one idea to generate substantial top line revenue growth. As you describe and assess this potential move, refer specifically to Figure 4.1 (p. 77) in Chapter 4 of Sherman and to the other readings from this week to support your response.
Do you predict your idea will generate short-term growth, long-term sustainable growth, or both?
How can you keep your competitors from easily copying your strategy?
What costs, systems, or capabilities are necessary for this growth to occur?
JWI540 Strategy
Week 4 Discussion
Choose ONE of the following discussion question options to respond to:
Using Adverse Conditions to a Company’s Advantage
Chakravorti discusses four methods that corporate innovators use to turn adverse conditions to their advantage. These methods include: (1) Matching Unneeded Resources to Unmet Needs; (2) Rounding Up the Usual Suspects; (3) Finding Small Solutions to Big Problems; and (4) Thinking Platform, Not Just Product.
Examine an organization of your choice and briefly discuss how the organization might use one of these methods to capitalize on the opportunity found in adversity.
-OR-
Assessing Risk and Reward
Locate and post a link to an article from The Wall Street Journal or other reputable source, published within the last year, about an organization whose business strategy was upended by a crisis, but was able to reinvent itself and capitalize on new opportunities in the face of adversity.
Drawing on insights presented in Chapter 5 of Sherman, explain what techniques they leveraged to find a way forward.
JWI540 Strategy
Week 5 Discussion
Recognizing the Need for Change
Rita McGrath, Columbia Business School professor and author of the article, “Transient Advantage,” discusses several traps that can blind a company to the need for imminent changes to their strategy to preserve competitive advantage. These traps, discussed in the second half of the article, include: the first-mover trap, the superiority trap, the quality trap, the hostage-resources trap, the white space trap, the empire-building trap, and the sporadic-innovation trap.
Locate and post a link to an article in The Wall Street Journal, or another reputable source, about a company that fell victim to one or more of these traps.
Identify the trap(s) and discuss why you believe the company’s management missed the warning signs.
What were the impacts that resulted from falling for the trap(s)?
Drawing on the guidance offered by Sherman in Chapter 6, what could they have done differently to avoid the trap(s)?
JWI540 Strategy
Week 6 Discussion
Strategic Growth
As outlined in this week’s lecture notes, there are seven common game-winning moves that can be leveraged to differentiate and strengthen competitive positioning. They include: Geographic Expansion, New Price Tiers, Vertical Integration, Moving Into Adjacent Product Segments, New Distribution Channels, Discontinuous Innovation, and Mergers & Acquisitions.
Identify an organization in your industry (but not the company you selected for your course project) that used one of the seven common winning moves.
Which move did they use and why do you think they elected to use this move?
How effective was this move in establishing meaningful differentiation? Support your response with references to this week’s materials including Chapter 9 from Sherman.
JWI540 Strategy
Week 7 Discussion
Game-Winning Moves
Our focus this week is on choosing a strategic direction that will set your organization apart from competitors in a way that enables you to stand out from everyone else. Jack refers to this as “changing the game.” Sherman refers to it as “breaking away from the pack” (Chapter 11).
Using the company you selected for your course project, identify a potential game-changing move that you believe will create a sustainable competitive advantage.
Briefly summarize how the move will fundamentally shift the playing field to the company’s advantage and beat the competition.
Explain which of the three positioning categories described by Sherman (Breakaway, Reverse Positioning, Blue Ocean or Disruptive Innovation) best describes the move, and why.
JWI540 Strategy
Week 8 Discussion
Choose ONE of the following discussion question options to respond to:
Six Deadly Sins of M&A
Review Jack Welch’s article “The Six Deadly Sins of Mergers and Acquisitions”
Locate and post a link to an article published in the last 5 years in the The Wall Street Journal, or another reputable source, about a merger that did not go as planned.
Which of these “sins” were committed, what issues arose as a result, and what behaviors could the organization have employed to prevent these errors?
-OR-
Strategic Alliances
Under what circumstances should an organization seek a strategic alliance?
Provide a specific example of a company where a strategic alliance was preferential to an acquisition and summarize some of the unique challenges faced by the alliance leadership team.
What worked well and what did not?
How could the strategic alliance have been managed differently to be more beneficial to the organization(s)?
Support your response with references to this week’s readings.
JWI540 Strategy
Week 9 Discussion
Strategy Implementation
You have spent the last several weeks developing your strategy and declaring a game-winning move for the company you selected for the Assignments.
Share the game-winning move you selected for your company.
Identify the most significant challenges you will face in successfully implementing your proposed move. These could be cultural, financial, operational, or any other factors that could undermine your new strategy.
Identify specific steps you will take to successfully overcome these challenges. Include references to this week’s materials to support your response.
How will you “sell” the plan to generate buy-in?
JWI540 Strategy
Week 10 Discussion
Sharing Your Perspective
This course provided you with the ability to assess the playing field, the competition, and your organization in order to develop a game-winning move. Discuss how this knowledge has changed your perspective on strategy and how your new skills might be helpful for your career trajectory.
JWI540 Strategy
Assignment 1
Where to Play: Playing Field, Competition & Your Organization
Introduction
“Find out everything that you can about the playing field.
You should know what your competitors’ salespeople eat for breakfast.”
– Jack Welch –
As the Chief Strategy Officer of your company, you have been commissioned to recommend a game-winning move that will allow your company to achieve strong revenue and profit growth and to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Although your game-winning move will not be presented to the CEO until Week 10, you have been asked to provide written executive briefs on your progress in Weeks 4 and 8.
You want to impress the CEO and your colleagues with your insights and recommendations! You know that the best way to do this is to follow Jack’s logical 5-slide approach to strategy. Since there will be two interim updates, you have decided to focus your Week 4 executive brief on the Playing Field, the Competition, and Your Organization. You will focus your Week 8 executive brief on What’s Around the Corner? and your Game- Winning Move. You will then synthesize your findings and recommendation into five PowerPoint slides for your presentation in Week 10. At the culmination of this three-part strategy assignment, you will have a clearly articulated and persuasive game plan to win!
Instructions for Assignment 1
Using the Assignment 1 Template, address the following:
1. Introduction and Playing Field Description: Provide an opening paragraph that explains the purpose of your brief, then detail the specific target segment of the market where you are choosing to compete. You should ensure the target segment is sufficiently large to achieve your company’s sales and profit growth objectives, but sufficiently focused so that your company can intimately understand market characteristics and compete effectively. The template provided for this assignment guides you on how to organize relevant information, including:
a. Your company
b. The industry for your organization of choice
c. The market size of this industry
d. Specific description of the segment of this industry in which you will compete (the Playing Field)
e. Brief explanation of why you selected this segment.
2. Competitive Analysis: In this section you will identify the two most formidable competitors in your playing field and address the following for each:
a. How big is each competitor in this target segment?
b. What is their most significant strength and their most significant weakness?
c. Briefly explain how this strength and this weakness impact their ability to compete effectively.
d. Does their recent performance indicate they are generally winning or losing in this playing field? Support your conclusions with data.
e. Has anyone (including new market entrants) introduced any game-changing new products/technology/capabilities? Have they developed (or lost) a key competitive advantage?
3. Organizational Assessment; In this section you will “turn the mirror around” and look inward to assess the capabilities and competencies of your chosen organization. Briefly address the following:
a. How big are we in this target segment?
b. What is our most significant strength and our most significant weakness?
c. Briefly explain how this strength and this weakness impact our ability to compete effectively.
d. Do our recent results indicate we are generally winning or losing in this playing field? Support your conclusions with data.
e. Have we introduced game-changing new products/technology/capabilities? Have we developed (or lost) a key competitive advantage?
4. Key Conclusions: Provide a succinct conclusion that captures your critical insights about the target segment and the relative competitive balance of the three companies you analyzed.
5. References: Include in-text citations for all data, assertions, and facts, and a corresponding reference list. Appendices are allowable if additional supplemental information is needed for the brief.
Formatting and Submission Requirements
• Use the Assignment 1 Template to complete this assignment. Ensure you address each element of the template.
• The submitted template should be 2 to 3 pages (not including the cover page or appendixes/references page).
• Typed, single-spaced, professional font (size 10 – 12) with one-inch margins on all sides.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, professor’s name, and the course title and date.
• Use and reference at least 3 external sources to support your brief. Include a references page at the end documenting sources and citations.
• You may use additional headings within the template to identify subtopics if this will improve the clarity of your template.
• You are welcome to include charts, tables, and graphs in-text or in an appendix.
• Develop and support your research with facts and in-text citations, appendixes, and references.
JWI540 Strategy
Assignment 2
: How to Win: Strategic Options Assessment and Recommendation
Introduction
“Strategy means making clear-cut choices about how to compete. You cannot be everything to everybody, no matter what the size of your business or how deep its pockets.”
– Jack Welch –
Congratulations! In your first executive brief, you generated some great insights about the playing field and competitors and how your own organization stacks up. Now you will transition from looking back to looking ahead. You will develop your “How to Win” strategy that will feature your game-winning move!
Your CEO has clarified that you need to think expansively and recommend a move that is transformative rather than incremental. To help with this, you have decided to consider each of the seven common winning moves outlined in the Week 6 Lecture Notes and pick one of them as your preferred game-winning move.
You know that your game-winning move will be a decisive choice for the company. But in choosing this move (as is the case with any strategic initiative), the company will risk money and resources. If your move is the right one, you will grow sales and profits and beat your competitors. If your move is the wrong one, you risk disappointing your investors and letting your competitors gain competitive advantage. Given the importance of this decision, you will evaluate each of the seven common winning moves and then do a deep dive into the attractiveness, feasibility and risks of your chosen strategy.
Your CEO is expecting your second executive brief in Week 8 to summarize your analysis of the strategy you believe offers the most potential and your recommendation for the game-winning move that you will be presenting in Week 10.
Instructions for Assignment 2
Your objective is to create a game-winning move, not just evaluate other people’s moves. For this assignment, do NOT recommend a move that is identical or very similar to a real-life move made by your company. For example, don’t recommend that Tesla/Apple/Google/Uber/etc. invest in self-driving car technology or recommend that CVS acquire Aetna as those are all in the public domain. Instead, recommend a move that is novel and innovative for your company.
Craft your second executive brief to include the following:
1. An opening paragraph summarizing the purpose and content of the brief.
2. Rank Order Your Three Top Moves: Review the applicability and attractiveness of each of the 7 common winning moves (from the Week 6 Lecture Notes) for your organization and your competitive situation in your chosen playing field. List your top three most attractive moves in order from most attractive to least attractive.
3. Detail your Recommended Move: For your most attractive move, provide details about what you would recommend as a part this move. For example, if you chose acquisition, who might you buy? If you chose geographic expansion, where would you expand? If you chose discontinuous innovation, what would the innovation be? Explain why you think it will generate financially attractive growth (which includes both incremental revenue growth and commensurate incremental profit growth).
4. Alignment of the Move to Organizational Strength and Weakness. How does this move address your key strength/weakness identified in your playing field assessment from Assignment 1?
5. Required Investments. Most strategic initiatives require an investment of resources and money. What are some significant investments that would be necessary to implement this move? Note, we are not looking for dollar figures; instead, we are looking for the key categories of investments such as hiring people, investing in new capabilities, building new manufacturing plants, etc.
6. Risks and Risk Mitigation. Most game-changing moves are bold initiatives and have risks that need to be considered. What are the most significant risks and what is your recommended risk-mitigation plan?
7. Competitive Response: How do you think the competition will react to your move?
8. Concluding statement. Conclude with a brief a summary of your game-winning move and conclusions on the above topics. Consider how the move effectively balances investments and risks. How will the move position your company against the competition?
9. References: Include in-text citations for all data, assertions, and facts, and a corresponding reference list. Appendices are allowable if additional supplemental information is needed for the brief.
© Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University confidential and proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. This document is subject to change based on the needs of the class.
Formatting and Submission Requirements
• The executive brief submission should be 2 to 3 pages (not including the cover page or appendixes/references page).
• Typed, single-spaced, professional font (size 10 – 12) with one-inch margins on all sides.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, professor’s name, and the course title and date.
• Include a references page at the end documenting sources and citations used. You must cite three or more current sources.
• Use headings to identify main topics and subtopics.
• You are welcome to include charts, tables, and graphs in-text or in an appendix.
• Develop and support your research with facts and in-text citations, appendixes, and references.
JWI540 Strategy
Assignment 3
Introduction
“In order for strategy to be effective, it has to be clearly communicated.
Everybody in the organization has to understand why we are doing what we’re doing,
and what they need to do in order to execute the strategy.”
– Jack Welch –
Time to Shine! You’ve done the hard work to evaluate the playing field and competition. You’ve looked at seven potential strategic moves and assessed the pros and cons of each. Finally, you have arrived at the game-winning move that can help your company beat competitors, generate significant shareholder value and create a sustainable competitive advantage. All you need now is a “yes” from your CEO!
You know that one of the most important skills leaders must develop is the ability to sell their ideas. They need to understand their audience, craft their presentation appropriately, have poise, and communicate clearly. They also need to show their passion and demonstrate executive presence!
You know your CEO’s time is valuable and you have only five minutes to “sell” your game-winning move and explain the key rationale. You will synthesize your previous executive briefs to create a succinct, well-organized presentation based on Jack’s 5 slides and then present these during your five-minute slot.
The presentation is focused on selling the move and your rationale – and this probably means that some of the slides are going to be more important than others. Your CEO wants you to touch on each slide during the 5- minute presentation but doesn’t mind if you spend only a brief amount of time on some slides and more time on others.
You have a great game-winning move. You have been perfecting your executive presence. You have confidence. You are ready to impress!
Instructions
1. Distill the work you have done in Assignments 1 and 2 to create a 5-slide strategy deck. This is explained in Chapter 11 of Winning and is also included in summary form below.
Be aware that information needed for some of Jack’s questions would be available to a company’s strategy team leader but may not be in the public domain for our use. Therefore, your content in each slide will primarily be derived from your research for your first two assignments. This may mean that you focus on answering some of Jack’s questions, but perhaps not all of them.
2. You should approach your presentation from a senior executive perspective, with your intended audience being the CEO of the company. Your presentation should be both informative and inspirational. Your goal is to persuade the CEO to support your strategic plan.
3. You should assume that the CEO has already read your two executive briefs. However, you are unsure whether there is support or skepticism for of your game-winning move. Thus, you need to focus on “selling your strategy” and not just regurgitating your first two assignments. Your CEO will be compelled by an enthusiastic presentation that explains why your game-winning move is the right one, but that also presents a balanced, cogent understanding of the risks involved.
4. Your presentation should have a professional look andfeel. It should demonstrate your executive presence through professional dress, eye contact, clear and confident speech and body language. Think about Jack’s “4 E’s + 1 P” as you prepare, and use this as a guide for your delivery.
Formatting and Submission Requirements
• Record your presentation using Zoom This will allow you to record your use of a PPT deck and webcam at the same time. Recording instructions and samples: https://www.kaltura.com/tiny/xgw5h
• Keep your presentation within a 4- to 6-minute timeframe.
• You may only present slides from Jack’s 5-slide methodology, and you must present all 5 slides. However, you are not required to allocate your time equally on to each of the 5 slides. Instead, spend your time on the slides that best enable you to convincingly sell your game-winning move. There are many tactics that allow you to briefly cover a slide that is not essential to sell your move. An example is to quickly flash the competition slide while noting, “You are well aware that our two key competitors are Ford and GM, and I shared their recent moves in the executive brief, so I’d instead like to advance to the
Our Organization slide”.
• Submit your Zoom video in mp4 format only. Note: Zoom offers several formats, so make sure you save to your computer and then upload only the mp4 formatted version.
• You do not need to submit a separate PPT file for grading because each slide should be visible in your Zoom video.
5-Slide MethodologyQuestions
Slide questions are not set in stone. Focus your content on the most important and relevant questions for your
company and industry. You are not expected to incorporate every bullet under each slide as part of your fiveslide presentation. Instead, choose the most compelling elements that help you tell the most persuasive story.
Slide 1: What the Playing Field Looks Like Now
• Who are the competitors in this business, large and small, new and old?
• Who has what share globally, and in each market? Where do we fit in?
• What are the characteristics of this business? Is it a commodity, high value, or somewhere in between? Is it long cycle or short? Where is it on the growth curve? What are the drivers of profitability?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor? How good are its products? How much does each spend on R&D? How big is each sales force? How performance-driven is each culture?
• Who are this business’s main customers, and how do they buy? Slide 2: What the Competition Has Been Up To
• What has each competitor done in the past year to change the playing field?
• Has anyone introduced game-changing new products, new technologies, or new distribution channels?
• Are there any new entrants, and if so, what have they been up to in the past year?
Slide 3: What You’ve Been Up To
• What have you done in the past year to change the competitive playing field?
• Have you bought a company, introduced a new product, stolen a competitor’s key salesperson, or licensed a new technology from a startup?
• Have you lost any competitive advantages that you once had – a great salesperson, a special product, a proprietary technology?
Slide 4: What’s Around the Corner?
• What scares you most in the year ahead – what are one or two things a competitor could do to nail you?
• What new products or technologies could your competitors launch that might change the game?
• What M&A deals made by a competitor would knock you off your feet?
Slide 5: What’s Your Winning Move?
• What can you do to change the playing field – is it an acquisition, a new product, globalization?
• What can you do to make customers stick with you more than ever before and be more loyal to you than to anyone else?
• Persuasively and logically present your “winning move
