Strategy
Of all the mistakes I made while a student here, my single greatest regret, the one thing I dream of changing if I had the chance to do it all over again, would be to have the world simply stop for three minutes after every case discussion in class. That’s right, stop—go deathly silent, and the only thing I was allowed to do during those few precious minutes was jot down whatever was “on my mind” at the time. It could be a conceptual note based on the professor’s case summary, or just as likely it might have been a personal note to call my mother because something someone said during class caused me to think of her, how important she is to me, and how long it had been since I had spoken to her. Oh, what I’d give today for a notebook full of those “personal reflections.”
Leave your reflections as comments!
Steve Myrick
Luke Owings
chuckdieselfuel
Jessica Lackey
RyanAir (day 1) – Executing a low-cost strategy is very difficult, but it’s doable.
RyanAir (day 2) – The ‘Sunday blahs’ mean you’re in the wrong place.
You’ve got to take a chance – (echoed in TEM twice already)
The five forces are only part of the story – you have to think about the social and political context in which a business operates.
Cola Wars – Any framework is just a starting point to make sure you illuminate a baseline of points. For example, the five forces Strategy model can leave out complements (think the iPod and iTunes music) and overall environmental issues (societal context).
Bally’s – Strategies need to be more than just one aspect of an approach. They need to be an integrated set of decisions/actions in any state of the world.
Figure out whether scale matters before you chase scale benefits.
Apple (Day 1) – (A) Companies in dynamic industries today spend time focusing on complements to enhance the overall customer experience. (B)Apple made mistakes by attempting to be proprietary in a market that wanted to be open source and de-centralized. (C) Just because a product is better doesn’t mean that it’s better for ME. Apple has tons of products (iLife, the movie maker) that are intrinsically the best that’s out there. However, I don’t need them (for some reason or another). Hence, why would I spend so much more to buy a package bundled with them? (D) Apple has historically tried to tell people what they want rather than letting things evolve openly. In some cases, this creates a whole new market and revolutionizes things. In other cases, it means they’re charging a (high) premium for something that I don’t want or need.
Apply (Day 2) – (A) The core competency of Apple is not innovation. It is much more about marketing, sales, and execution. (B) Always remember that ‘barriers to exit’ can be significant (either because it’s hard to admit failure or because its tough to let go of ‘family’.
Random House – In many traditional industries, managers look backwards at their business and infrastructure rather than embracing the future.
Wal-Mart – Wal-Mart negotiated with GE for lightbulbs and with their suppliers for private label of the same product. This is all well and good once a product has been produced and commoditized. However, where does innovation in this system come from and how is it rewarded?
Edward Jones – People aren’t looking for sophistication, they’re looking for solutions.
Edward Jones – Going public isn’t desirable for some businesses, whose employees would face different incentives and a different relationship with the company.
Airborne Express – Always be wary of SPRS (“Smartest Person in the Room Syndrome”).
LED – Advocacy of a complicated issue in an uncertain environment is key to long-term success in the business world.