SCI 100 Module One Short Answer Guidelines and Rubric
Evaluating Resources and Searching for Information
Prompt: Using the Website Evaluation Template document provided in your learning environment, follow the directions and complete the chart in the template.
After completing the template, use the information from your completed table to address the following:
1. Report your scores for your two chosen sites from the Shapiro Library website tutorial. Be sure to include hyperlinks to the specific articles and sub-
pages you examined in your work.
2. Which of your two chosen resources would you consider to be more valid? Explain your choice.
Next, use the news story you selected and the results of your Shapiro Library research and respond to the following:
1. Briefly summarize (in 1 to 2 paragraphs) the natural science topic featured in your chosen news story.
2. How would you go about finding more information on the topic that you chose? List at least two different sources that you would consider reliable.
3. Briefly explain why you think these are reliable sources of information to help you find out more about your topic.
As you complete this assignment, keep in mind that your answers to these questions or closely related questions will be part of your Project 1: Topic Exploration
Graphic Organizer submission at the end of Module Two.
Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Submit your short answers in a Microsoft Word document.
Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Score Posts score results of the Source
Evaluation Rubric and includes
hyperlinks to the source articles/sub-
pages
Does not post score results of the
Source Evaluation Rubric or include
hyperlinks to the source articles/sub-
pages
25
Validity Explains which resource is more valid Explains which resource is more valid,
but explanation is unclear or inaccurate
Does not explain which resource is
more valid
25
Summary Gives a summary of the natural science
topic in the article for topic exploration
graphic organizer
Gives a summary of the natural science
topic in the article for topic exploration
graphic organizer, but summary is
unclear or inaccurate
Does not give a summary of the natural
science topic in the article for topic
exploration graphic organizer
10
Information Explains how additional information on
the topic will be found
Explains how additional information on
the topic will be found, but explanation
is unclear
Does not explain how additional
information on the topic will be found
15
Reliability Explains why the sources are reliable Explains why the sources are reliable,
but explanation is unclear or inaccurate
Does not explain why the sources are
reliable
15
Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Communicates Clearly Clearly communicates key ideas and
thoughts in a short-answer response
Response.
Leadership School 31· Write a two page essay ,double spaced. i.docxwashingtonrosy
Leadership School 31
· Write a two page essay ,double spaced. in the APA format, with a minimum of 3 references in the APA format . Include a title page and a rfereence page , plus the two pages of actual essay.
· Describe the leadership style called, DELEGATING STYLE, Describe what type of leader this is and why it is your leadership style. Briefely describe the theory of Delegating Style.
· Then, explain why you chose this theory and how using this theory will help you in your future career.
· Please make sure there is no plagiarism in this essay.
Industry Financial Ratios
To provide some tips for locating industry financial ratios, you are welcome to start your research with any of the following “launch” website addresses for locating industry financial ratios.
Free business statistics and financial ratios. Retrieved from http://www.bizstats.com/industry-financials.php
Yahoo Finance: Industry center. Retrieved from https://biz.yahoo.com/ic/ind_index.html
UMGC library. Retrieved from http://sites.umgc.edu/library/libresources/index.cfm
Yahoo Finance: Stock research center. Retrieved from https://biz.yahoo.com/r/;_ylt=A0LEVi9k1idYSmcAmaQnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEyOWtuZnZxBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM4BHZ0aWQDQjI1ODBfMQRzZWMDc3I-
· Industry financial ratios (quoted at the directly referenced “actual drilldown” website page from reputable financial websites)
· Corporate financial ratios (actually computed with math from financial data from financial statements of the corporate “drilldown” own website which must be referenced)
· You may use any other financial websites that can provide you with the similar reliable (or reputable) sources for showing industry financial ratios. These websites should not be any financial “blogs” at all.
· Please keep in mind: You are required to “drill down” to the very page where the industry ratios of your focal company are located. The reference sites that you use in your in-text citations and reference source list must be the very website page where your industry financial ratios are actually located, not any of the “launch” websites.
Company Financial Ratios
· For your focal company’s financial ratios, you cannot use just any financial websites for quoting the financial ratios for the focal company. The only reference source is the focal company’s website or 10K information. You must drill down to the focal company’s website in locating the “raw” financial ratio (that is, the income statement and balance sheet, or annual investor report), and use these financial data to compute the financial ratios on your own by showing the actual financial data in all the financial ratio computation formulae. In other words, show the actual math of computing the focal company’s financial ratios on your own, not “cutting and pasting” them from anywhere else.
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
180
Chapter 6
Supporting the Business-Level Strategy: Competitive
and Cooperative Moves
L E A R N I N G O B J E C .
The document analyzes the global pharmaceutical industry, identifying the United States and France as the largest markets. It outlines three key success factors for companies in the industry: having products in fast-growing therapeutic classes like oncology and diabetes; involvement in emerging biotechnology; and managing patent expirations. The document then evaluates Merck & Co. and Sanofi based on these three success factors.
The document discusses various business models in the life science industry. It describes models such as the fully integrated pharma company, virtually integrated pharma company, research model, platform model, no research development only model, re-indication/recovery model, combination drugs model, and drug delivery model. Each model is defined by its value proposition, value chain structure, and revenue generation approach. The document provides examples of companies that have utilized each business model.
Specialty Medicine Revolution - Chris Bogan Keynote ((H2-2016)Chris Bogan
Chris Bogan, CEO of Best Practices, LLC, presented on launching new products and competing successfully in specialty care markets. The presentation discussed how the shift to specialty care has changed go-to-market strategies, requiring skills in areas like biologics, segmentation, outcomes research, and thought leader management. It also explained how specialty drug lifecycles are accelerating and compressing in challenging new ways, such as through fixed-dose combinations and multi-drug therapies that can create portfolio challenges for companies. The presentation provided insights into seven fronts where companies must evolve to keep pace with the changing specialty care environment.
Export Company Profile You are to prepare a profile of a Canad.docxlmelaine
Export Company Profile
You are to prepare a profile of a Canadian exporting success story. Find a company that succeeded to find a market for their products in one or more international markets. Your profile should include:
•An introduction of the company, including background, and the demand for its product in a chosen foreign country
•Target market in the foreign country (e.g. location, demographics, psychographics, etc.)
•Marketing mix used (4Ps): Product, Price, Place, Promotion
•SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
•Relevant foreign government regulations that applied to the product(s)
1
42 PART 1 | Introduction
3 The Organizational Environment and Culture
chapter
After studying Chapter 3, you should be
able to
LO1 Describe the five elements of an
organization’s macroenvironment.
LO2 Explain the five components of
an organization’s competitive
environment.
LO3 Understand how managers stay
on top of changes in the external
environment.
LO4 Summarize how managers
respond to changes in the external
environment.
LO5 Discuss how organizational
cultures can be leveraged to
overcome challenges in the
external environment.
Learning Objectives
bat62597_ch03_042-065.indd 42bat62597_ch03_042-065.indd 42 29/09/14 8:09 pm29/09/14 8:09 pm
Final PDF to printer
CHAPTER 3 | The Organizational Environment and Culture 43
B
open systems
organizations that are
affected by, and that affect,
their environment
external environment
all relevant forces outside
a firm’s boundaries, such
as competitors, customers,
the government, and the
economy
ob Stiller, founder and former chairman of Green
Mountain Coffee Roasters (now called Keurig
Green Mountain), brought his company a long
way since its beginnings in a small Vermont café more than
30 years ago. He expanded his business by surveying the com-
petition and choosing avenues that looked most promising. With
the retail coffee market crowded by Starbucks, Seattle’s Best
Coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee, Caribou Coffee, and others, Stiller
chose to focus on the quality of his coffee—offering more than
100 gourmet varieties—and to sell through retail stores, whole-
sale outlets, direct-mail catalogs, and on the web. Recognizing
consumers’ growing interest in organic foods, KGM also began
offering organically grown coffees that were produced through
fair trade practices—ensuring that farmers receive a fair price
for their crops. 1 The company
also makes the best-selling
single-cup coffee machine in
the United States. Tripling in
size since 2011, the single-cup
coffee market accounted for
half of the $11.7 billion in sales
in the United States in 2013. 2 Leveraging the popularity of its
Keurig single-cup brewers, KGM has entered into partnerships
with several competitors. In 2014, the company extended its
agreement with Sta ...
What were they trying to achieveIn 1991, DIA attempted to rem.docxphilipnelson29183
What were they trying to achieve?
In 1991, DIA attempted to remodel and upgrade the arduous, time-consuming luggage check-in and transfer system. The idea involved bar-coded tags being fixed to each piece of luggage that went through ‘Destination Coded Vehicles’. This would fully automate all baggage transfers, integrate all three terminals, and reduce aircraft turn-around time significantly.
Why did they fail?
The main cause of failure was the scope creep of quality and cost schedule. When the company DIA was contracted to help in BAE’s project, they failed to meet the time schedule of the company. They instead stuck to their schedule of two years. The management took unnecessary risked because the project was underscored yet the management took unnecessary risks. Another item in their agenda which the company ignored: the company ignored the airline’s planning sessions and omitted the airline as a stakeholder. The project, as a result, featured oversized sports/ski equipment luggage and separate maintenance track and another track was not designed at all. The large part of the system was not done and had to be redone. This made the airport to be delayed by 16 months and has had a loss of $2 billion were incurred as a result. The project was later scrapped.
Lesson learned in the project is stakeholder engagement in project management. From the project management principles, the two companies failed to communicate to one another during the project until it was too late. Communication is one of the pillars in for project success. Another mistake which DIA committed was failing to plan and consult regularly.
References
Hartmann, T., & Spit, T. (2016). Legitimizing differentiated flood protection levels–Consequences of the European flood risk management plan. Environmental Science & Policy, 55, 361-367.
Benson, D., Lorenzoni, I., & Cook, H. (2016). Evaluating social learning in England flood risk management: An ‘individual-community interaction’perspective. Environmental Science & Policy, 55, 326-334.
Chan, M. J., Huang, Y. B., Wen, Y. H., Chuang, H. Y., Tain, Y. L., Wang, Y. C. L., & Hsu, C. N. (2015). Compliance with risk management plan recommendations on laboratory monitoring of antitumor necrosis factor-α therapy in clinical practice. Journal of the Formosan Medical Association.
Running head: BCG MATRIX COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS FOR MEDTRONIC 1
BCG MATRIX COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS FOR MEDTRONIC 2
BCG Matrix Competitive Analysis for Medtronic
Tyrell S Grant
BCG Matrix Competitive Analysis for Medtronic
BCG Matrix
Medtronic is a multinational organization that specializes in the production of different medical devices. The company has different Strategic Business Units (SBU) that are also known as departments. The departments are divided depending on the roles being played, and these are what that determines that amount of finances that will be invested in the department. The reason is that the different roles earn profits or .
The business model that drove major drugmakers' success is no longer working as blockbuster drugs lose patent protection. The pharmaceutical industry is entering an uncertain, stochastic period as the future of the industry is unpredictable. Drug companies have adopted divergent strategies through mergers and acquisitions to position themselves for an unknown future, focusing on areas like biologics, generics, consumer health and more. The survivors will be those that make strategic bets supported by winning capabilities.
The document provides an overview of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and their relationship to the pharmaceutical industry. It discusses the goals of ACOs in improving quality of care while reducing costs. While initial results of ACOs are mixed, with some evidence of cost savings and improved quality, establishing the infrastructure has incurred significant start-up costs. The document also reviews the current pharmaceutical landscape and identifies opportunities for collaboration between ACOs and pharmaceutical companies, such as reducing hospital readmissions through better treatment adherence and education.
Leadership School 31· Write a two page essay ,double spaced. i.docxwashingtonrosy
Leadership School 31
· Write a two page essay ,double spaced. in the APA format, with a minimum of 3 references in the APA format . Include a title page and a rfereence page , plus the two pages of actual essay.
· Describe the leadership style called, DELEGATING STYLE, Describe what type of leader this is and why it is your leadership style. Briefely describe the theory of Delegating Style.
· Then, explain why you chose this theory and how using this theory will help you in your future career.
· Please make sure there is no plagiarism in this essay.
Industry Financial Ratios
To provide some tips for locating industry financial ratios, you are welcome to start your research with any of the following “launch” website addresses for locating industry financial ratios.
Free business statistics and financial ratios. Retrieved from http://www.bizstats.com/industry-financials.php
Yahoo Finance: Industry center. Retrieved from https://biz.yahoo.com/ic/ind_index.html
UMGC library. Retrieved from http://sites.umgc.edu/library/libresources/index.cfm
Yahoo Finance: Stock research center. Retrieved from https://biz.yahoo.com/r/;_ylt=A0LEVi9k1idYSmcAmaQnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEyOWtuZnZxBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM4BHZ0aWQDQjI1ODBfMQRzZWMDc3I-
· Industry financial ratios (quoted at the directly referenced “actual drilldown” website page from reputable financial websites)
· Corporate financial ratios (actually computed with math from financial data from financial statements of the corporate “drilldown” own website which must be referenced)
· You may use any other financial websites that can provide you with the similar reliable (or reputable) sources for showing industry financial ratios. These websites should not be any financial “blogs” at all.
· Please keep in mind: You are required to “drill down” to the very page where the industry ratios of your focal company are located. The reference sites that you use in your in-text citations and reference source list must be the very website page where your industry financial ratios are actually located, not any of the “launch” websites.
Company Financial Ratios
· For your focal company’s financial ratios, you cannot use just any financial websites for quoting the financial ratios for the focal company. The only reference source is the focal company’s website or 10K information. You must drill down to the focal company’s website in locating the “raw” financial ratio (that is, the income statement and balance sheet, or annual investor report), and use these financial data to compute the financial ratios on your own by showing the actual financial data in all the financial ratio computation formulae. In other words, show the actual math of computing the focal company’s financial ratios on your own, not “cutting and pasting” them from anywhere else.
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
180
Chapter 6
Supporting the Business-Level Strategy: Competitive
and Cooperative Moves
L E A R N I N G O B J E C .
The document analyzes the global pharmaceutical industry, identifying the United States and France as the largest markets. It outlines three key success factors for companies in the industry: having products in fast-growing therapeutic classes like oncology and diabetes; involvement in emerging biotechnology; and managing patent expirations. The document then evaluates Merck & Co. and Sanofi based on these three success factors.
The document discusses various business models in the life science industry. It describes models such as the fully integrated pharma company, virtually integrated pharma company, research model, platform model, no research development only model, re-indication/recovery model, combination drugs model, and drug delivery model. Each model is defined by its value proposition, value chain structure, and revenue generation approach. The document provides examples of companies that have utilized each business model.
Specialty Medicine Revolution - Chris Bogan Keynote ((H2-2016)Chris Bogan
Chris Bogan, CEO of Best Practices, LLC, presented on launching new products and competing successfully in specialty care markets. The presentation discussed how the shift to specialty care has changed go-to-market strategies, requiring skills in areas like biologics, segmentation, outcomes research, and thought leader management. It also explained how specialty drug lifecycles are accelerating and compressing in challenging new ways, such as through fixed-dose combinations and multi-drug therapies that can create portfolio challenges for companies. The presentation provided insights into seven fronts where companies must evolve to keep pace with the changing specialty care environment.
Export Company Profile You are to prepare a profile of a Canad.docxlmelaine
Export Company Profile
You are to prepare a profile of a Canadian exporting success story. Find a company that succeeded to find a market for their products in one or more international markets. Your profile should include:
•An introduction of the company, including background, and the demand for its product in a chosen foreign country
•Target market in the foreign country (e.g. location, demographics, psychographics, etc.)
•Marketing mix used (4Ps): Product, Price, Place, Promotion
•SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
•Relevant foreign government regulations that applied to the product(s)
1
42 PART 1 | Introduction
3 The Organizational Environment and Culture
chapter
After studying Chapter 3, you should be
able to
LO1 Describe the five elements of an
organization’s macroenvironment.
LO2 Explain the five components of
an organization’s competitive
environment.
LO3 Understand how managers stay
on top of changes in the external
environment.
LO4 Summarize how managers
respond to changes in the external
environment.
LO5 Discuss how organizational
cultures can be leveraged to
overcome challenges in the
external environment.
Learning Objectives
bat62597_ch03_042-065.indd 42bat62597_ch03_042-065.indd 42 29/09/14 8:09 pm29/09/14 8:09 pm
Final PDF to printer
CHAPTER 3 | The Organizational Environment and Culture 43
B
open systems
organizations that are
affected by, and that affect,
their environment
external environment
all relevant forces outside
a firm’s boundaries, such
as competitors, customers,
the government, and the
economy
ob Stiller, founder and former chairman of Green
Mountain Coffee Roasters (now called Keurig
Green Mountain), brought his company a long
way since its beginnings in a small Vermont café more than
30 years ago. He expanded his business by surveying the com-
petition and choosing avenues that looked most promising. With
the retail coffee market crowded by Starbucks, Seattle’s Best
Coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee, Caribou Coffee, and others, Stiller
chose to focus on the quality of his coffee—offering more than
100 gourmet varieties—and to sell through retail stores, whole-
sale outlets, direct-mail catalogs, and on the web. Recognizing
consumers’ growing interest in organic foods, KGM also began
offering organically grown coffees that were produced through
fair trade practices—ensuring that farmers receive a fair price
for their crops. 1 The company
also makes the best-selling
single-cup coffee machine in
the United States. Tripling in
size since 2011, the single-cup
coffee market accounted for
half of the $11.7 billion in sales
in the United States in 2013. 2 Leveraging the popularity of its
Keurig single-cup brewers, KGM has entered into partnerships
with several competitors. In 2014, the company extended its
agreement with Sta ...
What were they trying to achieveIn 1991, DIA attempted to rem.docxphilipnelson29183
What were they trying to achieve?
In 1991, DIA attempted to remodel and upgrade the arduous, time-consuming luggage check-in and transfer system. The idea involved bar-coded tags being fixed to each piece of luggage that went through ‘Destination Coded Vehicles’. This would fully automate all baggage transfers, integrate all three terminals, and reduce aircraft turn-around time significantly.
Why did they fail?
The main cause of failure was the scope creep of quality and cost schedule. When the company DIA was contracted to help in BAE’s project, they failed to meet the time schedule of the company. They instead stuck to their schedule of two years. The management took unnecessary risked because the project was underscored yet the management took unnecessary risks. Another item in their agenda which the company ignored: the company ignored the airline’s planning sessions and omitted the airline as a stakeholder. The project, as a result, featured oversized sports/ski equipment luggage and separate maintenance track and another track was not designed at all. The large part of the system was not done and had to be redone. This made the airport to be delayed by 16 months and has had a loss of $2 billion were incurred as a result. The project was later scrapped.
Lesson learned in the project is stakeholder engagement in project management. From the project management principles, the two companies failed to communicate to one another during the project until it was too late. Communication is one of the pillars in for project success. Another mistake which DIA committed was failing to plan and consult regularly.
References
Hartmann, T., & Spit, T. (2016). Legitimizing differentiated flood protection levels–Consequences of the European flood risk management plan. Environmental Science & Policy, 55, 361-367.
Benson, D., Lorenzoni, I., & Cook, H. (2016). Evaluating social learning in England flood risk management: An ‘individual-community interaction’perspective. Environmental Science & Policy, 55, 326-334.
Chan, M. J., Huang, Y. B., Wen, Y. H., Chuang, H. Y., Tain, Y. L., Wang, Y. C. L., & Hsu, C. N. (2015). Compliance with risk management plan recommendations on laboratory monitoring of antitumor necrosis factor-α therapy in clinical practice. Journal of the Formosan Medical Association.
Running head: BCG MATRIX COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS FOR MEDTRONIC 1
BCG MATRIX COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS FOR MEDTRONIC 2
BCG Matrix Competitive Analysis for Medtronic
Tyrell S Grant
BCG Matrix Competitive Analysis for Medtronic
BCG Matrix
Medtronic is a multinational organization that specializes in the production of different medical devices. The company has different Strategic Business Units (SBU) that are also known as departments. The departments are divided depending on the roles being played, and these are what that determines that amount of finances that will be invested in the department. The reason is that the different roles earn profits or .
The business model that drove major drugmakers' success is no longer working as blockbuster drugs lose patent protection. The pharmaceutical industry is entering an uncertain, stochastic period as the future of the industry is unpredictable. Drug companies have adopted divergent strategies through mergers and acquisitions to position themselves for an unknown future, focusing on areas like biologics, generics, consumer health and more. The survivors will be those that make strategic bets supported by winning capabilities.
The document provides an overview of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and their relationship to the pharmaceutical industry. It discusses the goals of ACOs in improving quality of care while reducing costs. While initial results of ACOs are mixed, with some evidence of cost savings and improved quality, establishing the infrastructure has incurred significant start-up costs. The document also reviews the current pharmaceutical landscape and identifies opportunities for collaboration between ACOs and pharmaceutical companies, such as reducing hospital readmissions through better treatment adherence and education.
This document is a quarterly newsletter providing updates on the Philadelphia life science industry. It includes articles on key topics:
1. The first article discusses how to stay informed on key players and emerging companies in a disease area through regularly asking questions about clinical trials, publications, collaborations, regulatory approvals and company pipelines.
2. The second article describes how some health tech companies have found success innovating around changes in healthcare by targeting preventative care, shifting care to the home, using lean processes and collaborating in innovation hubs.
3. Other sections provide information on investment strategies, performance metrics for local biotech companies, acquisitions and a list of companies in an investment index.
Elly Lilly, a Pharmecuetical company, group case analysisPedram Keyvani
Evaluating this case, and seeing how stringent the pharmaceutical industry is, was eye opening experience, especially having had worked on it in a group.
The document discusses bioprinting patents and intellectual property issues. It notes that while bioprinting techniques have been patented for years, the patenting of bioprinted tissues and organs is more limited as they lack expression, ornamental features, or source of origin. Utility patents provide the best protection for bioprinting innovation, though patents are difficult to obtain and enforce. Regulatory approval for bioprinted tissues is also expensive and time-consuming, providing little incentive for development without patent protection. The article examines patents covering the three phases of bioprinting and exceptions for experimental use.
CASE TO BE ANALYZED LISTED BELOW THE ASSIGNMENTCOMPANogglili
****CASE TO BE ANALYZED LISTED BELOW THE ASSIGNMENT*****
COMPANY NAME, WEBSITE, and INDUSTRY
State the company name, website address, and industry.
BACKGROUND and HISTORY
Briefly describe the company in the case analysis. What is their primary business, who were the officers or key players described in the case study? If the case study company is currently in business, list the company’s current CEO, total sales, and profit or loss for the last year where data is available. Identify key events or phases in the company’s history. Describe the performance of this company in the industry. Visit the company’s website and use http://finance.yahoo.com and/or some other financial search engine to find this data.
NOTE: Make sure to use APA citations throughout the paper. The textbook should be cited if it is the source of information.
ANALYSIS VIA PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL
Analyze the competitive environment by listing the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products and services, and the intensity of rivalry among competitors in the industry (Chapter 2). Each of the five forces should have a paragraph within this section. Summarize your key points in a figure.
STRATEGY USED
How does this company create and sustain a competitive advantage? What strategy from the readings was undertaken by this company? Were they successful? Can all companies use this strategy? How is the strategy affected by the life cycle in the industry? Remember to reference Porter’s generic strategies identified in the textbook, THIS IS CRITICAL.
Specific STRATEGY(S)
**Important to note, this is the second required strategy section in this paper. Considering this paper is worth 150 total points I’d like to draw attention to how each of these two strategy sections totals 80 points. This is the heart of the paper! Choose two specific strategies from the below list. Apply them in detail to the organization. Be sure to think strategically and show the results clearly. Use the strategy as a sub-header for each section so it is clear what is being applied.
Related Diversification
Achieving Competitive Advantage
Entry Mode
Entrepreneurial Strategy
Creating Ambidextrous Organization Designs
Leadership
COURSE OF ACTION RECOMMENDED
If you were in a position to advise this company, what strategy would you recommend to sustain competitive advantage and achieve future growth? Be specific and list the steps the company should take for successful implementation of your course of action.
OPINION
What do you think of this case study? Describe what you believe are the lessons learned from this case.
REFERENCES
When you have completed the paper using the above sections, insert a page break and have a separate reference page. The references should be listed in accordance with the APA guidelines.
FORMAT
Use a title page.
Font: Use Times New Roman, 12 point.
Place your name ...
The document discusses marketing strategies used by pharmaceutical companies. It notes that companies are shifting from acute therapies to focusing more on chronic therapies that require long-term treatment. This allows companies to build more stable customer bases. The document also outlines some of the challenges companies face, such as increased competition, high costs of research and development, and complex decision-making processes involving doctors, patients, and other stakeholders. It discusses two common business models - the "super core model" involving a small number of highly successful chronic drugs, and the "core model" involving marketing a larger number of acute drugs.
The document discusses marketing strategies used by pharmaceutical companies. It notes that companies are shifting from acute therapies to focusing more on chronic therapies. This represents a long-term strategy change as chronic therapies require doctors to prescribe the same drugs for longer periods. The document also outlines some of the challenges pharmaceutical companies face in marketing to different customers in the supply chain from doctors to patients. It discusses strategies around patents, research and development, and pursuing either a "super core" model focused on a small number of chronic drugs or a "core" model marketing more acute drugs.
THE MEDFIELD PHARMA CASE FIRM VALUATION AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATION.docxcdorothy
THE MEDFIELD PHARMA CASE: FIRM VALUATION AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF REFORMULATION
Understand that the Medfield case has 2 major problems: 1) Firm Valuation – Impact of Patent Loss and Reformulation; 2) Ethical Considerations – How to Ensure Patients and third-party payees are not hurt
Organize your paper around the case questions, use them as an organizing device. This will benefit you in several ways: 1) provide a framework for constructing your paper; 2) ensure I (your reader) understand exactly what question you are answering; and 3) ensure you answer every question.
Use examples from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and other firms in EXHIBIT 3 to substantiate your thought.
1. What is the current value of Medfield as a company? Use the exhibit 4 spreadsheet to calculate the NPV of Medfield. Compare this result to the offer price and provide your reasoning for the difference.
2. If we consider the sale of Medfield as the sale of existing assets how does the elimination of R&D, investment in future assets, change the valuation of Medfield? (Using the exhibit 4 spreadsheet distinguish between the NPV value of existing products and R&D)
3. What is the value that would be created by a reformulation? Complete and explain the table below.
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Incremental Research
35
35
Incremental Special Marketing
25
25
25
25
25
Growth
2%
-50%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
-50%
-50%
-50%
New Sales
214.77
Marginal Sales (New Sales – Original Sales
0.00
New Cost of Sales
49.40
Marginal Cost of Sales
0.00
New Direct Marketing
57.99
Old Direct Marketing
57.99
59.15
29.57
14.79
7.39
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Marginal Direct Marketing
0.00
New G&A
8.59
Old G&A
8.59
8.76
4.38
2.19
1.10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Marginal G&A
0.00
Marginal Cash Flow pre Tax
(60.00)
29.52
14.76
7.38
Marginal NOPAT
(40.80)
20.07
10.04
5.02
NPV
4. What factors explain the value created from the reformulation for Fleximat?
5. Who reaps the financial benefits?
6. Who bears the financial costs?
ONLY ANSWER ONE OF THE QUESTION 7’S:
IF YOU SUPPORT REFORMULATION:
7. What facts would change your mind and cause you to recommend against reformulation?
IF YOU ARE AGAINST REFORMULATION
7. Under what conditions might you be in favor of reformulation?
8. How would you change your thinking if Medfield’s reformulation approach were more substantive (e.g. drug works faster, works longer) than cosmetic?
9. Could Medfield use the extra value created by the reformulation to generate new and helpful products?
10. When you consider Medfield’s stakeholders, what are the key issues. Choose three from the following list and discuss the key issues.
a. Shareholders of Medf.
The pharmaceutical industry is shifting away from the blockbuster drug model. Large pharmaceutical companies are using mergers and acquisitions to adapt, with some acquiring generic drug makers or biotech companies. This provides access to new markets and revenue streams but carries risks as generics have low margins. Companies are also collaborating more within the industry and beyond to innovate new business models and remain profitable in changing times.
The document analyzes and dispels five common myths about the drug delivery industry. It argues that far from being a declining sector, drug delivery has delivered steady product approvals over the past decade and continues to be an important source of new products. It also contends that the drug delivery market is growing, drug delivery business models can be sustainable, product line extensions using drug delivery technologies are effective strategies, and drug delivery companies offer diverse technologies, not just similar controlled release solutions.
This document analyzes and dispels five common myths about the drug delivery industry. It argues that drug delivery has delivered many new products, the market is growing not declining, the business model can be sustainable, product line extensions using drug delivery approaches are effective strategies, and drug delivery companies offer diverse technologies, not just similar controlled release solutions. The drug delivery industry plays a key role in addressing challenges in pharma by developing improved treatment options.
Merck Paper Securities and Protfolio AnalysisJason Sandoy
Merck & Co. is a large pharmaceutical company that produces many drugs across different medical fields. The report recommends buying Merck stock based on its large drug pipeline, cost savings initiatives, and undervaluation relative to estimates. Merck allocates billions to research and development each year to develop new drugs and maintain a diverse portfolio to drive future growth. While some ratios show Merck lagging competitors, its growth rates exceed industry averages, and initiatives to reduce costs are expected to increase returns. Overall the report finds Merck positioned for continued growth and profitability.
Figure 2.2The Five Forces of Competition ModelThe five forces .docxmydrynan
Figure 2.2The Five Forces of Competition Model
The five forces of competition model depicted in Figure 2.2 expands the scope of a firm’s competitive analysis. Historically, when studying the competitive environment, firms concentrated on companies with which they directly competed. However, firms must search more broadly to recognize current and potential competitors by identifying potential customers as well as the firms serving them. For example, the communications industry is now broadly defined as encompassing media companies, telecoms, entertainment companies, and companies producing devices such as smartphones. In such an environment, firms must study many other industries to identify companies with capabilities (especially technology-based capabilities) that might be the foundation for producing a good or a service that can compete against what they are producing.
When studying the industry environment, firms must also recognize that suppliers can become a firm’s competitors (by integrating forward) as can buyers (by integrating backward). For example, several firms have integrated forward in the pharmaceutical industry by acquiring distributors or wholesalers. In addition, firms choosing to enter a new market and those producing products that are adequate substitutes for existing products can become a company’s competitors.
Next, we examine the five forces the firm needs to analyze in order to understand the profitability potential within an industry (or a segment of an industry) in which it competes or may choose to compete.
The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies, and Competitive Advantages
· Chapter Introduction
· 3-1Analyzing the Internal Organization
· 3-1aThe Context of Internal Analysis
· 3-1bCreating Value
· 3-1cThe Challenge of Analyzing the Internal Organization
· 3-2Resources, Capabilities, and Core Competencies
· 3-2aResources
· 3-2bCapabilities
· 3-2cCore Competencies
· 3-3Building Core Competencies
· 3-3aThe Four Criteria of Sustainable Competitive Advantage
· 3-3bValue Chain Analysis
· 3-4Outsourcing
· 3-5Competencies, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strategic Decisions
· Chapter Review
· Summary
· Key Terms
· Review Questions
· Mini-Case Is Strengthening the Superdry Brand a Foundation to Strategic Success?Chapter Introduction
iStock.com/DNY59Learning Objectives
Studying this chapter should provide you with the strategic management knowledge needed to:
· 3-1Explain why firms need to study and understand their internal organization.
· 3-2Define value and discuss its importance.
· 3-3Describe the differences between tangible and intangible resources.
· 3-4Define capabilities and discuss their development.
· 3-5Describe four criteria used to determine if resources and capabilities are core competencies.
· 3-6Explain how firms analyze their value chain to determine where they are able to create value when using their resources, capabilities, and core competencies.
· 3-7Define outsourcing and d ...
Figure 2.2The Five Forces of Competition ModelThe five forces .docxmglenn3
This document discusses analyzing a firm's internal organization. It begins by explaining the importance of resources, capabilities, and core competencies in developing competitive advantages. Resources alone do not provide advantages; firms use resources to form capabilities, some of which become core competencies. The document then discusses four criteria for determining if capabilities are core competencies: value, rareness, imitability, and substitutability. Firms must effectively manage current core competencies while developing new ones to remain competitive. The relationship between analyzing opportunities in the external environment and a firm's internal strengths and weaknesses is also discussed.
How to Work Effectively with Research Teams in New Product PlanningAnthony Russell
Presented at the 3rd New Product Planning Summit. The presentation was designed to help professionals in New Product Planning to present a case for why commercial strategy input is needed early in the process of developing new therapeutics. The presentation also includes suggested approaches and tools to help with effective engagement with Research teams.
The document provides a situational analysis and proposed digital marketing strategy for Primark Stores Ltd. It begins with an introduction that outlines the objectives of the report and background on the company. A PESTEL analysis is used to examine Primark's macroenvironment. It is noted that Primark has a large social media following but does not effectively engage followers or offer online shopping. Objectives, strategies, tactics and actions are proposed to improve customer retention and make better use of digital channels while continuing international expansion. Key performance indicators are identified to monitor the plan's success.
This document provides an abstract and table of contents for a research paper that examines the impact of communication on mergers and acquisitions in the life sciences industry, using the Pfizer-Wyeth acquisition as a case study. The abstract outlines that the paper aims to understand how strategic communication can impact M&A business outcomes and reputation, and how it can emphasize clinical value. It also provides an overview of the paper's theoretical framework and methodology. The table of contents provides further detail on the structure and content of each chapter.
The document discusses the need for a new paradigm for funding and conducting biotech research and development (R&D) given constraints in the current financing environment. It proposes a model called Holistic Open Learning Networks (HOLNets) that would bring together diverse participants like healthcare providers, patient groups, data analytics firms, and social media networks. HOLNets could fundamentally change R&D by encouraging data sharing, allowing researchers to learn from each other in real time, and taking advantage of the shift in healthcare to outcomes-focused and data-driven models.
Un recente studio condotto da Burson-Marsteller ha mostrato come il messaggio che una società si propone di comunicare nel 48% dei casi si perde nel passaggio ai media. Il divario si amplia quando si tratta di messaggi aziendali e blogger.
This document is a coversheet for a coursework submission to UCL's Department of Philosophy. It provides instructions for students, including declaring that the work is their own and meets academic integrity standards. It notes the module code and title, word count, candidate number, and level. It reminds students not to include their name. The work must also be submitted digitally by the deadline.
You are the Nursing Director for the medical-surgical area of a .docxkenjordan97598
You are the Nursing Director for the medical-surgical area of a large
hospital. Nurses at this hospital to “self-scheduling”. The managers of the
units have brought to your attention that a severe staffing shortage for the
winter holiday schedule is apparent. Using two different types of leadership
styles, how would you handle this situation?
.
You are the newly appointed director of the Agile County Airport.docxkenjordan97598
You are the newly appointed director of the Agile County Airport System. The characteristics of your organization include:
It is a Local Government Department
Consists of 4 Airports – International, Mather, Executive, Franklin Field
There are 400 employees at all four airports
The airport board of directors has decided to move to an Agile Lean process for all projects.
You quickly recognize that you need to undertake a cultural transformation in order for the Agile Lean process to take hold. The current organization has the following culture characteristics:
No Mission Statement
No Sense of Direction
Militaristic/Top-Down Leadership Model
No Accountability
No Communication
Staff focused on Empire Building
Organization Viewed Itself as Regulators
Focused on catching people doing something wrong
Publicly Belittled
Focus on “Turf”
Process Oriented
Problem Oriented
Growth Without a Long-Term Plan
Employees Not Engaged
Staff consists mostly of generalists
The board of directors has asked you to prepare an overview presentation for their next meeting on your ideas for a organizational culture transformation plan. To complete this assignment you are to design a 5 to 10 slide PowerPoint presentation with notes, that addresses the following key elements:
What makes up organizational culture?
What do you see as the benefits of a culture transformation
What would your Culture Transformation Plan consist of? Describe the high level steps you would take to accomplish this transformation.
What questions would you ask to help in defining a new culture?
What characteristics would you envision the “new” organizational culture to exhibit? Develop a list based upon the current organizational culture
.
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Similar to SCI 100 Module One Short Answer Guidelines and Rubric Eval.docx
This document is a quarterly newsletter providing updates on the Philadelphia life science industry. It includes articles on key topics:
1. The first article discusses how to stay informed on key players and emerging companies in a disease area through regularly asking questions about clinical trials, publications, collaborations, regulatory approvals and company pipelines.
2. The second article describes how some health tech companies have found success innovating around changes in healthcare by targeting preventative care, shifting care to the home, using lean processes and collaborating in innovation hubs.
3. Other sections provide information on investment strategies, performance metrics for local biotech companies, acquisitions and a list of companies in an investment index.
Elly Lilly, a Pharmecuetical company, group case analysisPedram Keyvani
Evaluating this case, and seeing how stringent the pharmaceutical industry is, was eye opening experience, especially having had worked on it in a group.
The document discusses bioprinting patents and intellectual property issues. It notes that while bioprinting techniques have been patented for years, the patenting of bioprinted tissues and organs is more limited as they lack expression, ornamental features, or source of origin. Utility patents provide the best protection for bioprinting innovation, though patents are difficult to obtain and enforce. Regulatory approval for bioprinted tissues is also expensive and time-consuming, providing little incentive for development without patent protection. The article examines patents covering the three phases of bioprinting and exceptions for experimental use.
CASE TO BE ANALYZED LISTED BELOW THE ASSIGNMENTCOMPANogglili
****CASE TO BE ANALYZED LISTED BELOW THE ASSIGNMENT*****
COMPANY NAME, WEBSITE, and INDUSTRY
State the company name, website address, and industry.
BACKGROUND and HISTORY
Briefly describe the company in the case analysis. What is their primary business, who were the officers or key players described in the case study? If the case study company is currently in business, list the company’s current CEO, total sales, and profit or loss for the last year where data is available. Identify key events or phases in the company’s history. Describe the performance of this company in the industry. Visit the company’s website and use http://finance.yahoo.com and/or some other financial search engine to find this data.
NOTE: Make sure to use APA citations throughout the paper. The textbook should be cited if it is the source of information.
ANALYSIS VIA PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL
Analyze the competitive environment by listing the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products and services, and the intensity of rivalry among competitors in the industry (Chapter 2). Each of the five forces should have a paragraph within this section. Summarize your key points in a figure.
STRATEGY USED
How does this company create and sustain a competitive advantage? What strategy from the readings was undertaken by this company? Were they successful? Can all companies use this strategy? How is the strategy affected by the life cycle in the industry? Remember to reference Porter’s generic strategies identified in the textbook, THIS IS CRITICAL.
Specific STRATEGY(S)
**Important to note, this is the second required strategy section in this paper. Considering this paper is worth 150 total points I’d like to draw attention to how each of these two strategy sections totals 80 points. This is the heart of the paper! Choose two specific strategies from the below list. Apply them in detail to the organization. Be sure to think strategically and show the results clearly. Use the strategy as a sub-header for each section so it is clear what is being applied.
Related Diversification
Achieving Competitive Advantage
Entry Mode
Entrepreneurial Strategy
Creating Ambidextrous Organization Designs
Leadership
COURSE OF ACTION RECOMMENDED
If you were in a position to advise this company, what strategy would you recommend to sustain competitive advantage and achieve future growth? Be specific and list the steps the company should take for successful implementation of your course of action.
OPINION
What do you think of this case study? Describe what you believe are the lessons learned from this case.
REFERENCES
When you have completed the paper using the above sections, insert a page break and have a separate reference page. The references should be listed in accordance with the APA guidelines.
FORMAT
Use a title page.
Font: Use Times New Roman, 12 point.
Place your name ...
The document discusses marketing strategies used by pharmaceutical companies. It notes that companies are shifting from acute therapies to focusing more on chronic therapies that require long-term treatment. This allows companies to build more stable customer bases. The document also outlines some of the challenges companies face, such as increased competition, high costs of research and development, and complex decision-making processes involving doctors, patients, and other stakeholders. It discusses two common business models - the "super core model" involving a small number of highly successful chronic drugs, and the "core model" involving marketing a larger number of acute drugs.
The document discusses marketing strategies used by pharmaceutical companies. It notes that companies are shifting from acute therapies to focusing more on chronic therapies. This represents a long-term strategy change as chronic therapies require doctors to prescribe the same drugs for longer periods. The document also outlines some of the challenges pharmaceutical companies face in marketing to different customers in the supply chain from doctors to patients. It discusses strategies around patents, research and development, and pursuing either a "super core" model focused on a small number of chronic drugs or a "core" model marketing more acute drugs.
THE MEDFIELD PHARMA CASE FIRM VALUATION AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATION.docxcdorothy
THE MEDFIELD PHARMA CASE: FIRM VALUATION AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF REFORMULATION
Understand that the Medfield case has 2 major problems: 1) Firm Valuation – Impact of Patent Loss and Reformulation; 2) Ethical Considerations – How to Ensure Patients and third-party payees are not hurt
Organize your paper around the case questions, use them as an organizing device. This will benefit you in several ways: 1) provide a framework for constructing your paper; 2) ensure I (your reader) understand exactly what question you are answering; and 3) ensure you answer every question.
Use examples from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and other firms in EXHIBIT 3 to substantiate your thought.
1. What is the current value of Medfield as a company? Use the exhibit 4 spreadsheet to calculate the NPV of Medfield. Compare this result to the offer price and provide your reasoning for the difference.
2. If we consider the sale of Medfield as the sale of existing assets how does the elimination of R&D, investment in future assets, change the valuation of Medfield? (Using the exhibit 4 spreadsheet distinguish between the NPV value of existing products and R&D)
3. What is the value that would be created by a reformulation? Complete and explain the table below.
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Incremental Research
35
35
Incremental Special Marketing
25
25
25
25
25
Growth
2%
-50%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
-50%
-50%
-50%
New Sales
214.77
Marginal Sales (New Sales – Original Sales
0.00
New Cost of Sales
49.40
Marginal Cost of Sales
0.00
New Direct Marketing
57.99
Old Direct Marketing
57.99
59.15
29.57
14.79
7.39
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Marginal Direct Marketing
0.00
New G&A
8.59
Old G&A
8.59
8.76
4.38
2.19
1.10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Marginal G&A
0.00
Marginal Cash Flow pre Tax
(60.00)
29.52
14.76
7.38
Marginal NOPAT
(40.80)
20.07
10.04
5.02
NPV
4. What factors explain the value created from the reformulation for Fleximat?
5. Who reaps the financial benefits?
6. Who bears the financial costs?
ONLY ANSWER ONE OF THE QUESTION 7’S:
IF YOU SUPPORT REFORMULATION:
7. What facts would change your mind and cause you to recommend against reformulation?
IF YOU ARE AGAINST REFORMULATION
7. Under what conditions might you be in favor of reformulation?
8. How would you change your thinking if Medfield’s reformulation approach were more substantive (e.g. drug works faster, works longer) than cosmetic?
9. Could Medfield use the extra value created by the reformulation to generate new and helpful products?
10. When you consider Medfield’s stakeholders, what are the key issues. Choose three from the following list and discuss the key issues.
a. Shareholders of Medf.
The pharmaceutical industry is shifting away from the blockbuster drug model. Large pharmaceutical companies are using mergers and acquisitions to adapt, with some acquiring generic drug makers or biotech companies. This provides access to new markets and revenue streams but carries risks as generics have low margins. Companies are also collaborating more within the industry and beyond to innovate new business models and remain profitable in changing times.
The document analyzes and dispels five common myths about the drug delivery industry. It argues that far from being a declining sector, drug delivery has delivered steady product approvals over the past decade and continues to be an important source of new products. It also contends that the drug delivery market is growing, drug delivery business models can be sustainable, product line extensions using drug delivery technologies are effective strategies, and drug delivery companies offer diverse technologies, not just similar controlled release solutions.
This document analyzes and dispels five common myths about the drug delivery industry. It argues that drug delivery has delivered many new products, the market is growing not declining, the business model can be sustainable, product line extensions using drug delivery approaches are effective strategies, and drug delivery companies offer diverse technologies, not just similar controlled release solutions. The drug delivery industry plays a key role in addressing challenges in pharma by developing improved treatment options.
Merck Paper Securities and Protfolio AnalysisJason Sandoy
Merck & Co. is a large pharmaceutical company that produces many drugs across different medical fields. The report recommends buying Merck stock based on its large drug pipeline, cost savings initiatives, and undervaluation relative to estimates. Merck allocates billions to research and development each year to develop new drugs and maintain a diverse portfolio to drive future growth. While some ratios show Merck lagging competitors, its growth rates exceed industry averages, and initiatives to reduce costs are expected to increase returns. Overall the report finds Merck positioned for continued growth and profitability.
Figure 2.2The Five Forces of Competition ModelThe five forces .docxmydrynan
Figure 2.2The Five Forces of Competition Model
The five forces of competition model depicted in Figure 2.2 expands the scope of a firm’s competitive analysis. Historically, when studying the competitive environment, firms concentrated on companies with which they directly competed. However, firms must search more broadly to recognize current and potential competitors by identifying potential customers as well as the firms serving them. For example, the communications industry is now broadly defined as encompassing media companies, telecoms, entertainment companies, and companies producing devices such as smartphones. In such an environment, firms must study many other industries to identify companies with capabilities (especially technology-based capabilities) that might be the foundation for producing a good or a service that can compete against what they are producing.
When studying the industry environment, firms must also recognize that suppliers can become a firm’s competitors (by integrating forward) as can buyers (by integrating backward). For example, several firms have integrated forward in the pharmaceutical industry by acquiring distributors or wholesalers. In addition, firms choosing to enter a new market and those producing products that are adequate substitutes for existing products can become a company’s competitors.
Next, we examine the five forces the firm needs to analyze in order to understand the profitability potential within an industry (or a segment of an industry) in which it competes or may choose to compete.
The Internal Organization: Resources, Capabilities, Core Competencies, and Competitive Advantages
· Chapter Introduction
· 3-1Analyzing the Internal Organization
· 3-1aThe Context of Internal Analysis
· 3-1bCreating Value
· 3-1cThe Challenge of Analyzing the Internal Organization
· 3-2Resources, Capabilities, and Core Competencies
· 3-2aResources
· 3-2bCapabilities
· 3-2cCore Competencies
· 3-3Building Core Competencies
· 3-3aThe Four Criteria of Sustainable Competitive Advantage
· 3-3bValue Chain Analysis
· 3-4Outsourcing
· 3-5Competencies, Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strategic Decisions
· Chapter Review
· Summary
· Key Terms
· Review Questions
· Mini-Case Is Strengthening the Superdry Brand a Foundation to Strategic Success?Chapter Introduction
iStock.com/DNY59Learning Objectives
Studying this chapter should provide you with the strategic management knowledge needed to:
· 3-1Explain why firms need to study and understand their internal organization.
· 3-2Define value and discuss its importance.
· 3-3Describe the differences between tangible and intangible resources.
· 3-4Define capabilities and discuss their development.
· 3-5Describe four criteria used to determine if resources and capabilities are core competencies.
· 3-6Explain how firms analyze their value chain to determine where they are able to create value when using their resources, capabilities, and core competencies.
· 3-7Define outsourcing and d ...
Figure 2.2The Five Forces of Competition ModelThe five forces .docxmglenn3
This document discusses analyzing a firm's internal organization. It begins by explaining the importance of resources, capabilities, and core competencies in developing competitive advantages. Resources alone do not provide advantages; firms use resources to form capabilities, some of which become core competencies. The document then discusses four criteria for determining if capabilities are core competencies: value, rareness, imitability, and substitutability. Firms must effectively manage current core competencies while developing new ones to remain competitive. The relationship between analyzing opportunities in the external environment and a firm's internal strengths and weaknesses is also discussed.
How to Work Effectively with Research Teams in New Product PlanningAnthony Russell
Presented at the 3rd New Product Planning Summit. The presentation was designed to help professionals in New Product Planning to present a case for why commercial strategy input is needed early in the process of developing new therapeutics. The presentation also includes suggested approaches and tools to help with effective engagement with Research teams.
The document provides a situational analysis and proposed digital marketing strategy for Primark Stores Ltd. It begins with an introduction that outlines the objectives of the report and background on the company. A PESTEL analysis is used to examine Primark's macroenvironment. It is noted that Primark has a large social media following but does not effectively engage followers or offer online shopping. Objectives, strategies, tactics and actions are proposed to improve customer retention and make better use of digital channels while continuing international expansion. Key performance indicators are identified to monitor the plan's success.
This document provides an abstract and table of contents for a research paper that examines the impact of communication on mergers and acquisitions in the life sciences industry, using the Pfizer-Wyeth acquisition as a case study. The abstract outlines that the paper aims to understand how strategic communication can impact M&A business outcomes and reputation, and how it can emphasize clinical value. It also provides an overview of the paper's theoretical framework and methodology. The table of contents provides further detail on the structure and content of each chapter.
The document discusses the need for a new paradigm for funding and conducting biotech research and development (R&D) given constraints in the current financing environment. It proposes a model called Holistic Open Learning Networks (HOLNets) that would bring together diverse participants like healthcare providers, patient groups, data analytics firms, and social media networks. HOLNets could fundamentally change R&D by encouraging data sharing, allowing researchers to learn from each other in real time, and taking advantage of the shift in healthcare to outcomes-focused and data-driven models.
Un recente studio condotto da Burson-Marsteller ha mostrato come il messaggio che una società si propone di comunicare nel 48% dei casi si perde nel passaggio ai media. Il divario si amplia quando si tratta di messaggi aziendali e blogger.
This document is a coversheet for a coursework submission to UCL's Department of Philosophy. It provides instructions for students, including declaring that the work is their own and meets academic integrity standards. It notes the module code and title, word count, candidate number, and level. It reminds students not to include their name. The work must also be submitted digitally by the deadline.
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You are the Nursing Director for the medical-surgical area of a .docxkenjordan97598
You are the Nursing Director for the medical-surgical area of a large
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units have brought to your attention that a severe staffing shortage for the
winter holiday schedule is apparent. Using two different types of leadership
styles, how would you handle this situation?
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You are the newly appointed director of the Agile County Airport System. The characteristics of your organization include:
It is a Local Government Department
Consists of 4 Airports – International, Mather, Executive, Franklin Field
There are 400 employees at all four airports
The airport board of directors has decided to move to an Agile Lean process for all projects.
You quickly recognize that you need to undertake a cultural transformation in order for the Agile Lean process to take hold. The current organization has the following culture characteristics:
No Mission Statement
No Sense of Direction
Militaristic/Top-Down Leadership Model
No Accountability
No Communication
Staff focused on Empire Building
Organization Viewed Itself as Regulators
Focused on catching people doing something wrong
Publicly Belittled
Focus on “Turf”
Process Oriented
Problem Oriented
Growth Without a Long-Term Plan
Employees Not Engaged
Staff consists mostly of generalists
The board of directors has asked you to prepare an overview presentation for their next meeting on your ideas for a organizational culture transformation plan. To complete this assignment you are to design a 5 to 10 slide PowerPoint presentation with notes, that addresses the following key elements:
What makes up organizational culture?
What do you see as the benefits of a culture transformation
What would your Culture Transformation Plan consist of? Describe the high level steps you would take to accomplish this transformation.
What questions would you ask to help in defining a new culture?
What characteristics would you envision the “new” organizational culture to exhibit? Develop a list based upon the current organizational culture
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You are
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The question:
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What is meant by "Threats" (i.e. individual hackers, politically motivated hacktivists, criminal enterprises, and unfriendly "nation state" actors), countermeasures, and safeguards? Explain technical terms and examples.
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You are working at Johnson and Cohen law firm and have recently .docxkenjordan97598
You are working at Johnson and Cohen law firm and have recently been assigned to lead the appeal of a man convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death.
The defendant has never had an IQ test, but friends and family insist that he has always been a little “slow“ his entire life. He was also diagnosed with autism earlier in his life and many of his former acquaintances thought he had psychiatric problems when they knew him.
These factors were never brought up at trial by the defendant's previous defense team because they wanted to focus on mitigating circumstances surrounding the crime that was committed rather than confusing the issue with too many different defenses.
Based on the Case Study for this week, submit a 6 page case analysis using Microsoft Word that answers the following questions:
How would your team argue during the appeal that the defendant's constitutional rights were violated?
What evidence would be required for your defendant to be considered mentally retarded under
Atkins v. Virginia
and
Penry v. Lynaugh (1989)
?
Assess whether or not that evidence can be presented in this case.
What evidence would be required for your defendant to be considered insane under
Ford v. Wainwright (1986)
? Assess whether or not that evidence can be presented in this case.
Do you believe that bringing up the defendant's diagnosis of autism could have aided in the defense in the sentencing phase? Would the contention that he was mentally slow have helped? Provide rationale for your answers.
Identify other aspects of the case not mentioned in the scenario that could benefit the defendant. For instance, consider whether the Supreme Court has found it unconstitutional to apply the death penalty in other circumstances.
If you succeed in your appeal, what would be the next steps to occur?
.
You are working for a community counseling agency, and you are taske.docxkenjordan97598
You are working for a community counseling agency, and you are tasked with training new counseling interns on effective counseling skills.
Create
a 1- to 2-page informational training paper on the role of effective counseling skills on the counseling relationship. Describe how each of the following affects the counseling relationship:
Characteristics of an effective helper
Attending and observation skills
Initiation of client-counselor rapport and trust
Maintaining boundaries and self-awareness
Transference and countertransference
Factors associated with age, culture, and diversity
.
You are working as the software tester for a big enterprise comp.docxkenjordan97598
You are working as the software tester for a big enterprise company. Your company is working on the following architecture:
(Daniel, 2016)
Address the following, and complete all of the sections based on the above architecture:
Submit a System Test Plan document that contains the following:
Purpose of the document
Functional scope
Testing strategy
System testing entrance criteria
Test data
Suspension criteria
Execution plan
Defect reporting
Test schedule
Environment
Risks
Assumption
Who-to-call list
.
You are working as HelpDesk Support for an organization where your u.docxkenjordan97598
You are working as HelpDesk Support for an organization where your usual duty involves providing remote users with various IT related supports. The majority of these users are placed in locations where high-speed LAN (10Mbpds) are not available. Assume they are using the Darwin VM at their end, and you have Canberra VM at your end. Now you will have to set up a Remote Desktop Connection from Canberra to Darwin; so that you, with the physical access to Canberra VM, can remotely connect to Darwin VM. You also have to ensure the connection is optimized for low-speed broadband networks. Follow the submission format and before starting this task ensure VMs can ping each other
.
You are working as an APRN in your local primary care office. Th.docxkenjordan97598
You are working as an APRN in your local primary care office. The rural town of Maynard has 300 people, a post office, doctor’s office, and a gas station. The primary source of income is farming or driving 45 minutes to a somewhat larger town. With the blizzard coming, all your patients except two have cancelled for the morning. Jose is scheduled at 0900; he is a nine-year-old Hispanic male born in Mexico. He and his family (Mom, Dad, and six siblings, ages six months to 14 years) moved into the area just a few months ago. Jose’s mother reported that he had nearly died at two months after contracting pertussis.
Your final patient of the morning is Irena, a 15-year-old teenage female who lives with her aunt in Maynard. Irena is Romanian and barely speaks any English. Her aunt has been your patient for the past few years, and she told you that Irena had been abducted in Romania at the age of 10. Irena’s parents found her quite by accident when a sex trafficking ring dumped all their “product” in a refugee camp in Serbia just a few months ago. Irena’s parents are still in Romania, but they sent Irena here to live with her aunt.
Having discussed many guidelines throughout this term, consider the content you have explored. Using this knowledge, answer the following questions related to your chosen scenario. Note: please try to choose a topic for your initial post that you did not choose previously during the semester or aren’t as familiar with so you can gain additional knowledge as we finish up this course
Discuss the guidelines assigned with your scenario.
Will both patients be treated in the same manner? Why or why not?
What would your treatment plan be for each of the individuals in your scenario?
Please include at least three scholarly sources within your initial post.
.
You are the new Public Information Officer (PIO) assigned by the.docxkenjordan97598
You are the new Public Information Officer (PIO) assigned by the Chief of Police. You work for a mid-sized metropolitan police agency that has always relied on the utilization of a city information officer for any media or public communication. Until now, your agency never had an assigned public information officer specifically for the police department. Your agency is growing and is expected to add an additional 25 patrol officers in the next two years.
These added officer positions are in addition to a newly created Federal Task Force, where two new detective positions were added. These positions will create a larger budget for the police department and you have been informed that taxpayers are not necessarily receptive to these costs. As the new PIO, you are required to submit a written communication plan to the Chief of Police detailing how you would draft public notification of the departmental growth and change, reassignments of patrol areas, and overall agency changes occurring in relation to these positions.
Write
a 1,400- to 1,750-word paper that addresses the following:
Describe the genre of communication you would use such as a paper format, social media, public announcement, press release, or a televised media conference.
If increased social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, required for the departmental growth.
How far ahead of these positions being hired would you relay the message?
What do you do with citizens who communicate an opposition the hiring of additional officer causing extra taxes?
Who are your stakeholders in this public notice?
What are the differing concerns of internal communication versus external communication on this issue?
How often would you follow up on the notification? Quarterly, monthly, or annually?
Cite
at least one source other than the textbook.
Format
your paper in proper APA format.
.
You are welcome to go to the San Diego Zoo any time you would li.docxkenjordan97598
You are welcome to go to the San Diego Zoo any time you would like to work on your project. However, you would have to pay for a student ticket or buy a membership. However, I will make an announcement soon about a couple of dates where we get in for a discounted price if we enter as a class. Once inside, you can go off on your own to work on your projects.
1. First, make note of the day(s) you attended the San Diego Zoo, the time you spent there (specific hours), and the weather conditions.
2. Select a
total of 5 primates
from the following list to observe. Please note: not all of these primates will be on display all of the time. You do not need to choose one from each group...you can focus on ANY five species.
3. Focusing on the 5 primates you have selected, note the following aspects about each of them.
Scientific name & common name
Where the species is found at the SD Zoo (Monkey Trail, etc.)
Taxonomic category (prosimian, NW monkey, OW monkey, or ape)
Geographic location
Diet
Dental formula
Sexual dimorphism
Locomotor style
Type of nose
Body size
Any unusual features
Endangered status
4.
Focusing on the 5 primates you have selected, describe and analyze the primates’ behaviors you witnessed during your visit. This is the part you should spend the most time on!!
5. Finally, you should note what you personally gained from the experience, and what your attitude is regarding the Zoo and the care of the animals.
Request
Weather, time, and date of visit
Bullet point answers for 5 primate species (2 points per species)
Analysis of behaviors observed...why are the animals doing what they're doing (5 points per species)
Concluding thoughts of the zoo and the project
.
You are visiting one of your organization’s plants in a poor nation..docxkenjordan97598
You are visiting one of your organization’s plants in a poor nation. You discover a young girl (under the age of 16) is working on the factory floor. The company has a strict prohibition on child labor. You remind the plant manager of the policy and insist that she should go back to the local school. The plant manager tells you the girl is an orphan, has no other means of support, and the country has no social services to provide for her. As the executive, what should you do? Explain your answer with a well-constructed and cogent response.
.
You are to write a four-page (typed, double-spaced) essay addressing.docxkenjordan97598
You are to write a four-page (typed, double-spaced) essay addressing the following question. The exam is open-book, open notes.
Discuss the impact of geography on the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, China, sub-Saharan Africa, and pre-Colombian America
(please write on a doc. and do please make sure give me on time)
.
You are to write a 7-page Biographical Research Paper of St Franci.docxkenjordan97598
You are to write a 7-page Biographical Research Paper of
St Francis of Assisi or St Clare
:
*Include a Title Page (not counted as one of the 7 pages)
*Include a “Sources Cited” page (not counted as one of the 7 pages)
*MLA Format or Professor approved format
Use the following Outline: (St Francis of Assisi or St Clare)
I. The Major Events of their life
II. Their Impact on society and the church in their lifetime
III. Their Legacy today…how they still inspire us
IV. Your personal reflections
.
You are to write a 1050 to 1750 word literature review (in a.docxkenjordan97598
You are to write a
1050 to 1750 word literature review
(in addition to the title page and references page) on the articles you selected for Week 2, synthesizing the findings in the articles that you found on your topic. You may incorporate other articles or references to support your discussion, as needed. Use APA citation and reference guidelines.
What is a literature review?
A literature review is a synthesis and critique of the published research in a given area of research. Your focus is on the findings of the studies you are exploring – their methods, approach, results, and implications – rather than the broad topic overall. It should synthesize findings in specific areas. Thus, you should look for themes in the range of articles and write about them as you group common themes.
Synthesize the material you found. In other words, find connected themes in the different areas you cover. Occasionally you might discuss individual articles, but only if the article is very unique and no other article has similar findings. The synthesis should focus strictly on existing, published research.
What else should you include besides a synthesis of research?
Be sure to include in your review other potential areas that still need to be explored. What unanswered questions are there? What holes are in the research that you have not yet found answers to? What contradictions are in the research will you seek to explore?
Examples of Synthesized Findings for Literature Review:
College students were found to have a large number of conflicts with roommates (Darsey, 2003; Smith, 2001; Yarmouth, 2005). Researchers also found that roommate conflicts were most frequent during the first semester of college (Lotspiech, 2004; Nominskee, 2001; Zackarov, 2000). Morissey (2004) found a reduction of roommate conflicts continued as students progressed from freshman to seniors, with seniors having the fewest roommate conflicts. However, Ellensworth (2001) found no correlation with year in school and frequency of roommate conflict. The contradiction between Ellensworth’s and Morissey’s findings suggest that additional research is needed in this area.
Ellensworth’s (2001) research was strictly quantitative, lacking a full picture of the contexts or reasons for the specific conflicts. It asked people to mark the frequency of their conflicts and types of people with whom they typically disputed. Morissey (2004) conducted interviews that allowed participants to provide an explanation for the reasons for the conflicts, and the contexts (dorm roommates, apartment roommates, house roommates, etc.). However, she interviewed far fewer people than Ellensworth surveyed.
Combining Ellensworth’s surveys with Morissey’s interview questions and utilizing a research team to increase the number of interviews could provide more details about the conflicts and contexts, and allow us to further look into the question of year in school and conflict behavior.
DeSoto (2005) and Craig (2.
You are to take the uploaded assignment and edit it. The title shoul.docxkenjordan97598
You are to take the uploaded assignment and edit it. The title should be changed for better clarification, something like SCHOOL DISTRICTS TRAINING THEIR TEACHERS WHO ARE ALREADY IN SERVICE.
Include more expressions of how these children have been failed in the past.
Change up wording and use stronger and more concise word choices.
AGAIN ALL THIS WILL BE DONE FROM OFF THE ASSIGNMENT THAT'S BEEN UPLOADED.
.
You are to use a topic for the question you chose.WORD REQUIRE.docxkenjordan97598
You are to use a topic for the question you chose.
WORD REQUIREMENT IS 300 Words
1. Jean Jacque Rousseau was a Frenchman who wrote the Rights of Man. After viewing the film on the French Revolution, how much of the Rights of Man were followed, especially during the Reign of Terror? Give examples.
2. This week, we read about liberalism and conservatism, two terms that are by no means new to use today. Per your readings discuss the premise of liberalism. Has this ideology changed over time? Can we see elements of this in today’s society? Examples.
3. Per your readings this week, discuss the views of conservatism. Has this ideology changed over time? Do we see some elements of this in today’s society? Examples.
4. Doyle discusses the reasons for the French Revolution. In your mind, which do you believe is the most important and why. Examples.
5. Discuss the issues that led to the American Revolution. Example.
6. Prior to its revolution, Haiti was one of the wealthiest colonies in the world. The French reaped those rewards. So what happened? Why a revolution? Why a violent revolution? Give examples.
7. Discuss Polverel’s interpretation of the French giving Haitian slave emancipation and discuss what he hoped to accomplish. Examples.
8. Agriculture Revolution had a great impact on European society, it has many great accomplishments but there were a few downfalls. Discuss these downfalls. Examples.
9. There was a change in Dynasties in China, the Manchu’s came to power. Discuss the organization of the Manchu Dynasty. Was this effective? Examples.
10. Discuss the foreign relations of the Chinese Empire with its European counter parts. Discuss whether or not this experience was positive or negative. Give examples.
11. Discuss the most important issue that was the foundation for the 1848 Revolutions. Examples.
.
Beyond Degrees - Empowering the Workforce in the Context of Skills-First.pptxEduSkills OECD
Iván Bornacelly, Policy Analyst at the OECD Centre for Skills, OECD, presents at the webinar 'Tackling job market gaps with a skills-first approach' on 12 June 2024
Temple of Asclepius in Thrace. Excavation resultsKrassimira Luka
The temple and the sanctuary around were dedicated to Asklepios Zmidrenus. This name has been known since 1875 when an inscription dedicated to him was discovered in Rome. The inscription is dated in 227 AD and was left by soldiers originating from the city of Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv).
हिंदी वर्णमाला पीपीटी, hindi alphabet PPT presentation, hindi varnamala PPT, Hindi Varnamala pdf, हिंदी स्वर, हिंदी व्यंजन, sikhiye hindi varnmala, dr. mulla adam ali, hindi language and literature, hindi alphabet with drawing, hindi alphabet pdf, hindi varnamala for childrens, hindi language, hindi varnamala practice for kids, https://www.drmullaadamali.com
Main Java[All of the Base Concepts}.docxadhitya5119
This is part 1 of my Java Learning Journey. This Contains Custom methods, classes, constructors, packages, multithreading , try- catch block, finally block and more.
Chapter wise All Notes of First year Basic Civil Engineering.pptxDenish Jangid
Chapter wise All Notes of First year Basic Civil Engineering
Syllabus
Chapter-1
Introduction to objective, scope and outcome the subject
Chapter 2
Introduction: Scope and Specialization of Civil Engineering, Role of civil Engineer in Society, Impact of infrastructural development on economy of country.
Chapter 3
Surveying: Object Principles & Types of Surveying; Site Plans, Plans & Maps; Scales & Unit of different Measurements.
Linear Measurements: Instruments used. Linear Measurement by Tape, Ranging out Survey Lines and overcoming Obstructions; Measurements on sloping ground; Tape corrections, conventional symbols. Angular Measurements: Instruments used; Introduction to Compass Surveying, Bearings and Longitude & Latitude of a Line, Introduction to total station.
Levelling: Instrument used Object of levelling, Methods of levelling in brief, and Contour maps.
Chapter 4
Buildings: Selection of site for Buildings, Layout of Building Plan, Types of buildings, Plinth area, carpet area, floor space index, Introduction to building byelaws, concept of sun light & ventilation. Components of Buildings & their functions, Basic concept of R.C.C., Introduction to types of foundation
Chapter 5
Transportation: Introduction to Transportation Engineering; Traffic and Road Safety: Types and Characteristics of Various Modes of Transportation; Various Road Traffic Signs, Causes of Accidents and Road Safety Measures.
Chapter 6
Environmental Engineering: Environmental Pollution, Environmental Acts and Regulations, Functional Concepts of Ecology, Basics of Species, Biodiversity, Ecosystem, Hydrological Cycle; Chemical Cycles: Carbon, Nitrogen & Phosphorus; Energy Flow in Ecosystems.
Water Pollution: Water Quality standards, Introduction to Treatment & Disposal of Waste Water. Reuse and Saving of Water, Rain Water Harvesting. Solid Waste Management: Classification of Solid Waste, Collection, Transportation and Disposal of Solid. Recycling of Solid Waste: Energy Recovery, Sanitary Landfill, On-Site Sanitation. Air & Noise Pollution: Primary and Secondary air pollutants, Harmful effects of Air Pollution, Control of Air Pollution. . Noise Pollution Harmful Effects of noise pollution, control of noise pollution, Global warming & Climate Change, Ozone depletion, Greenhouse effect
Text Books:
1. Palancharmy, Basic Civil Engineering, McGraw Hill publishers.
2. Satheesh Gopi, Basic Civil Engineering, Pearson Publishers.
3. Ketki Rangwala Dalal, Essentials of Civil Engineering, Charotar Publishing House.
4. BCP, Surveying volume 1
it describes the bony anatomy including the femoral head , acetabulum, labrum . also discusses the capsule , ligaments . muscle that act on the hip joint and the range of motion are outlined. factors affecting hip joint stability and weight transmission through the joint are summarized.
Philippine Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP) CurriculumMJDuyan
(𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝟏𝟎𝟎) (𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟏)-𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐬
𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐏𝐏 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬:
- Understand the goals and objectives of the Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP) curriculum, recognizing its importance in fostering practical life skills and values among students. Students will also be able to identify the key components and subjects covered, such as agriculture, home economics, industrial arts, and information and communication technology.
𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫:
-Define entrepreneurship, distinguishing it from general business activities by emphasizing its focus on innovation, risk-taking, and value creation. Students will describe the characteristics and traits of successful entrepreneurs, including their roles and responsibilities, and discuss the broader economic and social impacts of entrepreneurial activities on both local and global scales.
Gender and Mental Health - Counselling and Family Therapy Applications and In...PsychoTech Services
A proprietary approach developed by bringing together the best of learning theories from Psychology, design principles from the world of visualization, and pedagogical methods from over a decade of training experience, that enables you to: Learn better, faster!
Strategies for Effective Upskilling is a presentation by Chinwendu Peace in a Your Skill Boost Masterclass organisation by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan on 08th and 09th June 2024 from 1 PM to 3 PM on each day.
Communicating effectively and consistently with students can help them feel at ease during their learning experience and provide the instructor with a communication trail to track the course's progress. This workshop will take you through constructing an engaging course container to facilitate effective communication.
Constructing Your Course Container for Effective Communication
SCI 100 Module One Short Answer Guidelines and Rubric Eval.docx
1. SCI 100 Module One Short Answer Guidelines and Rubric
Evaluating Resources and Searching for Information
Prompt: Using the Website Evaluation Template document
provided in your learning environment, follow the directions
and complete the chart in the template.
After completing the template, use the information from your
completed table to address the following:
1. Report your scores for your two chosen sites from the
Shapiro Library website tutorial. Be sure to include hyperlinks
to the specific articles and sub-
pages you examined in your work.
2. Which of your two chosen resources would you consider to
be more valid? Explain your choice.
Next, use the news story you selected and the results of your
Shapiro Library research and respond to the following:
1. Briefly summarize (in 1 to 2 paragraphs) the natural science
topic featured in your chosen news story.
2. How would you go about finding more information on the
topic that you chose? List at least two different sources that you
would consider reliable.
3. Briefly explain why you think these are reliable sources of
information to help you find out more about your topic.
As you complete this assignment, keep in mind that your
2. answers to these questions or closely related questions will be
part of your Project 1: Topic Exploration
Graphic Organizer submission at the end of Module Two.
Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Submit your short answers in a
Microsoft Word document.
Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%)
Not Evident (0%) Value
Score Posts score results of the Source
Evaluation Rubric and includes
hyperlinks to the source articles/sub-
pages
Does not post score results of the
Source Evaluation Rubric or include
hyperlinks to the source articles/sub-
pages
25
Validity Explains which resource is more valid Explains which
resource is more valid,
but explanation is unclear or inaccurate
Does not explain which resource is
more valid
25
Summary Gives a summary of the natural science
topic in the article for topic exploration
3. graphic organizer
Gives a summary of the natural science
topic in the article for topic exploration
graphic organizer, but summary is
unclear or inaccurate
Does not give a summary of the natural
science topic in the article for topic
exploration graphic organizer
10
Information Explains how additional information on
the topic will be found
Explains how additional information on
the topic will be found, but explanation
is unclear
Does not explain how additional
information on the topic will be found
15
Reliability Explains why the sources are reliable Explains why
the sources are reliable,
but explanation is unclear or inaccurate
Does not explain why the sources are
reliable
15
4. Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%)
Not Evident (0%) Value
Communicates Clearly Clearly communicates key ideas and
thoughts in a short-answer response
Response needs clarification in order to
support understanding of key ideas and
thoughts
Key ideas or thoughts are not
understandable
10
Total 100%
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
180
Chapter 6
Supporting the Business-Level Strategy: Competitive
and Cooperative Moves
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
After reading this chapter, you should be able to understand and
articulate answers to the following
5. questions:
1. What different competitive moves are commonly used by
firms?
2. When and how do firms respond to the competitive actions
taken by their rivals?
3. What moves can firms make to cooperate with other firms
and create mutual benefits?
Can Merck Stay Healthy?
On June 7, 2011, pharmaceutical giant Merck & Company Inc.
announced the formation of a strategic
alliance with Roche Holding AG, a smaller pharmaceutical firm
that is known for excellence in medical
testing. The firms planned to work together to create tests that
could identify cancer patients who might
benefit from cancer drugs that Merck had under development.
[1]
This was the second alliance formed between the companies in
less than a month. On May 16, 2011, the
US Food and Drug Administration approved a drug called
Victrelis that Merck had developed to treat
hepatitis C. Merck and Roche agreed to promote Victrelis
together. This surprised industry experts
because Merck and Roche had offered competing treatments for
hepatitis C in the past. The Merck/Roche
6. alliance was expected to help Victrelis compete for market
share with a new treatment called Incivek that
was developed by a team of two other pharmaceutical firms:
Vertex and Johnson & Johnson.
Experts predicted that Victrelis’s wholesale price of $1,100 for
a week’s supply could create $1 billion of
annual revenue. This could be an important financial boost to
Merck, although the company was already
enormous. Merck’s total of $46 billion in sales in 2010 included
approximately $5.0 billion in revenues
from asthma treatment Singulair, $3.3 billion for two closely
related diabetes drugs, $2.1 billion for two
closely related blood pressure drugs, and $1.1 billion for an
HIV/AIDS treatment.
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
181
Despite these impressive numbers, concerns about Merck had
reduced the price of the firm’s stock from
nearly $60 per share at the start of 2008 to about $36 per share
by June 2011. A big challenge for Merck
is that once the patent on a drug expires, its profits related to
that drug plummet because generic
7. drugmakers can start selling the drug. The patent on Singulair is
set to expire in the summer of 2012, for
example, and a sharp decline in the massive revenues that
Singulair brings into Merck seemed
inevitable. [2]
A major step in the growth of Merck was the 2009 acquisition
of drugmaker Schering-Plough. By 2011,
Merck ranked fifty-third on the Fortune 500 list of America’s
largest companies. Rivals Pfizer (thirty-first)
and Johnson & Johnson (fortieth) still remained much bigger
than Merck, however. Important questions
also loomed large. Would the competitive and cooperative
moves made by Merck’s executives keep the
firm healthy? Or would expiring patents, fearsome rivals, and
other challenges undermine Merck’s
vitality?
Friedrich Jacob Merck had no idea that he was setting the stage
for such immense stakes when he took
the first steps toward the creation of Merck. He purchased a
humble pharmacy in Darmstadt, Germany, in
1688. In 1827, the venture moved into the creation of drugs
when Heinrich Emanuel Merck, a descendant
of Friedrich, created a factory in Darmstadt in 1827. The
modern version of Merck was incorporated in
8. 1891. More than three hundred years after its beginnings, Merck
now has approximately ninety-four
thousand employees.
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
182
Merck’s origins can be traced back more than three centuries to
Friedrich Jacob Merck’s purchase
of this pharmacy in 1688.
Image courtesy of
Wikimedia,http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e
b/ENGEL_APHOTHEKE.png.
For executives leading firms such as Merck, selecting a generic
strategy is a key aspect of business-level
strategy, but other choices are very important too. In their
ongoing battle to make their firms more
successful, executives must make decisions about what
competitive moves to make, how to respond to
rivals’ competitive moves, and what cooperative moves to
make. This chapter discusses some of the more
powerful and interesting options. As our opening vignette on
Merck illustrates, often another company,
9. such as Roche, will be a potential ally in some instances and a
potential rival in others.
[1] Stynes, T. 2011, June 7. Merck, Roche focus on tests for
cancer treatments. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from
online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527023044323045
76371491785709756.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
[2] Statistics drawn from Standard & Poor’s stock report on
Merck.
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
183
6.1 Making Competitive Moves
Figure 6.1 Making Competitive Moves
Image courtesy of 663highland,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Enchoen27n3200.jpg
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
184
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of being a first
mover.
10. 2. Know how disruptive innovations can change industries.
3. Describe two ways that using foothold can benefit firms.
4. Explain how firms can win without fighting using a blue
ocean strategy.
5. Describe the creative process of bricolage.
Being a First Mover: Advantages and Disadvantages
A famous cliché contends that “the early bird gets the worm.”
Applied to the business world, the cliché
suggests that certain benefits are available to a first mover into
a market that will not be available to later
entrants (Figure 6.1 "Making Competitive Moves"). A first-
mover advantage exists when making the
initial move into a market allows a firm to establish a dominant
position that other firms struggle to
overcome. For example, Apple’s creation of a user-friendly,
small computer in the early 1980s helped
fuel a reputation for creativity and innovation that persists
today. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
was able to develop a strong bond with Chinese officials by
being the first Western restaurant chain
to enter China. Today, KFC is the leading Western fast-food
chain in this rapidly growing market.
Genentech’s early development of biotechnology allowed it to
11. overcome many of the
pharmaceutical industry’s traditional entry barriers (such as
financial capital and distribution networks)
and become a profitable firm. Decisions to be first movers
helped all three firms to be successful in their
respective industries. [1]
On the other hand, a first mover cannot be sure that customers
will embrace its offering, making a first
move inherently risky. Apple’s attempt to pioneer the personal
digital assistant market, through its
Newton, was a financial disaster. The first mover also bears the
costs of developing the product and
educating customers. Others may learn from the first mover’s
successes and failures, allowing them to
cheaply copy or improve the product. In creating the Palm Pilot,
for example, 3Com was able to build on
Apple’s earlier mistakes. Matsushita often refines consumer
electronic products, such as compact disc
players and projection televisions, after Sony or another first
mover establishes demand. In many
industries, knowledge diffusion and public-information
requirements make such imitation increasingly
easy.
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One caution is that first movers must be willing to commit
sufficient resources to follow through on their
pioneering efforts. RCA and Westinghouse were the first firms
to develop active-matrix LCD display
technology, but their executives did not provide the resources
needed to sustain the products spawned by
this technology. Today, these firms are not even players in this
important business segment that supplies
screens for notebook computers, camcorders, medical
instruments, and many other products.
To date, the evidence is mixed regarding whether being a first
mover leads to success. One research study
of 1,226 businesses over a fifty-five-year period found that first
movers typically enjoy an advantage over
rivals for about a decade, but other studies have suggested that
first moving offers little or no advantages.
Perhaps the best question that executives can ask themselves
when deciding whether to be a first mover
is, how likely is this move to provide my firm with a sustainable
competitive advantage? First moves that
build on strategic resources such as patented technology are
13. difficult for rivals to imitate and thus are
likely to succeed. For example, Pfizer enjoyed a monopoly in
the erectile dysfunction market for five years
with its patented drug Viagra before two rival products (Cialis
and Levitra) were developed by other
pharmaceutical firms. Despite facing stiff competition, Viagra
continues to raise about $1.9 billion in sales
for Pfizer annually. [2]
In contrast, E-Trade Group’s creation in 2003 of the portable
mortgage seemed doomed to fail because it
did not leverage strategic resources. This innovation allowed
customers to keep an existing mortgage
when they move to a new home. Bigger banks could easily copy
the portable mortgage if it gained
customer acceptance, undermining E-Trade’s ability to profit
from its first move.
Disruptive Innovation
Some firms have the opportunity to shake up their industry by
introducing a disruptive innovation—an
innovation that conflicts with, and threatens to replace,
traditional approaches to competing within an
industry. The iPad has proved to be a disruptive innovation
since its introduction by Apple in 2010.
14. Many individuals quickly abandoned clunky laptop computers
in favor of the sleek tablet format offered
by the iPad. And as a first mover, Apple was able to claim a
large share of the market.
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The iPad story is unusual, however. Most disruptive innovations
are not overnight sensations. Typically, a
small group of customers embrace a disruptive innovation as
early adopters and then a critical mass of
customers builds over time. An example is digital cameras. Few
photographers embraced digital cameras
initially because they took pictures slowly and offered poor
picture quality relative to traditional film
cameras. As digital cameras have improved, however, they have
gradually won over almost everyone that
takes pictures. Executives who are deciding whether to pursue a
disruptive innovation must first make
sure that their firm can sustain itself during an initial period of
slow growth.
Footholds
In warfare, many armies establish small positions in geographic
territories that they have not occupied
15. previously. These footholds provide value in at least two ways.
First, owning a
foothold can dissuade other armies from attacking in the region.
Second, owning a foothold gives an army
a quick strike capability in a territory if the army needs to
expand its reach.
Similarly, some organizations find it valuable to establish
footholds in certain markets. Within the context
of business, a foothold is a small position that a firm
intentionally establishes within a market in which it
does not yet compete.[3] Swedish furniture seller IKEA is a
firm that relies on footholds. When IKEA enters
a new country, it opens just one store. This store is then used as
a showcase to establish IKEA’s brand.
Once IKEA gains brand recognition in a country, more stores
are established. [4]
Pharmaceutical giants such as Merck often obtain footholds in
emerging areas of medicine. In December
2010, for example, Merck purchased SmartCells Inc., a
company that was developing a possible new
treatment for diabetes. In May 2011, Merck acquired an equity
stake in BeiGene Ltd., a Chinese firm that
was developing novel cancer treatments and detection methods.
Competitive moves such as these offer
16. Merck relatively low-cost platforms from which it can expand if
clinical studies reveal that the treatments
are effective.
Blue Ocean Strategy
It is best to win without fighting.
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Sun-Tzu, The Art of War
A blue ocean strategy involves creating a new, untapped market
rather than competing with rivals in an
existing market. [5] This strategy follows the approach
recommended by the ancient master of strategy
Sun-Tzu in the quote above. Instead of trying to outmaneuver
its competition, a firm using a blue ocean
strategy tries to make the competition irrelevant. Baseball
legend Wee Willie Keeler offered a similar idea
when asked how to become a better hitter: “Hit ’em where they
ain’t.” In other words, hit the baseball where
there are no fielders rather than trying to overwhelm the fielders
with a ball hit directly at them.
Nintendo openly acknowledges following a blue ocean strategy
17. in its efforts to invent new markets. In
2006, Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo’s vice president of marketing
and corporate affairs for Nintendo of
America noted in an interview, “We’re making games that are
expanding our base of consumers in Japan
and America. Yes, those who’ve always played games are still
playing, but we’ve got people who’ve never
played to start loving it with titles like Nintendogs, Animal
Crossing and Brain Games. These games are
blue ocean in action.” [6] Other examples of companies creating
new markets include FedEx’s invention of
the fast-shipping business and eBay’s invention of online
auctions.
Bricolage
Bricolage is a concept that is borrowed from the arts and that,
like blue ocean strategy, stresses moves that
create new markets. Bricolage means using whatever materials
and resources happen to be available as
the inputs into a creative process. A good example is offered by
one of the greatest inventions in the
history of civilization: the printing press. As noted in the Wall
Street Journal, “The printing press is a
classic combinatorial innovation. Each of its key elements—the
movable type, the ink, the paper and the
18. press itself—had been developed separately well before
Johannes Gutenberg printed his first Bible in the
15th century. Movable type, for instance, had been
independently conceived by a Chinese blacksmith
named Pi Sheng four centuries earlier. The press itself was
adapted from a screw press that was being
used in Germany for the mass production of wine.” [7]
Gutenberg took materials that others had created
and used them in a unique and productive way.
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Executives apply the concept of bricolage when they combine
ideas from existing businesses to create a
new business. Think miniature golf is boring? Not when you
play at one of Monster Mini Golf’s more than
twenty-five locations. This company couples a miniature golf
course with the thrills of a haunted house. In
April 2011, Monster Mini Golf announced plans to partner with
the rock band KISS to create a “custom-
designed, frightfully fun course [that] will feature animated
KISS and monster props lurking in all 18
fairways” in Las Vegas. [8]
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Braveheart meets heavy metal when TURISAS takes the stage.
Image courtesy of Cecil,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turisas_-_Jalometalli_2008_-
_02.JPG.
Many an expectant mother has lamented the unflattering nature
of maternity clothes and the boring
stores that sell them. Coming to the rescue is Belly Couture, a
boutique in Lubbock, Texas, that combines
stylish fashion and maternity clothes. The store’s clever
slogan—“Motherhood is haute”—reflects the
unique niche it fills through bricolage. A wilder example is
TURISAS, a Finnish rock band that has created
a niche for itself by combining heavy metal music with the
imagery and costumes of Vikings. The band’s
website describes their effort at bricolage as “inspirational
cinematic battle metal brilliance.” [9]No one
ever claimed that rock musicians are humble.
Strategy at the Movies
Love and Other Drugs
20. Competitive moves are chosen within executive suites, but they
are implemented by frontline employees.
Organizational success thus depends just as much on workers
such as salespeople excelling in their roles
as it does on executives’ ability to master strategy. A good
illustration is provided in the 2010 film Love
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and Other Drugs, which was based on the nonfiction book Hard
Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra
Salesman.
As a new sales representative for drug giant Pfizer, Jamie
Randall believed that the best way to increase
sales of Pfizer’s antidepressant Zoloft in his territory was to
convince highly respected physician Dr.
Knight to prescribe Zoloft rather than the good doctor’s existing
preference, Ely Lilly’s drug Prozac. Once
Dr. Knight began prescribing Zoloft, thought Randall, many
other physicians in the area would follow
suit.
This straightforward plan proved more difficult to execute than
Randall suspected. Sales reps from Ely
21. Lilly and other pharmaceutical firms aggressively pushed their
firm’s products, such as by providing all-
expenses-paid trips to Hawaii for nurses in Dr. Knight’s office.
Prozac salesman Trey Hannigan went so
far as to beat up Randall after finding out that Randall had
stolen and destroyed Prozac samples. While
assault is an extreme measure to defend a sales territory, the
actions of Hannigan and the other
salespeople depicted in Love and Other Drugs reflect the
challenges that frontline employees face when
implementing executives’ strategic decisions about competitive
moves.
Image courtesy of Marco,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zi1217/5528068221.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
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Firms can take advantage of a number of competitive moves to
shake up or otherwise get ahead in an
ever-changing business environment.
E X E R C I S E S
1. Find a key trend from the general environment and develop a
22. blue ocean strategy that might capitalize on
that trend.
2. Provide an example of a product that, if invented, would
work as a disruptive innovation. How
widespread would be the appeal of this product?
3. How would you propose to develop a new foothold if your
goal was to compete in the fashion industry?
4. Develop a new good or service applying the concept of
bricolage. In other words, select two existing
businesses and describe the experience that would be created by
combining those two businesses.
[1] This section draws from Ketchen, D. J., Snow, C., & Street,
V. 2004. Improving firm performance by matching
strategic decision making processes to competitive
dynamics.Academy of Management Executive, 19(4), 29–43.
[2] Figures from Standard & Poor’s stock report on Pfizer.
[3] Upson, J., Ketchen, D. J., Connelly, B., & Ranft, A.
Forthcoming. Competitor analysis and foothold
moves. Academy of Management Journal.
[4] Hambrick, D. C., & Fredrickson, J. W. 2005. Are you sure
you have a strategy? Academy of Management
Executive, 19, 51–62.
23. [5] Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. 2004, October. Blue ocean
strategy. Harvard Business Review, 76–85.
[6] Rosmarin, R. 2006, February 7. Nintendo’s new look.
Forbes.com. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.forbes.com/2006/02/07/xbox-ps3-revolution-
cx_rr_0207nintendo.html
[7] Johnson, S. The genius of the tinkerer. Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved from
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989304575
503730101860838.html
[8] KISS Mini Golf to rock Las Vegas this fall [Press release].
2011, April 28. Monster Mini Golf website. Retrieved
from http://www.monsterminigolf.com/mmgkiss.html
[9] http://www.turisas.com/site/biography/
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6.2 Responding to Competitors’ Moves
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Know the three factors that determine the likelihood of a
competitor response.
2. Understand the importance of speed in competitive response.
24. 3. Describe how mutual forbearance can be beneficial for firms
engaged in multipoint competition.
4. Explain two ways firms can respond to disruptive
innovations.
5. Understand the importance of fighting brands as a
competitive response.
In addition to choosing what moves their firm will make,
executives also have to decide whether to
respond to moves made by rivals. Figuring out how to react, if
at all, to a competitor’s move
ranks among the most challenging decisions that executives
must make. Research indicates
that three factors determine the likelihood that a firm will
respond to a competitive move:
awareness, motivation, and capability. These three factors
together determine
the level of competition tension that exists between rivals.
An analysis of the “razor wars” illustrates the roles that these
factors play. [1]Consider Schick’s
attempt to grow in the razor-system market with its introduction
of the Quattro. This move was
widely publicized and supported by a $120 million advertising
budget. Therefore, its main
25. competitor, Gillette, was well aware of the move. Gillette’s
motivation to respond was also high.
Shaving products are a vital market for Gillette, and Schick has
become an increasingly formidable
competitor since its acquisition by Energizer. Finally, Gillette
was very capable of responding, given
its vast resources and its dominant role in the industry. Because
all three factors were high, a strong
response was likely. Indeed, Gillette made a preemptive strike
with the introduction of the Sensor 3
and Venus Devine a month before the Schick Quattro’s
projected introduction.
Although examining a firm’s awareness, motivation, and
capability is important, the results of a
series of moves and countermoves are often difficult to predict
and miscalculations can be costly. The
poor response by Kmart and other retailers to Walmart’s growth
in the late 1970s illustrates this
point. In discussing Kmart’s parent corporation (Kresge), a
stock analyst at that time wrote, “While
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we don’t expect Kresge to stage any massive invasion of
26. Walmart’s existing territory, Kresge could
logically act to contain Walmart’s geographical
expansion.…Assuming some containment policy on
Kresge’s part, Walmart could run into serious problems in the
next few years.” Kmart executives also
received but ignored early internal warnings about Walmart. A
former member of Kmart’s board of
directors lamented, “I tried to advise the company’s
management of just what a serious threat I
thought [Sam Walton, founder of Walmart] was. But it wasn’t
until fairly recently that they took him
seriously.” While the threat of Walmart growth was apparent to
some observers, Kmart executives
failed to respond. Competition with Walmart later drove Kmart
into bankruptcy.
Speed Kills
Executives in many markets must cope with a rapid-fire barrage
of attacks from rivals, such as head-to-
head advertising campaigns, price cuts, and attempts to grab key
customers. If a firm is going to respond
to a competitor’s move, doing so quickly is important. If there
is a long delay between an attack and a
response, this generally provides the attacker with an edge. For
example, PepsiCo made the mistake of
27. waiting fifteen months to copy Coca-Cola’s May 2002
introduction of Vanilla Coke. In the interim, Vanilla
Coke carved out a significant market niche; 29 percent of US
households had purchased the beverage by
August 2003, and 90 million cases had been sold.
In contrast, fast responses tend to prevent such an edge. Pepsi’s
spring 2004 announcement of a
midcalorie cola introduction was quickly followed by a similar
announcement by Coke, signaling that
Coke would not allow this niche to be dominated by its
longtime rival. Thus, as former General Electric
CEO Jack Welch noted in his autobiography, success in most
competitive rivalries “is less a function of
grandiose predictions than it is a result of being able to respond
rapidly to real changes as they occur.
That’s why strategy has to be dynamic and anticipatory.”
So…We Meet Again
Multipoint competition adds complexity to decisions about
whether to respond to a rival’s moves.
With multipoint competition, a firm faces the same rival in
more than one market. Cigarette makers R. J.
Reynolds (RJR) and Philip Morris, for example, square off not
only in the United States but also in many
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countries around the world. When a firm has one or more
multipoint competitors, executives must realize
that a competitive move in a market can have effects not only
within that market but also within others. In
the early 1990s, RJR started using lower-priced cigarette brands
in the United States to gain customers.
Philip Morris responded in two ways. The first response was
cutting prices in the United States to protect
its market share. This started a price war that ultimately hurt
both companies. Second, Philip Morris
started building market share in Eastern Europe where RJR had
been establishing a strong position. This
combination of moves forced RJR to protect its market share in
the United States and neglect Eastern
Europe.
If rivals are able to establish mutual forbearance, then
multipoint competition can help them be
successful. Mutual forbearance occurs when rivals do not act
aggressively because each recognizes that
the other can retaliate in multiple markets. In the late 1990s,
29. Southwest Airlines and United Airlines
competed in some but not all markets. United announced plans
to form a new division that would move
into some of Southwest’s other routes. Southwest CEO Herb
Kelleher publicly threatened to retaliate in
several shared markets. United then backed down, and
Southwest had no reason to attack. The result was
better performance for both firms. Similarly, in hindsight, both
RJR and Philip Morris probably would
have been more profitable had RJR not tried to steal market
share in the first place. Thus recognizing and
acting on potential forbearance can lead to better performance
through firms not competing away their
profits, while failure to do so can be costly.
Responding to a Disruptive Innovation
When a rival introduces a disruptive innovation that conflicts
with the industry’s current competitive
practices, such as the emergence of online stock trading in the
late 1990s, executives choose from among
three main responses. First, executives may believe that the
innovation will not replace established
offerings entirely and thus may choose to focus on their
traditional modes of business while ignoring the
30. disruption. For example, many traditional bookstores such as
Barnes & Noble did not consider book sales
on Amazon to be a competitive threat until Amazon began to
take market share from them. Second, a firm
can counter the challenge by attacking along a different
dimension. For example, Apple responded to the
direct sales of cheap computers by Dell and Gateway by adding
power and versatility to its products. The
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third possible response is to simply match the competitor’s
move. Merrill Lynch, for example, confronted
online trading by forming its own Internet-based unit. Here the
firm risks cannibalizing its traditional
business, but executives may find that their response attracts an
entirely new segment of customers.
Fighting Brands: Get Ready to Rumble
A firm’s success can be undermined when a competitor tries to
lure away its customers by charging lower
prices for its goods or services. Such a scenario is especially
scary if the quality of the competitor’s
offerings is reasonably comparable to the firm’s. One possible
response would be for the firm to lower its
31. prices to prevent customers from abandoning it. This can be
effective in the short term, but it creates a
long-term problem. Specifically, the firm will have trouble
increasing its prices back to their original level
in the future because charging lower prices for a time will
devalue the firm’s brand and make customers
question why they should accept price increases.
The creation of a fighting brand is a move that can prevent this
problem. Afighting brand is a lower-end
brand that a firm introduces to try to protect the firm’s market
share without damaging the firm’s existing
brands. In the late 1980s, General Motors (GM) was troubled by
the extent to which the sales of small,
inexpensive Japanese cars were growing in the United States.
GM wanted to recapture lost sales, but it did
not want to harm its existing brands, such as Chevrolet, Buick,
and Cadillac, by putting their names on
low-end cars. GM’s solution was to sell small, inexpensive cars
under a new brand: Geo.
Interestingly, several of Geo’s models were produced in joint
ventures between GM and the same
Japanese automakers that the Geo brand was created to fight. A
sedan called the Prizm was built side by
32. side with the Toyota Corolla by the New United Motor
Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI), a factory
co-owned by GM and Toyota. The two cars were virtually
identical except for minor cosmetic differences.
A smaller car (the Metro) and a compact sport utility vehicle
(the Tracker) were produced by a joint
venture between GM and Suzuki. By 1998, the US car market
revolved around higher-quality vehicles, and
the low-end Geo brand was discontinued.
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The Geo brand was known for its low price and good gas
mileage, not for its styling.
Image courtesy of Bull-
Doser,http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Ge
o_Metro_Convertible.JPG.
Some fighting brands are rather short lived. Merck’s failed
attempt to protect market share in Germany by
creating a fighting brand is an example. Zocor, a treatment for
high cholesterol, was set to lose its German
patent in 2003. Merck tried to keep its high profit margin for
Zocor intact until the patent expired as well
33. as preparing for the inevitable competition with generic
drugmakers by creating a lower-priced brand,
Zocor MSD. Once the patent expired, however, the new brand
was not priced low enough to keep
customers from switching to generics. Merck soon abandoned
the Zocor MSD brand. [2]
Two major airlines experienced similar futility. In response to
the growing success of discount airlines
such as Southwest, AirTran, Jet Blue, and Frontier, both United
Airlines and Delta Airlines created
fighting brands. United launched Ted in 2004 and discontinued
it in 2009. Delta’s Song had an even
shorter existence. It was started in 2003 and was ended in 2006.
Southwest’s acquisition of AirTran in
2011 created a large airline that may make United and Delta
lament that they were not able to make their
own discount brands successful.
Despite these missteps, the use of fighting brands is a time-
tested competitive move. For example, very
successful fighting brands were launched forty years apart by
Anheuser-Busch and Intel. After Anheuser-
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34. Busch increased the prices charged by its existing brands in the
mid-1950s (Budweiser and Michelob),
smaller brewers started gaining market share. In response,
Anheuser-Busch created a lower-priced brand:
Busch. The new brand won back the market share that had been
lost and remains an important part of
Anheuser-Busch’s brand portfolio today. In the late 1990s,
silicon chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices
started undercutting the prices charged by industry leader Intel.
Intel responded by creating the Celeron
brand of silicon chips, a brand that has preserved Intel’s market
share without undermining profits. Wise
strategic moves such as the creation of the Celeron brand help
explain why Intel ranks thirty-second
on Fortune magazine’s list of the “World’s Most Admired
Corporations.” Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch is
the second most admired beverage firm, ranking behind Coca-
Cola.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
When threatened by the competitive actions of rivals, firms
possess numerous ways to respond,
depending on the severity of the threat.
E X E R C I S E S
35. 1. Why might local restaurants not be in the position to respond
to large franchises or chains? What can
local restaurants do to avoid being ruined by chain restaurants?
2. If a new alternative fuel was found in the auto industry, what
are two ways existing car manufacturers
might respond to this disruptive innovation?
3. How might a firm such as Apple computers use a fighting
brand?
[1] Portions of this section are adapted from Ketchen, D. J.,
Snow, C., & Street, V. 2004. Improving firm
performance by matching strategic decision making processes to
competitive dynamics. Academy of Management
Executive, 19(4) 29-43. Ibid.
[2] Ritson, M. 2009, October. Should you launch a fighter
brand? Harvard Business Review, 65–81.
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6.3 Making Cooperative Moves
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Know the four types of cooperative moves.
36. 2. Understand the benefits of taking quick and decisive action.
In addition to competitive moves, firms can benefit from
cooperating with one another. Cooperative
moves such as forming joint ventures and strategic alliances
may allow firms to enjoy successes that
might not otherwise be reached. This is because cooperation
enables firms to share (rather than duplicate)
resources and to learn from one another’s strengths. Firms that
enter cooperative relationships
take on risks, however, including the loss of ontrol over
operations, possible transfer of valuable secrets
to other firms, and possibly being taken advantage of by
partners.[1]
Joint Ventures
A joint venture is a cooperative arrangement that involves two
or more organizations each contributing to
the creation of a new entity. The partners in a joint venture
share decision-making authority, control of
the operation, and any profits that the joint venture earns.
Sometimes two firms create a joint venture to deal with a shared
opportunity. In April 2011, a joint
venture was created between Merck and Sun Pharmaceutical
Industries Ltd., an Indian pharmaceutical
37. company. The purpose of the joint venture is to create and sell
generic drugs in developing countries. In a
press release, a top executive at Sun stressed that each side has
important strengths to contribute: “This
joint venture reinforces [Sun’s] strategy of partnering to launch
products using our highly innovative
delivery technologies around the world. Merck has an unrivalled
reputation as a world leading,
innovative, research-driven pharmaceutical company.” [2] Both
firms contributed executives to the new
organization, reflecting the shared decision making and control
involved in joint ventures.
In other cases, a joint venture is designed to counter a shared
threat. In 2007, brewers SABMiller and
Molson Coors Brewing Company created a joint venture called
MillerCoors that combines the firms’ beer
operations in the United States. Miller and Coors found it useful
to join their US forces to better compete
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against their giant rival Anheuser-Busch, but the two parent
companies remain separate. The joint
38. venture controls a wide array of brands, including Miller Lite,
Coors Light, Blue Moon Belgian White,
Coors Banquet, Foster’s, Henry Weinhard’s, Icehouse, Keystone
Premium, Leinenkugel’s, Killian’s Irish
Red, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller High Life, Milwaukee’s Best,
Molson Canadian, Peroni Nastro Azzurro,
Pilsner Urquell, and Red Dog. This diverse portfolio makes
MillerCoors a more potent adversary for
Anheuser-Busch than either Miller or Coors would be alone.
Strategic Alliances
A strategic alliance is a cooperative arrangement between two
or more organizations that does not involve
the creation of a new entity. In June 2011, for example, Twitter
announced the formation of a strategic
alliance with Yahoo! Japan. The alliance involves relevant
Tweets appearing within various functions
offered by Yahoo! Japan. [3] The alliance simply involves the
two firms collaborating as opposed to
creating a new entity together.
The pharmaceutical industry is the location of many strategic
alliances. In January 2011, for example, a
strategic alliance between Merck and PAREXEL International
Corporation was announced. Within this
39. alliance, the two companies collaborate on biotechnology
efforts known as biosimilars. This alliance could
be quite important to Merck because the global market for
biosimilars has been predicted to rise from
$235 million in 2010 to $4.8 billion by 2015. [4]
Colocation
Colocation occurs when goods and services offered under
different brands are located close to one
another. In many cities, for examples, theaters and art galleries
are clustered together in one
neighborhood. Auto malls that contain several different car
dealerships are found in many areas.
Restaurants and hotels are often located near on another too. By
providing customers with a variety of
choices, a set of colocated firms can attract a bigger set of
customers collectively than the sum that could
be attracted to individual locations. If a desired play is sold out,
a restaurant overcrowded, or a hotel
overbooked, many customers simply patronize another firm in
the area.
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40. Because of these benefits, savvy executives in some firms
colocate their own brands. The industry that
Brinker International competes within is revealed by its stock
ticker symbol: EAT. This firm often sites
outlets of the multiple restaurant chains it owns on the same
street. Marriott’s Courtyard and Fairfield Inn
often sit side by side. Yum! Brands takes this clustering
strategy one step further by locating more than
one of its brands—A&W, Long John Silver’s, Taco Bell,
Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut—within a
single store.
Co-opetition
Although competition and cooperation are usually viewed as
separate processes, the concept of co-
opetition highlights a complex interaction that is becoming
increasingly popular in many industries. Ray
Noorda, the founder of software firm Novell, coined the term to
refer to a blending of competition and
cooperation between two firms. As explained in this chapter’s
opening vignette, for example, Merck and
Roche are rivals in some markets, but the firms are working
together to develop tests to detect cancer and
to promote a hepatitis treatment. NEC (a Japanese electronics
company) has three different relationships
41. with Hewlett-Packard Co.: customer, supplier, and competitor.
Some units of each company work
cooperatively with the other company, while other units are
direct competitors. NEC and Hewlett-Packard
could be described as “frienemies”—part friends and part
enemies.
Toyota and General Motors provide a well-known example of
co-opetition. In terms of cooperation,
Toyota and GM vehicles were produced side by side for many
years at the jointly owned New United
Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) in Fremont,
California. While Honda and Nissan used
wholly owned plants to begin producing cars in the United
States, NUMMI offered Toyota a lower-risk
means of entering the US market. This entry mode was desirable
to Toyota because its top executives were
not confident that Japanese-style management would work in
the United States. Meanwhile, the venture
offered GM the chance to learn Japanese management and
production techniques—skills that were later
used in GM’s facilities. NUMMI offered both companies
economies of scale in manufacturing and the
chance to collaborate on automobile designs. Meanwhile,
Toyota and GM compete for market share
42. around the world. In recent years, the firms have been the
world’s two largest automakers, and they have
traded the top spot over time.
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In their book titled, not surprisingly, Co-opetition, A. M.
Brandenberger and B. J. Nalebuff suggest that
cooperation is generally best suited for “creating a pie,” while
competition is best suited for “dividing it
up.” [5] In other words, firms tend to cooperate in activities
located far in the value chain from customers,
while competition generally occurs close to customers. The
NUMMI example illustrates this tendency—
GM and Toyota worked together on design and manufacturing
but worked separately on distribution,
sales, and marketing. Similarly, a research study focused on
Scandinavian firms found that, in the mining
equipment industry, firms cooperated in material development,
but they competed in product
development and marketing. In the brewing industry, firms
worked together on the return of used bottles
but not in distribution. [6]
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Joseph Addison, an eighteenth-century poet, is often credited
with coining the phrase “He who hesitates
is lost.” This proverb is especially meaningful in today’s
business world. It is easy for executives to become
paralyzed by the dizzying array of competitive and cooperative
moves available to them. Given the fast-
paced nature of most industries today, hesitation can lead to
disaster. Some observers have suggested that
competition in many settings has transformed into
hypercompetition, which involves very rapid and
unpredictable moves and countermoves that can undermine
competitive advantages. Under such
conditions, it is often better to make a reasonable move quickly
rather than hoping to uncover the perfect
move through extensive and time-consuming analysis.
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The importance of learning also contributes to the value of
adopting a “get moving” mentality. This is
44. illustrated in Miroslav Holub’s poem “Brief Thoughts on
Maps.” The discovery that one soldier had a map
gave the soldiers the confidence to start moving rather than
continuing to hesitate and remaining lost.
Once they started moving, the soldiers could rely on their skill
and training to learn what would work and
what would not. Similarly, success in business often depends on
executives learning from a series of
competitive and cooperative moves, not on selecting ideal
moves.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
Cooperating with other firms is sometimes a more lucrative and
beneficial approach than directly
attacking competing firms.
E X E R C I S E S
1. How could a family jewelry store use one of the cooperative
moves mentioned in this section?? What
type of organization might be a good cooperative partner for a
family jewelry store?
2. Why is it that “any old map will do” sometimes in relation to
strategic actions?
[1] Portions of this section are adapted from Ketchen, D. J.,
Snow, C., & Street, V. 2004. Improving firm
45. performance by matching strategic decision making processes to
competitive dynamics. Academy of Management
Executive, 19(4), 29-43. Ibid.
[2] Merck & Co., Inc., and Sun Pharma establish joint venture
to develop and commercialize novel formulations
and combinations of medicines in emerging markets [Press
release]. 2011, April 11. Merck website. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.merck.com/licensing/our-partnership/sun-
partnership.html
[3] Rao, L. 2011, June 14. Twitter announces “strategic
alliance” with Yahoo Japan [Blog post]. Techcrunch website.
Retrieved fromhttp://www.techcrunch.com/2011/06/14/twitter-
announces-firehose-partnership-with-yahoo-
japan
[4] Global biosimilars market to reach US$4.8 billion by 2015,
according to a new report by Global Industry
Analysts, Inc. [Press release]. 2011, February 15. PRWeb
website. Retrieved
from http://www.prweb.com/releases/biosimilars/human_growth
_hormone/prweb8131268.htm
[5] Brandenberger, A. M., & Nalebuff, B. J. 1996. Co-opetition.
New York, NY: Doubleday.
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[6] Bengtsson, M., & Kock, S. 2000. “Coopetition” in business
networks—to cooperate and compete
simultaneously. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(5), 411–
426.
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6.4 Conclusion
This chapter explains competitive and cooperative moves that
executives may choose from when
challenged by competitors. Executives may choose to act
swiftly by being a first mover in their
market, and their firms may benefit if they are offering
disruptive innovations to an industry.
Executives may also choose a more conservative route by
establishing a foothold within an area that
can serve as a launching point or by avoiding existing
competitors overall by using a blue ocean
strategy. When firms are on the receiving end of a competitive
attack, they are likely to retaliate to
47. the extent that they possess awareness, motivation, and
capability. While responding quickly is often
beneficial, mutual forbearance can also be an effective
approach. When firms encounter a potentially
disruptive innovation, they might ignore the threat, confront it
head on, or attack along a different
dimension. Executives may also react to competitive attacks by
using fighting brands. Rather than
engaging in a head-to-head battle with competitors, executives
may also choose to engage in a
cooperative strategy such as a joint venture, strategic alliance,
colocation, or co-opetition. Regardless
of the decision executives make, in many cases any attempt to
act on a viable road map will result in
progress that will get the firm moving in the right direction.
E X E R C I S E S
1. Divide your class into four or eight groups, depending on the
size of the class. Each group should select a
different industry. Find examples of competitive and
cooperative moves that you would recommend if
hired as a consultant for a firm in that industry.
2. What types of cooperative moves could your college or
university use to partner with local, national, and
48. international businesses? What benefits and risks would be
created by making these moves?
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Chapter 5
Selecting Business-Level Strategies
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
After reading this chapter, you should be able to understand and
articulate answers to the following
questions:
1. Why is an examination of generic strategies valuable?
2. What are the four main generic strategies?
3. What is a best-cost strategy?
4. What does it mean to be “stuck in the middle”?
The Competition Takes Aim at Target
On January 13, 2011, Target Corporation announced its
intentions to operate stores outside the United
States for the first time. The plan called for Target to enter
Canada by purchasing existing leases from a
49. Canadian retailer and then opening 100 to 150 stores in 2013
and 2014. [1] The chain already included
more than 1,700 stores in forty-nine states. Given the close
physical and cultural ties between the United
States and Canada, entering the Canadian market seemed to be a
logical move for Target.
In addition to making its initial move beyond the United States,
Target had several other sources of pride
in early 2011. The company claimed that 96 percent of
American consumers recognized its signature logo,
surpassing the percentages enjoyed by famous brands such as
Apple and Nike. In
March, Fortune magazine ranked Target twenty-second on its
list of the “World’s Most Admired
Companies.” In May, Target reported that its sales and earnings
for the first quarter of 2011 (sales: $15.6
billion; earnings: $689 million) were stronger than they had
been in the first quarter of 2010 (sales: $15.2
billion; earnings: $671 million). Yet there were serious causes
for concern, too. News stories in the second
half of 2010 about Target’s donations to political candidates
had created controversy and unwanted
publicity. And despite increasing sales and profits, Target’s
stock price fell about 20 percent during the
51. Approximately 45 percent of Target customers have children at
home, and about 48 percent have a college
degree. [2] Perhaps the most tangible reflection of Target’s
upscale position among large retailers is the
tendency of some customers to jokingly pronounce its name as
if it were a French boutique: “Tar-zhay.”
Target’s lucrative position was far from guaranteed, however.
Indeed, a variety of competitors seemed to
be taking aim at Target. Retail chains such as Kohl’s and Old
Navy offered fashionable clothing at prices
similar to Target’s. Discounters like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and
Ross offered designer clothing and chic
household goods for prices that often were lower than Target’s.
Closeout stores such as Big Lots offered a
limited selection of electronics, apparel, and household goods
but at deeply discounted prices. All these
stores threatened to steal business from Target.
Walmart was perhaps Target’s most worrisome competitor.
After some struggles in the 2000s, the
mammoth retailer’s performance was strong enough that it
ranked well above Target on Fortune’s list of
the “World’s Most Admired Companies” (eleventh vs. twenty-
second). Walmart also was much bigger
52. than Target. The resulting economies of scale meant that
Walmart could undercut Target’s prices anytime
it desired. Just such a scenario had unfolded before. A few years
ago, Walmart’s victory in a price war over
Kmart led the latter into bankruptcy.
One important difference between Kmart and Target is that
Target is viewed by consumers as offering
relatively high-quality goods. But this difference might not
protect Target. Although Walmart’s products
tended to lack the chic appeal of Target’s, Walmart had begun
offering better products during the
recession of the late 2000s in an effort to expand its customer
base. If Walmart executives chose to match
Target’s quality while charging lower prices, Target could find
itself without a unique appeal for
customers. As 2011 continued, a big question loomed: could
Target maintain its unique appeal to
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customers or would the competitive arrows launched by
Walmart and others force Target’s executives to
quiver?
53. [1] Target Corporation to acquire interest in Canadian real
estate from Zellers Inc., a subsidiary of Hudson’s Bay
Company, for C$1.825 billion [Press release]. 2011, January 13.
Target Stores. Retrieved from
http://pressroom.target.com/pr/news/target-corporation-to-
acquire-real-estate.aspx
[2] Target fact card. 2007, January 2007. Retrieved from
http://sites.target.com/images/corporate/about/pdfs/corp_factcar
d_101107.pdf
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5.1 Understanding Business-Level Strategy through “Generic
Strategies”
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Understand the four primary generic strategies.
2. Know the two dimensions that are critical to defining
business-level strategy.
3. Know the limitations of generic strategies.
Why Examine Generic Strategies?
Business-level strategy addresses the question of how a firm
will compete in a particular industry (Figure
54. 5.1 "Business-Level Strategies"). This seems to be a simple
question on the surface, but it is actually quite
complex. The reason is that there are a great many possible
answers to the question. Consider, for
example, the restaurants in your town or city. Chances are that
you live fairly close to some combination
of McDonald’s, Subway, Chili’s, Applebee’s, Panera Bread
Company, dozens of other national brands, and
a variety of locally based eateries that have just one location.
Each of these restaurants competes using a
business model that is at least somewhat unique. When an
executive in the restaurant industry analyzes
her company and her rivals, she needs to avoid getting
distracted by all the nuances of different firm’s
business-level strategies and losing sight of the big picture.
The solution is to think about business-level strategy in terms of
generic strategies. A generic strategy is a
general way of positioning a firm within an industry. Focusing
on generic strategies allows executives to
concentrate on the core elements of firms’ business-level
strategies. The most popular set of generic
strategies is based on the work of Professor Michael Porter of
the Harvard Business School and
55. subsequent researchers that have built on Porter’s initial ideas.
[1]
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Figure 5.1 Business-Level Strategies
6
Images courtesy of GeneralCheese,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Remodeld_walmart.jpg (top
left); unknown author,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nordstrom.JPG (top right);
NNECAPA,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnecapa/2794736274/(bottom
left); Debs,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/littledebbie11/4537337628/
(bottom right).
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According to Porter, two competitive dimensions are the keys to
business-level strategy. The first
dimension is a firm’s source of competitive advantage. This
dimension involves whether a firm tries to
56. gain an edge on rivals by keeping costs down or by offering
something unique in the market. The second
dimension is firms’ scope of operations. This dimension
involves whether a firm tries to target customers
in general or whether it seeks to attract just a segment of
customers. Four generic business-level strategies
emerge from these decisions: (1) cost leadership, (2)
differentiation, (3) focused cost leadership, and (4)
focused differentiation. In rare cases, firms are able to offer
both low prices and unique features that
customers find desirable. These firms are following a best-cost
strategy. Firms that are not able to offer
low prices or appealing unique features are referred to as “stuck
in the middle.”
Understanding the differences that underlie generic strategies is
important because different generic
strategies offer different value propositions to customers. A
firm focusing on cost leadership will have a
different value chain configuration than a firm whose strategy
focuses on differentiation. For example,
marketing and sales for a differentiation strategy often requires
extensive effort while some firms that
follow cost leadership such as Waffle House are successful with
limited marketing efforts. This chapter
57. presents each generic strategy and the “recipe” generally
associated with success when using that strategy.
When firms follow these recipes, the result can be a strategy
that leads to superior performance. But when
firms fail to follow logical actions associated with each
strategy, the result may be a value proposition
configuration that is expensive to implement and that does not
satisfy enough customers to be viable.
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Limitations of Generic Strategies
Examining business-level strategy in terms of generic strategies
has limitations. Firms that follow a
particular generic strategy tend to share certain features. For
example, one way that cost leaders generally
keep costs low is by not spending much on advertising. Not
every cost leader, however, follows this path.
While cost leaders such as Waffle House spend very little on
advertising, Walmart spends considerable
money on print and television advertising despite following a
cost leadership strategy. Thus a firm may
not match every characteristic that its generic strategy entails.
Indeed, depending on the nature of a firm’s
58. industry, tweaking the recipe of a generic strategy may be
essential to cooking up success.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
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Business-level strategies examine how firms compete in a given
industry. Firms derive such strategies by
executives making decisions about whether their source of
competitive advantage is based on price or
differentiation and whether their scope of operations targets a
broad or narrow market.
E X E R C I S E S
1. What are examples of each generic business-level strategy in
the apparel industry?
2. What are the limitations of examining firms in terms of
generic strategies?
3. Create a new framework to examine generic strategies using
different dimensions than the two offered
by Porter’s framework. What does your approach offer that
Porter’s does not?
[1] Porter, M. E. 1980. Competitive strategy: Techniques for
analyzing industries and competitors. New York, NY:
59. Free Press; Williamson, P. J., & Zeng, M. 2009. Value-for-
money strategies for recessionary times. Harvard Business
Review, 87(3), 66–74.
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5.2 Cost Leadership
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Describe the nature of cost leadership.
2. Understand how economies of scale help contribute to a cost
leadership strategy.
3. Know the advantages and disadvantages of a cost leadership
strategy.
The Nature of the Cost Leadership Strategy
It is tempting to think of cost leaders as companies that sell
inferior, poor-quality goods and services for
rock-bottom prices. The Yugo, for example, was an extremely
unreliable car that was made in Eastern
Europe and sold in the United States for about $4,000. Despite
its attractive price tag, the Yugo was a
dismal failure because drivers simply could not depend on the
car for transportation. Yugo exited the
60. United States in the early 1990s and closed down entirely in
2008.
In contrast to firms such as Yugo whose failure is inevitable,
cost leaders can be very successful. A firm
following a cost leadership strategy offers products or services
with acceptable quality and features to a
broad set of customers at a low price. Payless ShoeSource, for
example, sells name-brand shoes
at inexpensive prices. Its low-price strategy is communicated to
customers through advertising slogans
such as “Why pay more when you can Payless?” and “You could
pay more, but why?”
Little Debbie snack cakes offer another example. The brand was
started in the 1930s when O. D.
McKee began selling sugary treats for five cents. Most
consumers today would view the quality of Little
Debbie cakes as a step below similar offerings from
Entenmann’s, but enough people believe that they
offer acceptable quality that the brand is still around eight
decades after its creation.
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61. Listeners of the popular radio show Car Talk voted the Yugo as
the “worst car of the millennium.”
Image courtesy of Antp,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Yugo.jpg.
Perhaps the most famous cost leader is Walmart, which has used
a cost leadership strategy to become the
largest company in the world. The firm’s advertising slogans
such as “Always Low Prices” and “Save
Money. Live Better” communicate Walmart’s emphasis on price
slashing to potential customers.
Meanwhile, Walmart has the broadest customer base of any firm
in the United States. Approximately one
hundred million Americans visit a Walmart in a typical week.
[1] Incredibly, this means that roughly one-
third of Americans are frequent Walmart customers. This huge
customer base includes people from all
demographic and social groups within society. Although most
are simply typical Americans, the popular
website http://www.peopleofwalmart.com features photos of
some of the more outrageous characters that
have been spotted in Walmart stores.
Cost leaders tend to share some important characteristics. The
ability to charge low prices and still make a
profit is challenging. Cost leaders manage to do so by
62. emphasizing efficiency. At Waffle House
restaurants, for example, customers are served cheap eats
quickly to keep booths available for later
customers. As part of the effort to be efficient, most cost
leaders spend little on advertising, market
research, or research and development. Waffle House, for
example, limits its advertising to billboards
along highways. Meanwhile, the simplicity of Waffle House’s
menu requires little research and
development.
Many cost leaders rely on economies of scale to achieve
efficiency. Economies of scale are created when
the costs of offering goods and services decreases as a firm is
able to sell more items. This occurs because
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expenses are distributed across a greater number of items.
Walmart spent approximately $2 billion on
advertising in 2008. This is a huge number, but Walmart is so
large that its advertising expenses equal
just a tiny fraction of its sales. Also, cost leaders are often large
companies, which allows them to demand
63. price concessions from their suppliers. Walmart is notorious for
squeezing suppliers such as Procter &
Gamble to sell goods to Walmart for lower and lower prices
over time. The firm passes some of these
savings to customers in the form of reduced prices in its stores.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Cost Leadership
Each generic strategy offers advantages that firms can
potentially leverage to enhance their success as well
as disadvantages that may undermine their success. In the case
of cost leadership, one advantage is that
cost leaders’ emphasis on efficiency makes them well
positioned to withstand price competition from
rivals. Kmart’s ill-fated attempt to engage Walmart in a price
war ended in disaster, in part
because Walmart was so efficient in its operations that it could
live with smaller profit margins
far more easily than Kmart could.
Beyond existing competitors, a cost leadership strategy also
creates benefits relative to potential new
entrants. Specifically, the presence of a cost leader in an
industry tends to discourage new firms from
entering the business because a new firm would struggle to
attract customers by undercutting the cost
64. leaders’ prices. Thus a cost leadership strategy helps create
barriers to entry that protect the firm—and its
existing rivals—from new competition.
In many settings, cost leaders attract a large market share
because a large portion of potential customers
find paying low prices for goods and services of acceptable
quality to be very appealing. This is certainly
true for Walmart, for example. The need for efficiency means
that cost leaders’ profit margins are often
slimmer than the margins enjoyed by other firms. However, cost
leaders’ ability to make a little bit of
profit from each of a large number of customers means that the
total profits of cost leaders can be
substantial.
In some settings, the need for high sales volume is a critical
disadvantage of a cost leadership strategy.
Highly fragmented markets and markets that involve a lot of
brand loyalty may not offer much of an
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opportunity to attract a large segment of customers. In both the
soft drink and cigarette industries, for
65. example, customers appear to be willing to pay a little extra to
enjoy the brand of their choice. Lower-end
brands of soda and cigarettes appeal to a minority of consumers,
but famous brands such as Coca-Cola,
Pepsi, Marlboro, and Camel still dominate these markets. A
related concern is that achieving a high sales
volume usually requires significant upfront investments in
production and/or distribution capacity. Not
every firm is willing and able to make such investments.
Cost leaders tend to keep their costs low by minimizing
advertising, market research, and research and
development, but this approach can prove to be expensive in the
long run. A relative lack of market
research can lead cost leaders to be less skilled than other firms
at detecting important environmental
changes. Meanwhile, downplaying research and development
can slow cost leaders’ ability to respond to
changes once they are detected. Lagging rivals in terms of
detecting and reacting to external shifts can
prove to be a deadly combination that leaves cost leaders out of
touch with the market and out of answers.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
Cost leadership is an effective business-level strategy to the
extent that a firm offers low prices, provides
66. satisfactory quality, and attracts enough customers to be
profitable.
E X E R C I S E S
1. What are three industries in which a cost leadership strategy
would be difficult to implement?
2. What is your favorite cost leadership restaurant?
3. Name three examples of firms conducting a cost leadership
strategy that use no advertising. Should they
start advertising? Why or why not?
[1] Ann Zimmerman and Kris Hudson, “Managing Wal-Mart:
How US-store chief hopes to fix Wal-Mart,” Wall
Street Journal, April 17, 2006.
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Images courtesy of _nickd,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_nickd/2313836162/ (top left);
Guillermo Vasquez,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/megavas/3302486505/ (middle);
Derek
gfenwick
Typewritten Text
67. 5.3 Differentiation
gfenwick
Typewritten Text
Figure 5.4Differentiation
gfenwick
Typewritten Text
gfenwick
Typewritten Text
gfenwick
Typewritten Text
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Hatfield,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loimere/5068068920/(bottom
right); Adrian
Pingstone,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fedex.a310-
200.n420fe.arp.jpg (top right);
ChunkySoup,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zoom_elite_2.png(bottom
left).
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Describe the nature of differentiation.
2. Know the advantages and disadvantages of a differentiation
strategy.
68. The Nature of the Differentiation Strategy
A famous cliché contends that “you get what you pay for.” This
saying captures the essence of a
differentiation strategy. A firm following a differentiation
strategy attempts to convince customers to pay
a premium price for its good or services by providing unique
and desirable features (Figure 5.4
"Differentiation"). The message that such a firm conveys to
customers is that you will pay a little bit more
for our offerings, but you will receive a good value overall
because our offerings provide something
special.
In terms of the two competitive dimensions described by
Michael Porter, using a differentiation strategy
means that a firm is competing based on uniqueness rather than
price and is seeking to attract a broad
market. [1] Coleman camping equipment offers a good example.
If camping equipment such as sleeping
bags, lanterns, and stoves fail during a camping trip, the result
will be, well, unhappy campers. Coleman’s
sleeping bags, lanterns, and stoves are renowned for their
reliability and durability. Cheaper brands are
much more likely to have problems. Lovers of the outdoors
69. must pay more to purchase Coleman’s goods
than they would to obtain lesser brands, but having equipment
that you can count on to keep you warm
and dry is worth a price premium in the minds of most campers.
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Coleman’s patented stove was
originally developed for use by
soldiers during World War II.
Seven decades later, the Coleman
Stove remains a must-have item for
campers.
Image courtesy of B. W. Tullis,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:
Patent_Drawing_for_Coleman_M
odel_520_Stove.jpg.
Successful use of a differentiation strategy depends on not only
offering unique features but also
communicating the value of these features to potential
70. customers. As a result, advertising in general and
brand building in particular are important to this strategy. Few
goods are more basic and generic than
table salt. This would seemingly make creating a differentiated
brand in the salt business next to
impossible. Through clever marketing, however, Morton Salt
has done so. Morton has differentiated its
salt by building a brand around its iconic umbrella girl and its
trademark slogan of “When it rains, it
pours.” Would the typical consumer be able to tell the
difference between Morton Salt and cheaper
generic salt in a blind taste test? Not a chance. Yet Morton
succeeds in convincing customers to pay a little
extra for its salt through its brand-building efforts.
FedEx and Nike are two other companies that have done well at
communicating to customers that they
provide differentiated offerings. FedEx’s former slogan “When
it absolutely, positively has to be there
overnight” highlights the commitment to speedy delivery that
sets the firm apart from competitors such as
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71. UPS and the US Postal Service. Nike differentiates its athletic
shoes and apparel through its iconic
“swoosh” logo as well as an intense emphasis on product
innovation through research and development.
Developing a Differentiation Strategy at Express Oil Change
Express Oil Change and Service Centers is a chain of auto
repair shops that stretches from Florida to
Texas. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, the firm has more than
170 company-owned and franchised
locations under its brand. Express Oil Change tries to provide a
unique level of service, and the firm is
content to let rivals offer cheaper prices. We asked an Express
Oil Change executive about his firm. [2]
Question:
The auto repair and maintenance business is a pretty
competitive space. How is
Express Oil Change being positioned relative to other firms,
such as Super Lube,
American LubeFast, and Jiffy Lube?
Don Larose, Senior
Vice President of
Franchise
Development:
Every good business sector is competitive. The key to our
success is to be more
convenient and provide a better overall experience for the
72. customer. Express Oil
Change and Service Centers outperform the industry
significantly in terms of
customer transactions per day and store sales, for a host of
reasons.
In terms of customer convenience, Express Oil Change is faster
than most of our competitors—we do a
ten-minute oil change while the customer stays in the car.
Mothers with kids in car seats especially enjoy
this feature. We also do mechanical work that other quick lube
businesses don’t do. We change and
rotate tires, do brake repairs, air conditioning, tune ups, and
others. There is no appointment necessary
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for many mechanical services like tire rotation and balancing,
and checking brakes. So, overall, we are
more convenient than most of our competitors.
In terms of staffing our stores, full-time workers are all that we
employ. Full-time workers are better
trained and typically have less turnover. They therefore have
more experience and do better quality work.
We think incentives are very important. We use a payroll
system that provides incentives to the store
staff on how many cars are serviced each day and on the total
sales of the store, rather than on increasing
the average transactions by selling the customer items they did
not come in for, which is what most of the
industry does. We don’t sell customers things they don’t yet
73. need, like air filters and radiator flushes. We
focus on building trust, by acting with integrity, to get the
customer to come back and build the daily car
count. This philosophy is not a slogan for us. It is how we
operate with every customer, in every store,
every day.
The placement of our outlets is another key factor. We place our
stores in A-caliber retail locations. These
are lots that may cost more than our competitors are willing or
able to pay. We get what we pay for
though; we have approximately 41% higher sales per store than
the industry average.
Question: What is the strangest interaction you’ve ever had with
a potential franchisee?
Larose:
I once had a franchisee candidate in New Jersey respond to a
request by us for
proof of his liquid assets by bringing to the interview about
$100,000 in cash to
the meeting. He had it in a bag, with bundles of it wrapped in
blue tape. Usually,
folks just bring in a copy of a bank or stock statement. Not sure
why he had so
much cash on hand, literally, and I didn’t want to know. He
didn’t become a
franchisee.
Express Oil Change sets itself apart through superior service
and great locations.
Images courtesy of Express Oil Change
74. Advantages and Disadvantages of Differentiation
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Each generic strategy offers advantages that firms can
potentially leverage to enjoy strong performance, as
well as disadvantages that may damage their performance. In
the case of differentiation, a key advantage
is that effective differentiation creates an ability to obtain
premium prices from customers.
This enables a firm to enjoy strong profit margins. Coca-Cola,
for example, currently enjoys a
profit margin of approximately 33 percent, meaning that about
thirty-three cents of every dollar it
collects from customers is profit. In comparison, Walmart’s cost
leadership strategy delivered a margin of
under 4 percent in 2010.
In turn, strong margins mean that the firm does not need to
attract huge numbers of customers to have a
good overall level of profit. Luckily for Coca-Cola, the firm
does attract a great many buyers. Overall, the
firm made a profit of just under $12 billion on sales of just over
$35 billion in 2010. Interestingly,
75. Walmart’s profits were only 25 percent higher ($15 billion) than
Coca-Cola’s while its sales volume ($421
billion) was twelve times as large as Coca-Cola’s. [3]This
comparison of profit margins and overall profit
levels illustrates why a differentiation strategy is so attractive
to many firms.
To the extent that differentiation remains in place over time,
buyer loyalty may be created. Loyal
customers are very desirable because they are notprice
sensitive. In other words, buyer loyalty makes a
customer unlikely to switch to another firm’s products if that
firm tries to steal the customer away
through lower prices. Many soda drinkers are fiercely loyal to
Coca-Cola’s products. Coca-Cola’s
headquarters are in Atlanta, and loyalty to the firm is especially
strong in Georgia and surrounding states.
Pepsi and other brands have a hard time convincing loyal Coca-
Cola fans to buy their beverages, even
when offering deep discounts. This helps keep Coca-Cola’s
profits high because the firm does not have to
match any promotions that its rivals launch to keep its
customers.
Meanwhile, Pepsi also has attracted a large set of brand-loyal
customers that Coca-Cola struggles to steal.
76. This enhances Pepsi’s profits. In contrast, store-brand sodas
such as Sam’s Choice (which is sold at
Walmart) seldom attract loyalty. As a result, they must be
offered at very low prices to move from store
shelves into shopping carts.
Beyond existing competitors, a differentiation strategy also
creates benefits relative to potential new
entrants. Specifically, the brand loyalty that customers feel to a
differentiated product makes it difficult
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for a new entrant to lure these customers to adopt its product. A
new soda brand, for example, would
struggle to take customers away from Coca-Cola or Pepsi. Thus
a differentiation strategy helps create
barriers to entry that protect the firm and its industry from new
competition.
The big risk when using a differentiation strategy is that
customers will not be willing to pay extra to
obtain the unique features that a firm is trying to build its
strategy around. In 2007, department store
Dillard’s stopped carrying men’s sportswear made by Nautica
because the seafaring theme of Nautica’s
77. brand had lost much of its cache among many men. [4] Because
Nautica’s uniqueness had eroded, Dillard’s
believed that space in its stores that Nautica had been
occupying could be better allocated to other brands.
In some cases, customers may simply prefer a cheaper
alternative. For example, products that imitate the
look and feel of offerings from Ray-Ban, Tommy Bahama, and
Coach are attractive to many value-
conscious consumers. Firms such as these must work hard at
product development and marketing to
ensure that enough customers are willing to pay a premium for
their goods rather than settling for
knockoffs.
In other cases, customers desire the unique features that a firm
offers, but competitors are able to imitate
the features well enough that they are no longer unique. If this
happens, customers have no reason to pay
a premium for the firm’s offerings. IBM experienced the pain of
this scenario when executives tried to
follow a differentiation strategy in the personal computer
market. The strategy had worked for IBM in
other areas. Specifically, IBM had enjoyed a great deal of
success in the mainframe computer market by
78. providing superior service and charging customers a premium
for their mainframes. A business owner
who relied on a mainframe to run her company could not afford
to have her mainframe out of operation
for long. Meanwhile, few businesses had the skills to fix their
own mainframes. IBM’s message to
customers was that they would pay more for IBM’s products but
that this was a good investment because
when a mainframe needed repairs, IBM would provide faster
and better service than its competitors
could. The customer would thus be open for business again very
quickly after a mainframe failure.
This positioning failed when IBM used it in the personal
computer market. Rivals such as Dell were able
to offer service that was just as good as IBM’s while also
charging lower prices for personal computers
than IBM charged. From a customer’s perspective, a person
would be foolish to pay more for an IBM
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personal computer since IBM did not offer anything unique.
IBM steadily lost market share as a result. By
2005, IBM’s struggles led it to sell its personal computer
79. business to Lenovo. The firm is still successful,
however, within the mainframe market where its offerings
remain differentiated.
Firms following a differentiation strategy must “watch” out for
counterfeit goods such as the faux
Rolexes shown here.
Image courtesy of US Customs and Border Patrol,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Counterfeit_Rolex_Watch,
_dsc4577_5f270.jpg.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
Differentiation can be an effective business-level strategy to the
extent that a firm offers unique features
that convince customers to pay a premium for their goods and
services.
E X E R C I S E S
1. What are two industries in which a differentiation strategy
would be difficult to implement?
2. What is an example of a differentiated business near your
college or university?
3. Name three ways businesses that provide entertainment that
might better differentiate their services.
How might they do this?
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[1] Porter, M. E. 1980. Competitive strategy: Techniques for
analyzing industries and competitors. New York, NY:
Free Press.
[2] Excerpted from Ketchen, D. J., & Short, J. C. 2010. The
franchise player: An interview with Don Larose. Journal
of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 15(4), 94–101.
[3] Profit statistics drawn from Standard & Poor’s stock reports
on Coca-Cola and Walmart.
[4] Kapner, S. 2007, November 1. Nautica brand losing ground.
CNNMoney. Retrieved from
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/31/news/companies/Kapner_Naut
ica.fortune/index.htm
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5.4 Focused Cost Leadership and Focused Differentiation
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Describe the nature of focused cost leadership and focused
differentiation.
81. 2. Know the advantages and disadvantages of focus strategies.
Companies that use a cost leadership strategy and those that use
a differentiation strategy share one
important characteristic: both groups try to be attractive to
customers in general. These efforts to
appeal to broad markets can be contrasted with strategies that
involve targeting a relatively narrow
niche of potential customers. These latter strategies are known
as focus strategies. [1]
The Nature of the Focus Cost Leadership Strategy
Focused cost leadership is the first of two focus strategies. A
focused cost leadership strategy requires
competing based on price to target a narrow market. A firm that
follows this strategy does not
necessarily charge the lowest prices in the industry. Instead, it
charges low prices relative to other firms that
compete within the target market. Redbox, for example, uses
vending machines placed outside grocery
stores and other retail outlets to rent DVDs of movies for $1.
There are ways to view movies even cheaper,
such as through the flat-fee streaming video subscriptions
offered by Netflix. But among firms that rent actual
DVDs, Redbox offers unparalleled levels of low price and high
82. convenience.
Another important point is that the nature of the narrow target
market varies across firms that use a
focused cost leadership strategy. In some cases, the target
market is defined by demographics. Claire’s, for
example, seeks to appeal to young women by selling
inexpensive jewelry, accessories, and ear piercings.
Claire’s use of a focused cost leadership strategy has been very
successful; the firm has more than three
thousand locations and has stores in 95 percent of US shopping
malls.
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Redbox machines are available on university campuses
nationwide.
Image courtesy of Valerie Everett,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/valeriebb/2224649723.
In other cases, the target market is defined by the sales channel
used to reach customers. Most pizza
shops offer sit-down service, delivery, or both. In contrast, Papa
Murphy’s sells pizzas that customers cook
at home. Because these inexpensive pizzas are baked at home
rather than in the store, the law allows Papa
83. Murphy’s to accept food stamps as payment. This allows Papa
Murphy’s to attract customers that might
not otherwise be able to afford a prepared pizza. In contrast to
most fast-food restaurants, Checkers Drive
In is a drive-through-only operation. To serve customers
quickly, each store has two drive-through lanes:
one on either side of the building. Checkers saves money in a
variety of ways by not offering indoor
seating to its customers—Checkers’ buildings are cheaper to
construct, its utility costs are lower, and
fewer employees are needed. These savings allow the firm to
offer large burgers at very low prices and still
remain profitable.
The Nature of the Focused Differentiation Strategy
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Focused differentiation is the second of two focus strategies. A
focused differentiation strategy requires
offering unique features that fulfill the demands of a narrow
market. As with a focused low-cost
strategy, narrow markets are defined in different ways in
different settings. Some firms using
84. a focused differentiation strategy concentrate their efforts on a
particular sales channel, such as
selling over the Internet only. Others target particular
demographic groups. One example is Breezes Resorts,
a company that caters to couples without children. The firm
operates seven tropical resorts where
vacationers are guaranteed that they will not be annoyed by
loud and disruptive children.
While a differentiation strategy involves offering unique
features that appeal to a variety of customers, the
need to satisfy the desires of a narrow market means that the
pursuit of uniqueness is often taken to the
proverbial “next level” by firms using a focused differentiation
strategy. Thus the unique features provided
by firms following a focused differentiation strategy are often
specialized.
When it comes to uniqueness, few offerings can top Kopi
Luwak coffee beans. High-quality coffee beans
often sell for $10 to $15 a pound. In contrast, Kopi Luwak
coffee beans sell for hundreds of dollars per
pound. [2] This price is driven by the rarity of the beans and
their rather bizarre nature. As noted in a 2010
article in the New York Times, these beans
85. are found in the droppings of the civet, a nocturnal, furry, long-
tailed catlike animal that prowls
Southeast Asia’s coffee-growing lands for the tastiest, ripest
coffee cherries. The civet eventually
excretes the hard, indigestible innards of the fruit—essentially,
incipient coffee beans—though
only after they have been fermented in the animal’s stomach
acids and enzymes to produce a
brew described as smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter
aftertaste. [3]
Although many consumers consider Kopi Luwak to be
disgusting, a relatively small group of coffee
enthusiasts has embraced the coffee and made it a profitable
product. This illustrates the essence of a
focused differentiation strategy—effectively serving the
specialized needs of a niche market can create
great riches.
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Larger niches are served by Whole Foods Market and Mercedes-
Benz. Although most grocery stores
devote a section of their shelves to natural and organic
products, Whole Foods Market works to sell such
86. products exclusively. For customers, the large selection of
organic goods comes at a steep price. Indeed,
the supermarket’s reputation for high prices has led to a wry
nickname—“Whole Paycheck”—but a sizable
number of consumers are willing to pay a premium to feel better
about the food they buy.
The dedication of Mercedes-Benz to cutting-edge technology,
styling, and safety innovations has made the
firm’s vehicles prized by those who are rich enough to afford
them. This appeal has existing for many
decades. In 1970, acid-rocker Janis Joplin recorded a song
called “Mercedes Benz” that highlighted the
automaker’s allure. Since then Mercedes-Benz has used the
song in several television commercials,
including during the 2011 Super Bowl.
Janis Joplin’s musical tribute to Mercedes-Benz underscores the
allure of the brand.
Image courtesy of de.wp, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:S-
Klasse_W221.jpg.
Developing a Focused Differentiation Strategy at Augustino
LoPrinzi
Guitars and Ukuleles
Augustino LoPrinzi Guitars and Ukuleles in Clearwater,
Florida, builds high-end custom instruments. The
87. founder of the company, Augustino LoPrinzi, has been a builder
of custom guitars for five decades. While
a reasonably good mass-produced guitar can be purchased
elsewhere for a few hundred dollars, LoPrinzi’s
handmade models start at $1,100, and some sell for more than
$10,000. The firm’s customers have
included professional musicians such as Dan Fogelberg, Leo
Kottke, Herb Ohta (Ohta-San), Lyle Ritz,
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Andrés Segovia, and B. J. Thomas. Their instruments can be
found athttp://www.augustinoloprinzi.com.
We asked Augustino about his firm. [4]
Question:
Were there other entrepreneurial opportunities you considered
before you began making
guitars?
Augustino
Loprinzi:
I originally thought of pursuing a career in commercial art, but I
found my true love was in
classical guitar building. I was trained by my father to be a
barber from a very young age,
and after my term in the service, I opened a barbershop.
88. Question: What is the most expensive guitar you’ve ever sold?
Loprinzi: $17,500.
Question: How old were you when you started your first
business in the guitar industry?
Loprinzi: I was in my early twenties.
Question: How did you get your break with more famous
customers?
Loprinzi: I think word of mouth had a lot do with it.
Question:
You have been active in Japan. Do the preferences of Japanese
customers differ from those
of Americans?
Loprinzi:
Yes. The Japanese want only high-end instruments. Aesthetics
are very important to the
Japanese along with high-quality materials and workmanship.
The US market seems to care
in general less about ornamentation and more about quality
workmanship, tone, and
playability.
Question: How do you stay ahead in your industry?
Loprinzi:
Always try to stay abreast on what the music industry is doing.
We do this by reading
89. several music industry publications, talking with suppliers, and
keeping an eye on the
trends going on in other countries because usually they come
full circle. Also, for the past
several years by following the Internet forums and such has
been extremely beneficial.
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Focused Strategies
Each generic strategy offers advantages that firms can
potentially leverage to enhance their success as well
as disadvantages that may undermine their success. In the case
of focus differentiation, one advantage is
that very high prices can be charged. Indeed, these firms often
price their wares far above what is charged
by firms following a differentiation strategy. REI (Recreational
Equipment Inc.), for example,
commands a hefty premium for its outdoor sporting goods and
clothes that feature name brands,
such as The North Face and Marmot. Nat Nast’s focus
differentiation strategy
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centers on selling men’s silk camp shirts with a 1950s retro
flair. These shirts retail for more than $100.
Focused cost leaders such as Checkers Drive In do not charge
90. high prices like REI and Nat Nast do, but
their low cost structures enable them to enjoy healthy profit
margins.
A second advantage of using a focus strategy is that firms often
develop tremendous expertise about the
goods and services that they offer. In markets such as camping
equipment where product knowledge is
important, rivals and new entrants may find it difficult to
compete with firms following a focus strategy.
In terms of disadvantages, the limited demand available within
a niche can cause problems. First, a firm
could find its growth ambitions stymied. Once its target market
is being well served, expansion to other
markets might be the only way to expand, and this often
requires developing a new set of skills. Also, the
niche could disappear or be taken over by larger competitors.
Many gun stores have struggled and even
gone out of business since Walmart and sporting goods stores
such as Academy Sports and Bass Pro
Shops have started carrying an impressive array of firearms.
In contrast to tacky Hawaiian
souvenirs, the quality of Kamaka
91. ukuleles makes them a favorite of
ukulele phenom Jake Shimabukuro
and others who are willing to pay
$1,000 or more for a high-end
instrument.
Image courtesy of
Wikimedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/File:Jake_Shimabukuro.jpg.
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Finally, damaging attacks may come not only from larger firms
but also from smaller ones that adopt an
even narrower focus. A sporting goods store that sells camping,
hiking, kayaking, and skiing goods, for
example, might lose business to a store that focuses solely on
ski apparel because the latter can provide
more guidance about how skiers can stay warm and avoid
broken bones.
Strategy at the Movies
Zoolander
92. One man’s trash is another man’s fashion? That’s what fashion
mogul Jacobim Mugatu was counting on
in the 2001 comedy Zoolander. In his continued effort to be the
most cutting-edge designer in the fashion
industry, Mugatu developed a new line of clothing inspired “by
the streetwalkers and hobos that surround
us.” His new product line, Derelicte, characterized by dresses
made of burlap and parking cones and pants
made of garbage bags and tin cans, was developed for customers
who valued the uniqueness of
his…eclectic design. Emphasizing unique products is typical of
a company following a differentiation
strategy; however, Mugatu targeted a very specific set of
customers. Few people would probably be
enticed to wear garbage for the sake of fashion. By catering to a
niche target market, Mugatu went from a
simple differentiation strategy to a focused differentiation.
Mugatu’s Derelicte campaign in Zoolander is
one illustration of how a particular firm might develop a
focused differentiation strategy.
K E Y T A K E A W A Y
Focus strategies can be effective business-level strategies to the
extent that a firm can match their goods
93. and services to specific niche markets.
E X E R C I S E S
1. What are three different demographics that firms might target
to establish a focus strategy?
2. What is an example of a business that you think is focused in
too narrow a fashion to be successful? How
might it change to be more successful?
[1] Porter, M. E. 1980. Competitive strategy: Techniques for
analyzing industries and competitors. New York, NY:
Free Press.
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[2] http://www.catsasscoffee.com/order3.html
[3] Onishi, N. 2010, April 17. From dung to coffee brew with no
aftertaste. New York Times. Retrieved
from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/world/asia/18civetcoffee.ht
ml?pagewanted=all
[4] Excerpted from Short, J. C. 2007. A touch of the masters’
hands: An interview with Augustino and Donna
Loprinzi. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship,
12, 103–109.
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5.5 Best-Cost Strategy
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Describe the nature of a best-cost strategy.
2. Understand why executing a best-cost strategy is difficult.
The Challenge of Following a Best-Cost Strategy
Some executives are not content to have their firms compete
based on offering low prices or unique
features. They want it all! Firms that charge relatively low
prices and offer substantial differentiation are
following a best-cost strategy. This strategy is difficult to
execute in part because creating unique
features and communicating to customers why these features are
useful generally
raises a firm’s costs of doing business. Product development
and advertising can both be quite expensive.
However, firms that manage to implement an effective best-cost
strategy are often very successful.
Target appears to be following a best-cost strategy. The firm
charges prices that are relatively low among