Airborne Express (A)
HBS #9-798-070, 1998
Overview and Objectives:
Despite being only the third largest player in the express mail industry, Airborne Express has survived and prospered in an industry with significant economies of scale, even it is much smaller than giants such as Federal Express and United Parcel Service.
The Airborne Express CASE explores competitive positioning within an industry and describes Airborne and its rivals’ to understand their differences and relative strategic positions. Data is provided to explain Airborne Express’s cost advantage and other sources of advantage.
Suggested Questions:
1. How and why has the express mail industry structure evolve in recent years? How have the changes affected small competitors?
2. How has Airborne survived, and recently prospered in its industry?
3. Quantify Airborne’s sources of advantage (especially in term of costs).
4. What must Robert Brazier, Airborne’s President and COO, do in order to strengthen the company’s position?
Cirque du Soleil
HBS 2002 #9-403-006
Overview and Objectives:
Founded by a group of street performers in 1994, Cirque du Soleil gained international renown for providing unique entertainment. Cirque shows combined a blend of acrobatics, clowning, music, costumes, and scenery that evoked awe and wonder in audiences wherever the company pitched its tents. Because of this acclaim, Cirque grew and in 2002, the company oversaw eight troupes that performed before nearly a million people around the world.
The case opens with Murielle Cantin, Cirque’s casting Director, in the midst of yet another recruiting trip. Casting Cirque shows had always been difficult. Though headquartered in Montreal Canada, Cirque relied on performers drawn from all over the globe. The company’s growth means that recruiting trips needed to uncover ever-larger pools of extraordinary artists. Just to fill-in turnover in the existing casts in 2002, Cantin would have to recruit over 100 performers.
The rest of the case details how Cirque integrated and supported the artists it recruited. The company places an extraordinary emphasis on encouraging creativity and exceptional performance. But could this commitment continue with the increased demands placed on the company by growth? Could Cirque diversify into other entertainment media or even into fields quite different than entertainment?
Suggested Questions:
1. What is Cirque du Soleil’s product and strategy?
2. How has Cirque structured and supported its casts to deliver superior performance?
3. What are the challenges to Cirque’s continued growth and/or diversification?
Adolph Coors in the Brewing industry
HBS 1987 #9-388-014
Overview and Objectives:
By the mid-1980s, the US brewing industry has evolved (post-prohibition) from a local industry dominated by numerous small breweries into a national one, dominated by several very large aggressive competitors.
Adolph Coors, historically a regional player, has been critically affected by these industry changes.
Praised in the late 1970s as one of the best investment opportunities in the market, by the mid-1980s Coors’ competitive strategy seems to be coming “undone.”
While Coors’ 1985 financial results seem to imply that there may be light at the end of the tunnel, the future may not be as “rosy” as it appears. Coors faces serious competitive challenges from the major national players.
As the case ends, doing nothing is no longer an option.
The case will allow us to review and refine our skills at industry and competitive analysis, and at identifying critical economic/competitive industry drivers.
It provides an opportunity for a quantitative and qualitative analysis of competitive economics.
It also forces us to consider the determinants of the sustainability of a competitive position.
Suggested Questions:
1. How has the US brewing industry changed from prohibition through the mid 1980s? Why did the brewing industry consolidate? How have the national breweries been able to gain an upper hand over the local and regional breweries?
2. List and discuss the critical drivers (critical success factors) in the brewing industry, and how they have changed over time.
3. What factors accounted for Coors’ competitive advantages in the mid-70s? Compare Coors’ financial performance in 1977 with that of the other major breweries (Exhibit 9). What drove Coors’ competitive advantage in the mid-70s? Did Coors have a sustainable competitive position (advantages) in the mid-70s?
4. How and why did Coors’ financial performance deteriorate between the mid-70s and the mid-80s? Compare Coors’ financial performance in 1985 with that of the other major breweries. What drives Coors’ relative disadvantage vis-à-vis Anheuser Busch in 1985?
5. What went wrong at Coors? What could it have done differently? When was its last real chance to change course?
6. What are the merits and difficulties/problems of Coors’ adopting a national brewing strategy?
4-6 = HALF OF 11 THROUGH END OF 12!!!
E – Harmony
HBS 2007 #9-709-424
STRAT MAGT- Analysis of competitive advantage and Corporate strategy
Overview and Objectives:
The case puts students in the shoes of Greg Waldorf, the CEO of E-Harmony, who in late 2007 needs to decide how to respond to competitors copying the company’s unique features. E-Harmony is an on-line personals site targeting marriage-minded individuals, with a successful differentiation strategy. If offers a unique product, which combines an extensive relationship questionnaire, a patented matching system and a guided communication system. Despite charging a substantial premium for its services, E-Harmony experienced phenomenal membership growth while its competitors stalled. As a consequence, it was able to increase its paying membership base to roughly half of its largest competitors, even if it entered the market six years after they did.
The company’s strategy was replicated by its competitors. The case presents four strategic options to be considered by E-Harmony.
Suggested Questions:
1. Why do people want to meet others om-line instead of finding them in the real world?
2. How structurally attractive is the on-line personals market?
3. Does E-Harmony have a competitive advantage? If so, where does it comes from?
4. How serious is the competitive threat to E-Harmony?
5. Which one of the four options should Waldorf pursue?
Helvetic Management Consulting
The Case Centre University St Gallen, #311-021-1
STRAT MAGT: Strategy of a consulting firm in a moving environment
Overview and Objectives:
The case examines a mid-sized Swiss Management consulting firm, named “Helvetic Management Consulting” from 1977 to 2008, during a period of time where that company experiences strong challenges and a strategic renewal.
The year 2004 marks a time where the firm faces severe problems initiated by a market downturn and a resulting misfit between its positioning, management system, and ownership model and the new market environment, characterized by changing client demands and increased competition.
Between 2004 and 2007, the new Managing director initiates three major renewal activities which he implements in the face of severe internal obstacles and inertial forces. Two additional growth initiatives in 2007 and 2008 are described that should set the stage for future growth.
Suggested Questions:
1-What was the initial business model of HMC* before 2004? Identify its attributes and the reasons for its success.
2-Which challenges and issues emerge around 2004? How severe are they? If you were a partner of the firm in 2004, would you leave the firm?
3-What new strategy would you recommend for HMC?
To propose a new external strategy (product x market) and internal strategy (organizational components) please a) justify your choice, and b) indicate which method you use to select an external and internal strategy
4-What are the triggers of strategic renewal at HMC?
5-Which challenges exist for the implementation of this new external and internal strategy?
6-Which questions would you pose in a job interview to gain a better understanding of the external and internal strategy of the firm you are interested in?
*To discuss the business model, you can use the PSF Management Circle that is designed for Professional Services Firms. This framework includes the most relevant dimensions for the management of PSF: 1) external strategy; 2) professionals; 3) intellectual capital; 4) clients and projects; 5) economics; and 6) organizational context.
Netflix
HBS 2007 #9-607-138
Overview and Objectives:
Reed Hastings founded Netflix after paying a $40 late fee for an overdue rental copy of Apollo 13. His vision was to provide a home movie service that would do better job satisfying customers than the traditional rental retail model. Founded in 1997 during the emergent days of the Internet retailing, Netflix offered a web portal driven home delivery service of DVDs through the mail.
The company made then a strategy shift to a prepaid subscription model.
The reader is presented with the emergence of the Video-On-Demand VOD. Many industry observers believed that VOD posed a disruptive threat to Netflix’s core DVD rental business.
Suggested Questions:
1. Would you buy Blockbuster stock or short it at the time of the case? How about Netflix?
2. Did Netflix do the same jobs for consumer than Blockbuster did? How did this evolve over time ?
3. Compare Blockbuster’s and Netflix’s profit models. How might the differences affect the respective company’s strategies?
4. As you examine each major shift in Netflix’s strategy, what might have been an assumptions checklist that they might have used at each stage? What assumptions checklist might you use for Video-On-Demand VOD?
