As we near the end of the semester, I’m proud of my students and how much we’ve learned. It’s a learning journey full of questions, curiosity, discussion and debate. A safe place to learn.
These are 175+ questions that Emory BBA would feel comfortable answering about strategy. Perhaps more importantly, they could explain it simply and answer the follow-up question, “so what?”
Creating and capturing value, Honda
- What’s the difference between willingness-to-pay and price? Why does this matter?
- What is Henry Mintzberg (Managers not MBA author) and what’s his point of view?
- What’s the difference between a learning curve and experience curve? So what?
- What are two competing interpretations of Honda’s early success in the US?
- What are the two ways of increasing profitability?
- If you have lots of fixed costs, what’s the key to increasing profits in the short-term?
Economics and strategy?
- What’s the difference between a shift in demand and quantity demanded at a price X?
- How influences willingness-to-pay (WTP)? Why do marketers care?
- Can you explain “price elasticity of demand” to your cousin?
- What’s the difference between fixed and marginal costs? Why does that matter?
- Which company brought the mobile internet to 300+ million people in the last 5 years?
- Why would an expensive restaurant stay open even though it’s only 1/3 full?
- Why do marginal costs typically spike up dramatically with more production? So what?
- Why might an oil company drill oil at $60/barrel, even though average total cost is $70?
- Can you give me an example of price elasticity of supply, during the Covid-19 crisis?
- In the short-run, higher demand usually comes in _________, not greater supply.
- What are some of the (theoretical) conditions for a perfect market? Why does that matter?
Industry structure
- Does profitability vary much by industry? Why, why not?
- What does this phrase mean” “A strategist’s job is to cope with competition?”
- When we think about competition, who’s included? Just rivals?
- What is the Porter’s 5 forces framework useful for?
- What are 3-4 limitations of this famous framework?
- What are 5-6 elements that would discourage new entrants from entering an industry?
- What does Warren Buffet mean when he says: “economic moat?”
- What are the circumstances where your supplier would have lots of bargaining power?
- How can buyers threaten your potential profitability?
- According to Porter, what are 3 generic strategic positions?
- Why are substitutes so difficult to anticipate? Why does this matter?
- Why isn’t government or technology considered one of the “5 forces?”
- Can more than one company be successful within the same industry? How?
Financial ratios
- Aren’t there hundreds of financial ratios? How to mentally organize them?
- What are potential pitfalls when comparing ratios of different companies?
- What is return on equity (ROE) and why does it matter?
- Is a high ROE always a good thing? Why not?
- Why does the DuPont Method rock?
- What’s the difference between liquidity and solvency ratios?
- How are financial ratios like vital signs for a company?
- What’s the difference between lagging and leading indicators?
- How could unscrupulous managers “fiddle with” earnings?
- What financial and operational ratios might you look at for the airline industry?
- Two shoe companies have the same net margin, but company A has COGS of 60% and B has COGS of 30%; what does that say about their products, marketing, and strategy?
What is strategy?
- Why is operational efficiency different from strategy?
- Why do so many executives, and consultants love “best practices?”
- What’s the limitation with “best practices?” So what?
- How would you explain “strategy” to your cousin?
- What is the productivity frontier? What is the main point?
- How would you describe the airline industry structure in the 1970s?
- Why was Southwest virtuous cycle (set of activities)?
- What happened with other airlines (straddlers) tried to copy Southwest?
- Tell me a little about Herb Kelleher (founder of Southwest). . . amazing.
- Why was SuperCell (gaming company) successful?
- Can you explain the 3 generic strategic positions? (variety, needs, access-based)?
- Why do companies fail to choose / stick with a strategy? Why is strategy difficult?
Beverages industry, Coca Cola
- How are Coca Cola and Pepsi different?
- How does this duopoly not kill each other?
- What is the relationship between Coca Cola and their bottlers?
- Where are the profits in the non-alcoholic beverage value chain?
- What are the major trends in non-alcoholic beverages today?
- What new category is Coca Cola entering? So what?
- What do you think about Coca Cola’s acquisition of Costa coffee? why?
Game theory, General Motors
- How does the analogy of games apply to business?
- What is the prisoner’s dilemma? So what?
- How would you describe the Nash Equilibrium?
- What is a dominant strategy? why does that matter?
- What does it mean to understand your rival’s economics?
- What are some limitations of (or assumptions underlying) game theory?
- What are some ways to improve your “competitive readiness?”
- If you were a banker advising on a competitive bid, what are some questions you would have?
- What are 5 ways to gather competitive / market intelligence?
Resource Based View (RBV)
- What are the 5 characteristics of a “strategically valuable resource?”
- What is the implication of RBV to strategists?
- What are some potential criticisms of the RBV approach?
- What strategic analysis might pair well with RBV?
- What are the strategically valuable resources of Amazon, Walmart, Uber?
Blue Ocean Strategy, Warby Parker
- What is blue ocean strategy? Why does that matter?
- What are the pre-requisites for blue ocean strategy?
- Can incumbents create blue oceans? How?
- Does a blue ocean require technology? So what?
- What criticisms do you have of this methodology?
- Tell me about Warby Parker and their founding story.
- How would you describe Luxottica market position in eyewear?
- Why do you think a “Warby Parker-like” start up did not appear sooner?
- What are some “strategic moves” that Warby Parker used to create a blue ocean?
Vertical integration vs. virtual integration, Dell
- How would you describe vertical integration to your cousin?
- When does it make sense to pursue vertical integration?
- What are the (many) pitfalls of vertical integration? So what?
- In the US, the Dept. of Justice is more wary of horizonal integration, why?
- What were the benefits of Dell’s make-to-order supply chain?
- Why might Amazon cut ties with FedEx?
Big lie of strategic planning, Amazon
- According to Roger Martin (ex-Dean of Rotman), why is strategy a scary thing?
- What is wrong with the typical approach to strategic planning?
- What are the “comfort traps” in strategic planning? How to avoid them?
- What does Bain & Company mean by “strategy as a portfolio of options, not bonds.”
- Does Amazon have a strategy? How would you describe it?
- What does Jeff Bezos mean by “wandering in business is not efficient. . but it’s not random”?
- What does “Day 1” mean to Amazon?
- What is “commander’s intent” and how does it relate to strategy?
Evolution of strategy, Intel
- What is Moore’s law and why does it matter?
- What were Intel’s 2 major strategic inflection points?
- What was Grove’s leadership style? So what?
- What is Intel’s recipe for profits? (will-to-pay, price, cost?)
- Did Intel make any missteps in the past (or currently)?
- How is the semiconductor industry changing?
- Who is TSMC and why does that matter to Intel?
Innovation
- Difference between sustaining and disruptive innovation?
- What are the misconceptions of disruptive innovation?
- Is Uber disruptive innovation? How?
- Why is disruptive innovation difficult for incumbents?
- What are some criticisms of disruptive innovation?
- How would you explain the technology adoption lifecycle to your cousin?
- What is one approach to “cross the chasm” according to Geoffrey Moore?
- How does innovation differ from the early, mature, late stages of the industry lifecycle?
Founder’s Mentality, Narayana Health
- What is Founder’s Mentality (Bain & Co)?
- What are 3 reasons that scrappy start-ups lose their “founder’s mentality?”
- Who is Dr. Shetty and what is Narayana Heart Hospital?
- How would you describe their clinical operations and processes?
- What are the trade-offs they are making?
- Is Narayana a business or philanthropy?
- How easy is it to copy this business model elsewhere? Go global, why?
Corporate Strategy, General Electric
- What is corporate strategy? How is that different from competitive strategy?
- How does diversification potentially destroy value?
- What are the 3 tests of diversification?
- How can managers “unlock” value from M&A?
- Why do so many mergers & acquisitions fail to add value?
- What is the core competency of Southwest, Coca Cola?
- Can M&A be a core competency (read: BCG report)?
Organizational Design, P&G
- Why does organizational structure even matter?
- Why did P&G organize the US and Europe differently in the 1950s?
- In 1980s, P&G introduced category management, Why?
- Should an organization have some “constructive tension?” Why?
- What is P&G’s SuperBrand strategy? So what?
- Who is Nelson Peltz (activist investor) and his argument against P&G?
- What does A.G. Lafley think of most CEOs’ strategy?
- What is your view on A.G. Lafley’s “winning” perspective?
- What is a decision-driven organization? (MBA jargon?)
Digital Transformation, Goldman Sachs
- How would you describe Goldman Sachs 150 year history?
- Why did the firm’s revenue and income drop in 10 years?
- What did Lloyd Blankfein do to manage this decline?
- Is it a good idea to open Marquee / SIMON to competitors?
- Who is Marty Chavez? Why does that matter?
- How does Chavez distinguish between traders and coders?
- What do you think of Goldman Sach’s entry into consumer loans and credit cards?
- What does Google’s financials tell you?
- What’s the difference between AdWords and AdSense?
- How does a Vickery auction work? Why does it matter?
- What business is Google in? Who do they compete against?
- What is Google’s core competency (resource + capabilities)?
- How does Google encourage innovation?
- What is Google’s corporate strategy?
- What are the greatest challenges facing Google?
Network effects
- What are network effects?
- How is it different from virality?
- Why do you want a business with network effects?
- Are all networks similar? (Facebook vs. Twitter)?
- To what extent do you think food delivery apps have network effects?
- What is Roblox? How would you describe their network effects?
Subscription services
- What is driving the recent increase in subscription services?
- What are the benefits to companies?
- What are the benefits to customers?
- Is a subscription-based business a strategy? Why not?
- What are some key metrics to track with subscription-based business models?
- Why are subscriptions particularly important/effective with B2B purchases?
Digital payments
- What are the different kinds of digital payments and why are they growing?
- What is accelerating the adoption of digital payments in China?
- What is hindering US adoption of Alipay/TenPay/PayTM type digital payments?
- What is the likelihood, ability of US incumbent financial institutions to catch up?
- Are you bullish or bearish on Venmo, why?
- Why is Chase having so much difficulty with Chase Pay?
- If you gave Visa, MC strategy advice, what would it be?