# Assignments

LEC # | TOPICS / READINGS | ASSIGNMENTS
I. What is Marketing Strategy?
1 | Introduction. |
2 | Coors. Harvard Business School Case #9-388-014. | Coors was very successful through the mid-1970's. What was its strategy historically? How did Coors' operating performance change relative to its competitors between 1977 and 1985? Why? Should Coors build a brewery in Virginia? Will it be able to improve its position significantly? What, if anything, might have Coors done differently?
II. What is Finding Profit Opportunities Strategy?
3 | Prelude. Harvard Business School Case #9-373-052. | What is Prelude's strategy? Along the value chain from fishing to retailing, which is the most attractive industry? What should Prelude do?
4 | The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King. Harvard Business School Case #9-701-035. | Why has Disney been so successful? How does the Disney name contribute to each business? What should Disney do next?
5 | Nintendo & Sega. Harvard Business School Cases #9-795-102 & 9-795-103. | Nintendo successfully recreated the home video game business following the Atari-era boom and bust. How did it do so? How was Nintendo able to capture value from the home video game business? Evaluate NEC's and Sega's strategies for challenging Nintendo in the video game business.
6 | Browser Wars. Harvard Business School Case #9-798-094. | Netscape won the first round of the browser wars. What were the critical drivers of Netscape's early success? Why didn't others quickly copy the Netscape formula? Microsoft won the second round of the browser wars. Why? Why was it difficult for Netscape to respond? The market for browsers is roughly 50-50 today. Is this a stable equilibrium? How many browsers will survive in the market in the next 5 or so years? One? Two? Many? Why? What should Steve Case and AOL do with Netscape's browser going forward? What would you tell Bill Gates to do in the browser war?
III. Creating Competitive Advantage
7 | Wernerfelt, Birger. "An Efficiency Criterion for Marketing Design." |
8 | EMI and the CT-scanner (A). Harvard Business School Case #9-383-194. | What resources are needed to turn this into a profitable product? If EMI does this on its own, how should it get these resources? Make a probabilistic forecast [with prob 10% demand X10 or less, with less, with prob 50% demand X50or less, with prob 90% demand X90 or less] of world demand in 1975. Given this forecast, what should be your production capacity? Why?
9 | Nutrasweet (A-G). Harvard Business School Cases #9-794-079,?,085 (B-G given out in class). | How should Winfried Vermijs expect Nutrasweet to respond to the Holland Sweetener Company's entry into the European and Canadian aspartame markets? Specifically, how should Vermijs assess the relative likelihood of the two scenarios - price war and normal competition - he has in mind?
10 | Flightsafety (A-B). Harvard Business School Cases #9-799-113 & 9-799-114 (B given out in class). | How attractive is the aviation training industry? Why? Why had FlightSafety been successful historically in this industry? What was the contribution of Al Ueltschi to this success? What significant changes are occurring in this industry that will affect FlightSafety's future prospects? What recommendations do you have for FlightSafety management?
11 | Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Harvard Business School Case #9-794-024. | What, historically, have been Wal-Mart's key sources of competitive advantage in discount retailing? How sustainable is Wal-Mart's competitive advantage in discount retailing in 1994? What do you think of Wal-Mart's international and supercenter expansion?
12 | Mid-term Exam. |
13 | Marks and Spencer. Harvard Business School Cases #9-391-089 and 9-391-090. | Read pages 1-8 of the (A) case to understand the Marks & Spencer history and why it became so successful in the U.K. Carefully study the firm's international expansion efforts, starting on page 9 of the (A) case and continuing in the (B) case. Why has Marks & Spencer been so successful in the U.K. retailing? Why has the firm had so much trouble overseas? How will Brooks Brothers and Kings Supermarkets help them address these problems? Looking ahead, what should be the firm's priorities?
IV. Challenging Competitive Advantage
14 | Collis and Montgomery. "Resources and Rents." |
15 | Southwest Airlines (A). Harvard Business School Case #9-575-060. | Use exhibits 8 and 9 to analyze the profitability implications of different prices. You have VC/passenger=$2.80, VC/flight=$244, and estimate for Q4. FC/flight = 1842K + 204K - 2.80 * # passengers = $717 # flights Based on this, what should Muse do 2/1/73?
16 | Head Ski. Harvard Business School Case #6-313-120. | Why have they been successful? What are the potential problems? What should they do?
17 | Complaint Letters. |
18 | SAS (A). Harvard Business School Case #593-001-1. | Is Carlzon a good manager? Why the cartoons? Is decentralization good?
19 | Fox. Harvard Business School Case #9-387-096. | Is 1986 a good time to attempt to launch a fourth television network in the United States? How does Fox's approach to the creation and capture of value differ from that of the three existing networks? What do you expect the three existing networks will do in response to Fox's entry?
20 | E-trade. Stanford Case #M-286. | What is the cost difference between traditional and electronic discount brokers? How does this compare with the difference for bookstores? What recommendations would you make to e-trade?
V. Creating Corporate Advantage
21 | Collis and Montgomery. "Creating Corporate Advantage." Harvard Business Review. #98303. |
22 | Costco Companies. Harvard Business School Case #9-599-041. | Why do people shop at Costco? How does Costco make money? How would you market the new services? Is the selling of services in this way a good idea?
23 | Newell. Harvard Business School Case #N9-799-139. | Does Newell have a successful corporate-level strategy? Does the company add value to the businesses within its portfolio? If so, how? What are the company's distinctive resources? Does the acquisition of Calphalon make sense? Was the Rubbermaid acquisition a good move for Newell?
24 | Final Lecture. |
25 | Final Exam / Paper Due. |