Bba

Case Study Objectives and Discussion Questions

Week 5 Case 6: Dell Inc. in 2008

[Objectives]

Provides sufficient information for students to complete a thorough SWOT analysis and to develop a solid list of key success factors and driving forces

[Discussion questions]

1. What is your evaluation of Michael Dell's performance in his roles as Dell's CEO and Chairman? How well has he performed the five tasks of crafting and executing strategy that were discussed in Chapter 2?

2. What are the elements of Dell's strategy? Which one of the five generic competitive strategies is Dell employing? How well do the different pieces of Dell's strategy fit together? In what ways is Dell's strategy evolving?

3. Does Dell's expansion into other IT products and services make good strategic sense? Why or why not?

4. Is Dell's strategy working? What is your assessment of the financial performance that Dell's strategy has delivered during fiscal years 2000-2008? Use the financial ratios presented in Table 4.1 of Chapter 4 (pages 104-105) as a basis for doing your calculations and drawing conclusions about Dell's performance.

5. What does a SWOT analysis reveal about the attractiveness of Dell's situation in 2008?

6. Which company is competitively stronger—Dell or Hewlett-Packard? Use the weighted competitive strength assessment methodology shown in Table 4.4 of Chapter 4 to support your answer.

7. In what respects, if any, is Hewlett-Packard's strategy in PCs more appealing or better than Dell's strategy?

8. What issues and problems does Michael Dell need to address?

9. What actions and strategy changes would you recommend to Michael Dell to boost the company's performance and its prospects for overtaking HP in global sales of PCs?

Week 6 Case 14 Google's Strategy in 2008

[Objectives]

Help students to integrate industry and business level analyses.

Conduct an industry level analysis as well as a full evaluation of business level strategy.

Build students' presentation skill

[Discussion questions]

1. Discuss competition in the search industry. Which of the five competitive forces seem strongest? weakest? What is your assessment of overall industry attractiveness?

2. How is the search industry changing? What forces seem most likely to bring about major change to the industry within the next three to five years?

3. What are the key factors that define success in the industry? What are the key competencies, capabilities, and resources of successful search engine companies?

4. Describe Google's business model. What are the company's revenue-cost-profit relationships? What strategies has Google relied upon to build competitive advantage in the industry?

5. Have Google's business model and strategy proven to be successful? Should investors be impressed with the company's financial performance? How does the company's financial performance compare to that of Microsoft and Yahoo? Please conduct a financial analysis to support your position—you may wish to use the financial ratios presented in Table 1 of Chapter 4 as a guide in doing your financial analysis of the company.

6. What are the company's key resource strengths and competitive capabilities? What competitive liabilities and resource weaknesses does it have? What opportunities exist? What threats to its continued success are present?

7. What recommendations would you make to Google's top-management team to sustain its competitive advantage in the search industry? How should it best capitalize on its strategic initiatives in mobile search, cloud computing, and its auctioning system for traditional media ads?

Week 10 Case19: PepsiCo's Diversification Strategy In 2008

[Objectives]

Let students be familiar with diversification strategies.

Help students gain a stronger grasp of how to correctly apply the analytical tools covered in Chapter 8

[Discussion questions]

1. What is PepsiCo's corporate strategy? Briefly identify the business strategies that PepsiCo is using in each of its consumer business segments