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Strategic Management Assignment: Case Analysis Of Coca-Cola

Task: Strategic Management Assignment Task: You are to write a 3000-word report on the case study analysis for your identified organization by taking a role of Strategic Management Consultant.

Description Draw on the research done in the previously submitted assessments to provide strategic recommendations for your selected company.

The recommendations need to be based in research and critical analysis, be realistic and feasible, and reflect the currently available data. Outline the steps needed to achieve the outcome that you are recommending. You also need to provide a holistic analysis of the expected outcomes for your recommendations. Consider economic, social, and environmental consequences of your recommendations.

Executive Summary The company of Coca-Cola has been viewed in this strategic management assignment. Distinctive risks such as that of the lack of sustainable approaches, the lack of HR potential and high market competition have been delineated as major points of concern for the business. In retrospect to this, it is important to understand that the solutions offered in this study are centred on the scope of CSR business model integration with talent management and innovation culture to firmly establish a unidirectional strategic direction for the company. The economies of scale through complementary forces of the solution models will help the company to develop significant reproach to the risks ascribed as per environmental investigations.

1. Introduction Drawing out of the importance of the impact of the environment of businesses on the case of the strategic impacts created by companies it needs to be viewed that there is a larger level of impact which needs to be required to ensure a larger scale and scope of impact that can be created. It is important to understand that for the case of the overall scale and scope of the same, there is a need for understanding the imminent threats in the environment of a business. This helps in order for assuring a significant rate of change and impact which needs to be drawn out and engaged within.

This study will look into the case of the company of Coca-Cola through the means of a stakeholder matrix to determine the different stakeholders of the business effectively. This would help in order for assuring a significant rate of importance which can be derived and ensured through the scope of the company effectively. It is important to understand that through the case of the overall company and its stakeholders important aspects need to be revealed and understood effectively. This helps in order for understanding the significant rate and potential of efficacy which can be drawn out and engaged through the scope of the same.

This study will be looking into the creation of a risk matrix for the company of Coca-Cola. Through this matrix the risks indeed in the case of the market of the company will be identified and then enlisted. Three distinctive risks will be enlisted and three different solutions will be reported in accordance with the same. This would help in ensuring that the risks can be ligated to the largest extent.

2. Stakeholders In the case of the stakeholder matrix it can be viewed that there is a larger rate of importance that has been placed on the case of understanding the importance of stakeholders for a business. Ilinova et al. (2018), indicates that the stakeholder matrix defines a set of interest versus power ratio which different stakeholders of a company intend to have based on tier association with the overall business. In the context of this the stakeholder matrix is to be discussed with pivotal importance being placed on the different stakeholder groups of the company as has been derived from the environmental analysis.

Figure 1: Stakeholder matrix (Source: As influenced by Ilinova et al. 2018)

Drawing out of the stakeholder matrix it can be certain that this matrix helps in delineating the effective impact that can be brought around through the means of assuring a larger rate of undertaking association. The primary stakeholders of the company are the suppliers of the business, In the case of these stakeholders to be viewed that the business of Coca-Cola needs to be able to generate a greater element of information transference. This is because in the case of the stakeholders for the prospect of the company it needs to ensure that these elements are managed in close cohorts with the overall business. This helps in order for the development of effective potential which can be drawn out and ensured for functional importance to be placed.

The second group of stakeholders integral to the case of the business is that of the customers. However the previous study has revealed that in the case of the company of Coca-Cola the customers have a minimal interaction with the case of the company. Due to the nature of the product which prevailsin the market the customers are the least interested in the company and more so in the product. Thus, for the company the customers need to be monitored using the least amount of effort to assure that the company can effectively remain operational and ensure a high quality of efficacy of product delivery.

The investors of the company are the third and most elementary group of stakeholders. In the case of investors of a firm Stocker et al. (2020), defines that the power and the interest is very high. This is because the investors have a stake in the firm and have a decision making capacity which is inherent to this group as they also have the highest interest due to the case of their funds being within the scope of the company. Thus for this stakeholder group Coca-Cola needs to assure that it manages them closely and distinctly. This helps in order for the granting of a wider scope of impact that can be brought around and ensured overall.

Thus, it can be viewed that for the company there are different stakeholders who need to be engaged in the development of growth and additionally this helps in order for ensuring a larger rate of effective impact that is established on the scale and scope of the functionality of a company. This also plays a major role in ascertaining the overall company prospectus which is available to it.

Figure 2: Risk Matrix ((Source: As influenced by Marom et al. 2018)

Table 1: Risk Register (Source: Created by Author)

4. Solution 1: CSR Approach A CSR approach is highly beneficial for the case of the business of Coca-Cola overall as it can show that the resources of the company are streamlined and directed towards the creation of value for stakeholders of the business. Miao & Zhou (2020), indicates that a CSR business model allows for a company to take up proper rates of responsibility in terms of the overall market within which it is functional. For Coca-Cola this approach is beneficial as the prospect of sustainability accounting is involved and this helps in the creation of better resources which can be drawn out and engaged through the scope of the same.

Gligor-Cimpoieru et al. (2017), indicates that the impact of CSR on the case of packaging indicates that the environment and its impacts are taken into consideration for the case of the same. It can be viewed that through the scope of CSR in Coca-Cola Amatil it can be viewed that the company needs to ensure that it lays focus on the packaging of its products effectively. It is important to understand how the company has plastic packaging which is non-reusable and thus adds to the case of environmental degradation.

Wolska (2017), states that for the case of the overall impact which is to be determined there is an importance of social impacts which are required for a CSR model to have. The study of Wolska (2017), also implies that a major drawback in the case of CSR models is that these modes are often disengaging in nature and are unable to account for the necessary elements across the overall horizon of a study. Thus, it can be viewed that the company needs to use the methods of sustainability accounting and other such factors in order to ensure a larger rate and scale of impact wich can be generated and undertaken to assure that their sustainability issues are solved. The use of this method will allow the company to assess the different materials to be used for packaging within the spectrum of sustainable materials. This would allow the company to gauge which product is the most beneficial to it and allow it to ensure that it can generate a larger adherence to its strategic position. Sustainable accounting methods would also help decision making and would ensure that profits and customer and environmental value is used while ensuring election of the materials.

In terms of the overall impacts that are necessary to be engaged within it can be ascertained that for the company of Coca-Cola it is important to understand that this model will be beneficial due to the need for sustainability.Thus, the use of the method will help to ensure that Coca Cola Amatil is able to generate a significant stratified approach to environmental CSR. Additionally, the company has a strong internal procedural map and distinctively strong operational model. This implicates that corporate governance is high, thus, withdrawing the major drawback in terms of the overall potential of the study.

5. Solution 2: Talent Management In terms of the management of talent the major risk against which this is suggested is that of the risk of shortage of skilled manpower. Talent management is not a first option for any enterprise, however, like one that of Coca-Cola Amatil there is a need for assuring a larger rate of productivity which can be brought around and engaged within. As per the work of Khilji & Schuler (2017), it is implicative that a company needs to be able to generate a larger rate of potential through the means of effective system of succession planning and managing resources in definition of the overall impacts that these create. Verification of talent is important for the company. The understanding issued from this is that the company needs to analyse the potential of the employees in restricted environments and focus on skill development. This will help the company not only to acquire raw manpower at a lower rie and then generate significant human resource based assets for the company, but it will also create local employment which would help the company to build its brand reputation by increasing quality of life of the individuals.

Additionally, the impact of this system in case of the overall environment is essential to be scoped out and seen. In the company of Coca-Cola it is important to view that the company is inherently geared towards the generation of a significant impact on the environment through the employment of greater talent as this helps the company to exact its CSR strategy which is the first solution to the inherent risk which is present in case of its market. As a result it is important to understand that the company of Coca Cola needs to be able to assure that its system is aligned to the full preview of the environment of its business.

Adding onto this, appropriate talent management is beneficial for the case of the society as it adds value to the case of the already existing job which is present. TETIK (2017) indicates that for a company it can create value through the recruitment and selection of appropriate individuals who are necessary to be engaged within and ensured. It can be viewed this adds value to the case of society surrounding the company inherently.

The only drawback of this system is that it is unable to focus on the development of the community as a whole and it is unable to provide opportunity and development of skill to all the members of the surrounding community. However, this is countered by the fact that economic growth or the company added with the CSR model seriously discussed would generate a certain rate of effectiveness which can be beneficial to the growth of the surrounding community as well.

6. Solution 3: Innovation The final solution which has been spelled out for the case of the company in terms of the overallimpact rate which is created is that of generation of a larger level of potential which can be ascertained and ascribed to the context of the same. It is important to understand that through the overall potential of the study of Maier et al. (2017), it can be implicated that innovation is an essential factor which needs to be considered through the wide framework of an organisation. This helps in order for the development of out of the box solutions in the prospective scope of a business. Additionally, it can also be rendered that the element for the case of Coca-Cola creates a distinctive element of market productivity within which it can engage itself. This helps inorder for the generation of a larger rate of impact that can be ascribed and ensured for ensuring that growth is fundamentally undertaken through its overall purview

For the company innovation needs to be disruptive and socially oriented. It can be viewed that the risk to tackle is the risk of going against the CSR policies and sustainability policies which are set out. This implies that for CSR to be undertaken there is a need for enhancing the innovation scope for the company to address the issue of water shortage. Possible usage of lean management in an enhanced form and integrating it to waste management and recycling processes can be explored by Coca-Cola Amatil. This would help the company to ensure and generate a larger scope and potential of effectiveness in acutely addressing their present issues.

It is inevitably understood from the case of the overall inferences that the company needs to be able to generate a significant potency in the creation of impactful and direct approaches to the market. The management of the problems which are being faced through creative and innovative solutions such as waste management and integration of the same with lean management in water deprived areas will help the company to generate a larger rate of sustenance and brand value retention. This would help Coca-Cola Amatil to grow and maintain strategic alignment.

The need for this in the business arises from the scope and scale of importance as has been drawingoutfor implicating that the company can retain a certain rate of effectiveness which is quintessential to its overall growth.

7. Conclusion Derivative conclusions from this study are pointed out as major implications for the bread of Coca-Cola Amatil and the need for engaging in systematic integration. In terms of the overall potential to be undertaken and ensured it can be viewed that there is a need for assuring and ascribing a larger impact which can be developed and started into a system which can clear out important elements of efficiency and engage within developmental procedures that are pre-registered for the company of Coca-Cola.

This study has provided a distinctive contextual overview of the company and its systematic integrity. The risks which are defined through this study are clearly one of the global risks which Coca-Cola faces and thus the company and its work news to be pertinent to the case of developing a significant rate of impact which can be drawn out and ensured. This helps in order for assuring a larger rate of impact which can be engaged within and derive. It is impactful and necessary to ensure a higher rate of potential which can be ascribed and engaged within. This helps in delineating the overall impacts which are to be drawn out and ensured.

Additionally, it is important to understand that through the scope of the company of Coca-Cola it is necessary to offset the systems which have been recommended through the scope of this study to ascribe a larger potential rate of impact which can be drawn out. This helps in order for the generation of a larger rate of importance which needs to be defined and ensured effectively. This helps in order for the germination of a larger impact which can be created and engaged within to impact a certain level of importance which needs to be drawn out and derived overall.

Reference List Ilinova, A., Cherepovitsyn, A., &Evseeva, O. (2018). Stakeholder Management: An Approach in CCS Projects. Resources, 7(4), 83. Retrieved on, 20 May, from: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/7/4/83/pdf

Stocker, F., de Arruda, M. P., de Mascena, K. M., &Boaventura, J. M. (2020). Stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting: a classification model. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(5), 2071-2080. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/csr.1947

Marom, S., Lussier, R. N., &Sonfield, M. (2019). Entrepreneurial strategy: The relationship between firm size and levels of innovation and risk in small businesses. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 29(3), 33-45. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/download/1332/1132

Kalburan, C. and Hasiloglu, S.B., (2018). The importance of environmental attitudes towards products for sustainability and business strategies. Present Environment and Sustainable Development, (2), pp.233-246. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://ibn.idsi.md/sites/default/files/imag_file/10.2478%20-Volume12_issue_2%2018_paper.pdf

Ajina, A. S., Japutra, A., Nguyen, B., Alwi, S. F. S., & Al-Hajla, A. H. (2019).The importance of CSR initiatives in building customer support and loyalty. Strategic management assignment Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/17288/3/FullText.pdf

King, K. A., &Vaiman, V. (2019).Enabling effective talent management through a macro-contingent approach: A framework for research and practice. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 22(3), 194-206. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:dpiAAUVEnUEJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_ ylo=2017&scillfp=16667187522879508394&oi=lle

Jajja, M. S. S., Kannan, V. R., Brah, S. A., & Hassan, S. Z. (2017). Linkages between firm innovation strategy, suppliers, product innovation, and business performance. International Journal of Operations & Production Management. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1370&context=manage_facpub

Miao, Q., & Zhou, J. (2020). Corporate hypocrisy and counterproductive work behavior: A moderated mediation model of organizational identification and perceived importance of CSR. Sustainability, 12(5), 1847. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/1847/pdf

Gligor-Cimpoieru, D. C., Munteanu, V. P., Ni?u-Antonie, R. D., Schneider, A., &Preda, G. (2017). Perceptions of future employees toward CSR environmental practices in tourism. Sustainability, 9(9), 1631. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/9/1631/pdf

Wolska, G. (2017). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in theory and in practice.Selected issues. In DIEM: Dubrovnik International Economic Meeting (Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 56-65). Sveu?ilište u Dubrovniku. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/276194

Khilji, S. E., & Schuler, R. S. (2017).Talent management in the global context. The Oxford handbook of talent management, 399-420. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198758273.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780198758273-e-6

TETIK, S. (2017). Talent Management: A review of theoretical perspectives and a guideline for practioners. Nile journal of Business and Economics, 2(4), 40-56. Retrieved on, 20 May, from:http://journal.nileuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/NileJBE/article/download/77/102

Maier, D., Sven, I., Sandru, M., & Maier, A. (2017).Integrating innovation into business strategy in the context of a service-led economy. In BASIQ International conference: New Trends in Sustainable Business and Consumption (Vol. 31). Retrieved on, 20 May, from:https://basiq.ro/papers/2017/Maier.pdf

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Strategic Management Assignment: Case Analysis of Unilever

Task: Strategic Management Assignment Instructions: You are required to study the case study “Unilever’s New Global Strategy: Competing through Sustainability” and attempt the tasks below:

(Task - A) Drawing on the functional areas of management (HRM, Marketing and Finance) and using the quantitative and qualitative data provided in the case study, conduct an internal analysis on the company. Justify your response. (Approximately 500 words)

(Task - B) Using relevant models, critically discuss the impact of external forces on the company. Critically evaluate the structure of its industry and discuss the implications for the company. (Approximately 500 words)

(Task - C) As a change consultant, what interventions would you have implemented within Unilever to mitigate the impact of economic factors? (Approximately 750 words)

(Task - D) Consider a scenario in which you were called upon to participate as a change agent in a strategic change management program. Critically reflect upon your experience in overcoming blockers and capitalizing on facilitators of change. To what extent do you agree that reflective learning is a means of enhancing one’s leadership ability in the context of change management? Justify your analysis by using theory.

Task A: Company background statement and internal analysis Overview of the company Unilever is a globally renowned company that manufactures and sells consumer-related goods such products related to personal care, beverages and cleaning. The company was initiated in 1929 as a result of a merger between a soap maker and a margarine producer. Unilever is dual-listed in the stock market that consists of Unilever PLC in London and Unilever NV in Rotterdam(Unilever, 2015).The purpose of the company is to make a commonplace for sustainable living, and thus it emphasizes on features that makes theproduct of the company gain a competitive edge. The business of Unilever makes massive upfront investments that are possible to be recouped only in the longer term, and this is the company's unique business strategy. However, this strategy of the company has brought a complex set of challenges despite the company delivering its financial expectations along with social and environmental commitments. The main challenge is regarding the ability of the company to continue with its delicate balancing measures even in the future. The CEO of Unilever, Polman, considered the progress of USLP (Unilever Sustainable Living Plan) as to be satisfactory, but there was a level of limitation in such approach, and thus the management of the company understood the requirement of bigger initiatives to meet its target of water usage and GHG.

Analysis of Unilever’s microenvironment (Internal Analysis) Marketing : The marketing strategy of Unilever gained tremendous prominence as everyone became familiar with the company's marketing of Lifebuoy that achieved tremendous success. In addition to that, Unilever assigned leaders for each of the seven pillars of its USLP as a part of its marketing strategy. The company recently recruited Marc Mathieu as the company’s Senior Vice President of marketing and he started a program called CB4L (Crafting Brands for Life); and the main objective of this marketing campaign was to successfully link the company's brand strategy to the principles of USLP (Thomas and Hirani, 2018). The CB4L consisted of three principles, with the first principle being putting people first, the second principle was to build "brand love," and the third or the last principle was to unlock magic along with logic in execution.

HRM : Human resource refers to the art of managing the employees or workforce of a company in such a way that it helps the company to achieve its goals (Inc, 2018). In the context of Unilever, the company’s HRM plays a crucial role in terms of recruiting and managing the best talents available in the market. The HRM of the company continuously strives to improve the resources of the company so that the company can deliver the best possible results in terms of the market competition. Overall, the HRM of Unilever creates a sustainable value in its business operation, which is also an important aspect of its resource management.

Finance : The financial analysis of the company demonstrates that the financial performance of the company has shown a 2.9% sales growth in 2015, which is the lowest for the company in the decade. The decline in sales results was due to depressed growth in the shrinking demand in emerging markets, and the company is not expecting any significant improvements in the market conditions.

Task B: Macro environment analysis of the company PESTLE analysis Politica l: Unilever has to follow the regulations set by government to follow the product standards. As the company works with different product division, it needs to follow the regulation for each product division to ensure that the product quality and the business process are abided by law. In such case, support of government is a great thing.The extensive support from the UN is a major growth opportunity for Unilever as the CEO of Unilever was invited to join the UN global compact and to be a part of post-2015 development. The support from the government is a major strength for the company to carry out its operations successfully. The sustainability policy of the company and partnership with NGOs and government is a political strength for the company to align with its strategy. Most of the countries where Unilever works are politically stable. The strict trade reforms of US are a threat factor for Unilever that may bring potential challenges.

Economic : The increasing disposable income of consumers is one of the biggest opportunities for consumer goods industry because the disposable income increases the demand of the consumer goods. It is beneficial for Unilever to extend its product line and to enhance the sales of existing products. Economic stability in the developed countries is good, which ensures good opportunities for the company. The increasing wages may add additional costs for the manufacturing of products, which may reduce the amount of profit for the industry as well as for Unilever.

Social : The actions undertaken by organizations form consumer goods industry reflect their image in front of stakeholders, specially the CSR activities.Unilever has undertaken numerous social campaigns and activities to raise social awareness and to reflect on specific issues. Some of the products such as Lifebuoy is promoted such a way that it presents a specific concern towards the society (handwashing practice by Lifebuoy).

Technological : The consumer goods industry tends to adopt newer technologies to enhance the manufacturing activities and other business areas. The use of technology in most of the business areas is common for the consumer goods industry.The increasing automation in the manufacturing and other activities of the business is a technological strength for the company, and it is also encouraging potential investments for R&D. The cost of transportation is also decreased, which reduced the overall cost of business, and it is possible because of technological efficiencies.

Legal : The legal policies adopted by consumer goods industry and legislation followed differs from one country to others, so following the legislation in a country is important for an entity to carry out the business activities successfully.The policies of Unilever showed special concern toward the environment, which is an opportunity for the company to meet the need of environmental regulations of the countries where it has operated. The CSR of the company, namely brand imprint, guides to make each brand of Unilever socially responsible and abide by adequate legislation.

Environmental : The concern related to environment is more for consumer goods industry, as it involves in manufacturing activities that may lead to harmful consequences. The organizations from the industry implementing several environmental based strategies to male their business activities more sustainable.Unilever aims to reduce its environmental footprint in its business operations, so it has undertaken several environmental-related policies to minimize the harm to the environment.

Porter's five forces model Competitive rivalry : The competition within the industry is strong for Unilever because there are more firms providing similar products and the low switching cost is another threat for the company, which is because of strong competition in the market. Competitors such as Nestle and P&G are major rivals in the market.

Bargaining power of customers : The power of bargaining for customers is also high for Unilever because the customers have the choice to select similar products provided by other competitors in the market, and the switching cost is very low. The information available for the customers about other products is also a threat factor for the company.

Bargaining power of suppliers : The suppliers' power is somehow moderate because the availability of suppliers cannot provide a chance to implement intense force by the suppliers. The partner-to-win strategy of Unilever is an example of its strength over the supply network.

Substitution threat : The cost factor is a threat for Unilever in terms of substitution, but the low availability of substitute products acts as a strong force for the company. The low performance and low customer satisfaction of substitute products increase the chance of the company to develop a strong brand presence.

New entry threat : The threat of new entry is low for Unilever because the brand development cost is high. The economies of scale and competitive advantage for Unilever are high in the market, which will be a disadvantage for new firms.

Task C: Identification of Unilever’s best strategic intervention ANSOFF Matrix Market development : This strategy helps the company to enter new geographical segments based on its desire to expand the business operation. Unilever predominantly aims at staying in the local market, but at the same time, the company keeps on developing new strategies for the market (Khankasi, 2020). Over the years, the company has enjoyed continuous success in the European market, and based n its success, Unilever has implemented market development plans for the American and Asian markets so that the business of the company continues to grow, and this has primarily been developed by the company by considering the diverse customer base.

Diversification : Unilever has adopted a diversification strategy based on various unrelated and related means of diversification. The company indulges in ownership and acquisition of various subsidiaries based on unrelated diversification. Some prominent examples of unrelated diversification of Unilever are Dermalogica, Tatcha LLC, and Seventh Generation that are mainly based on the cosmetics and beauty industry (Khankasi, 2020). On the other hand, in terms of related diversification, the company has been consistently increasing its product line. Over the years, various units of businesses have been developed for achieving related diversification, such as refreshment brands, dairy brands, and food brands.

Product development : The concept of product development is linked to creativity and innovation, and thus it focuses on the company regularly improving the products or coming up with new products for the customers. Unilever has efficiently understood the necessity of improving the line of products along with regularly developing new products so that various segments of the customers can be attracted (Khankasi, 2020). Over the years, the company has achieved major benefits from its diverse customer base, and this has been made possible by a wide range of product offerings. Overall, the strategy of product development has kept the company on the path to success as this strategy has been regularly providing the customers with new and improved products.

Market penetration : The strategy of market penetration has been implemented by Unilever for achieving tremendous success in the company. After introducing a new product in the market, Unilever sells it with the intention of market penetration (Khankasi, 2020). The company does not emphasize selling its products to few customers and accordingly moves it to the next market. Unilever emphasizes economies of scale, and this has been a major reason for the company’s success. However, this strategy has sometimes resulted in product failure as well.

Porter’s generic approach Unilever uses the generic strategy of broad differentiation to gain a competitive advantage. The main emphasis of Unilever's broad diversification strategy is to make its products stand out against the competitors by improving and developing products. For example, the company produces Dove cream bars for attracting and satisfying the customers' needs as a form of soap that is harsh on the skin or dry (Young, 2016). Thus, despite the fact that the company's products have higher selling prices, Unilever is still able to achieve competitive advantage because the ability of its products to stand out against competitors. In addition to that, the broad diversification strategy attracts the consumers with products that have specifically designed to their unique needs. However, this strategy also fails sometimes as there some people who looks for product at a cheaper price and thus compares the products of various companies and accordingly choose the best products for them. The broad diversification strategy of Unilever aligns with the company's mission and vision statement that thrives to support the global sustainability along with increasing the vitality of consumers' lives. Unilever's strategic objective based on the differentiation strategy is to ensure that the company grows through intensive efforts based on the development of products. This objective of the company emphasizes developing products that can stand out in the tremendous market competition and successfully attract customers.

The main concern for Unilever in its generic strategy of broad differentiation is based on the fact that there is a potential of some consumers being not happy with their pricing, and thus this may result in the company missing out on those sections of the consumers. Overall, the broad differentiation strategy has enabled the company to achieve a competitive advantage by a massive extent, and the results are reflected in its strong financial performance in the market of consumer goods. In the future, the company wants to keep improving its line of products and further diversify its product portfolio so that the factor of sustainability remains intact.

Task D: Change management Use of change management model The change related to environmental and social goals is one of the key factors for Unilever; the change management process needs to be followed based on specific steps to implement successful change. For Unilever and its change related to environmental policies with external partnerships, Lewin's change management process is discussed below to show the steps that Unilever needs to undertaken while implementing change.

1. Unfreezing : It is the first stage in the process of change management that makes the internal stakeholders aware of the specific change and its benefits. At this stage, the key employees who need to be related to the specific change are motivated about the positive outcomes of the change (Cummings, Bridgman, and Brown, 2015). For example, the involvement of external partners for the environmental initiatives at Unilever, the internal stakeholders need to be well communicated about the change initiatives and their benefits. At this stage, the role of effective communication is important to ensure that the message is well communicated to each target group and its members. Before implementing the change, it is important to unfreeze the existing situation of the organization where the change is going to take place. The unfreezing stage helps to reflect on the existing flaws and key areas of consideration that should be counted as major areas of concern while implementing the change. The unfreezing stage is important; the change in the organization may bring expected change in group behavior, so it needs to be tackled earlier.

2. Change : At this stage, the actual change is implemented, and it is undertaken in several steps. The key thing that needs to be considered for this stage is effective communication, strategic planning, encouraging the individuals involved in the change, and risk planning to address the expected risk during change implementation (Hussain et al., 2016). While implementing change related to the environmental policy of Unilever, the key things need to be considered for better implementation of change and to manage the risks. At this stage, there are many unexpected risks that may occur, but the implementation of an on-time and effective strategy is crucial to mitigate those risks.

3. Refreezing : It is the last stage in the process, and at this stage, the employees and individuals who are related to the change work as per the implemented change (Burnes, 2019). The ultimate success of implemented change is calculated at the refreezing stage because it depicts whether the employees are able to accept the change or not. To encourage the employees towards the change, they need to be rewarded as it is a strategy to reinforce and strengthen the behavior.

Figure 1: Breakdown of Lewin’s change model Source: (Hussain et al., 2016)

Gibbs’ reflective cycle There are six stages in Gibbs' reflective cycle, and in the present context, using the cycle, the relationship between leadership ability and reflective learning is shown based on change management.

1. Description : A leader needs to describe the situation in detail to make others realize the importance of specific change. What, why, how, when, the answers to all these questions should find out by the leader to implement the change effectively (Adeani, Febriani, and Syafryadin, 2020).

2. Feelings : The thoughts and feelings of the leaders need to be clearly communicated with the subordinates to ensure they get a clear representation of the leader's perspectives. The ideas that are represented by the leaders show the effective communication skill of the leader, which is a key part of change management.

3. Evaluation : The leader needs to focus on both positive and negative aspects of the change initiative and should plan for ways to minimize the negative impact on the change.

4. Analysis : The detailed analysis of the situation is important for a leader (Wain, 2017). Detail analysis of the leader reflects the analytical skill of the individual, which is a crucial thing for the change management process.

5. Conclusion : The summarization of the key learning is important. The key learnings are the importance of selecting an adequate change management process, the importance of selecting growth strategies, analysis of the macro environment of business, and alignment of strategies with company objectives.

6. Action plan : In a similar situation, as a leader, one needs to focus on the current situation of the company, whether the company is ready to accept the change or not.

Figure 2: Gibbs’ Reflective cycle Source: (Wain, 2017)

References Adeani, I.S., Febriani, R.B. and Syafryadin, S. (2020). USING GIBBS’ REFLECTIVE CYCLE IN MAKING REFLECTIONS OF LITERARY ANALYSIS.Indonesian EFL Journal, [online] 6(2), p.139. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Syafryadin-Syafryadin/publication/343599316_Using_GIBBS%27_reflective_cycle_in_making_reflections_of_literary_analysis /links/5f335a50a6fdcccc43c20399/Using-GIBBS-reflective-cycle-in-making- reflections-of-literary-analysis.pdf [Accessed 19 Jul. 2021].

Burnes, B. (2019). The Origins of Lewin’s Three-Step Model of Change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, [online] 56(1), pp.32–59. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0021886319892685 [Accessed 19 Jul. 2021].

Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. and Brown, K.G. (2015). Unfreezing Change as Three steps: Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s Legacy for Change Management. Human Relations, [online] 69(1), pp.33–60. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0018726715577707 [Accessed 17 Jul. 2021].

Hussain, S.T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M.J., Hussain, S.H. and Ali, M. (2016). Kurt Lewin’s Change model: a Critical Review of the Role of Leadership and Employee Involvement in Organizational Change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, [online] 3(3), pp.123–127. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X16300087 [Accessed 19 Jul. 2021].

Inc (2018).Human Resource Management. [online] Inc.com. Available at: https://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/human-resource-management.html [Accessed 20 Jul. 2021].

Khankasi, A. (2020). Ansoff Matrix for Unilever. [online] Ansoff Matrix. Available at: https://ansoffs.com/ansoff-matrix-for-unilever/ [Accessed 20 Jul. 2021].

Thomas, T.K. and Hirani, A. (2018).It’s all about finding the truth, sharing it. [online] @businessline. Available at: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/its-all-about-finding-the-truth-sharing-it/article7202095.ece [Accessed 20 Jul. 2021].

Unilever (2015).The Formation of Unilever. [online] unilever.co.uk. Available at: https://www.unilever.co.uk/Images/the-formation-of-unilever_tcm1252-520314_en.pdf [Accessed 20 Jul. 2021].

Wain, A. (2017). learning through reflection. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320342913_Learning_through_reflection [Accessed 19 Jul. 2021].

Young, J. (2016). Unilever’s Generic Strategy & Intensive Growth Strategies. [online] Panmore Institute. Available at: http://panmore.com/unilever-generic-strategy-intensive-growth-strategies#:~:text=thereby%20supporting%20growth.- [Accessed 20 Jul. 2021].

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Nike Strategic Management: The Case Study Essay

Introduction, marketing environment and success strategy, drivers to superior performance, strategic management tools, marketing strategy and international markets, competitive advantage and value creation.

Nike Inc. is an international company based in the United States, which deals with sportswear and other apparels. The company is ranked as the top seller of sports shoe and clothing. Nike was started in 1964 by Bill Bowerman and was originally called Blue Ribbon Sports, but was later changed to Nike in 1978. During that time, its main goal was to produce low cost, high quality shoes for Americans to break Germans control over domestic trade (Nike, Inc., 2009).

Today, Nike not only distributes its products domestically, but also all around the globe. It has market regions in continents such as Asia, Europe, and United States. Besides, Nike has produced many brands such as Nike Skateboarding and Nike Pro. This paper focuses on the Nike Company and the strategic methods and tools that have led to its superior performance.

According to Peters (2009), Nike produces a wide range of products, which are categorized according to their relevant sports. Nike’s first products were track shoes, which were meant for running: the company has managed to design and produce shoes for different games such as baseball, hockey, football, basketball and Cricket.

This is due to the ever-increasing number of customers favoring the company’s products. The latest product that has been produced is the Cricket shoe named as air zoom Yorker (Nike, Inc., 2009). Air Zoom Yorker is better because it is 30% lighter as compared to the one designed by Reebok. Another new product is air Jordan XX3, which is meant for basketball.

Additionally, as a company that relies on collaborative marketing, Nike together with Apple Inc. has designed a product that is able to check runner’s performance through a radio device, which is placed inside the shoe and is connected with the iPod nano. Nike has also produced shoes that contain flywire and lunarlite foam meant to make the shoe lighter.

The Nike+sports brand records the mileage, lost calories, and time used. According to Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, and Lampel (2005), product differentiation and market segmentation form the basis for strategic management in marketing. In this light, meeting customers’ demands has been the strategic objective in Nike’s plan.

Dess and Alan (2006) affirm that the marketing strategy used by Nike is an essential element for its success. It has enticed its customers through advertising with a slogan ‘Just Do It’. Nike has also teamed up with athlete celebrities through sponsorship agreements. It has many elements of advertising such as advertising through television.

The first advert was created by Wieden and Kennedy at New York marathons. Similarly, Nike has also won Emmy Awards for commercial advert. The advert that won the award was based on what an athlete could face if there was Y2K realization on 1 January 2000.

The second commercial advert was called ‘move’, which marked the famous athletes. In product promotions, Nike pays players to wear their products such as t-shirts, shoes and shorts in order to advertise them. Such players include Michael Jordan, and through him, the promotion has boosted Nike’s publicity and sales. It also sponsors many football clubs in Brazil, Netherlands and United States.

Golf players like Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie have also benefited from the sponsorships. Nike also sponsors high school basketball and has developed websites for various sports such as nikerunning.com (Johnson & Scholes, 2008).

However, Nike has faced a tough competition in the market with companies such as Reebok and Adidas, which sell the same products as it does. Reebok has many female consumers, but has a weakness of poor marketing as compared to Nike. It does not always advertise its products on Televisions as compared to other Companies. Nike has tried to capture a big market share of female customers by sponsoring Women’s world cup football, which was held in 1999.

Nike has used the five forces model of competition that determines the industry structure. This model has helped it to deal with external forces such as, new entrants in the market, alternative products or services, bargaining influence of suppliers and buyers and competition and enmity among other competitors (Berman & Evans, 2006).

Onkvisit and Shaw (2004) argues that the risk of new entrants has been a threat to Nike since there are other firms in the clothing and shoe industry that have a potential to produce sportswear shoes and clothes if given a choice. Entry of new entrants has affected the prices because Nike has lowered some of its product costs.

However, the threat has been minimized by government regulations and brand loyalty. Further, Nike avoids extreme rivalry among other competitors because it is a risk to profitability rates. Nike, Inc. considers the bargaining power of the buyers as a threat because strong buyers have the power to lower the products prices and hence raise costs. The buyers are capable of buying in huge quantities and therefore getting a lot of profit while the firm suffers loss (Lynch, 2006).

The company has balanced its products productions and costs to minimize the bargaining power of buyers. Nike has also been able to cope with the bargaining power of suppliers, which poses a threat because the suppliers have power to increase the prices on raw materials. Nike has reliable suppliers who inform the management first upon the increase of costs of raw materials.

Nike has common drivers that produce superior performance. These drivers include people management, which entails realization of the potential of the employees either in groups or in an individual level. The company has come up with a strategy of upholding fairness among the employees, communication and caring for employees (Nike, Inc. 2009).

Through communication, the company ensures that there is a flow of information between the top, middle and higher levels to ensure that every employee’s contribution is taken into consideration. Nike, Inc. also motivates the employees by giving them incentives and rewards to build commitment to promote the organization.

People development enables employees to utilize their potentials and fully contribute to the organization’s goal realization. Rewards and recognitions motivate employees to give their best performance and strive to excel through continuous improvement (Berman & Evans, 2006). Furthermore, Nike has authorized the customer liaison manager to replace customer’s products in case of a complaint. The manager can make decisions without consulting the management.

Johnson and Scholes (2008) assert that leadership is another driver to superior performance, and it entails transforming the organizations direction and instigating others to follow. Leadership is paramount in Nike’s strategic management. Leaders have a stake in realization of the vision, mission and objectives of an organization because they ensure that other employees follow the organizations values. Leadership is developed at top, middle and lower levels in the organization.

Continuous improvement is another driver, which is activated by both customers and employees. In this case, there is feedback from the customers and from the employees and hence customer’s needs are met. Organizations’ processes are improved because customers provide their needs and the employees act and produce products according to customer’s specifications – all the stakeholders gain improvement benefits (Joshi, 2005).

Similarly, customer focus is a driver where a relationship with customers is an important issue. This entails assessing customer’s perceptions about products and acting on their response as soon as they raise an issue of concern about a product. Close relationships with customers benefits all the stakeholders involved. Nike has also employed process focus as a driver for performance improvement. The system performance has to meet the set objectives since it is a key technique (Nike, Inc., 2009).

Another important driver to performance is collaborating with suppliers. This entails relationships between the organization and the suppliers (Lynch, 2006). Nike has recognized suppliers as key for the organization to achieve shared goals while also sharing expertise and knowledge.

Improving on processes allows working with suppliers to share resources and improve performance. Nike applies various communication strategies within all its stakeholders to encourage openness and reliance. When communication flows through all the levels in the organization, it makes it easy for the employee’s ideas to be taken into consideration.

Stimulating innovation and creativity is another driver that has supported Nike to build up competitive products and services. This has been achieved by modifying the organization structure and being involved with product improvement activities. Nike has also managed its assets and resources to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. Protection of its properties maximizes customer’s value (Mark, 2000).

Onkvisit and Shaw (2004) concurs that measuring performance and benchmarking is another driver that Nike uses for superior performance. By utilizing a balanced score card, it has been able to measure process improvements alongside with the organizations objectives.

The company also monitors performance in other organizations and collect information from existing and future stakeholders. It uses the information to plan for the future, set targets to be achieved within a certain period, and get unique ideas on improvements from other organizations.

Furthermore, Nike employs corporate social responsibility as a driver to superior performance as well as interacting with the society representative. A good example of this is boosting children’s games in the community by sponsoring their sports and provision of uniforms that has Nike’s logo (Nike, Inc., 2009).

Strategic management is a technique that Nike, Inc. has been able to apply to determine how it is performing in its current position and how its future should be. This has greatly helped the managers to lay a plan for the organization and take it where they want it to be. The management employs strategic management components such as vision, environmental analysis, strategy creation, strategy implementation, and strategy assessment (Nike, Inc., 2009).

Nike has set business plans through strategic management in order to assess its business areas. It is a process which managers build strategies to get better results in performance. This involves studying the competitors’ techniques, both in the current and future. The Company has utilized strategic management tools which have supported it to examine itself in the present and perceive how its future will be. Strategic management acts as a road map to show managers the best direction to follow for the organization to be where it is supposed to be (Lynch, 2006). The tools employed for strategic management include mission statement, SWOT analysis, SMART goals and benchmarking.

Mission statements help to make clear how the organization is observed and how it will be perceived in the future. The organization reflects on how it will be different from other competitors like Reebok in the market place. SWOT analysis has been applied to find out the organizations strengths, weaknesses, prospects and risks.

Berman and Evans (2006) affirm that this has supported the organization to take advantage of its strengths and reduce the impact of its weaknesses. SWOT analysis has assisted the management to consider other external factors such as new openings and risks to be avoided.

SMART goals ensure that the goals and objectives laid down are specific, assessable, achievable, appropriate, and timely. SMART goals are essential for Nike’s management because they have enabled the company to get rid of frustrations due to unrealistic goals. The management has been specific to establish whether the set goals have been met.

Measuring enables the management team to gauge whether they are about to reach their goals and if not close to the goals, how much time and work is remaining in order to get there (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, & Lampel, 2005).

Benchmarking is another tool that is employed to scrutinize and adapt to the best processes from other organizations around the globe. As explained earlier, managers have been able to improve the organizations performance to meet its goals and to be at the competitive edge over its competitors.

Other techniques that have been used in project management include program evaluations; this helps the company to evaluate a project from start to end. This has supported the management to ascertain the time left to for the completion of the projects. Nike utilizes these projects and programs to reach its goals and achieve its objectives.

The Company uses break even analysis technique to decide on the number of products to sell to break even and grow to be profitable. Lynch (2006) says that game theory is applied in the market to conclude how the customers will react and it does this either through increase in prices or introduction of new products.

Financial control techniques like budgets, audits, and financial breakdown are efficient in controlling and balancing the cost of business. Budgets are employed to manage the organizations income and expenditure as well as allocation of resources to different activities and projects.

Nike has many strategic management techniques organized in steps to achieve the laid down goals and objectives. First, environmental scanning is a process that the company employs to collect information from both internal and external environments that has power to influence the organization. This is meant for improving the processes through analyzing competitors, employees, products, and suppliers (Mark, 2000).

After analyzing the environment, strategy formulation is the next step where Nike management takes the best plan among many to accomplish organizational goals and objectives. Through this stage the managers set strategies for business and functional policies. Strategy implementation is taking the best plan and implementing it (Berman & Evans, 2006). Organization structure is devised in this step together with the allocation of resources, hiring of human resource and coming up with a clear decision making process.

Strategy evaluation is the last step where the strategy implemented is assessed to determine whether it is performing well and if it has deviated, and that the best corrective actions are taken. The purpose for the evaluation is to make sure that that the organization goals are met.

In light of this, Nike has been on the global market and has gained competitive advantage on the market. Its marketing managers keep on analyzing the global industries and how competition keeps changing. Trade is increasingly becoming global because of improvement in transport and communication. Nike’s consumers have been able to have access to a wide range of products in their countries. Nike started exporting its products in small amounts, but later increased and reached the export stage. It got more and more foreign orders until it was able to export its products all over the world (Nike, Inc., 2009).

Nike has stayed at international market for a long time and it applies many techniques such as adding new brands. Nike keeps on adding new products such as sports shoe and clothes. The information about the new product is posted on the website (nike.com) where consumers can read. Joshi (2005) asserts that through advertising of the new product, Nike gains an increase in sales because this has brought in new customers who have never bought the current products.

The existing customers have had a variety of the products to choose. Nike combines the new brand and the old ones into an exceptional package as an offer. Nike has also become a valuable resource to its customers by giving them free information about the products. They have assisted their customers to easily get services, fast deliveries, and at low costs.

The company is unique since it produces exclusive and best quality products. They have also promoted the end result of products by telling the consumers about the benefits they will get when they choose to use the products. Nike keeps on changing its marketing strategies due to other aggressive and innovative rivals like Puma, Reebok, and Adidas (Peters, 2009).

Nike’s brands have turn out to be to be very strong as compared to others such as Reebok and Puma. Their secret is brand management because despite selling their products at a higher price, consumers are still willing to pay more money for its brands which are believed to be of high quality with different styles. Due to the strong brand competitive advantage, Nike has been able to increase its market share all over the globe. Its prices are a bit high as compared to other competitors but it has made many sales than those of its competitors.

Nike, Inc. has gained a competitive advantage over its rivals. This is achieved through giving consumers a greater value and offering high quality products. The company has devised superior value over other competitors. Nike, Inc. uses Michael Porters strategies for competitive advantage such as cost leadership, focus, and differentiation (Johnson & Scholes, 2008).

The reason why Nike, Inc. has gained a competitive advantage over other companies is that it undertakes an evaluation process, which involves evaluation of resources, clarification of goals, defining customers and examining competitors.

In evaluation of resources, the company relies on the resources available and plans on how to use them through product offering and resources. In goals clarification, Nike plans on how to achieve its goals and objectives. Defining customer’s strategy entails looking at the products and services that the plans to develop, and is not provided by the other competitors.

This assists Nike, Inc. to determine and communicate to its customers in order to understand their needs and get additional suggestions from them. Examination of competitors helps to identify other ventures targeting a particular market. Through this, Nike compares its strengths and weaknesses with the other competitors (Nike, Inc., 2009).

In this regard, there are many techniques used to achieve a competitive advantage. These techniques include product differentiation, service differentiation, people differentiation, image differentiation, quality differentiation, and innovation differentiation (Lynch, 2006). Product differentiation implies that Nike has a wide range of products. Other competitors have tried to imitate its products but it remains upfront due to its quality and the products are different in styles and consistency.

Peters (2009) argues that in service differentiation, Nike, Inc. offers additional services such as delivery and product return services. This extra service is the one that consumers are after. Information and other instructions about the products are also extra services that attract customers.

People differentiation entails hiring result oriented employees who are better than those in other rival companies. Because employees are intangibles, it is difficult to imitate them as in the case of tangibles. Training employees and paying attention to their needs gives Nike Inc. a competitive advantage.

Employees such as production staff produce quality products, and it is hard for the competitor to know that the competitive advantage is due to employees’ improvement. The competitor may think that the competitive advantage is due to equipments and materials. People differentiation is essential when customers are directly served by the employees. The way employees handle a customer at first time determines whether he will return another time (Berman & Evans, 2006).

Image differentiation is another technique that has been applied by Nike to differentiate its brand image from other competitors. A negative image can destroy the company’s image within a short time. As Nike undertakes many activities, it supports its image because the “Nike” mark symbolizes good, and it is easy to identify. In quality differentiation, Nike sells high quality products to its customers. Innovation differentiation entails process innovation.

Process innovations reduce the costs of production and the competitors may take time to discover what the company is doing to gain competitive advantage (Nike, Inc., 2009). Nike strives to sustain its competitive advantage because it is not long lasting. This sustainability is achieved through giving value to customers, creation of non-imitable products, which may not be copied by its rivals, and production of products that cannot customers cannot substitute easily.

In selecting a competitive advantage, Nike, Inc. selects ways of making products that competitors cannot imitate easily because the management understands what its customers needs are.

The company has realized that variety is totally different from differentiation. Nike has strived to stay at the competitive edge because of its efforts and strategies. It has faced many challenges since other competitors have tried to copy it through successful advantages for their business in the dynamic market place. Thus, establishing the market edge is important as well as maintaining it (Mark, 2000).

There are many ways that Nike has attracted its customers for value creation. Customer incentive programs are one of the successful programs within the organisation (Nike, Inc., 2009). Nike offers give away to customers, tickets, sales, sponsorships and discounts. Nike sponsors many players in different sports.

Such players who have benefited from sponsorships include; James Blake and Roger Federer. It also sponsored Indian cricket team for a period of five years and national soccer clubs in countries like India, Netherlands and Malaysia. Top golfers like Tiger woods and Lucas Glover has also benefited from Nike’s sponsorships.

Moreover, Nike has retained both traditional and non-traditional methods of distribution in over 100 companies, but it focuses more on its primary market regions. Apart from product diversification, Nike has diversified supply chain and manufacturing due to international economic crises and other risks. It has many contracted suppliers outside the United States, including Vietnam and Thailand. There are other contractors who manufacture its products in over 35 countries.

In the year 2003, China manufactured 38%, Indonesia 27%, Vietnam 18% and Thailand 16%, while the rest was manufactured by other countries. This has enabled Nike to make large amount of sales. Supplier diversity has also increased its competitiveness in the market and it continues to contract more suppliers in many countries because it believes that supplier relationship is vital.

Nike Inc has also employed value creation as a management goal. Creating value for consumers has increased sales as well as the shareholders through the increase in stock price. Value creation is characterized by brands, people and innovation (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, & Lampel, 2005). Nike, Inc. has prioritized value creation in its decision-making. This has helped the managers to know where and how to build the companies capability to attain profitable and lasting growth.

Mark (2000) agrees that through value creation, the company has been able to understand the basis and drivers of value creation in the business and market place. They have realized that the consumers value high quality and timely delivery of products and so the processes that lead to the delivery of high quality products are greatly valued. Some of the customers have valued innovation and so the processes involved in creation of new products are also highly valued.

Value creation also entails product and process innovation as well as knowing the consumers needs. Nike, Inc. has also realized that value for employees is essential since they feel motivated and work hard to produce better results. Therefore, proper treatment of the employees and involving them in decision-making creates value.

Nike has awarded and promoted managers who have defeated the other competitors like Puma in value creation. In this case the managers have positioned capital better than the other competitors. Nike has gained an advantage in developing the organizations ability to get more profits and future growth.

Other companies that have achieved the benefits of value creation are Coca-Cola and the Lloyds banks. These companies applied value creation as a technique and have realized growth and increase in their profitability. In acquisitions, Nike has acquired Upscale Footwear Company, surf apparel company, Hurley international and converse Inc. It has sold some of its subsidiaries such as Bauer Hockey and Starter (Nike, Inc., 2009).

Nike, Inc. has achieved its superior performance, mostly through competitive positioning and value creation. This has been achieved through advertising, brand name recognition, product innovation, and striving to be at the competitive edge despite having a stiff competition.

Nike employs many strategies and techniques such as strategic management tools and models, product differentiation, and proper distribution channels. Many consumers have realized the uniqueness of their products and recognize them through the trade name ‘Just Do it’ and Swoosh Logo. They have maintained customers because of their high quality products and unique marketing strategies.

Berman, B. and Evans, J. (2006), Retail Management, A strategic Approach , London: Prentice Hall.

Dess, G. L. and Alan, B. E. (2006), Strategic Management: Text and Cases. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

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Joshi, R. M. (2005), International Marketing , New York: Oxford University Press

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I denne longitudinelle undersokinga studerer vi den norskspraklege utviklinga innanfor ordforrad, morfologi og syntaks hos to fleirspraklege barn som starta a laere norsk i barnehagen. Det finst fa empiriske studiar av barn som veks opp i ein slik spraklaeringssituasjon, og eit av foremala med undersokinga er a skaffe fram empirisk basert kunnskap om korleis grammatikken i andrespraket, i dette tilfelle norsk, veks fram hos denne gruppa sprakinnlaerarar. Det er ogsa eit mal a utforske kva for metodar som eignar seg til a fange utviklinga av ordforrad og grammatikk hos sa unge barn. Vi har provd ut ulike variablar, bade reint kvantitative (ytringslengde, aktivt ordforrad malt som talet pa substantiv og verb, bade leksem og eksemplar, passivt ordforrad) og meir kvalitative (mest komplekse ytring, mest komplekse substantivfrase, sporsmalssyntaks o.a.). Mange av desse mala har gitt oss god innsikt i korleis unge, fleirspraklege barn utviklar majoritetsspraket. Vi knyt ogsa undersokinga ...

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Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2017

We generated a list of the 40 most popular Yale School of Management case studies in 2017 by combining data from our publishers, Google analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption. In compiling the list, we gave additional weight to usage outside Yale

We generated a list of the 40 most popular Yale School of Management case studies in 2017 by combining data from our publishers, Google analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption. In compiling the list, we gave additional weight to usage outside Yale.

Case topics represented on the list vary widely, but a number are drawn from the case team’s focus on healthcare, asset management, and sustainability. The cases also draw on Yale’s continued emphasis on corporate governance, ethics, and the role of business in state and society. Of note, nearly half of the most popular cases feature a woman as either the main protagonist or, in the case of raw cases where multiple characters take the place of a single protagonist, a major leader within the focal organization. While nearly a fourth of the cases were written in the past year, some of the most popular, including Cadbury and Design at Mayo, date from the early years of our program over a decade ago. Nearly two-thirds of the most popular cases were “raw” cases - Yale’s novel, web-based template which allows for a combination of text, documents, spreadsheets, and videos in a single case website.

Read on to learn more about the top 10 most popular cases followed by a complete list of the top 40 cases of 2017.  A selection of the top 40 cases are available for purchase through our online store . 

#1 - Coffee 2016

Faculty Supervision: Todd Cort

Coffee 2016 asks students to consider the coffee supply chain and generate ideas for what can be done to equalize returns across various stakeholders. The case draws a parallel between coffee and wine. Both beverages encourage connoisseurship, but only wine growers reap a premium for their efforts to ensure quality.  The case describes the history of coffee production across the world, the rise of the “third wave” of coffee consumption in the developed world, the efforts of the Illy Company to help coffee growers, and the differences between “fair” trade and direct trade. Faculty have found the case provides a wide canvas to discuss supply chain issues, examine marketing practices, and encourage creative solutions to business problems. 

#2 - AXA: Creating New Corporate Responsibility Metrics

Faculty Supervision: Todd Cort and David Bach

The case describes AXA’s corporate responsibility (CR) function. The company, a global leader in insurance and asset management, had distinguished itself in CR since formally establishing a CR unit in 2008. As the case opens, AXA’s CR unit is being moved from the marketing function to the strategy group occasioning a thorough review as to how CR should fit into AXA’s operations and strategy. Students are asked to identify CR issues of particular concern to the company, examine how addressing these issues would add value to the company, and then create metrics that would capture a business unit’s success or failure in addressing the concerns.

#3 - IBM Corporate Service Corps

Faculty Supervision: David Bach in cooperation with University of Ghana Business School and EGADE

The case considers IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC), a program that had become the largest pro bono consulting program in the world. The case describes the program’s triple-benefit: leadership training to the brightest young IBMers, brand recognition for IBM in emerging markets, and community improvement in the areas served by IBM’s host organizations. As the program entered its second decade in 2016, students are asked to consider how the program can be improved. The case allows faculty to lead a discussion about training, marketing in emerging economies, and various ways of providing social benefit. The case highlights the synergies as well as trade-offs between pursuing these triple benefits.

#4 - Cadbury: An Ethical Company Struggles to Insure the Integrity of Its Supply Chain

Faculty Supervision: Ira Millstein

The case describes revelations that the production of cocoa in the Côte d’Ivoire involved child slave labor. These stories hit Cadbury especially hard. Cadbury's culture had been deeply rooted in the religious traditions of the company's founders, and the organization had paid close attention to the welfare of its workers and its sourcing practices. The US Congress was considering legislation that would allow chocolate grown on certified plantations to be labeled “slave labor free,” painting the rest of the industry in a bad light. Chocolate producers had asked for time to rectify the situation, but the extension they negotiated was running out. Students are asked whether Cadbury should join with the industry to lobby for more time?  What else could Cadbury do to ensure its supply chain was ethically managed?

#5 - 360 State Real Options

Faculty Supervision: Matthew Spiegel

In 2010 developer Bruce Becker (SOM ‘85) completed 360 State Street, a major new construction project in downtown New Haven. Just west of the apartment building, a 6,000-square-foot pocket of land from the original parcel remained undeveloped. Becker had a number of alternatives to consider in regards to the site. He also had no obligation to build. He could bide his time. But Becker worried about losing out on rents should he wait too long. Students are asked under what set of circumstances and at what time would it be most advantageous to proceed?

#6 - Design at Mayo

Faculty Supervision: Rodrigo Canales and William Drentell

The case describes how the Mayo Clinic, one of the most prominent hospitals in the world, engaged designers and built a research institute, the Center for Innovation (CFI), to study the processes of healthcare provision. The case documents the many incremental innovations the designers were able to implement and the way designers learned to interact with physicians and vice-versa.

In 2010 there were questions about how the CFI would achieve its stated aspiration of “transformational change” in the healthcare field. Students are asked what would a major change in health care delivery look like? How should the CFI's impact be measured? Were the center's structure and processes appropriate for transformational change? Faculty have found this a great case to discuss institutional obstacles to innovation, the importance of culture in organizational change efforts, and the differences in types of innovation.

This case is freely available to the public.

#7 - Ant Financial

Faculty Supervision: K. Sudhir in cooperation with Renmin University of China School of Business

In 2015, Ant Financial’s MYbank (an offshoot of Jack Ma’s Alibaba company) was looking to extend services to rural areas in China by providing small loans to farmers. Microloans have always been costly for financial institutions to offer to the unbanked (though important in development) but MYbank believed that fintech innovations such as using the internet to communicate with loan applicants and judge their credit worthiness would make the program sustainable. Students are asked whether MYbank could operate the program at scale? Would its big data and technical analysis provide an accurate measure of credit risk for loans to small customers? Could MYbank rely on its new credit-scoring system to reduce operating costs to make the program sustainable?

#8 - Business Leadership in South Africa’s 1994 Reforms

Faculty Supervision: Ian Shapiro

This case examines the role of business in South Africa's historic transition away from apartheid to popular sovereignty. The case provides a previously untold oral history of this key moment in world history, presenting extensive video interviews with business leaders who spearheaded behind-the-scenes negotiations between the African National Congress and the government. Faculty teaching the case have used the material to push students to consider business’s role in a divided society and ask: What factors led business leaders to act to push the country's future away from isolation toward a "high road" of participating in an increasingly globalized economy? What techniques and narratives did they use to keep the two sides talking and resolve the political impasse? And, if business leadership played an important role in the events in South Africa, could they take a similar role elsewhere?

#9 - Shake Shack IPO

Faculty Supervision: Jake Thomas and Geert Rouwenhorst

From an art project in a New York City park, Shake Shack developed a devoted fan base that greeted new Shake Shack locations with cheers and long lines. When Shake Shack went public on January 30, 2015, investors displayed a similar enthusiasm. Opening day investors bid up the $21 per share offering price by 118% to reach $45.90 at closing bell. By the end of May, investors were paying $92.86 per share. Students are asked if this price represented a realistic valuation of the enterprise and if not, what was Shake Shack truly worth? The case provides extensive information on Shake Shack’s marketing, competitors, operations and financials, allowing instructors to weave a wide variety of factors into a valuation of the company.

#10 - Searching for a Search Fund Structure

Faculty Supervision: AJ Wasserstein

This case considers how young entrepreneurs structure search funds to find businesses to take over. The case describes an MBA student who meets with a number of successful search fund entrepreneurs who have taken alternative routes to raising funds. The case considers the issues of partnering, soliciting funds vs. self-funding a search, and joining an incubator. The case provides a platform from which to discuss the pros and cons of various search fund structures.

40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2017

Click on the case title to learn more about the dilemma. A selection of our most popular cases are available for purchase via our online store .

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How to Write a Management Case Study

Last Updated: December 23, 2023

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, volunteer authors worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 140,884 times. Learn more...

A management case study contains a description of real-life management issues and proposed solutions. Students, practitioners and professionals write case studies to thinking critically about issues, and devise and implement remedies for challenging management situations. A case study generally contains facts, theories, assumptions, analysis, and prioritized solutions. The following are the steps for writing a management case study.

Identify the Objective, Method and Facts

• Choose an analytical approach to increase awareness. In the preliminary stages of solving management problems, an analytical case study might best meet the goal of alerting upper management to core facts and issues. An analytical case study primarily focuses on what has occurred and why.
• Select a problem-solving approach to pinpoint and solve major issues. If the goal is to make solution recommendations, write a problem-solving case study that clearly outlines problems and solutions.

Set the Scope for Readers

Focus on Issues and Solutions

• Address the challenges that might accompany suggested solutions. For example, cross-cultural conflicts in an organization might require additional training for managers, which may require funds or an extensive search for topic experts.

Provide a Clear Conclusion

Cite References

Community Q&A

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• ↑ https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/04/03/how-to-write-a-case-study
• ↑ https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/assignments/casestudy
• http://monash.edu/lls/llonline/quickrefs/27-case-study.pdf
• http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/pdf/CaseWritingGuide.pdf

About This Article

To write a management case study, first give a clear industry overview of the problem and explain theories and current knowledge. Next, pinpoint all the important issues and identify any underlying problems. For example, conflicts between team members might stem from unclear workplace policies. Finally, generate effective solutions and explain why they will work. Wrap it up with a conclusion that summarizes the problems and solutions you discussed. Read on for more details on how to conduct research for a management case study and cite your sources. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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The Leading Source of Insights On Business Model Strategy & Tech Business Models

Business Strategy Examples In 2024: Examples, Case Studies, And Tools

A business strategy is a deliberate plan that helps a business to achieve a long-term vision and mission by drafting a business model to execute that business strategy. A business strategy, in most cases, doesn’t follow a linear path, and execution will help shape it along the way.

Table of Contents

What is a business strategy?

At this stage, it is important to clarify a few critical aspects.

As an HBR working paper entitled “From Strategy to Business Models and to Tactics” pointed out:

Put succinctly, business model refers to the logic of the firm, the way it operates and how it creates value for its stakeholders. Strategy refers to the choice of business model through which the firm will compete in the marketplace. Tactics refers to the residual choices open to a firm by virtue of the business model that it employs.

Personally, I have a controversial relationship with the concept of “strategy.” I feel it’s too easy to make it foggy and empty of practical meaning.

Yet strategy and vision matter in business.

A strategy isn’t just a calculated path, but often a philosophical choice about how the world works.

Usually, it takes years and, at times, also decades for a strategy to become viable. And once it does become viable, it seems obvious only in hindsight.

In this guide, we see what that means.  

In the real world, the difficult part is understanding the problem

In the real world, a lot of time and resources are spent on defining the problem.

Classic case studies at business school assume in most scenarios that the problem is known and the solution needs to be found.

In the real world, the problem is unknown, the situation is highly ambiguous, and the most difficult part is making the decision that might solve that same problem you’re trying to figure out. 

How do you execute a strategy in that context? Business modeling can help!

Is a business strategy the same thing as a business model?

As the business world started to change dramatically, again, by the early 2000s, also the concept of strategy changed with it. 

In the previous era, the strategy was primarily made of locking in the supply chain to guarantee a strong distribution toward the marketplace. 

And yet, the web enabled new companies to form with a bottom-up approach.

In short, product development cycles shortened, and frameworks like lean , agile , and continuous innovation became integrated into a world where software took over. 

Where most of the processes before the digital age, were physical in nature. As the web took off, most of the processes became digital.

In short, the software would become the core enhancer of hardware. 

We’ve seen how in cases like Apple’s iPhone , it wasn’t just the hardware that made the difference.

But it was the development ecosystem and the applications that enhanced the capabilities of the device. 

Thus, from a product standpoint, hardware has been enhanced more and more with the software side.

At the same time, the way companies developed products in the first place changed. 

Software and digits-based companies could gather feedback early on, thus enabling the customers’ feedback as a key element of the whole product development cycle. 

Therefore, wherein the previous era, companies spent billions of budgets to release markets, and products, with little customer feedback.

In the digital era, customer feedback became built into the product development loop. 

That led to frameworks with faster and faster product releases, which also changed the way we do marketing . 

In a classic MVP approach, the loop (build, measure, learn) has to be very quick, and it has to lead to the so-called product/market fit .

As the web made the ability to gather customers’ feedback early on, and as the whole process becomes less and less expensive, also lean approaches evolved, to gain feedback from customers as early as possible. 

From build > demo > sell, to demo > sell > build , lean approaches got leaner. 

And the era of customer-centrism and customer obsession developed:

This whole change flipped the strategy world upside down.

And from elaborate business plans , we moved to business modeling , as an experimental tool, that enabled entrepreneurs to gather feedback continuously.

In a customer-centered business world, business models have become effective thinking tools, to represent a business and a business strategy on a single page, which helped the whole execution process. 

The key building blocks of a classic business model approach, like a business model canvas or lean startup canvas  move around the concept of value proposition , that glue them together. 

And from the supply chain , we moved to customer value chains .

Where most digital business models  learned to gather customers’ feedback in multiple ways. 

The business strategy formed in the digital era, therefore, developed its own customer-centered view of the world, and the business theory world followed.

Academics, following practitioners, moved away from traditional models (like Porter’s Five Forces ) to more customer-centered approaches ( business model canvas , lean canvas).  

The mindset shift flipped from distribution and optimization on the supply side.

To optimize on the demand side, or how to build products that people want, in the first place. This is the new mantra.

No more grandiose business plans, just substantial testing, iteration, and experimentation. 

In this new context, we can understand the strategy developed by several players and how business modeling has become the most important strategy tool. 

And the interesting part is, whether you want to scale to become a tech giant, or you just want to build a small, viable business, it all starts from the same place!

Is business strategy a science?

Business strategy is more of an art than a science.

In short, a business strategy starts with a series of assumptions about how the business world looks in a certain period of time and for a certain target of people.

Whether those assumptions will turn out to be successful will highly depend on several factors.

For instance, back in the late 1990s when the web took over, new startups came up with the idea of revolutionizing many services.

While those ideas seemed to make sense, they turned out to be completely off, and many of those startups failed in what would be recognized as a dot-com bubble.

While in hindsight certain aspects of that bubble came up (like frauds, or schemes).

In general, some of the ideas for which startups got financed seemed to be visionary and turned out to work a decade later (see DoorDash , or Instacart , in relation to Webvan’s bankruptcy). 

For instance, some startups tried to bring on-demand streaming to the web (which today we call Netflix ). Those ideas proved to be too early.

They made sense but from the commercial standpoint, they didn’t.

Thus, if we were to use the scientific method, once those assumptions would have proved wrong in the real world, we would have discarded them.

However, those assumptions proved to be wrong, in that time period, given the current circumstances.

While we can use the scientific inquiry process in business strategy, it’s hard to say that it is a scientific discipline.

So what’s the use of business strategy?

In my opinion, business strategy is useful for three main reasons:

• Focus : chose one path over another.
• Vision : have a long-term strategic goal.
• Commercial viability : create a self-sustainable business.

As a practitioner, someone who tries to build successful businesses, I don’t need to be “scientific.”

I need to make sure not to be completely off track. For that matter, I aim at creating businesses.

Thus, I need to understand where to focus my attention in a relatively long period of time (3-5 years at least) and make sure that those ideas I pursue are able to generate profits, which – in my opinion – might be a valid indicator that those ideas are correct for the time being.

If those conditions are met, I’ll call it a “successful business.”

Those ideas will become a business model , that executes a business strategy.

This doesn’t mean those ideas, turned into a business model , pushed into the world will always be successful (profitable).

As the marketplace evolves I will need to adjust, and tweak a business model to fit with the new evolving scenarios, and I’ll need to be able to “bet” on new possible business models .

Survivorship bias

Survivorship bias is a phenomenon where what’s not visible (because extinct) isn’t taken into account when analyzing the past.

In short, we analyze the past based on what’s visible.

This error happens in any field, and in business, we might get fooled by that as well.

In short, when we analyze the past we do that in hindsight.

That makes us cherry-pick the things that survived and assume that those carry the successful characteristics we’re looking for.

For instance, for each Amazon or Google that survived there were hundreds if not thousands of companies that failed, with the same kind of “successful features” as Amazon or Google.  

So why do we analyze successful companies in the first place? In my opinion, there are several reasons: 

• Those successful companies have turned into Super Gatekeepers to billions of people : as I showed in the gatekeeping hypothesis , and in the surfer’s model , a go-to-market strategy for startups will need to be able to leverage existing digital pipelines to reach key customers.

• Modeling and experimentation : another key point is about modeling what’s working for other businesses and borrowing parts of those models, to see what works for our business. By borrowing parts you can build your own business model, yet that requires a lot of testing. 

• Skin in the game testing : therefore business models become key tools for experimentation, where we can use real customers’ feedback (not a survey, or opinions but actions) and test our hypotheses and assumptions. When we’re able to sell our products, when people keep getting back to our platform, or service, there is no best way to test our assumptions that measure those actions. 

Lindy effect and aging in reverse

Nicholas Nassim Taleb , in his book Antifragile , popularized a concept called Lindy Effect .

In very simple terms the Lindy Effect states that in technology (like any other field where the object of discussion is  non-perishable)  things age in reverse.

Thus, life expectancy, rather than diminishing with age, has a longer life expectancy.

Therefore, a technology that has lived for two thousand years, has a life expectancy of another thousand years.

That is a probabilistic rule of thumb that works on averages.

Thus, if a technology (say the Internet) has stayed with us for twenty years, it doesn’t mean we can expect only to live for another twenty years at least.

But as the Internet has proved successful already, the Lindy Effect might not apply.

In short, as we have additional information about a phenomenon the Lindy Effect might lose relevance.

For instance, if I know a person is twenty, yet sick of a terminal disease, I can’t expect to use normal life expectancy tables.

So I’ll have to apply that information to understand the future.

Strategies take years to fully roll out

It was 2006, when Tesla, with his co-founder   Martin Eberhard , launched a sports car that broke down the trade-off between high performance and fuel efficiency.

Tesla, which for a few years had been building up an electric sports car ready to be marketed, finally pulled it off.

As Elon Musk would   explain   Back in 2012:  

In 2006 our plan was to build an electric sports car followed by an affordable electric sedan, and reduce our dependence on oil…delivering Model S is a key part of that plan and represents Tesla’s transition to a mass-production automaker and the most compelling car company of the 21st century.

The beauty of a strategy that turns into a successful company, is that it might take years to roll out and seem obvious only in hindsight. 

This connects to what I like to call the transitional business model.

Or the idea, that many companies, before getting into a fully rolled out business strategy, transition through a period of low scalability and low market size, which will help them gain initial traction. 

As a transitional business model proves viable, it helps the company shape its long-term vision, while its built-in strategy is different from the long-term strategy.

The transitional business model will guarantee survival. It will help further refine the long-term strategy and it will also work as a reality check. 

As the transitional business model proves viable, the company moves to its long-term strategy execution. 

As the business strategy gets rolled out, over the years, it becomes evident and obvious, and yet none managed to pull it off.

When Netflix moved from DVD rental to streaming. DVD rental was the transitional business model that helped Netflix stay in business in the first place.

And yet, when Netflix moved from DVD to streaming it had to apparently change its strategy.

When, in reality, it was rolling out its long-term strategy, shaped by the transitional business model. 

Caveat: Frameworks work until suddenly they don’t

When you stumbled upon a “business formula,” you can’t stop there.

That business formula, if you’re lucky, will allow you to succeed in the long term. Yet as more and more people will find that out, that will lose relevance.

And the matter is, the reality is a villain. Things work for years until they suddenly don’t work anymore.

We’ll see some frameworks, but the real deal is not a framework but the inquiry process that makes us discover those frameworks.

In short, the value is in the repeatable process of discovery and not in the discovery itself. A discovery, once spread, loses value.

Master a business strategy process

There isn’t a size-fits-all business playbook that you can apply to all the scenarios.

Some of the business case studies we’ll see throughout this article will show companies that have dominated the tech space in the last decade and more.

While the playbook executed by those companies worked for the time being.

That doesn’t mean you should play according to their playbook. If at all you’ll need to figure out your own.

Thus, what matters is the process behind finding your business playbook and my hope is that this guide will inspire you and give you some good ideas on how to develop your own business strategy process!

Business strategy case studies

We’ll look now at a few case studies of companies that, at the time of this writing, are playing an important role in the business world.

• Alibaba Business Strategy.
• Amazon Business Strategy.
• Apple Business Strategy.
• Airbnb Business Strategy.
• Baidu Business Strategy.
• Booking Business Strategy.
• DuckDuckGo Business Strategy.
• Google (Alphabet) Business Strategy.

What is a business model’s essence?

Keeping in mind the distinction between business strategy and business models is critical.

The other element used in this guide is a business model essence.

Shortly, I’ve been looking for a way to summarize the key elements of any business in a couple of lines of text:

Therefore, for the sake of this discussion, you’ll find each company’s business strategy, a business model essence that will help us navigate through the noisy business world.

From there, we’ll see the business strategy of a company.

Alibaba Business Strategy

Business Model Essence : Online Stores Leveraging On An E-Commerce/Marketplace Distribution And Monetization Strategy  

As pointed out in Alibaba’s annual report for 2017:

We derive revenue from our four business segments: core commerce, cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, and innovation initiatives and others. We derive most of our revenue from our core commerce segment, which accounted for 85% of our total revenue in fiscal year 2017, while cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, and innovation initiatives and others contributed 4%, 9% and 2%, respectively. We derive a substantial majority of our core commerce revenue from online marketing services. 

Alibaba, like Amazon , became an “everything store” in China.

It leveraged its success to build also other media platforms ( Youku Todou and UCWeb). The e-commerce, marketplace business model has become quite common since the dawn of the web.

From that business model tech giants like Amazon , eBay and Alibaba have raised.

Alibaba’s vision, mission, and core principles

Alibaba’s Business Strategy starts from its core values defined in its annual report:

• Customer First : “The interests of our community of consumers, merchants, and enterprises must be our first”
• Teamwork: “ We believe teamwork enables ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things.”
• Embrace Change   I”n this fast-changing world, we must be flexible, innovative, and ready to adapt to new business conditions in order to maintain sustainability and vitality in our business.”
• Integrity “We expect our people to uphold the highest standards of honesty and to deliver on their commitments.”
• Passion “We expect our people to approach everything with fire in their belly and never give up on doing what they believe is right.”
• Commitment  “Employees who demonstrate perseverance and excellence are richly rewarded. Nothing should be taken for granted as we encourage our people to “work happily and live seriously.”

Alibaba’s mission is “ to make it easy to do business anywhere, ” and its vision is “to build the future infrastructure of commerce… a company that would last at least 102 years.”

For that vision to be executed it has three major stakeholders: users, consumers, and merchants.

The focus on the “at least 102 years” might seem fluffy words, yet those are important as this kind of goal helps you keep a long-term vision while executing short-term plans.

It isn’t unusual for founders to set such visions, as they help keep the company on track in the long run.

And this is where a business strategy starts.

All the business models designed by Alibaba will follow its vision, mission, and values they aim to create in the long run.

Read : Alibaba Business Model

Alibaba ecosystem and value proposition

These elements gave rise to an ecosystem made of “consumers, merchants, brands, retailers, other businesses, third-party service providers and strategic alliance partners.”

As Alibaba points out in its annual report “our ecosystem has strong self-reinforcing network effects benefitting its various participants, who are in turn invested in our ecosystem’s growth and success.”

Network effects are a critical ingredient for marketplaces’ success.

To give you an idea, the more buyers join the platform, the more Alibaba’s recommendation engine will be able to suggest relevant items to buy for other customers, and at the same time the more merchants will join in, given the larger and larger business opportunities.

Keeping these network effects going is a vital element of long-term success but also among the greatest challenge of any marketplace that wants to be relevant.

Even though Alibaba’s essence is in online commerce, the company has several business model s running and a business strategy that at its core is evolving quickly.

Thus, the core commerce has made it possible for Alibaba to build a whole new set of “companies within a company.”

From digital entertainment and media, logistics services, payment, financial services, and cloud services with Alibaba Cloud.

Thus, from a successful existing online business model , Alibaba has expanded in many other areas.

And its future business strategy focuses on developing, nurturing, and growing its ecosystem.

More precisely, its strategic long-term goal is to “serve two billion consumers around the world and support ten million businesses to operate profitably on its platforms”

To achieve that Alibaba is focusing on three key activities:

• Globalization.
• Rural expansion.
• And big data and cloud computing.

For its core commerce activities, Alibaba has designed a value proposition that moves around a few pillars:

• Broad selection: over 1.5 billion listings as of March 31, 2018.
• Convenience:  seamless experience anytime, anywhere from online and offline.
• Engaging, personalized experience: personalized shopping recommendations and opportunities for social engagement.
• Value for money: competitive prices offered via a marketplace business model.
• Merchant quality: review and rating system to keep merchants’ quality high.
• Authentic products: merchant quality ratings, clear refund, and return policies, and the Alipay escrow system.

From that value proposition , Alibaba has been able to grow its customer base and offer wider and broader products, until it expanded in the service and cloud business.

Amazon Business Strategy

Business Model Essence : E-Commerce/Marketplace Distribution And Monetization Model Leveraging On Proprietary Infrastructure To Offer Third-Party Services

Starting in 1994 as a bookstore, Amazon soon expanded and became the everything store.

While the company’s core business model is based on its online store.

Amazon launched its physical stores, which generated already over five billion dollars in revenues in 2017.

Amazon Prime (a subscription service) also plays a crucial role in Amazon’s overall business model , as it makes customers spend more and be more loyal to the platform. 

Besides, the company also has its cloud infrastructure called AWS, which is a world leader and a business with high margins. Amazon also has an advertising business worth a few billion dollars.

Thus, the Amazon business model mix looks like many companies in one. Amazon measures its success via a customer experience obsession, lowering prices, stable tech infrastructure, and free cash flow generation.

Therefore, even though in the minds of most people Amazon is the “everything store.”

In reality, its revenue generation shows us that it has become a way more complex organization, that also has a good chunk of advertising revenue and third-party services.

For instance, Amazon is also a key player with its AWS in the cloud space.

And is well a key player in the digital advertising space, together with Google and Facebook :

Amazon has been widely investing in its technological infrastructure since the 2000s, which eventually turned into a key component of its business model .

Read : Amazon Business Model

Amazon’s vision, mission, and core values

Jeff Bezos is obsessed with being in “day one,” which as he puts it , “ day 2 is stasis. Followed by irrelevance. Followed by excruciating, painful decline. Followed by death. And that is why it is always  Day 1. “

It all starts from there, and to achieve that Jeff Bezos has highlighted a few core values that makeup Amazon ‘s culture and vision :

• Customer obsession.
• Resist proxies.
• Embrace external trends.
• High-velocity decision-making.

As pointed out by Amazon , “w hen Amazon.com launched in 1995, it was with the mission “ to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. ” 

This goal continues today, but Amazon ’s customers are worldwide now and have grown to include millions of Consumers, Sellers, Content Creators, and Developers & Enterprises.

Each of these groups has different needs, and we always work to meet those needs, innovating new solutions to make things easier, faster, better, and more cost-effective.”

In this case, Amazon ‘s mission also sounds like a vision statement.

Whatever you want to call it, this input is what makes a company look for long-term goals that keep them on track.

Of course, that doesn’t mean a well-crafted vision and mission statement is all that matters for business success.

Yet, it is what keeps you going when things seem to go awry.

Amazon moved from an online book store to the A-to-Z store it kept its mission almost intact while scaling up.

Start from a proof of concept, then scale up

It is interesting to notice how businesses evolve based on their commercial ability to scale up.

When Amazon started up as a bookstore, it made sense for several reasons, that spanned from logistics to pricing modes and industry specifics.

Yet, when Amazon finally proved that the whole web thing could be commercially viable, it didn’t wait, it grew rapidly.

From music to anything else it didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen quickly.

Thus, this is how Amazon’s mission shifted from “any book in the world” to “anything from A-Z.”

This isn’t a size-fits-all strategy. Amazon chose rapid growth, similar to a blitzscaling process as aggressive growth was a way to preserve itself.

Hadn’t Amazon grown so quickly, it could have been killed.

The opposite approach to this kind of strategy is a bootstrapped business, which is profitable right away and self-sustainable.

Decentralized and distributed value creation: the era of platforms and ecosystems

Before we move forward, I want to highlight a few key elements to have a deeper understanding of both Amazon and Alibaba’s business models and their strategies.

Before digitalization would show its use and commercial viability, most of the value creation processes were internalized.

That meant companies had to employ massive resources to generate value along that chain.

That changed when digitalization allowed the value creation process to be distributed, and we moved from centralized to grassroots content creation.

This is even clearer in the case of platforms, and marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba.

For instance, where in the past the review process and quality insurance would be done centrally by making sure that the supply complied with the company’s quality guidelines.

Introducing distributed review systems, where the end-users checked against the quality compliance, allowed companies like Alibaba and Amazon to generate network effects, where the more users enriched the platforms with those reviews the more the platform could become valuable.

For that matter though, the main platform’s role will be to fight spam and attempt to trick the system.

Other than that (fighting spam is a challenging task) all the rest is managed at the decentralized level, and the value creation happens when more and more users review products and services on those platforms.

We’re referring here to the review system, but it applies almost to any aspect of a platform.

Amazon for years allowed third-party to feature their stores on Amazon ‘s platform, while they kept the inventory.

This meant an outsourced and distributed inventory system, spread across the supply side.

Therefore, the supply side not only made the platform more valuable by creating compelling offerings.

But it also made it more valuable from the operational standpoint, by allowing a better inventory system, which could be turned quickly.

Therefore, the critical aspect to understand in the digital era is decentralized value creation, which makes the value creation process less expensive for an organization, more valuable to its end users, and more scalable as it benefits from network effects.

How do decentralize value creation?

Many platform-like business models have leveraged a few aspects:

• User-generated content (Quora, Facebook , Instagram).
• Distributed inventory systems ( Amazon , Alibaba).
• Peer-to-peer networks ( Airbnb , Uber).

This implies a paradigm shift.

When you start thinking in terms of platforms, no longer you’ll need a plethora of people taking care of each aspect of it.

Rather you’ll need to understand how the value creation can be outsourced to a community of people and make sure the platform is on top of its game in a few aspects.

For instance, Amazon and Alibaba have to make sure their review system isn’t gamed. Airbnb has to make sure to be able to guarantee safety in the interactions from host to guests and vice-versa.

Quora has to make sure to keep its question machine to keep generating relevant questions for users to answer (the supply-side).

If you grasp this element of a platform, you’re on a good track to understanding how to build a successful platform or marketplace.

Apple Business Strategy

Business Model Label : Product-Based Company Leveraging On Locked-In Ecosystems With A Reversed Razor And Blade Business Strategy

Apple sells its products and resells third-party products in most of its major markets directly to consumers and small and mid-sized businesses through its retail and online stores and its direct sales force.

The Company also employs a variety of indirect distribution channels , such as third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers.

During 2017, the Company’s net sales through its direct and indirect distribution channels accounted for 28% and 72%, respectively, of total net sales.

Many people look at the iPhone, or the previous products Apple has launched successfully in the last decade and assume that their success is due to those products.

In reality, Apple has followed throughout the years a strategy that focused on five key elements:

• Strong branding.
• Beautifully crafted products.
• Technological innovation.
• Strong distribution.
• Locked-in ecosystems.

In short, Apple can sell an iPhone at a premium price because it employs a reversed razor and blade strategy.

This strategy implies free access to Apple’s Ecosystem (ex. iTunes, and Apple Store).

That makes the whole experience through Apple’s devices extremely valuable.

Thanks to that experience, the perception of high-end (luxury-like) products, together with a reliable distribution, justifies Apple’s premium prices.

Apple’s managed to build a business platform on top of the iPhone, thus creating a strong competitive moat, which lasts to these days:

Therefore, Apple’s future success can’t be measured with the same lenses as the last decade.

The real question is: what product will Apple  be able to launch successfully?

And keep in mind it’s not just about the product. Apple’s formula summarized above can be replicated over and over again.

But it isn’t a simple formula. And as locked-in ecosystems, in which Apple controls as much as possible, the experience of its users has proved quite successful in the last decade.

That might not be so in the next, given the rise of more decentralized infrastructure.

For that matter, Amazon might be well moving from a reversed razor and blade model:

To a service-based model:

This isn’t surprising, as a service business has a few compelling advantages:

• High margins.
• A relatively stable revenue stream.
• Scalability.

As Apple has relied on home runs with its products, from the new Mac to the iPod, iPhone, and iPhones, that kind of success isn’t easy to replicate, and it makes the company relies on a continuous stream of fresh sales to keep the business growing.

A service business would balance things out.

It is important to remark this isn’t something new to Apple :

When Apple introduced the iPhone, it isn’t like it was an overnight success. It was successful, but it had to create a whole ecosystem to make the iPhone a continuous source of growth for the company!

When it comes to business strategy, as pointed out in Apple’s annual reports:

The Company is committed to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software and services. The Company’s business strategy leverages its unique ability to design and develop its own operating systems, hardware, application software and services to provide its customers products and solutions with innovative design, superior ease-of-use and seamless integration.

Understanding this part is critical. As I explained above, at the time of this writing many think of Apple as the “iPhone company.”

Yet Apple is way more than that, and its business strategy is a mixture of creating ecosystems by leveraging on these pillars:

• Operating systems.
• Applications software.
• Innovative design.
• Ease-of-use.
• Seamless Integration.

Those elements together make Apple ‘s products successful. As Apple further explained:

As part of its strategy, the Company continues to expand its platform for the discovery and delivery of digital content and applications through its Digital Content and Services, which allows customers to discover and download or stream digital content, iOS, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV applications, and books through either a Mac or Windows personal computer or through iPhone, iPad and iPod touch® devices (“iOS devices”), Apple TV, Apple Watch and HomePod.

Once again, it isn’t anymore about creating a product, but about generating self-serve ecosystems.

How do you support those ecosystems?

It depends on what’s your target. A media company will primarily need an ecosystem made of content creators (take Quora or Facebook or YouTube ).

In many cases, a digital media company over time has to be able to nurture several communities to create a thriving ecosystem.

For instance, large tech companies or startups, often rely on several communities:

• Programmers and developers ( Google , Apple ).
• Content creators and publishers ( Google , Quora, YouTube ).
• Artists and creative talents ( Apple , YouTube ).

In Apple ‘s case though, the first ecosystem is the community of developers building third-party software products that complement the company’s offering:

The Company also supports a community for the development of third-party software and hardware products and digital content that complement the Company’s offerings.

When you combine that with a high-touch strategy (where skilled and knowledgeable salespeople interact with customers) you create a flywheel, where customers are retained for longer, the brand grows as a result of this high-touch activity which creates a better post-sale experience and triggers word of mouth and referral from existing customers:

The Company believes a high-quality buying experience with knowledgeable salespersons who can convey the value of the Company’s products and services greatly enhances its ability to attract and retain customers.Therefore, the Company’s strategy also includes building and expanding its own retail and online stores and its third-party distribution network to effectively reach more customers and provide them with a high-quality sales and post-sales support experience.The Company believes ongoing investment in research and development (“R&D”), marketing and advertising is critical to the development and sale of innovative products, services and technologies.

Read : Apple Business Model

Airbnb Business Strategy

Business Model Essence : Peer-To-Peer House-Sharing Network With Fee-Based Monetization Strategy

As a peer-to-peer network, Airbnb allows individuals to rent from private owners for a fee.

Airbnb charges guests a service fee between 5% and 15% of the reservation subtotal; While the commission from hosts is generally 3%.

Airbnb also charges hosts who offer experiences a 20% service fee on the total price.

The digitalization that happened in the last two decades has facilitated the creation of peer-to-peer platforms in which business models disrupted the hospitality model created in the previous century by hotel chains like Marriott, Holiday Inn, and Hilton.

Airbnb is quickly branching out toward offering more experiences. We can call Airbnb the “marketplace of experiences.”

In short, just like Amazon started from books, Airbnb has started from house-sharing.

But that is the starting point, which gives the innovative company enough traction to validate its whole business model and expand to other areas.

The principal aim of Airbnb is to control the whole experience for its users. This means creating an end-to-end travel experience that embraces the entire process .

Thus, it’s not surprising that we’ll see Airbnb expanding its marketplace to more and more areas. This is also shown by the fact that Airbnb might soon offer bundled travel packages .

Just as we’ve seen in the case of Alibaba and Amazon , Airbnb follows a marketplace logic, where it needs to make the interactions between its key users (hosts and guests) as smooth as possible, with an emphasis on safety.

As a platform, Airbnb initially used a strategy of improving the quality of its supply by employing freelance photographers that could take pictures of host homes.

This, in turn, made those homes more interesting for guests, as they could appreciate those homes more.

As many people in real estate might know, the quality of the pictures is critical.

Although this might sound trivial, this is what improved the Airbnb supply side.

Indeed with better and professionally taken images, Airbnb improved its reach via search engines (yes, search engines are thirsty for fresh and original content, images comprised).

And it enhanced the experience of its potential customers.

Now Airbnb is converting its business model to digital experiences. In addition to changing the whole strategy.

Whereas Airbnb focused in the past on covering major cities across the world.

Changing travel habits made Airbnb focus on digital experiences and local, extra-metropolitan areas throughout the pandemic.

While, post-pandemic, as people travel for longer stays, the whole platform has been structured around these. 

Read : Airbnb Business Model

Baidu Business Strategy

Business Model Essence :  Online Marketing Free Services Advertising-Supported Revenue Model

Baidu makes money primarily via online marketing services (advertising). In fact, in 2017, Baidu made about $11.24 in online marketing services and a remaining almost $1.8 billion through other sources. According to Statista,

Baidu has an overall search market share of 73.8% of the Chinese market. Other sources of revenues comprise membership services of iQIYI (an innovative market-leading online entertainment service provider in China) and financial services.

At first sight, Baidu might seem the mirror image of Google , but in China.

However, this is a superficial view. While Baidu has followed in China a similar path to Google , it did take advantage of the fact that Google wasn’t available there, to build its dominant position.

Baidu also has a more efficient cost structure than Google. It had also introduced innovations in its search products (like voice search devices for kids) at a time when Google wasn’t there yet.

Read : Baidu Business Model

Baidu mission: two-pillar business strategy and value propositions acting as a glue for its key users/customers

In the past years, Baidu has followed an expansion business strategy focused on acquiring assets and companies that complemented its core business model .

As the leading Chinese search provider, in 2017, Baidu updated its mission to “ Baidu aims to make a complex world simpler through technology.”

This mission is achieved via a two-pillar strategy:

• Strengthening the mobile foundation (similar to Google’s mobile-first).
• And leading in artificial intelligence.

Baidu’s key partners comprise users, customers, Baidu union members, and content providers.

For each of those critical segments, Baidu has drafted a fundamental value proposition .

Thus, to generate a value chain that works for these stakeholders, Baidu has to balance it with a diversified value proposition :

• Users:  enjoying Baidu search experience want a search engine that gives them relevant results.
• Customers: with 775,000 active online marketing customers in 2017, consisting of SMEs, large domestic businesses, and multinational companies, distributed across retail and e-commerce, network service, medical and healthcare, franchise investment, financial services, education, online games, transportation, construction and decoration, and business services. Those businesses look for a trackable, and sustainable ROI for their paid advertising campaigns. By bidding on keywords, they can target specific audiences.
• Baidu Union Member: share revenues with Baidy by displaying banner ads on their sites in relevant spaces filled by the  Baidu search algorithm (think of it as Google’s AdSense Network ). Those publishers and sites can generate additional revenues and monetize their content without relying on complex infrastructure, that instead is employed by Baidu.
• Content Providers:  video copyright holders, app owners who list their apps on the Baidu app store, users who contribute their valuable and copyrighted content to Baidu products, and publishers. Those users get visibility or money in exchange for this content. Baidu has to make sure to allow those content providers to get in exchange for their work and creativity visibility and revenues.

Understanding how the value proposition for each player comes together is critical to understanding the business decisions a company like Baidu makes over time.

For instance, as Baidu (like Google ) moves more and more toward AI, the need to balance the value proposition for Baidu Union Members might fickle.

Booking Business Strategy

Business Model Essence :  House-Sharing Platform Leveraging On A Two-Sided Marketplace With A Commission-Based Revenue Model

Booking Holdings is the company that controls six main brands that comprise Booking.com, priceline.com, KAYAK, agoda.com, Rentalcars.com, and OpenTable. 

Over 76% of the company’s revenues in 2017 came primarily via travel reservations commissions and travel insurance fees.

Almost 17% came from merchant fees, and the remaining revenues came from advertising earned via KAYAK.

As a distribution strategy, the company spent over $4.5 billion on performance-based and brand advertising.

Read : Booking Business Model

Booking mission, value proposition, and key players

Booking’s mission is to “help people experience the world.” Booking does that via a few primary brands:

• Booking.com.
• priceline.com.
• Rentalcars.com.

The mission of helping people experience the world is executed via three primary value propositions delivered to consumers, travelers, and business partners:

• Consumers are provided what Booking calls “the best choices and prices at any time, in any place, on any device.”
• People and travelers can easily find, book, and experience their travel desires.
• Business partners (like Hotels featured on Booking.com) are provided with platforms, tools, and insights in exchange.

Boomedium-term term strategy is focused on:

• Leveraging technology to provide the best experience.
• Growing partnerships with travel service providers and restaurants.
• Investing in profitable and sustainable growth.

DuckDuckGo Business Strategy

Business Model Essence : Privacy-based Search Engine Built On Google’s Weakness With An affiliate-based Revenue Model

DuckDuckGo makes money in two simple ways: Advertising and Affiliate Marketing.

Advertising is shown based on the keywords typed into the search box. Affiliate revenues come from Amazon and eBay affiliate programs.

When users buy after getting on those sites through DuckDuckGo the company collects a small commission.

While this model might not sound that exciting. DuckDuckGo managed to grow quickly by leveraging Google’s primary weakness: users’ privacy. Where Google’s primary asset is made of users’ data. DuckDuckGo throws that data away on the fly:

It is important to remark that DuckDuckGo is still figuring out a business model that can make it sustainable in the long term.

Indeed, the company got a venture round of $10 million back in August 2018.

DuckDuckGo will be tweaking its business model in the coming years, to reach a “ business model /market fit.”

Read : DuckDuckGo Business Model

Read : DuckDuckGo Story

Google (Alphabet) Business Strategy

Business Model Essence :  Free Search Engine Distributed Across Hardware, Browsers, And Members’ Websites With An Hidden Revenue Generation Model

As of 2017, over ninety billion dollars, which consisted of 86% of Google ’s revenues came from advertising networks.

The remaining fraction (about 13%) came from Apps, Google Cloud, and Hardware. While a bit more than 1% came from bets like Access, Calico, CapitalG, GV, Nest, Verily, Waymo, and X.

Google business model is changing over the years.

Even though advertising is still its cash cow, Google has been diversifying its revenues in other areas. 

While in 2015 90% of Google’s revenues came from advertising, in 2017, advertising revenues represented 86%.

Other revenues grew from about 10% in 2015 to almost 13% in 2017.

Why did Google get there? And where is Google going next? To understand that you need to understand the “moonshot thinking.”

Read : Google Business Model

Read : Google Cost Structure

Read : Baidu vs. Google

Understanding Google’s moonshot thinking and a breakthrough approach to business

As highlighted in the Alphabet annual report for 2018:

Many companies get comfortable doing what they have always done, making only incremental changes. This incrementalism leads to irrelevance over time, especially in technology, where change tends to be revolutionary, not evolutionary. People thought we were crazy when we acquired YouTube and Android and when we launched Chrome, but those efforts have matured into major platforms for digital video and mobile devices and a safer, popular browser. We continue to look toward the future and continue to invest for the long-term. As we said in the original founders’ letter, we will not shy away from high-risk, high-reward projects that we believe in because they are the key to our long-term success.

Understanding the moonshot approach to business is critical to understanding where Google (now Alphabet) got where it is today, and where it’s headed next.

Since the first shareholders’ letter from Google’s founders, Brin and Page they highlighted that “ Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.”

Google has successfully built ecosystems that today drive

To understand where Google is going next, you need to look at the AI Economy , in which the tech giant is trying to lead the pack.

Whether or not it will be successful will highly depend on its ability to keep creating successful ecosystems, just as Google has done with Google Maps (you might not realize but Google Maps powers up quite a large number of applications) and Android.

At the time of this writing, Google is widely investing in other areas, such as:

• Voice search.
• AI and machine learning applications.
• Self-driving cars.
• And other bets.

If that is not sufficient Google has made several moves in different spaces, to keep its dominance on mobile, while moving toward voice search, like the investment in KaiOS, which business model is interesting as it finally allows an ecosystem to be built on top of cheap mobile devices in developing countries:

That is why Google keeps making “smaller bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to its current businesses.”

Those other bets made “just” $595 million to Google in 2018.

This represented 0.4% of Google ‘s overall revenues , compared to the over $136 billion coming from the other segments.

Google ‘s North Star is its mission of “ organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful.” 

Read : KaiOS Business Model

Let’s go through a few other tips for a successful business strategy. 

Problem-first approach

The customer-problem quadrant by LEANSTACK’s Ash Maurya is a great starting point to define and understand the problem, that as an entrepreneur you will going to solve. 

Indeed, a successful business is such, based on the market’s rewards for the entrepreneur’s ability to solve a problem.

Keep in mind that defining and understanding problems in the real world is one of the most difficult things (that is why entrepreneurship is so hard).

To properly stumble on the right definition of the problem you’re solving, there might be some fine-tuning going on, which in the business world we like to call product-market fit . 

Business engineering skills

Another key element is not to lose sight of the context you’re operating.

As such, analyzing that properly might require some business engineering skills . 

To simplify your life you can use the FourWeekMBA business analysis framework.

Don’t strategize on a piece of paper

Strategies always work well on a piece of paper.

Yet when execution comes suddenly we can realize all the drawbacks of that.

In very few, rare cases, a designed strategy will work as expected.

However, the reason we plan and strategize isn’t just to make things work as we’d like them to.

But to communicate a vision we have to those people (employees, customers, stakeholders) who will help us get there. 

That is why when we strategize it’s important not to lose sight of the essence of our strategy, which is the long-term vision we have for our business.

The rest is execution, practice, and a lot of experimentation!

The innovation loop

Innovation starts by tweaking, testing, and experimenting also in unexpected ways.

Often though, as a business strategy is documented after the fact, it seems as if it was all part of a plan. 

In most cases, the innovation loop starts by stumbling upon that thing that will have a great impact on your business.

Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you need to keep pushing on those models that worked out.

But also to be on the lookout for new ways of doing things. 

Barbell approach 

In a barbel approach we want to have a clear distinction between two domains: 

• Core business : on the core business side, where you have a consolidated strategy, and a business model that has proved to work, it’s important to be structured. This means having a clear culture, following given processes, and slowly evolving your business model. 
• New bets : as your business model will become outdated over time, and that might happen also very quickly, you need to be on the lookout for new opportunities emerging, also in new, completely unrelated business fields. 

For instance, a tech giant like Google, has a part of its business skewed toward a few bets it placed on industries that are completely unrelated to its core business (search).

Those bets are not contributing at all to its bottom line (only some of those bets are generating revenues but those are extremely marginal compared to the overall turnover of the company). 

However, those might turn out widely successful (or huge failures) in the years to come. 

Thus, with a barbell approach, we want to consolidate what we have. But also be open to what might be coming next!

Business Explorers

Strategic analysis thinking tools.

Strategic analysis is a process to understand the organization’s environment and competitive landscape to formulate informed business decisions , to plan for the organizational structure and long-term direction. Strategic planning is also useful to experiment with business model design and assess the fit with the long-term vision of the business.

Business model canvas

The business model canvas aims to provide a keen understanding of your business model to provide strategic insights about your customers, product/service, and financial structure;

so that you can make better business decisions.

Blitzscaling canvas

In this article, I’ll focus on the Blitzscaling business model canvas. This is a model based on the concept of Blitzscaling.

That is a particular process of massive growth under uncertainty, and that prioritizes speed over efficiency. It focuses on market domination to create a first-scaler advantage in a scenario of uncertainty.

Pretotyping

Pretotyping is a mixture of the words “pretend” and “prototype,” and it is a methodology used to validate business ideas to improve the chances of building a product or service that people want.

The pretotyping methodology comes from Alberto Savoia’s work summarized in the book “The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed.”

This framework is a mixture of the words “pretend” and “prototype,” and it helps to answer such questions (about the product or service to build) as: Would I use it? How, how often, and when would I use it?

Would other people buy it? How much would they be willing to pay for it? How, how often, and when would they use it?

Value innovation and blue ocean strategy

A blue ocean is a strategy where the boundaries of existing markets are redefined, and new uncontested markets are created.

At its core, there is value innovation, for which uncontested markets are created, where competition is made irrelevant. And the cost-value trade-off is broken.

Thus, companies following a blue ocean strategy offer much more value at a lower cost for the end customers.

Growth hacking process

Growth hacking is a process of rapid experimentation, coupled with the understanding of the whole funnel, where marketing , product, data analysis, and engineering work together to achieve rapid growth.

The growth hacking process goes through four key stages analyzing, ideating, prioritizing, and testing.

Pirate metrics

Venture capitalist , Dave McClure, coined the acronym AARRR which is a simplified model that enables us to understand what metrics and channels to look at. At each stage of the users’ path toward becoming customers and referrers of a brand.

Engines of growth

In the Lean Startup, Eric Ries defined the engine of growth as “the mechanism that startups use to achieve sustainable growth.”

He described sustainable growth as following a simple rule, “new customers come from the actions of past customers.”

The three engines of growth are the sticky engine, the viral engine, and the paid engine. Each of those can be measured and tracked by a few key metrics, and it helps plan your strategic moves.

The RTVN model is a straightforward framework that can help you design a business model when you’re at the very early stage of figuring out what you need to make it succeed.

Sales cycle

A sales cycle is the process that your company takes to sell your services and products.

In simple words, it’s a series of steps that your sales reps need to go through with prospects that lead up to a closed sale.

Planning ahead of time the steps your sales team needs to take to close a big contract can help you grow the revenues for your business.

Comparable analysis

A comparable company analysis is a process that enables the identification of similar organizations to be used as a comparison to understand the business and financial performance of the target company.

To find comparables, you can look at two key profiles: the business and economic profiles.

From the comparable company analysis, it is possible to understand the competitive landscape of the target organization.

Porter’s five forces

Porter’s Five Forces is a model that helps organizations to gain a better understanding of their industries and competition.

It was published for the first time by Professor Michael Porter in his book “Competitive Strategy” in the 1980s.

The model breaks down industries and markets by analyzing them through five forces which you can use to have a first assessment of the market you’re in.

Porter’s Generic Strategies

Porter’s Value Chain

Porter’s Diamond Model

Bowman’s Strategy Clock

VMOST Analysis

Fishbone Diagram

GE McKinsey Matrix

VRIO Framework

3C Analysis

AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. This is a model that is used in marketing to describe the potential journey a customer might go through, before purchasing a product or service. The variation of the AIDA model is the CAB model and the AIDCAS model.

PESTEL analysis

The PESTEL analysis is a framework that can help marketers assess whether macro-economic factors are affecting an organization.

This is a critical step that helps organizations identify potential threats and weaknesses. That can be used in other frameworks such as SWOT or to gain a broader and better understanding of the overall marketing environment.

Technology adoption curve

The technology adoption curve is a model that goes through five stages. Each of those stages (innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggard) has a specific psychographic that makes that group of people ready to adopt a tech product.

This simple concept can help you define the right target for your business strategy.

Business model essence

A Business Model Essence, according to FourWeekMBA, is a way to find the critical characteristics of any business to have a clear understanding of that business in a few sentences.

That can be used to analyze existing businesses. Or to draft your Business Model and keep a strategic and execution focus on the key elements to be implemented in the short-medium term.

FourWeekMBA business model framework

An effective business model has to focus on two dimensions: the people dimension and the financial dimension. The people dimension will allow you to build a product or service that is 10X better than existing ones and a solid brand.

The financial dimension will help you develop proper distribution channels by identifying the people that are willing to pay for your product or service and make it financially sustainable in the long run.

TAM, SAM, and SOM

Understanding your TAM, SAM and SOM can help you navigate the market you’re in and to have a laser focus on the market you can reach with your product and service.

Brand Building

Value Proposition Design

Product-Market Fit

Freemium Decision Model

Organizational Design And Structures

Speed-Reversibility Matrix

Minimum Viable Product

SWOT Analysis

Revenue Modeling

Business Experimentation

Business Analysis

Ansoff Matrix

Key takeaway

I hope that in this guide you learned the critical aspects related to business strategy, with an emphasis on the entrepreneurial world. If business strategy would only be an academic discipline disjoined from reality, that would still be an interesting domain, yet purely speculative.

However, as a business strategy can be used as a useful tool to leverage on to build companies, hopefully, this guide will help you out in navigating through the seemingly noisy and confusing business world, dominated by technology. As a last but critical caveat, there isn’t a single way toward building a successful business.

And oftentimes the way you choose to build a business is really up to you, how you want to impact a community of people and your vision for the future!

Other resources: 

• Types of Business Models You Need to Know
• What Is a Business Model Canvas? Business Model Canvas Explained
• Blitzscaling Business Model Innovation Canvas In A Nutshell
• What Is a Value Proposition? Value Proposition Canvas Explained
• What Is a Lean Startup Canvas? Lean Startup Canvas Explained
• How to Write a One-Page Business Plan
• How to Build a Great Business Plan According to Peter Thiel
• How To Create A Business Model
• What Is Business Model Innovation And Why It Matters
• What Is Blitzscaling And Why It Matters
• Business Model Vs. Business Plan: When And How To Use Them
• The Five Key Factors That Lead To Successful Tech Startups
• Business Model Tools for Small Businesses and Startups

Additional Business Strategy Tactics

Blue ocean player.

Blue Sea Player

Constructive Disruptor

Niche player

Blitzscaler

Continuous Blitzscaler

What is business strategy?

What are examples of business strategies.

Things like product differentiation, business model innovation, technological innovation, more capital for growth, can all be moats that organizations focus on to gain an edge. Depending on the context, industry, and scenario, a business strategy might be more or less effective; that is why testing and experimentation are critical elements.

Connected Strategy Frameworks

ADKAR Model

Business Model Canvas

Lean Startup Canvas

Blitzscaling Canvas

Blue Ocean Strategy

Business Analysis Framework

Balanced Scorecard

Blue Ocean Strategy 

GAP Analysis

GE McKinsey Model

McKinsey 7-S Model

McKinsey’s Seven Degrees

McKinsey Horizon Model

Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s Value Chain Model

PESTEL Analysis

Scenario Planning

STEEPLE Analysis

FourWeekMBA Business Toolbox

Business Engineering

Tech Business Model Template

Web3 Business Model Template

Asymmetric Business Models

Business Competition

Technological Modeling

Transitional Business Models

Minimum Viable Audience

Business Scaling

Market Expansion Theory

Speed-Reversibility

Asymmetric Betting

Growth Matrix

Revenue Streams Matrix

Pricing Strategies

Other business resources:

• What Is Business Model Innovation
• What Is a Business Model
• What Is Business Strategy
• What is Blitzscaling
• What Is Market Segmentation
• What Is a Marketing Strategy
• What is Growth Hacking

More Resources

About The Author

Gennaro Cuofano

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Strategic Management: Case Study Assignment

Numerous examples of products ahead of their time did not allow them to become famous. One of the innovations that failed was Microsoft SPOT Watch (Karella, 2020). Before the invention of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Microsoft decided to use FM to transmit various information to their watches. Microsoft called this technology DirectBand, and users paid for it. Microsoft SPOT could receive an email, weather information, messages, and other data directly to their watches. However, the device itself and the technology required for its operation were expensive for users, and the range of functions was limited. Fifteen years later, Apple successfully adopted this innovation to create its smartwatches. Their device now uses Bluetooth and WI-FI to provide all the information the user needs. Additionally, the range of available functions has been significantly expanded, which made the device convenient and attractive for purchase.

For strategic management, corporate failures should be studied to understand better what risk factors need to be considered. The first lesson illustrates that the success of a product or service is most influenced by the needs of consumers (Angert, 2021). When implementing innovative ideas, it is essential to consider how interested consumers are in these solutions. The second lesson is that innovation is often associated with failure, so it is necessary to consider this when calculating the risks. Finally, the third lesson presented in the case study is that it is important to analyze the causes of failure and apply this experience to improve work on future innovations. Thus, the case study emphasizes that failure is a norm in the corporate world. However, it is critical to decide how the company deals with it afterward.

MoviePass’s mismanagement and mistreatment of its clientele allow learning that unethical behavior cannot be used to stem the losses as it negatively affects customer relationships and trust. MoviePass was engaged in a series of anti-consumer behaviors aimed at restricting the ability of subscribers to buy tickets for popular movies (Angert, 2021). In particular, they tracked users to gain information about their actions, intentionally changed passwords for their accounts to prevent customers from buying tickets for in-demand titles, and charged extra pricing for specific movies and shows. The company’s decision was not ethical as they used the personal data of users without their consent, which violates their privacy.

MoviePass ultimately failed due to a lack of collaboration with other actors in the industry and unique services. The main strategic decision that led to the company’s downfall is the inability to create additional value for its customers, as MoviePass offered only discounts for shows and movies. The company failed to create a sustainable business model which could survive the competition. The product provided was easily replicated, which later was done by large movie theater chains such as AMC (Statt, 2019). The company could have taken different strategic courses during the stage of creating its model, collaborating with other actors in the industry to provide unique services. Additionally, the changes could have been introduced after the company decided to reduce the price of the subscription.

After MoviePass’s failure, many companies introduced their own subscription models, which were more successful. There are several factors that allowed their theatrical services to be in-demand. First of all, movie theaters understand the needs of their customers better and can focus on them (Yoon & Joachimsthaler, 2018). Movie theaters provide not only tickets for a specific release but a theatrical experience, which is the main value proposition. While customers spend less money on tickets, they can bring profits to the theater by buying concessions (Yoon & Joachimsthaler, 2018). Therefore, subscriptions provided by the theatrical chains give people a better customer experience and more diverse choices. Additionally, the model allows the theaters to attract viewers to recover from the pandemic decline.

Another critical factor is that movie theater subscriptions provide limited numbers of movies for a period that a customer can attend. For example, AMC’s Stubs A-List offers its customers to watch up to three movies per week (Faughnder, 2022). This allows the company to accurately predict the number of customers and the profit that they will bring. It is essential for strategic management to accurately predict such figures to make meaningful decisions regarding the model. Additionally, movie theaters provide discounts for concessions for members of their subscription plans (Dockterman, 2022). Overall, subscriptions provided by movie theaters allow them to attract more customers and revitalize the habit of attending the cinema after the pandemic, which in the future can make them sustainable.

6Despite the failure of MoviePass, it gave rise to subscription models in the industry. When the company ceased operation, the industry gained the opportunity to change moviegoing habits. Specifically, cinema tickets used to be excessively expensive for many people before the introduction of the model (Wilkinson, 2018). Due to high prices, people prefer to choose alternative platforms such as streaming services. After the failure of MoviePass, theater owners could analyze the main reasons for this outcome and evaluate the possible benefits of the system. Eventually, the industry now is able to attract more customers and gain more profits using the subscription model.

Subscription models are common nowadays as many people prefer to use them for many services. This factor makes the external environment more or less conducive to this style of service. Products that were not previously available to many people due to high prices are now accessible (Bertini, 2020). Additionally, movie theaters adopting the model offer their customers unique experiences, which is critical in the post-pandemic environment. The main reason for people to come to the movie theaters is a theatrical experience that they could not have anywhere else, which creates the main value. In terms of the external environment, consumers need such services after the long period of lockdown and the inability to visit movie theaters.

If a new entrant wished to introduce a service that offered subscribers the ability to watch movies in theaters for a flat rate, it would benefit from several strategic choices. First of all, it is important for the company to create value for its consumers (Bertini, 2020). MoviePass provided only financial benefits without unique consumer experience options (Statt, 2019). For the new entrant, it is critical to provide services that cannot be found in competitors. Therefore, the best strategic choice would be offering subscriptions for tickets and concessions. Additionally, the company could provide special offers to its customers as passes to events related to releases, special screenings, and various activities connected to the film industry. The best type of strategy could be offering subscriptions with additional services that can ensure profitability. The main problem is to give consumers a more diverse experience than existing theatrical chains, which requires collaboration with as many industry actors as possible.

The company should avoid providing only ticket subscriptions as MoviePass did. Modern theatrical chains can offer better subscription options for their customers, so new entrants should focus on extra services. New companies should avoid ceasing collaboration with major actors in the industry in order to create value for their customers. Additionally, as MoviePass illustrated, new entrants should not be engaged in any unethical behaviors as the corporate image has greater significance.

MoviePass has been recently relaunched, but its success in the future is a controversial question. The company renewed its subscription model, offering different price plans and providing consumers with a set amount of credits they can spend on movie screenings (Dockterman, 2022). Various movies will cost different amounts of credits depending on the release level. The founder of MoviePass notes that the company made deals with several theater chains to buy tickets at a discount. However, major US chains such as AMC, Regal, and Cinemark are not included (Dockterman, 2022). The success of MoviePass in today’s environment is highly improbable due to competition.

MoviePass has one major benefit for consumers, which is the ability to attend screenings in various theater chains at a lower price. However, people are not likely to go to the nearest or favorite theater to see the new release. Major theater chains now provide their own subscriptions, which include discounts for concessions, as well as extra options such as ticket reservations (Daly, 2023). Therefore, customers are likely to choose one of their offerings rather than pay for MoviePass. The company will probably not be successful as it did not change the main aspect of the strategy and still does not offer value to its customers.

The pandemic introduced major changes to the movie industry due to the rise of streaming services and the rapid decline of movie theaters. Many production companies such as Universal, Disney, and Warner Bros. changed their models, shifting towards shortening theatrical windows and releasing movies on streaming platforms. Lockdown limited the opportunity for people to attend movie theaters, which led to enormous losses in the industry. If previously viewers could go to the theater to see the newest release, now they are forced to wait for its launch on streaming platforms. This gave the companies the opportunity to collaborate with such companies to keep the audience interested in their movies and gain profits from releases. The situation resulted in shortened theatrical windows, as well as video-on-demand streaming options, for higher fees (Whitten, 2021). The use of streaming services allowed distribution companies to make profits from their new releases in the condition of closed movie theaters.

Entities involved in the movie industry can learn from the situation that it is necessary to use diverse channels of distribution in the modern environment. Although streaming services significantly alter the habits of consumers in terms of watching movies, the theatrical experience remains a valid option. Streaming gave distribution companies the opportunity to make profits in spite of lost theatrical releases (Whitten, 2021). However, theatrical experiences remain an important stream of revenue for the business, which cannot be ignored. Major companies diversify their release channels after the pandemic. They focus both on movie theaters and streaming services in order to gain benefits from various platforms of distribution (Whitten, 2021). Nowadays, theatrical and streaming releases can be used by distribution companies for different purposes and to attract different audiences. Additionally, movie producers have an opportunity to diversify their activities in terms of making content separately for big and small screens. This can offer more freedom for moviemakers to create different experiences for various groups of viewers.

Although movie theaters have survived a major challenge in recent years, they are likely to survive and grow in the future. In the long term, the theatrical experience cannot be replaced by streaming services. Some people will completely switch to streaming as the primary source of content consumption. However, there are people who value theatrical experience and movies that are made specifically for that purpose. Attending movie theaters provide customers with a whole set of activities which include not only the actual screening but concessions, socializing, different levels of visual and sound effects, and other features. Therefore, movie theaters create unique value for their customers, which is unlikely to lose demand, especially after the introduction of new subscription options. The main problem of theaters in the past is high prices and low accessibility, which is no longer the case.

The best strategic alteration that can give movie theaters the best opportunities is creating specific content for theatrical screening. Modern technologies allow movie theaters to provide a unique experience for viewers using the best visual and sound effects. This creates the most value for them as people attend theaters not only to see new releases but also to watch them in the best quality possible. Distribution companies can create movies specifically for theatrical screening with longer theatrical windows in order to attract customers. It can be beneficial to diversify the content for streaming and theaters, making those channels parallel. Modern MovePass-style subscription models can be used perfectly for this purpose providing better access to movie theaters. Prices for tickets continue to rise due to more complicated and expensive movie production processes, which can be altered by subscriptions. People can choose between watching content at home using streaming or going to the theater for the same money. This will make movie theaters a distinct service that will not have streaming services as its direct competitor.

Angert, C. (2021). MoviePassed out: Lessons gleaned from corporate failure. Quarterly Review of Business Disciplines, 8 (2), 135-156.

Bertini, M. (2022). Selling value, not subscriptions, is the future of business . Forbes. Web.

Daly, L. (2021). MoviePass is relaunching. Here’s what’s changing . The Ascent. Web.

Dockterman, E. (2022). Everything you need to know about the MoviePass relaunch . Time. Web.

Faughnder, R. (2022). MoviePass died. But this movie theater subscription service hit a milestone . Los Angeles Times. Web.

Karella, A. (2020). Microsoft SPOT and the beginning of smartwatches . Medium. Web.

Statt, N. (2019). Why MoviePass really failed . The Verge. Web.

Whitten, S. (2021). Movie theater owners are frustrated about streaming, but their survival depends on studios . CNBC. Web.

Wilkinson, A. (2018). Why MoviePass is the future — Even if it doesn’t survive . Vox. Web.

Yoon, E., & Joachimsthaler, E. (2018). How to fix MoviePass . Harvard Business Review. Web.

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How to Answer Case Study Questions In Strategic Management?

The case study assignment papers are very common for the business management students like MBA (Master of Business Administration), BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) or any other diploma course.

All types of managerial specialization especially the marketing management specialization students need to write a lot of case study assignment papers on various topics. The grades they get in these case study answer assignment papers are very much crucial for them from the future perspective. Thus, they aim to get the best grades in the case study answer assignment paper in business management courses.

But there is a significant difficulty in this. The business management students have a lot of study pressure. Thus, they get a very little time and energy to do all the assignment on their own. Therefore, they need an excellent case study report online service provider. They will help you in getting the hugest grades in all your case study assignment papers. You need to make a very wise choice in selecting the right online service provider for you.

In this blog, we will discuss specific tips necessary to answer the case study questions in strategic management.

Tips to Answer Case Study Questions in Strategic Management

Strategic Management is a very important part of business management study course. It is even more critical for the business management student with the marketing major. Following are a few tips to write it ideally:

• First, you need to identify what is your exact requirement. Also make sure that whether there is any other element for addressing your answer. At this stage, you merely need to look out for what you are asked. You need to collect the information that will be really helpful for you in referring your answer.
• You need to create a structure for those requirements. Here you need to make a plan. It allows you to bold and underline all the headings and subheadings used by you. Copy and paste these headings with the bullet points for formatting your answer.
• Always avoid switching in between the windows of your screen
• You can start off your plan by breaking down your requirements into separate parts to be addressed. This will be used as sub-headings in the right answer
• Now, you need to estimate the mark o allocate for each section.
• You need to give an idea on what can happen on the strategic options if you agree to the proposal. This has to be explained with all the benefits and drawbacks
• Brainstorm your initial ideas. This step includes brainstorming your initial address before you read the scenario in details. This will help you in not missing the major points.
• Read the entire situation very carefully and add important notes to your pan. Read through the scenario by paragraph to choose whether there is any information that can be added to your answer for addressing the requirements.
• You need to contemplate whether there are any elements from your pre-seen that are relevant to the references. This will help you in determining your commercial awareness by stating that you can understand the given business with the related industry. This will also help you in earning more marks
• You always need to remember the key points from your pre-seen for adding more value to your answer
• Considering the ethics while writing the strategic management case study answers. The decent part of the Business or the corporate social responsibility is an essential part of the strategic management field. You need to see whether any ethical or CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to be written in depth for supporting your answer.
• Make relevant recommendations in your responses. Here you need to make very clear as well logical recommendations and justify them.
• Always plan the writing time for your case study assignment paper. Still, give more emphasis to the necessary and relevant point’s rate than the less important ones. You ed to plan the length of each of the answers and allocate time according to that.

You can always avail the best Case Study Assignment Help online service to get the specific guidance on writing the strategic management case study assignment answers.

Examples of Strategic Management Topic

Cost of a company is an essential part of strategic management. Thu, the business management students are often given strategic assignment papers on cost management. Below are some tips to answer these questions:

• First, you need to understand what costs can the profit of the company.
• Explore where and how the value is added in the organization as raw materials that can be fixed into finished products or services.
• You need to understand the linkage between the areas o both the company as well its competitor. The linkage between the customer requirement and quality of your product is to be considered here. Performance liability and production case needs to be boosted
• Think radically regarding what the customers want. You need to meet all the requirements with the most reasonable and affordable prices
• You also need to have an obvious idea of the prices with which the competitors are offering goods and services in the same market, and you need to keep on the right track in fixing the prices of your products
• Make a very easily lead in the cost-saving process.
• If the competitor takes an early lead on the prices from the cost-savings, respond with an equal cut in your prices even with a little loss or profit. In this way, you can hold back your pre-existing customers and stop them from shifting to your competitors.
• Emphasize more on cost-savings rather than the sales increase or justifying the invoiced investment. This strategy generally leads to more success.
• Investigate all the barriers or even the other market structural condition very carefully for ensuring you can achieve a planned cost-saving. This will lead to future profits of the company

Availing an ideal case study analysis Assignment Writing Service online can always be very much helpful for you in writing all the points mentioned above with perfection. With every strategic management case study answer, you need to add relevant practical examples from the current industry. Thus, will add more value to your paper. The case study helps expert will assist you the most in this regard.

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MGT2382Assignment 5 (Final) - Design a Change Management Strategy and Critical Path final

Business process reengineering (BPR) is the radical redesign of core business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in performance, efficiency and effectiveness. BPR examples are not one-time projects, but rather examples of a continuous journey of innovation and change focused on optimizing end-to-end processes and eliminating redundancies. The purpose of BPR is to streamline  workflows , eliminate unnecessary steps and improve resource utilization.

BPR involves business process redesign that challenges norms and methods within an organization. It typically focuses on achieving dramatic, transformative changes to existing processes. It should not be confused with  business process management (BPM) , a more incremental approach to optimizing processes, or business process improvement (BPI), a broader term that encompasses any systematic effort to improve current processes. This blog outlines some BPR examples that benefit from a BPM methodology.

Background of business process reengineering

BPR emerged in the early 1990s as a management approach aimed at radically redesigning business operations to achieve business transformation. The methodology gained prominence with the publication of a 1990 article in the Harvard Business Review, “Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate,” by Michael Hammer, and the 1993 book by Hammer and James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation . An early case study of BPR was Ford Motor Company, which successfully implemented reengineering efforts in the 1990s to streamline its manufacturing processes and improve competitiveness.

Organizations of all sizes and industries implement business process reengineering. Step 1 is to define the goals of BPR, and subsequent steps include assessing the current state, identifying gaps and opportunities, and process mapping.

Successful implementation of BPR requires strong leadership, effective change management and a commitment to continuous improvement. Leaders, senior management, team members and stakeholders must champion the BPR initiative and provide the necessary resources, support and direction to enable new processes and meaningful change.

BPR examples: Use cases

Streamlining supply chain management.

Using BPR for supply chain optimization involves a meticulous reassessment and redesign of every step, including logistics, inventory management and procurement . A comprehensive supply chain overhaul might involve rethinking procurement strategies, implementing just-in-time inventory systems, optimizing production schedules or redesigning transportation and distribution networks. Technologies such as supply chain management software (SCM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and advanced analytics tools can be used to automate and optimize processes. For example, predictive analytics can be used to forecast demand and optimize inventory levels, while blockchain technology can enhance transparency and traceability in the supply chain.

• Improved efficiency
• Reduced cost
• Enhanced transparency

Customer relationship management (CRM)

BPR is a pivotal strategy for organizations that want to overhaul their customer relationship management (CRM) processes. Steps of business process reengineering for CRM include integrating customer data from disparate sources, using advanced analytics for insights, and optimizing service workflows to provide personalized experiences and shorter wait times.

BPR use cases for CRM might include:

• Implementing integrated CRM software to centralize customer data and enable real-time insights
• Adopting omnichannel communication strategies to provide seamless and consistent experiences across touchpoints
• Empowering frontline staff with training and resources to deliver exceptional service

Using BPR, companies can establish a comprehensive view of each customer, enabling anticipation of their needs, personalization of interactions and prompt issue resolution.

• 360-degree customer view
• Increased sales and retention
• Faster problem resolution

Digitizing administrative processes

Organizations are increasingly turning to BPR to digitize and automate administrative processes to reduce human errors. This transformation entails replacing manual, paper-based workflows with digital systems that use technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for routine tasks.

This might include streamlining payroll processes, digitizing HR operations or automating invoicing procedures. This can lead to can significant improvements in efficiency, accuracy and scalability and enable the organization to operate more effectively.

• Reduced processing times
• Reduced errors
• Increased adaptability

Improving product development processes

BPR plays a crucial role in optimizing product development processes, from ideation to market launch. This comprehensive overhaul involves evaluating and redesigning workflows, fostering cross-functional collaboration and innovating by using advanced technologies. This can involve implementing cross-functional teams to encourage communication and knowledge sharing, adopting agile methodologies to promote iterative development and rapid prototyping, and by using technology such as product lifecycle management (PLM) software to streamline documentation and version control.

BPR initiatives such as these enable organizations to reduce product development cycle times, respond more quickly to market demands, and deliver innovative products that meet customer needs.

• Faster time-to-market
• Enhanced innovation
• Higher product quality

Updating technology infrastructure

In an era of rapid technological advancement, BPR serves as a vital strategy for organizations that need to update and modernize their technology infrastructure. This transformation involves migrating to cloud-based solutions, adopting emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) , and integrating disparate systems for improved data management and analysis, which enables more informed decision making. Embracing new technologies helps organizations improve performance, cybersecurity and scalability and positioning themselves for long-term success.

• Enhanced performance
• Improved security
• Increased innovation

Reducing staff redundancy

In response to changing market dynamics and organizational needs, many companies turn to BPR to restructure their workforce and reduce redundancy. These strategic initiatives can involve streamlining organizational hierarchies, consolidating departments and outsourcing non-core functions. Optimizing workforce allocation and eliminating redundant roles allows organizations to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency and focus resources on key priorities.

• Cost savings
• Increased efficiency
• Focus on core competencies

Cutting costs across operations

BPR is a powerful tool to systematically identify inefficiencies, redundancies and waste within business operations. This enables organizations to streamline processes and cut costs.

BPR focuses on redesigning processes to eliminate non-value-added activities, optimize resource allocation, and enhance operational efficiency. This might entail automating repetitive tasks, reorganizing workflows for minimizing bottlenecks, renegotiating contracts with suppliers to secure better terms, or by using technology to improve collaboration and communication. This can enable significant cost savings and improve profitability.

• Lower costs
• Enhanced competitiveness

Improving output quality

BPR can enhance the quality of output across various business processes, from manufacturing to service delivery. BPR initiatives generally boost key performance indicators (KPIs).

Steps for improving output quality involve implementing quality control measures, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and using customer feedback and other metrics to drive innovation.

Technology can also be used to automate processes. When employees are freed from distracting processes, they can increase their focus on consistently delivering high-quality products and services. This builds customer trust and loyalty and supports the organization’s long-term success.

• Higher customer satisfaction
• Enhanced brand image

Human resource (HR) process optimization

BPR is crucial for optimizing human resources (HR) processes. Initiatives might include automating the onboarding process with easy-to-use portals, streamlining workflows, creating self-service portals and apps, using AI for talent acquisition , and implementing a data-driven approach to performance management.

Fostering employee engagement can also help attract, develop and retain top talent. Aligning HR processes with organizational goals and values can enhance workforce productivity, satisfaction and business performance.

• Faster recruitment cycles
• Improved employee engagement
• Strategic talent allocation

BPR examples: Case studies

The following case study examples demonstrate a mix of BPR methodologies and use cases working together to yield client benefits.

Bouygues becomes the AI standard bearer in French telecom

Bouygues Telecom , a leading French communications service provider, was plagued by legacy systems that struggled to keep up with an enormous volume of support calls. The result? Frustrated customers were left stranded in call lines and Bouygues at risk of being replaced by its competitors. Thankfully, Bouygues had partnered with IBM previously in one of our first pre- IBM watsonx™ AI deployments. This phase 1 engagement laid the groundwork perfectly for AI’s injection into the telecom’s call center during phase 2.

Today, Bouygues greets over 800,000 calls a month with IBM watsonx Assistant™, and IBM watsonx Orchestrate™ helps alleviate the repetitive tasks that agents previously had to handle manually, freeing them for higher-value work. In all, agents’ pre-and-post-call workloads were reduced by 30%. 1 In addition, 8 million customer-agent conversations—which were, in the past, only partially analyzed—have now been summarized with consistent accuracy for the creation of actionable insights.

Taken together, these technologies have made Bouygues a disruptor in the world of customer care, yielding a USD 5 million projected reduction in yearly operational costs and placing them at the forefront of AI technology. 1

Finance of America promotes lifetime loyalty via customer-centric transformation

By co-creating with IBM, mortgage lender Finance of America was able to recenter their operations around their customers, driving value for both them and the prospective home buyers they serve.

To accomplish this goal, FOA iterated quickly on both new strategies and features that would prioritize customer service and retention. From IBM-facilitated design thinking workshops came roadmaps for a consistent brand experience across channels, simplifying the work of their agents and streamlining the application process for their customers.

As a result of this transformation, FOA is projected to double their customer base in just three years. In the same time frame, they aim to increase revenue by over 50% and income by over 80%. Now, Finance of America is primed to deliver enhanced services—such as debt advisory—that will help promote lifetime customer loyalty. 2

BPR examples and IBM

Business process reengineering (BPR) with IBM takes a critical look at core processes to spot and redesign areas that need improvement. By stepping back, strategists can analyze areas like supply chain, customer experience and finance operations. BPR services experts can embed emerging technologies and overhaul existing processes to improve the business holistically. They can help you build new processes with intelligent workflows that drive profitability, weed out redundancies, and prioritize cost saving.

1. IBM Wow Story: Bouygues Becomes the AI Standard-Bearer in French Telecom. Last updated 10 November 2023.

2. IBM Wow Story: Finance of America Promotes Lifetime Loyalty via Customer-Centric Transformation. Last updated 23 February 2024.

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