You could easily fill an hour by just playing the videos below, saying “discuss,” and then stepping out of the way. I use the videos (all 3) along with the available case study — Ivey case W12674, which already has its own teaching note. As preparation for the Groupon discussion, you could also ask students to explore the web site where Groupon makes its sales pitch to merchants, at https://www.grouponworks.com/. Here are the videos:
- Part 1: CBS 60 Minutes Intro (12:42 min)
- Part 2: Why isn’t Groupon Profitable? (2 min)
- Part 3: Another MySpace? (4.30 min)
Groupon would fit best as a closing exercise at the end of a module on sustainability of competitive advantage. To add a humorous interlude to your discussion, you might include this Brazilian video or this ONN TED talk on Social Media.
Contributed by Rich Makadok
Carpenter Strategy Toolbox 
People are asking about Groupon, Google Deals, LivingSocial and the many other online deal sites in recent months because of their perceived ability to generate hundreds of leads for any type of business with little effort and low upfront costs. They seem to be the best online opportunity to generate sales. But savvy business owners are realizing that their financial and marketing interests and those of these social deals websites are not always in line with each other. Many early users of these sites have discovered that poor planning can turn an online offer through these sites into one of the biggest mistakes they make as a small business. ;,