Bugs in Our Moral Code

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it’s OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). Clever studies help make his point that we’re predictably irrational — and can be influenced in ways we can’t grasp. It’s become increasingly obvious that the dismal science of economics is not as firmly grounded in actual behavior as was once supposed. In “Predictably Irrational,” Dan Ariely tells us why.

Contributed by Joan Allatta

Milton Friedman: Greed is good

Milton Friedman offers a classic interview on why “greed” is good for society.

Contributed by Joan Allatta

Governance Under Fire at Tyco

This is an INSEAD video examining the unfolding scandal at Tyco. “Shareholders are screaming. The stock price has dropped from $60 to $7 a share. The press is hitting you every day with requests for info on the turnaround of the company. The prior management is still there, wondering about their futures. The prior board is there, wondering about their futures. And you’re there, trying to bring some order to this chaos.” That’s how Eric Pillmore describes a typical day at the office when he stepped into the corporate governance role at Tyco early in August of 2002.

Contributed by Joan Allatta

Paul Friga’s Video Library

Paul Friga is kind enough to maintain a library of videos for teaching various strategy topics. You can find it on his web page here (or click on he picture). Resources are arranged by topic so they are easy to find.

Additional Video Libraries

A number of excellent suggestions came out of the SMS Teaching Community session on using videos in class. Eventually, all of these will be integrated into this site. Here are a few additional video libraries you may wish to check out.

  1. The BCG Library has more than 100 videos on YouTube. They are usually 2 to 3-minute long.
  2.  Accenture channel: Like BCG, Accenture has their own YouTube channel.
  3. Graziado Business School has a video library with interviews, etc.
  4. Inc. magazine has a series of interviews with entrepreneurs.
  5. Stanford’s Entrepreneurship Corner is also a great source.
  6. There are gazillions videos at MIT, but I couldn’t find a channel dedicated to business…
Contributed by Bernard Forgues

Case Libraries

2e1e41_ff04ac9674ba4be1848f097fee5bd061Here are some popular case repositories:

A New Flight Plan for Japan Airlines

Here is a mini-case ripped from the headlines. As the article states, “As much as JAL has focused on slashing costs, it has also sought to close the service gap with local rival All Nippon Airways – putting in new seats, revamping in-flight menus and installing electronic toilet seats in some business and first class cabins. That investment underscores JAL’s belief that customers will pay a premium for full-service flights.” You can also find a companion video from CNN here. This is great for an introductory class. Allows discussing all parts of a strategic audit including strategy, performance, resources, and competitive position. Also the right size to introduce case discussion for a group that has never done case analysis and discussion before. So how did Kazuo Inamori help change the culture at JAL: ‘nommunication’. “That is when he unleashed another secret weapon. I brought six cans of beer after these sessions or to people who were working late,” he says. After a beer or two, people opened up and told me their honest opinions.” (see the follow up story and video here)

 

Contributed by Aya Chacar

The CEO who wouldn’t leave

I found that a recent article in BusinessWeek can be used as an interesting reading to explore power & politics in the context of M&A. The article describes how William Johnson was designated as CEO of Duke Energy after its acquisition of Progress Energy and how he was fired after only two hours. The original M&A agreement included a condition that stated that the CEO of the target (Progress Energy) would be named CEO of the merged company. However, he was fired two hours after the designation and the CEO of the acquirer (Duke Energy) was named CEO of the merged company. I think this article could motivate to further study this acquisition. It seems to be a novel illustration of a hostile acquisition.

 

Contributed by Francisco Morales

Corporate Culture Artifact Hunt

We often talk about culture as a source of sustained competitive advantage (see Jay Barney’s article on the topic).Cave Painting I have run a great exercise where I send students on an artifact hunt through the business school to identify strengths and weaknesses in the school culture. Students present and analyze their artifacts and we discuss the implications for the competitiveness of the school. The next class explores the levers or impact points one would use to influence the culture. A final class might explore the implications of this for managing strategic change. The time this takes may make it better for a strategy elective but I am using it in my core class this semester.

Here is a bit more detail on how the exercise is run:

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iPhone 5 as an Incremental Innovation

There is much hoopla about the release of each new iPhone but the innovations are, as one would predict, more incremental with each new release. The WSJ recently suggested that this is a good time to sell Apple stock because these incremental changes will allow rivals to catch up. Jimmy Kimmel offers a funny take on it when people perceive greater value added than there really is (he shows them an old iPhone, tells them its the new model, and they coo about how much better it is)…

Contributed by Russ Coff

Amazon Builds New Capabilities

A New York Times story reports that Amazon has long enjoyed an advantage over most brick and mortar rivals that its customers need not pay sales tax. That is now ending in some states as they agree to collect the taxes (notably California). So how are they responding? They are building more warehouses so that, in some metropolitan areas, they will eventually have same-day delivery. Ironically, with each day, they have become more of a brick and mortar operation. Still, that will give them an advantage over ecommerce rivals. It also requires substantial investments in distribution that rivals will have a hard time duplicating.

 

Contributed by Aya Chacar

Imitation: Pretty Profitable Parrots

The Economist just posted an interesting article on the value of imitation as a strategy. We often spend time focused on what makes a strategy inimitable. Of course, the spate of recent law suits tells the other side of the story in terms of the risks of copying. That said, there is little new under the stars and imitation can yield tremendous returns. We don’t see much focus in cases (or the literature) on imitation as a capability. What makes firms good at it?

 

Contributed by Sheen Levine

Entrepreneurship Experiential Exercises

Alas, 3-E Learning was a web resource for experiential exercises in entrepreneurship but it seems to be closed down now. They also offered a prize for submissions of the best exercises and tools for teaching entrepreneurship. This looked like a really nice resource. It would be great if people can re-post some of the best exercises here as well. Please feel free to submit if you have run any of them in your class (but be careful to attribute credit to the original authors and provide links to the original post).

Contributed by Marcos Hashimoto

Videos for Intro to Management

Education Portal Academy sent me an invitation to use their free videos. Their content is very basic but some of it might be useful for an introduction to management course at the undergraduate level. Videos cover topics like the functions of management, Taylorism, Herzberg, Weber, etc.). This could be useful if you cover these topics outside of class or just want to give students some background resources.

 

Contributed by Russ Coff

Airlines Try to Cut out Middlemen

This article in the economist explores the strategic moves airlines made as they entered the internet era (online reservations, etc.). Thinking that travel agents would go the way of the dinosaur, the stopped paying commissions and built their reservation web pages. However, this ultimately created powerful online reservation systems that the airlines now must pay commissions to. The article provides a road map on how NOT to use the 5 forces in developing a strategy…

Sumo Strategy: Size matters…

This video is certainly of questionable taste but that hasn’t stopped me from using it in class. It depicts a battle between a sumo wrestler and a much larger sumo wrestler (the conclusion is not pretty). It can be used to discuss the point of inimitable resources (of course size but also brand or anything else). I have also used it in discussing Yoffie’s Judo Strategy in class.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Alliance: Save the Antelope!

This is a very short/funny clip depicting a man who outruns a Cheetah to save an antelope. There are lots of possible uses. Perhaps the man is the antelope’s strong alliance partner. It could demonstrate unusual (dynamic/global/human capital) capabilities. Please comment if you see other uses…

Contributed by Russ Coff

Escalation and Real Options

This is a humorous commercial (“moment of clarity”) where the protagonist chooses not to buy an option (that might appear valuable to some) because of his vision of the possible downside risk. In theory, downside risk should not be a problem when applying a real option approach. This video may promote a discussion of why this might still be a problem.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Shaolin Soccer: VRIO Capabilities?

What does a capability look like that leads to a competitive advantage? The Resource-based view has emphasized those that are VRIO (valuable, rare, inimitable and organizational execution). Here are a few clips from the movie Shaolin Soccer. Very funny and maybe even useful for making this point 😉

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A Fly in the Ointment

A recent blog post, along with a related New York Times article, outlines a dramatic increase in the price of generic ointments. Several factors might account for high prices including:

  • High barriers to entry as regulations require firms to prove that ointments are absorbed in the skin as well as branded products.
  • Oligopoly conditions supported by the barriers since there are only three players in the market (and they are differentiated since they produce different generics).
  • Willingness to pay since doctors and patients are not generally price sensitive when it comes to prescriptions. Continue reading