The Gap: “For kids/by kids”
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Author Archives: RussCoff
Outsourcing Childcare to India
This is an ONN (Onion News Network) report on U.S. parents outsourcing childcare to India by boxing up their kids and sending them via FedEx. Very funny but might be useful in spurring a discussion of what can be outsourced overseas.
Contributed by Russ Coff
Google’s $12.5B Acquisition of Motorola
Google’s recent $12.5B acquisition of Motorola mobility is a great “ripped from the headlines” case. 
Here are a series of news articles that one can distribute (not all are really needed). In order to assess Google’s prospects for creating value, one must evaluate the following key sources of uncertainty:
- Intellectual property as a resource. Will the patents help Google beat Apple in court (or reach a favorable settlement)? The litigation is a critical part of Apple’s global strategy to limit the threat that Android poses to the iPhone.
- Vertical integration. Apple has created a great product that works very well. Part of the reason may be that the operating system and hardware are better integrated. Can Google produce a better product that commands a higher willingness to pay?
- Alliance partners. Will Google lose partners who are now direct rivals (to Windows or new operating systems)? Continue reading
Egg Drop Auction: Strategic factor mkts
The essence of this exercise is simple. Teams must build a device that will catch an egg dropped from 25 feet (e.g., a stairwell). The trick is that they must build it from items purchased in an auction. As such, items that are easy to use (e.g., an old pillow) are very expensive while items that are hard to imagine a use for (a brick) are cheap. Profit is determined by 1) succeeding in the task of catching an egg and 2) having the lowest cost function. As such, this demonstrates Barney’s (1986) notion of superior expectations in strategic factor markets.
Now that you see where this is going, here are the rest of the details.
Continue reading
Daily Show: Energy independence
In a humorous take, Jon Stewart looks at the past 8 U.S. presidents and notes that they all made detailed promises to move toward energy independence. The clip is a little long but can be used to raise questions about difficulties in implementation. Why were none of them successful? Interestingly, today with natural gas and fracking technologies, significant progress has been made on energy independence. However, this might not be the innovation that Jon Stewart was looking for. One might discuss why this is the case in class…
Contributed by Aya Chacar
Complementarities: Inventing a mouse
This is a very funny video depicting the invention of a mouse before there were computers or any other complementary assets. Very silly but it makes an important point linked to any discussion of complementarities (e.g., M&A, multi-business strategies, alliances, new technologies, etc.).
Contributed by Russ Coff
Outsourcing Human Capital
Increasingly suppliers of staffing services make specific investments in their clients. What, then, is the role of firm-specificity in determining firm boundaries? This video pushes us to ask these questions with a humorous twist.
Contributed by Russ Coff
Global Alliance Game
In the Global Game exercise students are placed in groups with asymmetric resources with a task to maximize “points” produced. In order to maximize output, they need to trade resources (e.g., alliances) with other teams. The resources include raw materials (e.g., paper), technology (e.g., scissors and templates), knowledge (of the point system), and even people. They can also merge teams.
The following is a brief overview of the exercise: Continue reading
Alphabet Soup: Framing cognition
Alphabet soup is an exercise which focuses students to think about the managerial decision process, and the limits to how we analyze complex problems. 
The key points are that managers deal with complex problems, and often use cognitive frameworks to help constrain the problems. These frameworks tell the managers what information is needed; however, unless the managers understand that all frameworks have limitations, these frameworks can fall trap to cognitive biases.
Continue reading
Putting Together the Strategy Puzzle
Learning Objectives:
- The importance of being explicit about and challenging existing operating assumptions.
- The importance of understanding what resources are available
- The importance of recognizing & utilizing commonly overlooked resources/expertise within the firm.
- The value of big picture vs. in the trenches perspectives.
Set-up
Requires two 25-piece puzzles. Prior to the exercise, two pieces from each puzzle should be blacked-out with an indelible marker. Additionally, one of the fifty pieces should be placed in the trainer’s pocket prior to the training. Continue reading
Final Exam Antics: Kiwi lotto ad
This is good to show on the last day of class — especially if you don’t have a final exam.
Contributed by Russ Coff
Real Option to Defer
Click here for a video that illustrates a Real Option to Defer. How to use the last photos on a role of film…
Contributed by Russ Coff
Bird/Dog Alliance Defeats the Cat
Funny DHL commercial to illustrate the value of alliances. One might wonder if the alliance is stable over time though…
Contributed by Russ Coff
Auction of Fire Net: Strategic Factor Markets
This depicts an auction of a fire net as people contemplate jumping out of a burning building. Useful to talk about strategic factor market theory — especially if you have a dark sense of humor.
Contributed by Russ Coff
Cup Stacking Record: Speed vs. flexibility
This video shows the world record in cup stacking. The task requires speed in a repetetive task. It might be thought of as a capability however, it is clear that it is not about flexibility or adaptability. This helps to illustrate the distinction of a dynamic capability — this is not strategy under uncertainty.
A bit of trivia is that Emily is the CEO’s daughter for SpeedStacks, the company that makes specialized cups for stacking and the primary backer of the “World Sport Stacking Association.” She might actually be a resource for her father’s company…
Contributed by Russ Coff
Dilbert Explains the Prisoner’s Dilemma
15 Lateral Passes to Score: A dynamic capability?
This video shows a play one could never plan. Might it be possible to train a team to improvise when the opportunity presented?
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Tinker Toy Exercise/Builderific
The Tinkertoy exercise is simple but exposes students to a variety of issues linked to formulating and implementing strategy. This deeper application of the common ice breaker has been published by Coff & Hatfield (2003) in JSME (Click here for full text). There are a number of slight modifications that make the exercise very valuable for different topics in a strategy course. For example:
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The exercise can demonstrate key features of the resource based perspective and first mover advantage by having the teams execute in waves and watch how much imitation occurs (often team stick to their planned strategy even if they watch another team fail using that plan).
- Strategy process. The discussion proceeds along the lines of what the vision, key result areas, goals and action steps ought to be. Students often focus on engineering and architecture and ignore management tasks.
- Scenario planning. Ask the students to identify what might go wrong and develop a contingency plan. Even highlighting this, they will be prone to stick to their first plan until it fails completely (something that Eisenhardt notes with respect to “slow” decision-makers).
Delta Dental – A funny take on diversification
Here are 3 classic Delta Dental commercials that illustrate inefficient diversification (in a funny way)!
See the other two if you click here: Continue reading
Planning vs. Luck
Here the lions wait for their food to deliver itself. Did they know to wait under that tree? It is very funny but also explores why planning is necessary…
Click Here to download a video of lions “hunting”
Contributed by Russ Coff
Carpenter Strategy Toolbox 