Category Archives: Humor

Proof of a Bad Strategy…

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Kathy Eisenhardt has a classic paper describing how “slow” decision makers tend to explore one alternative until it has completely failed rather than considering other alternatives. When facing uncertainty (noisy signals), managers often need strong evidence before altering their opinions. This video depicts the consequences of waiting for such strong evidence.

Contributed by Russ Coff

ONN: Outsource Your Own Job

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ONN (Onion News Network) spoof on outsourcing — in the end all work is outsourced to one person. Very funny and explores the limits of outsourcing.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Here is a real news story about a programmer who outsourced his own job to a developer in China. He continued to get great performance reviews while he watched cat videos on YouTube.

Contributed by Aya Chacar

Don’t Judge Too Quickly…

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Another in a series of videos that illustrate perceptual biases. In the context of strategy, decision-makers inevitably have incomplete data from which to draw conclusions. Any one of the commercials in the sequence below will illustrate the perils of assumptions one might make.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Groupon Follies: Get a Brazilian…

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This Groupon Superbowl commercial is quite funny (even if it is in bad taste). However, the company has struggled and one year after its IPO the price was 81% below the initial price. A recent spike when a hedge fund took a toehold position only underscores the company’s troubles as investors hope for better management. Before the IPO, Groupon turned down a $6B offer from Google — something that Google should appreciate since the company is worth less than half that amount a year after the IPO. One reason for the bearish response is that the entry barriers are fairly low and the competition is significant (e.g., Living Social and even a new eBay venture along these lines). Why was this so hot anyway?

Contributed by Russ Coff

Social Media: Avoiding new ideas

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This “Onion Talk” (parody of a TED talk) describes how social media obviates he need for any new ideas. “The world’s most successful companies know that social media is a powerful marketing tool, and Cameron Hughes knows how to make social marketing even more effective: by never injecting an ounce of effort into it.” One might use this to discuss whether there is a social media bubble (consider Facebook, Groupon, etc.).

Contributed by Russ Coff

FBI Investigates Kickstarter as a Scam

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This ONN report describes Kickstarter as a cyber crime scam. Of course, Kickstarter has some spectacular successes. However, this spoof does underscore some legitimacy issues that impede this business model and this may lead to a valuable discussion.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Situation in Nigeria is … Complex

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This ONN report features a news panel that has literally nothing to add. How do firms deal with information challenges when they enter new markets?

Contributed by Russ Coff

Steve Jobs Version 2 Released

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Of course Steve Jobs’ passing raises the question of whether Apple’s capabilities are housed more in organizational routines or were lost when Jobs died. This ONN spoof describes Apple’s release of a new and improved Steve Jobs (now in a white turtleneck with curly hair).

Contributed by Russ Coff

Blockbuster Video Museum (ONN)

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This is a humorous look at the implications of new technologies. The Blockbuster Video Living Museum offers tourists a glimpse of how Americans rented movies in the days before Netflix and iTunes..

Contributed by Joan Allatta

Seagram’s Acquisition of Universal

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The short film Trey Parker and Matt Stone made for Universal Studio’s takeover of Seagrams (wine coolers). Has many guest appearances, like Demi Moore, Sylvester Stallone, and Stephen Spielberg. This is a hard to find video – even Trey says he doesn’t have it! Watch the rest of it on Part II.

Contributed by Andrew Inkpen

NASCAR Strategy: Press the peddle

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This funny video illustrates the importance of a simple strategy. “Press the peddle and occasionally turn left.” In reality much of strategy involves following routines — occasionally there is a left turn…

Contributed by Tim Madden

iPhone 5 as an Incremental Innovation

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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

Sumo Strategy: Size matters…

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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!

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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

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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?

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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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The Gap: “For kids/by kids”

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This is another ONN (Onion News Network) report. The focus is on a new ad campaign by  the Gap that touts their kids clothes that are sewn by kids. Another very funny satire but it definitely gets to the point of ethics and globalization as well.

Contributed by Russ Coff

Outsourcing Childcare to India

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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

Daily Show: Energy independence

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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

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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