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Category Archives: Technology/innovation
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
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
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
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
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
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
Mini Cases
I developed a number (39!) of mini-cases to demonstrate a range of strategy topics. I usually use the cases and their attached questions at the beginning of a lecture or part way through to break up the pace. I find that they provide a strong, shared basis for talking about particular subjects in strategy, and can be used to promote debate and discussion. These are found in the Test Bank accompanying the Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson Strategic Management textbook, Fifth Edition (2003).
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Preparing Future Faculty Program
Click here to open the link. This is an NSF sponsored teaching initiative. However the resources are not specific to business or strategy.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Chris Anderson on Free
Wired’s Editor In Chief Chris Anderson discusses why $0.00 is the future of business. This explores the impact of goods (like bandwidth and storage) that are becoming too cheap to meter.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Chris Anderson on the Long Tail
“Wired” editor and author Chris Anderson explains his theory of “The Long Tail,” using the music and film industries as examples. The focus is on how traditional distribution channels have bottlenecks that limit content that would otherwise be demanded. Emerging technologies create distribution channels and the content is now becoming part of the market.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Social Learning through Flat World Knowledge
Flat world publishing offers a disruptive business model in academic and textbook publishing. The Ketchen and Short Strategy text is an example of how this is being executed in the strategy field. It is offered for free in the online version.
Flat World Knowledge is a great example of a blossoming Blue Ocean Strategy. The Atlas Black excerpt is based on one of their new graphic novels.
Contributed by Mason Carpenter
Atlas Black Trailer
This is part of a case study of Flat World publishing which offers a “novel” business model to disrupt academic publishing.
Carpenter Strategy Toolbox 