Week 3: Strategy Content

Question 1

Hodgetts

Answer 1

1999
Interview with Porter.
“Strategy is the pursuit of a unique way of competing”
Porter says the role of a manager is STRATEGY.

Question 2

Porter

Answer 2

1979
Five forces
1. Threat of Entry 
2. B.P. of customers
3. B.P of suppliers
4. Threat of substitutes
5. Competitive rivalry

Question 3

Brandenburger

Answer 3

2002

Five forces is good due to it’s simplicity

Question 4

Ghoshal

Answer 4

2005
Five forces has firm competing with both suppliers and customers.
Contrast to Japan (Week 14. Womack, Jones, Roos)

Question 5

Ghoshal et al

Answer 5

1999

Five forces is about capturing value as opposed to creating it

Question 6

Foss

Answer 6

1996

Five forces ignores the firm itself

Question 7

Rumelt

Answer 7

1991

Firm specific factors highly relevant to profitability. Can’t just look at the industry as 5F does.

Question 8

McGahan and Porter

Answer 8

1991

Empirical study. 19% profit variation due to industry. 32% due to firm.

Question 9

Porter

Answer 9

1980

Three “generic strategies”

Question 10

Dess and Davies,

Miller and Friesen

Answer 10

Both empirical studies. D&D 1984: Consumer durables, M&F 1986: U.S. paint industry. Some firms stuck in the middle but those who didn’t performed better.

Question 11

Hendry

Answer 11

1990
Many firms are both price leaders and diffrentiated. One can lead to the other. In manufacturing for example, low cost and high quality must come together.

Question 12

Caves and Ghemawat

Answer 12

1992 Different generic strategy for different objective.

Diffrentiation = Profit margins. Low cost = market share

Question 13

Collis and Montgomery

Answer 13

1995
Resources must pass five market tests
1. Imitability
2. Durability
3. Appropriability
4. Substitutability
5. Competitive superiority

Question 14

Barney

Answer 14

1986
Strategic factor markets. Firms compete on acquiring resources. Strategy arises from imperfect pricing, the rest is luck.

Question 15

Conner

Answer 15

1991
RBV being a new theory of the firm.
Same resource inputs lead to differnt firm outputs. Reason for the firm existing is value creation as opposed to avoiding opportunism

Question 16

Kay

Answer 16

1993

Three types of capabilities: architecture, reputation, innovation. Capabilites must be sustainable and appropriable.

Question 17

Pfeffer and Salancik

Answer 17

1978
Resource dependency view. Firms need resources (and rare ones) to suceed.
Firms have little control over the environment

Question 18

Teece et al.

Answer 18

1997
DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES: “the firm’s ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments” (Link to Emergent strategy)
Looks at processes (way things are done), positions (current assets), and paths (strategic alternatives). Managers must look for continuous improvement or combinations of these.