Senior Seminar- Assignment #15

This group blog must be completed by 7:00 AM on Thursday, December 6. Read chapter 9 and as a group answer all of the following questions about the company that you are doing your case study on. The first person in your group should do an original post, all subsequent entries from your group should be under COMMENTS to that person. Each person must answer a different question. You must identify the source you used in order to answer the question you selected. Label your post: The name of your company- your first and last name -and the number of the question you are answering.
(1) What strategic control systems are in place in your company?
(2) Describe your company's organizational culture.
(3) Is your company's organizational structure by function, geography, product, product-team, or multi-divisional?
(4) Is your company's structure tall or flat? How many levels exist in your company's structure?

Assignment #14- Ques 2- Mike Dombrowski

The most recent acquisition by Apple happened right before the original IPOD was introduced in October 2001. While developing the IPOD and licensing the software to run it, they learned that Toshiba was building a comparable hard drive that could hold over 1,000 songs. Apple quickly cut a deal with them allowing them exclusive rights to the drive for eighteen months.
The strategy was to prevent Toshiba from entering the market while being able to be the first to get their product out to the masses. This was a very intellligent move because they capitalized on the initial buyers and made large profits right from the beginning. This acquisition made a lot of sense and was a good idea for Apple in the long run.

Assignment #14~ Mallory Clynes

(1) Identify a strategic change your company has gone through in the last decade.

In 2003, Pepsi-Cola unveiled a new advertising campaign, "Pepsi. It's the Cola," whichis the brand's first major campaign shift since 1999. This new campaign highlighted the popular soft drink that goes with everything from food to fun. In 1999 Pepsi's campaign was, "The Joy of Cola," and in 2000 it was changed to, "The Joy of Pepsi." Also in 2003, Pepsi promoted, "Pepsi Play for a Billion" where they gave 1000 consumers the change to play for $1 billion on a live television show in The WB.

Assignment #14 (5) - Sandra Adams

(5) The core competencies of Toyota are customer first, people are the most valuable resource, continuous improvement, and shop floor focus.

Using the customer first and people are the most valuable resource are the best core competencies to use to decide which new business opportunities to pursue. Since the demand has been growing for fuel efficient and environmentally friendly cars, Toyota decision to improve upon the hybrid car will only bring them towards more success. People are not able to afford gas guzzling SUVs and have developed a new found interest in the environment. By moving towards meeting those customer needs, Toyota will continue to be one of the most successful car manufacturer.

Assignment #14 - Danielle O'Neill

(3) What is the most recent strategic alliance your company has formed? Identify and evaluate the rationale behind this alliance. Does it make sense?
The most recent strategic alliance that Sirius has formed was in December 2003, when Sirius signed a seven-year exclusive deal with the NFL to broadcast games in the 2005-2006 season. Sirius also signed a five-year deal with Howard Stern.
The most recent strategic alliance that XM has formed was in October 2004, when they signed an eleven-year $650 million deal with the MLB, giving XM exclusive rights to the satellite broadcast of MLB games beginning in 2005, including the World Series.
This makes sense for the companies because it justified the premium subscription price of its service for Sirius, and for XM it was a response to moves made by its competitor.

SENIOR SEMINAR- ASSIGNMENT #14

This group blog must be completed by 7:00 AM on Thursday, November 29th. Read chapter 8 and as a group answer all of the following questions about the company that you are doing your case study on. The first person in your group should do an original post, all subsequent entries from your group should be under COMMENTS to that person. Each group member must answer a different question.
(1) Identify a strategic change your company has gone through in the last decade.
(2) What is the most recent acquisition your company has made? Identify and evaluate the strategic rationale behind this acquisition. Does it make sense?
(3) What is the most recent strategic alliance your company has formed? Identify and evaluate the rationale behind this alliance. Does it make sense?
(4) What is the most recent internal venture your company has undertaken? Identify and evaluate the rationale behind this internal venture. Does it make sense?
(5) What are the current core competencies of your company? How could your company use these core competencies to decide which new business opportunities to pursue?

Thermo Electron- Question #1-Nicole Damboise

Thermo electron strategy created alot of value in regards to the company and its share holders, using an unusual diversification method. The companies sales went up an historic 3.6 million dollars through a numerous amounts of different products. This process happened very quickly and it created a large compound return average for its sharholders.

thermo Electron- #2- Eric Yoshikawa

While at first this strategy sounds very good, the idea of massing a bunch of companies together in a conglomerate. This however tends to do well for established companies. Such as GE owning GM and various other companies. Some argue if they have over extended themselves. Now back on the topic of Thermo Electron, more companies means more reports and earning statements. This means more money being spent. While this means that a few companies that aren't ass successful as other companies under Thermo Electron will bring them down. It also means that some of these companies will rush to produce products that might not be ready. Because whether you think it's true or not, they are competiting against each other. Take this for example, if one of the companies isn't doing as well as other companies there'll be more pressure to do atleast as well as that company. This will mean that the company will produce products that aren't quite ready for production. After all nobody wants to be financing the "black sheep" if you will. Buy having all of these companies under them, they are pushing companies to move faster then some of them really should be. Also as soon as Hatsopoulos stepped down as CEO in dropped about half of the companies it had aquired.

Thermo Electron- Question #2 Chad Schrepper

Although the success of Thermo Electron's diversfied strategy there are many drawbacks that they have encoutered as well. The complex strategy has a negative effect on share price, investors also complain that the strategy is to complicated. Having twenty-three subsidaries also means producing twenty-three annual reports and nintey-two quarterly reports, which has turned out to be a very costly process. Also having so many companies it spreads thier management and engineering talen very thin. Aurguably the biggest drawback is that if one of the subsidaries is not doing well, it effects the the whole company.

Question # 3 Danny Santana

The Thermo Electron strategy holds major drawbacks that beed to be assessed. When the company expaneded the parent company was losing track of the subsidiaries that were tangent with the company because there were too many subsidiaries. Rather then holding out and not going public most of the subsidiaries went public too early in the begining. This created more work for the parent company to keep up with overall. Thermo Electron could have used the strategy more efficiently if they would have invested time and thought in each of their companies. Because they did not do this it was hard to throw these the subsidiaries in the market and make them efficient on there own.

Thermo Electron- Question #1- Mallory Clynes

Thermo Electron was historically seen have having an unusual diversification strategy that created value for the company and its shareholders. They grew their sales over $3.6 billion, which also included power plants, artificial hearts, and laser hair removers. During the 1983-1997 time period, shareholders compound returns is averaged 28 percent a year.

CoCo Minott-#2

Because Thermo Electron chose to use a diversification strategy; problems occured quickly, and they were in every division. Thermo Eledctron should have established themselves with their main branch before even try to expand into different productions. It is nearly impossible to become successful on a different product/branch when the main one is not even successful and well known yet. Also by doing this Thermo Electron loses trust from their shareholders.

Thermo Electron - Question #3 John Garrity

The problems that occurred for Thermo Electron may be considered a downfall, but in comparison, shouldn’t degrade or invalidate the strategy that Mr. Hatsopoulos has created. Although rapid growth produced “premature” products per say and a complex corporate structure, the numbers say everything. Any large company are going to run into problems and downfalls in business, some more severe then others, but unless the numbers drastically change and the company’s success goes down the tube, the validity of the company shouldn’t be ruined by a few imperfections. Most of the problems due to the complex structure can be fixed or restructured with a little work. On the other hand, recalls and premature production needs to be relinquished because in the long run, there are no excuses for bad business. Bad business leads to more problems, and more problems pose a risk to the validity of the company.

Giardina #1

The Thermo Electron's unusual disversification strategy created value for the company and it's shareholders very quickly. Because they were so diverse into many different things, their sales were the first thing to grow and they did to 3.6 billion. If the company is making money then the stock is going to go up, making money for the shareholders.

Thermo Electron- Question #2 - Sandra Adams

The strategy used be Thermo Electron holds some major drawbacks. As the company expanded into various fields, the parent company was losing track of all the subsidiaries because there were too many too quickly. Rather than building a reputation for any of the subsidiaries almost all of them went public in the beginning, creating more work for the parent company to keep track of. Overall, Thermo Electron could have used this stragety more efficiently if they would have invested more time and thought into each of their companies rather than throwing them into the market to see how far it could be pushed.

Senior Seminar- Assignment #13

By 7:00 AM on Tuesday, November 27, your group is responsible for reading chapter 7 and answering all the questions at the end of the case, "Thermo Electron". The first person in your group should post his/her answer to any one of the questions. Subsequent entries from your group should address the remaining questions in any order under COMMENTS to the first person in your group to post. If you are the fourth or fifth person in your group to post, please research the company's website or look for electronic articles about the company in the Wall Street Journal or Harvard Business Review. Under comments post 5 new things you learned about the company from your research. Label your post: Thermo Electron- Question #- or the name of the website you visited- your first and last name.

Starbucks-Question#2- Eric Yoshikawa

I would classify Starbucks as pusuing the localization strategy. It has reacted well to markets overseas. One example given in the book was a green tea Frappuccino in asian countries. In the U.S. making the product based around the "on the go market". places like the U.K 85% of the sales are consumed on the premises. Obviously the difference from paper cups to actual mugs will start to pay off if you can reuse products such as these. In my mind this is the only strategy. You need to keep the core of what got you to where you are and you need to custom fit it to the market you entering.

Starbucks-Question #1~ Mallory Clynes

Starbucks' strategy of expanding overseas creates value for the company's shareholders because they are able to expand everything in the long run. Starbucks transfers a small amount of Americans to international markets, perferring that foreign operations be run by local managers who understand the market better. They have all of their store managers and employees attend training classes that are all very similar.

coco minott-#2

Joint ventures for starbucks is one of the easiest ways to have a successful business overseas. It is also one of the most effective. By having a partner business overseas, Starbucks will have an automatic in with the culture, language, economy etc. Starbucks wont have all the trouble of figuring out what works the best, the partner business will take care of this. It is also effective money wise, having a partner business to share expensives will be a huge advantage as well.

Planet Starbucks - Nerrisa Pareja

2. Using the global strategy framework I would classify Starbucks as pursing a localization strategy. The reason being is the fact that Starbucks is customizing its products to match the tastes and preferences of different national markets. For example, to cater to local tastes in Taiwan and Japan Starbucks came out with a "green tea frappuccino" and it is now the largest selling frappucino. In addition, in places over seas such as Japan, China, and the UK far more of what is ordered is eaten on premises therefore, Starbucks offers more seating and porcelain cups in their overseas retailers. This gives them a chance to linger and have their purchased items on Starbuck's premises. In America however, it opposite because people are more inclined to order to go. The book stated that 86 percent of the item order are taken in paper cups. I think that this is the correct strategy for Starbucks because they are adapting to their surroundings and they have succeeded in international markets.

Question #3- Chad Schrepper

3. Why do you think that Starbucks has used joint ventures with local companies to enter many foreign markets?

Establishing a joint venture with a foreign company has been favored for entering a new market. Joint ventures give a company the advantage of benefiting from local partners knowledge of countries competitive conditions, culture, language, political systems, and business systems. They can also gain benefits by sharing costs and risks with a local partner when development costs and risks are high when opening up a foreign market. It’s also easier for them to set up operations overseas when they have a local partner rather than trying to enter on their own. Starbucks used the joint venture to successful globalize and best suit the foreign cultures that they were pursuing.

Starbucks- Question # 3 - Sandra Adams

Starbucks has used joint ventures with local companies to enter many of the foreign markets because it provides them with a competitive advantage by teaming up with someone who knows the culture of the country. By using joint ventures, Starbucks has become more successful in integrating the company into the culture of these countries because they hold insider information on what the customer is looking for in the different locations. By providing each country with what they want from Starbucks, the company has become extremely successful globally.

Starbucks - Question #3 Dan Attella

3. Why do you think that Starbucks has used joint ventures with local companies to enter many foreign markets?

I think that Starbucks has decided to use joint ventures with local companies because the nature of the market is a very conditional one. It is very clear that different countries of different backgrounds prefer different types of food. Coffee seems to be inherently a cultural luxury. This means that if a culture doesn’t particularly enjoy coffee on a regular basis, than they would not take kindly to starbucks moving in and attempting to establish a customer base. Even a big company needed the help of local companies to help understand their market better before they tried to penetrate it.

Senior Seminar- Assignment #12

By 7:00AM on Tuesday, November 20,your group is responsible for reading chapter 6 and answering all the questions at the end of the case, "Planet Starbucks". The first person in your group should post his/her answer to any one of the questions. Subsequent entries from your group should address the remaining questions in any order under COMMENTS to the first person in your group to post. Label your posts: Starbucks- Question # _- your first and last name.