Week 3 Assignment

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Feb 20, 2024

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Business 37000: Marketing Strategy Section 82 – Winter 2024 Professor Christopher E. Krohn Week 3 Assignment and Preparation Notes Topic: Competition and Strategy In Week 3, we will cover the remaining classic “Cs” – Company and Competitor. This includes the additional two “C’s” that make up the more contemporary “5Cs” designation: Company “Collaborators” and Industry “Context.” We will also discuss the firm’s basic choice of strategy: differentiation vs. cost leadership. We will apply the course concepts learned to date in analyzing the Barco Projection Systems case. It is not unusual for students in the first few weeks of 37000 to feel as if they are drinking from a fire hose given the plethora of new concepts introduced. Therefore, avoid unnecessary stress by starting your work early! Pace yourself and allow plenty of time for discussion of the case with your study group. Double-Check: Material from Week 2 Depending on your level of comfort with the concepts and analytic techniques from Week 2, you may wish to review the following: 1. The assigned readings for Week 2. 2. The lecture notes from Week 2. If any of these concepts still aren’t clear to you, bring them up for discussion with your Study Group. 3. Learnings from the Red Lobster case. A Study Group de-briefing session may be helpful in this regard. 4. Relevant Kotler chapters from last week (optional): 3, 4, 5

Required Readings for Week 3 1. “Introduction to Strategy;” Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon. This reading is longer than many and also features some interactive illustrations – you will likely want to read this more than once to ensure you grasp the concepts before attempting this week’s case analysis. (This is the only required reading this week, so allocating time for this should be do-able). Recommended Readings for Week 3 1. “Competing on Resources;” Collis, David J. and Montgomery, Cynthia A. Provides a deeper exploration of resource-based competition than the intro reading above. 2. Relevant Kotler-Keller chapters (optional): 17 Case Analysis for Week 3 Prepare the case “Barco Projection Systems: Worldwide Niche Marketing” for in- class discussion. Discussion questions for preparation: 1. What should Barco Projection Systems (BPS) do at this time, particularly with regards to its pricing and product development options? In answering this question, you should consider: • Make a list of Barco’s and Sony’s key strengths and weaknesses. Do either Barco or Sony have a “core competency” – A capability that is hard for others to imitate which they leverage to create meaningful competitive differentiation across multiple business units / product lines? • How does BPS segment the market? • What type of strategy is BPS following: Cost Leadership / Low Costs, Niche Differentiation, or Differentiation – Market Share? (See p. 11 in the required reading this week under “Business Models” on this). What about Sony in the projector market? Which of these three strategies do you think Sony typically follows in most of its businesses? Why? • Where did BPS focus its product development efforts from 1982 – 1989? Was this consistent with its intended strategy? • Why was BPS caught off guard by the Sony 1270? What incorrect assumptions did they make that allowed Sony to surprise them?

• Put another way, what does Dejonghe mean when he says, “All our projections, however, were based on the assumption that Sony would respect our ‘vision’ of the marketplace. The 1270 did just the opposite.” What “vision” is he referring to? Why might Sony reject this “vision?” • What do you think are Sony’s strategic objectives for the 1270 introduction (i.e. ways they are attempting, beyond just making sales, to change the strategic landscape in projectors)? • What might BPS have done differently over the previous few years to have been better positioned to compete against Sony? One key to understanding this case – and to competitive strategy in general – is to be able to see the world through the eyes of your competitor. Specifically, consider Sony’s core competence, how that matches or doesn’t match the existing segmentation structure in the market, and how a potential mis-match there might constrain it’s desire to grow market share. If you can understand the challenges Sony faces in the projector market before the 1270 introduction and understand what they are attempting to accomplish strategically with the 1270 to permanently alter the competitive landscape in their favor, the pieces of this case should start to fall into place for you. Bonus analysis: Sony is a giant corporation. Seeing the world through the eyes of your competitor may require seeing the world through the eyes of different individual leaders at your competitor, because they may have divergent goals and definitions of success. To that point, what are the incentives facing the head of the Sony components business vs. the head of the Sony projectors business? Where are their interests aligned vs. divergent? Case Presentation for Week 3 (Optional) If your study group chooses to submit one of your three short case presentations this week, your presentation should consist of the following three slides: 1. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for BPS 2. SWOT analysis for Sony (primarily focused on their projector business) 3. Identification of core competencies for both companies (if any)

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Note 1: To categorize a “positive” factor as either a strength or opportunity, label positive internal / intrinsic factors about a company’s competitive situation as strengths, and positive external / contextual factors about a company’s situation as opportunities. Similarly for “negative” factors, label negative internal / intrinsic factors as weaknesses and negative external / contextual factors as threats. Note 2: A core competence isn’t just something you are good at, it is something that adds significant value to the end product/service you sell, is hard for competitors to copy, and can be leveraged for competitive advantage across multiple types of products and/or multiple lines of business. Your short Case Presentation, if you choose to submit one this week, is due 24 hours before the start of class (6pm CT on Thursday evening). Submit your presentation via e-mail -- in PDF or Powerpoint format only -- to ckrohn@chicagobooth.edu . Potentially helpful material from this week’s lecture notes:

Week 3 Assignment

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