Hi. Please read the case study on the attached 2 images, and answer the following question. Please answer: a) why were the issues facing Yahoo described as strategic? and b) Identify examples of issues that fit each of the circles of model (also known as The exploring strategy model or 3-circle model)? Yahoo!'s peanut butter manifestoStrategy can involve hard decisions about the scope of the business, its managementand its organisation structure.In November 2006, Brad Garlinghouse, MBAgraduate and a Yahoo! senior vice president.wrote a memo to his top managers arguing thatYahoo!, the diversified Internet company, wasspreading its resources too thinly, like peanutbutter on a slice of bread. Edited extracts fromthe memo follow:Three and half years ago, I enthusiastically joined Yahoo!.The magnitude of the opportunity was only matched by themagnitude of the assets. And an amazing team has beenresponsible for rebuilding Yahoo!....But all is not well....I imagine there's much discussion amongst theCompany's senior-most leadership around the challengeswe face. At the risk of being redundant, I wanted to sharemy take on our current situation and offer a recommendedpath forward, an attempt to be part of the solution ratherthan part of the problem.RECOGNIZING OUR PROBLEMSWe lack a focused, cohesive vision for our company.We want to do everything and be everything to everyone.We've known this for years, talk about it incessantly, butdo nothing to fundamentally address it. We are scaredto be left out. We are reactive instead of charting anunwavering course. We are separated into silos that fartoo frequently don't talk to each other. And when we dotalk, it isn't to collaborate on a clearly focused strategy.but rather to argue and fight about ownership, strategiesand tactics....I've heard our strategy described as spreading peanutbutter across the myriad opportunities that continue toevolve in the online world. The result: a thin layer ofinvestment spread across everything we do and thus wefocus on nothing in particular.I hate peanut butter. We all should.We lack clarity of ownership and accountability.The most painful manifestation of this is the massiveredundancy that exists throughout the organization. Wenow operate in an organizational structure-admittedlycreated with the best of intentions that has becomeoverly bureaucratic. For far too many employees, there isanother person with dramatically similar and overlappingresponsibilities. This slows us down and burdens thecompany with unnecessary costs.There's a reason why a centerfielder and a left fielderhave clear areas of ownership. Pursuing the same ballrepeatedly results in either collisions or dropped balls.Knowing that someone else is pursuing the ball and hopingto avoid that collision - we have become timid in ourpursuit. Again, the ball drops.We lack decisiveness. Combine a lack of focus withunclear ownership, and the result is that decisions areeither not made or are made when it is already too late.Without a clear and focused vision, and without completeclarity of ownership, we lack a macro perspective to guideour decisions and visibility into who should make thosedecisions. We are repeatedly stymied by challenging andhairy decisions. We are held hostage by our analysis paralysis.We end up with competing (or redundant) initiatives andsynergistic opportunities living in the different silos of ourcompany....SOLVING OUR PROBLEMSWe have awesome assets. Nearly every media andcommunications company is painfully jealous of our position. We have the largest audience, they arehighly engaged and our brand is synonymous withthe Internet.If we get back up, embrace dramatic change, we willwin.I don't pretend there is only one path forward availableto us. However, at a minimum, I want to be part of thesolution and thus have outlined a plan here that I believecan work. It is my strong belief that we need to act veryquickly or risk going further down a slippery slope. Theplan here is not perfect; it is, however, FAR better thanno action at all.There are three pillars to my plan:1Focus the vision.2 Restore accountability and clarity of ownership.3 Execute a radical reorganization.1 Focus the visiona) We need to boldly and definitively declare what we areand what we are notb) We need to exit (sell?) non core businesses andeliminate duplicative projects and businesses.My belief is that the smoothly spread peanut butterneeds to turn into a deliberately sculpted strategy - that isnarrowly focused....2 Restore accountability and clarity of ownershipa) Existing business owners must be held accountablefor where we find ourselves today - heads must roll,b) We must thoughtfully create senior roles thathave holistic accountability for a particular line ofbusiness.....c) We must redesign our performance and incentivesystems.I believe there are too many BU [Business Unit) leaderswho have gotten away with unacceptable results and worse- unacceptable leadership. Too often they (wel) are theworst offenders of the problems outlined here. We mustsignal to both the employees and to our shareholders thatwe will hold these leaders (ourselves) accountable andimplement change....3 Execute a radical reorganizationa) The current business unit structure must go away.b) We must dramatically decentralize and eliminate asmuch of the matrix as possible.c) We must reduce our headcount by 15-20%.I emphatically believe we simply must eliminate theredundancies we have created and the first step in doingthis is by restructuring our organization. We can be moreefficient with fewer people and we can get more done,more quickly. We need to return more decision making toa new set of business units and their leadership. But wecan't achieve this with baby step changes. We need tofundamentally rethink how we organize to win....I love Yahoo!. I'm proud to admit that I bleed purple andyellow. I'm proud to admit that I shaved a Y in the back ofmy head.My motivation for this memo is the adamant belief that,as before, we have a tremendous opportunity ahead. Idon't pretend that I have the only available answers, but weneed to get the discussion going: change is needed and itis needed soon. We can be a stronger and faster company- a company with a clearer vision and clearer ownershipand clearer accountability.We may have fallen down, but the race is a marathonand not a sprint. I don't pretend that this will be easy.It will take courage, conviction, insight and tremendouscommitment. I very much look forward to the challenge.So let's get back up.Catch the balls.And stop eating peanut butter.Source: Extracts from Brad Garlinghouse's memo to Yahool managers,November 2006. Reprinted in Wall Street Journal, 16 November 2006.Questions1 Why were the issues facing Yahoo! describedas strategic?2 Identify examples of issues that fit each of thecircles of the model:

Yahoo is a multinational media and technology corporation that connects people to their interests,…

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Hi. Please read the case study on the attached 2 images, and answer the following question.

Please answer: a) why were the issues facing Yahoo described as strategic? and b) Identify examples of issues that fit each of the circles of model (also known as The exploring strategy model or 3-circle model)?

Yahoo!'s peanut butter manifesto
Strategy can involve hard decisions about the scope of the business, its management
and its organisation structure.
In November 2006, Brad Garlinghouse, MBA
graduate and a Yahoo! senior vice president.
wrote a memo to his top managers arguing that
Yahoo!, the diversified Internet company, was
spreading its resources too thinly, like peanut
butter on a slice of bread. Edited extracts from
the memo follow:
Three and half years ago, I enthusiastically joined Yahoo!.
The magnitude of the opportunity was only matched by the
magnitude of the assets. And an amazing team has been
responsible for rebuilding Yahoo!....
But all is not well....
I imagine there's much discussion amongst the
Company's senior-most leadership around the challenges
we face. At the risk of being redundant, I wanted to share
my take on our current situation and offer a recommended
path forward, an attempt to be part of the solution rather
than part of the problem.
RECOGNIZING OUR PROBLEMS
We lack a focused, cohesive vision for our company.
We want to do everything and be everything to everyone.
We've known this for years, talk about it incessantly, but
do nothing to fundamentally address it. We are scared
to be left out. We are reactive instead of charting an
unwavering course. We are separated into silos that far
too frequently don't talk to each other. And when we do
talk, it isn't to collaborate on a clearly focused strategy.
but rather to argue and fight about ownership, strategies
and tactics....
I've heard our strategy described as spreading peanut
butter across the myriad opportunities that continue to
evolve in the online world. The result: a thin layer of
investment spread across everything we do and thus we
focus on nothing in particular.
I hate peanut butter. We all should.
We lack clarity of ownership and accountability.
The most painful manifestation of this is the massive
redundancy that exists throughout the organization. We
now operate in an organizational structure-admittedly
created with the best of intentions that has become
overly bureaucratic. For far too many employees, there is
another person with dramatically similar and overlapping
responsibilities. This slows us down and burdens the
company with unnecessary costs.
There's a reason why a centerfielder and a left fielder
have clear areas of ownership. Pursuing the same ball
repeatedly results in either collisions or dropped balls.
Knowing that someone else is pursuing the ball and hoping
to avoid that collision - we have become timid in our
pursuit. Again, the ball drops.
We lack decisiveness. Combine a lack of focus with
unclear ownership, and the result is that decisions are
either not made or are made when it is already too late.
Without a clear and focused vision, and without complete
clarity of ownership, we lack a macro perspective to guide
our decisions and visibility into who should make those
decisions. We are repeatedly stymied by challenging and
hairy decisions. We are held hostage by our analysis paralysis.
We end up with competing (or redundant) initiatives and
synergistic opportunities living in the different silos of our
company....
SOLVING OUR PROBLEMS
We have awesome assets. Nearly every media and
communications company is painfully jealous of our

Transcribed Image Text:position. We have the largest audience, they are highly engaged and our brand is synonymous with the Internet. If we get back up, embrace dramatic change, we will win. I don't pretend there is only one path forward available to us. However, at a minimum, I want to be part of the solution and thus have outlined a plan here that I believe can work. It is my strong belief that we need to act very quickly or risk going further down a slippery slope. The plan here is not perfect; it is, however, FAR better than no action at all. There are three pillars to my plan: 1 Focus the vision. 2 Restore accountability and clarity of ownership. 3 Execute a radical reorganization. 1 Focus the vision a) We need to boldly and definitively declare what we are and what we are not b) We need to exit (sell?) non core businesses and eliminate duplicative projects and businesses. My belief is that the smoothly spread peanut butter needs to turn into a deliberately sculpted strategy - that is narrowly focused.... 2 Restore accountability and clarity of ownership a) Existing business owners must be held accountable for where we find ourselves today - heads must roll, b) We must thoughtfully create senior roles that have holistic accountability for a particular line of business..... c) We must redesign our performance and incentive systems. I believe there are too many BU [Business Unit) leaders who have gotten away with unacceptable results and worse - unacceptable leadership. Too often they (wel) are the worst offenders of the problems outlined here. We must signal to both the employees and to our shareholders that we will hold these leaders (ourselves) accountable and implement change.... 3 Execute a radical reorganization a) The current business unit structure must go away. b) We must dramatically decentralize and eliminate as much of the matrix as possible. c) We must reduce our headcount by 15-20%. I emphatically believe we simply must eliminate the redundancies we have created and the first step in doing this is by restructuring our organization. We can be more efficient with fewer people and we can get more done, more quickly. We need to return more decision making to a new set of business units and their leadership. But we can't achieve this with baby step changes. We need to fundamentally rethink how we organize to win.... I love Yahoo!. I'm proud to admit that I bleed purple and yellow. I'm proud to admit that I shaved a Y in the back of my head. My motivation for this memo is the adamant belief that, as before, we have a tremendous opportunity ahead. I don't pretend that I have the only available answers, but we need to get the discussion going: change is needed and it is needed soon. We can be a stronger and faster company - a company with a clearer vision and clearer ownership and clearer accountability. We may have fallen down, but the race is a marathon and not a sprint. I don't pretend that this will be easy. It will take courage, conviction, insight and tremendous commitment. I very much look forward to the challenge. So let's get back up. Catch the balls. And stop eating peanut butter. Source: Extracts from Brad Garlinghouse's memo to Yahool managers, November 2006. Reprinted in Wall Street Journal, 16 November 2006. Questions 1 Why were the issues facing Yahoo! described as strategic? 2 Identify examples of issues that fit each of the circles of the model:

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