Strayer Wk 2 Business Competitive Strategic Levels Amazon Case Study Questions

WK 2

Can any firm beat Amazon in the marketplace? If not, why not? If so, how can they best do so? How formidable a competitor is Google for Amazon? Please explain.

• Given the importance of understanding the external environment, why do some firms fail to do so? Provide examples of firms that did not understand their external environment.

WK4

• Assess your satisfaction with Aldi and make recommendations about how the company could modify its business-level strategy to both increase your overall level of satisfaction and to attract new customers. Provide specific examples to support your response.
• Analyze the five business-level strategies discussed in Chapter 4 to determine which strategy most likely applies to Aldi. Determine how a shopper’s experience might change if it switched to one of the other four strategies (your choice). Explain your rationale.

WK5

• Evaluate the business-level strategy of either Starbucks or Lockheed Martin to determine whether you believe the strategy is appropriate to offset forces in the industry. Provide specific examples to support your response.
• Make recommendations for improving this strategy as well as describing any challenges you foresee in executing those recommendations. Provide specific examples to support your response.

Wk6

• Using the Internet, research acquisitions that are currently underway and choose one of these acquisitions to discuss. Based on the firms’ characteristics and experiences and the reasons cited to support the acquisition, do you feel it will result in increased strategic competitiveness for the acquiring firm? Why or why not?
• Of the problems that affect the success of an acquisition, which one do you believe is the most critical in the global economy? Why? What should firms do to make certain that they do not experience such a problem when they use an acquisition strategy?

Wk 7

• What incentives influence firms to use international strategies? What are the three basic benefits firms can gain by successfully implementing an international strategy? Why?
• Determine why, given the advantages of international diversification, some firms choose not to expand internationally. Provide specific examples to support your response.
• As firms attempt to internationalize, they may be tempted to locate their facilities where business regulation laws are lax. Discuss the advantages and potential risks of such an approach, using specific examples to support your response.

Wk 8

Top executives and members of a corporation’s board of directors have different roles and responsibilities. Traditionally, executives have been responsible for determining the firm’s strategic direction and implementing strategies to achieve it, whereas the board of directors has been responsible for monitoring and controlling managerial decisions and actions. Some argue that boards should become more involved with the formulation of a firm’s strategies. How would the board’s increased involvement in the selection of strategies affect a firm’s strategic competitiveness?

• What evidence would you offer to support their position?