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"From Facebook and Apple to electric cars, companies across a range of businesses increasingly depend on complements, platforms, and network effects as sources of sustainable competitive advantage or as drivers of market attractiveness. This note concisely discusses these concepts and points to some... More

This note introduces a framework for formulating strategy that helps a manager identify which decisions are strategic-and thus which decisions to focus on (both when developing strategy and when executing it)-and that provides a practical test for whether a particular set of choices is a strategy. T... More

In mid-2013, Tesla Motors was riding a wave of success: It had launched its first really mass-produced car-the model S-to rave reviews; had recently raised first-year production targets; and had started taking orders for its next car, the Model X. Tesla seemed to be on its way to defying the skeptic... More

This note gives managers a concrete perspective on what 'a strategy' really is and what makes a decision 'strategic.' It also gives them practical frameworks to assess whether some set of decisions is really a strategy and how to assess a strategy's effectiveness. It finally also gives managers a st... More

Industry and Background Note... More

Industry and Background Note... More

Case... More

Despite facing giants like Coke, Pepsi, and Budweiser-with obvious potential sources of competitive advantage-Red Bull had established itself as the U.S. market leader in energy drinks. By 2008, however, Red Bull's dominance was challenged as Monster drinks surpassed it in volume. The case considers... More

"After years of growth and expanding exports, the Swiss watch industry—widely regarded as the world’s premier watchmakers—was facing an existential crisis. Exports to the U.S., their primary market, had dropped by more than two-thirds over the past five years. Despite their sterling reputation as lu... More

Looks at the development of the competitive actions between Airbus and Boeing from 1992 to 2006. Begins with the question of whether Airbus and Boeing should collaborate on the development of a VLCT (Very Large Commercial Transport) or whether Airbus should develop their own. The case series moves t... More

Industry and Background Note... More

Industry and Background Note... More

This case, set in 1990, describes the history of Walmart and asks what competitive strategies Kmart might adopt in response to Walmart's success. It discusses the strategy and organization of both companies in terms of HR practices, store location, distribution, information technology, procurement, ... More

Case... More

In 2005 Craig Purse, the CEO of Videojet, a company recently acquired by the conglomerate Danaher, is dealing with the unexpected failure of a new high tech printer just launched in the market. The new product exemplified the first real instance in which the Videojet team had used the managerial pro... More

Case... More

On the Upper East Side, fifty fit women and men cycled in unison to blaring music in an indoor cycling studio shrouded in darkness except for the grapefruit-scented candles lining the podium. A few who had proven their skills were selected to lead the pack in the coveted front row, next to Jake Gyll... More

This case, set in 1990, describes the history of Walmart and asks what competitive strategies Kmart might adopt in response to Walmart's success. It discusses the strategy and organization of both companies in terms of HR practices, store location, distribution, information technology, procurement, ... More

Case... More

This short case presents a series of brief accounts, observations, and quotations that challenge students to think about the role of the CEO - and of the CEO's (possibly strong) beliefs and convictions - in strategy. It focuses in particular on three issues and their practical implications: 1) when ... More

The framework of strategic complements and substitutes can help companies anticipate competitors' responses. It is particularly helpful in deciding on price- or capacity-commitments (or pre-emption), but it can provide more general guidance for analyzing the potential impact of commitments and pre-e... More

In the Competition Simulator Exercise, students explore through trial and error some important economic foundations of competitive strategy and managerial economics. In particular, the simulator let students explore horizontal differentiation with and without price setting, strategic complements and... More

In mid-2013, Tesla Motors was riding a wave of success: It had launched its first really mass-produced car-the model S-to rave reviews; had recently raised first-year production targets; and had started taking orders for its next car, the Model X. Tesla seemed to be on its way to defying the skeptic... More

This note introduces a concise but comprehensive framework for analyzing value creation and value creation advantage, i.e., a firm's superior ability to increase the spread (or gap) between its offering's customer value (or WTP) and supplier cost (or WTS). (While the framework applies more broadly, ... More

This note introduces a framework for analyzing value capture (through bargaining and pricing) and bargaining advantage (or value capture advantage), i.e., a firm's (superior) ability to capture a share from the value it helps create.... More