Table Of ContentCrafting and
Executing Strategy
Core Concepts
Analytical Tools
Cases
The Quest for
Competitive
Advantage
Instructor’s Manual
to accompany
SEVENTEENTH EDITION
Arthur A. Thompson, Jr.
The University of Alabama
A.J. Strickland
The University of Alabama
John E. Gamble
University of South Alabama
Table of Contents
Section 1
The Seventeenth Edition: Instructor Resources, Chapter Features,
and Case Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Section 2
Using a Strategy Simulation in Your Course: The Compelling Benefi ts,
What’s Involved, and How to Proceed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Section 3
Organizing Your Course, Developing a Syllabus, and
Suggestions for Using the Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Section 4
Sample Syllabi and Daily Course Outlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Section 5
Test Bank for Chapters 1-12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Chapter 1
What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Chapter 2
Leading the Process of Crafting and Executing Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Chapter 3
Evaluating a Company’s External Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Chapter 4
Evaluating a Company’s Resources and Competitive Position . . . . . . . . 171
Chapter 5
The Five Generic Competitive Strategies—Which One to Employ? . . . . 199
Chapter 6
Supplementing the Chosen Competitive Strategy—Other
Important Strategy Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Chapter 7
Strategies for Competing in Foreign Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Chapter 8
Diversifi cation—Strategies for Managing a Group of Businesses . . . . . . 269
Chapter 9
Ethical Business Strategies, Social Responsibility, and
Environmental Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Chapter 10 Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategic Execution . . . . . . . 329
Chapter 11 Managing Internal Operations: Actions That Promote Good
Strategy Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Chapter 12 Corporate Culture and Leadership: Keys to Good
Strategy Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Section 6
Lecture Notes for Chapters 1-12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Chapter 1
What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Chapter 2
Leading the Process of Crafting and Executing Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Chapter 3
Evaluating a Company’s External Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Chapter 4
Evaluating a Company’s Resources and Competitive Position . . . . . . . . 429
Chapter 5
The Five Generic Competitive Strategies—Which One to Employ? . . . . 441
Chapter 6
Supplementing the Chosen Competitive Strategy—Other
Important Strategy Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
Chapter 7
Strategies for Competing in Foreign Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Chapter 8
Diversifi cation—Strategies for Managing a Group of Businesses . . . . . . 475
Chapter 9
Ethical Business Strategies, Social Responsibility, and
Environmental Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
3
4
Chapter 10 Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategic Execution . . . . . . . 501
Chapter 11 Managing Internal Operations: Actions That Promote Good
Strategy Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Chapter 12 Corporate Culture and Leadership: Keys to Good
Strategy Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Section 7
Teaching Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
Case 1
Whole Foods Market in 2008—Vision, Core Values, and Strategy . . . . . 530
Case 2
Costco Wholesale Corp. in 2008—Mission, Business Model,
and Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Case 3
JetBlue Airways: A Cadre of New Managers Takes Control . . . . . . . . . . 567
Case 4
Competition in the Golf Equipment Industry in 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
Case 5
Competition in the Movie Rental Industry in 2008:
Netfl ix and Blockbuster Battle for Market Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Case 6
Dell, Inc. in 2008—Can It Overtake Hewlett-Packard as
the Worldwide Leader in Personal Computers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Case 7
Apple, Inc. in 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
Case 8
Panera Bread Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
Case 9
Rogers’ Chocolates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
Case 10
Nucor Corporation—Competing Against Low-Cost Foreign Imports. . . . 687
Case 11
Competition in Video Game Consoles: The State of
the Battle for Supremacy in 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
Case 12
Nintendo’s Strategy for the Wii —Good Enough to Beat
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
Case 13
Corona Beer: From a Local Mexican Player to a Global Brand . . . . . . . . 729
Case 14
Google’s Strategy in 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741
Case 15
The Challenges Facing eBay in 2008—Time for Changes in Strategy . . . 753
Case 16
Loblaw Companies Limited: Preparing for Wal-Mart Supercenters . . . . . 771
Case 17
Research in Motion: Managing Explosive Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
Case 18
Adidas in 2008: Has Corporate Restructuring Increased
Shareholder Value? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
Case 19
PepsiCo’s Diversifi cation Strategy in 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 805
Case 20
Robin Hood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819
Case 21
Dilemma at Devil’s Den . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827
Case 22
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in 2008—Management’s Initiatives
to Transform the Company and Curtail Wal-Mart Bashing . . . . . . . . . . . . 833
Case 23
Southwest Airlines in 2008: Culture, Values, and
Operating Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Case 24
Shangri-La Hotels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865
Case 25
E & J Gallo Winery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
Case 26
Detecting Unethical Practices at Supplier Factories:
The Monitoring and Compliance Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
1
section
Instructor Resources,
Chapter Features,
and Case Overview
Section 1 Instructor Resources, Chapter Features and Case Overview
6
INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES
We strived to achieve four goals in preparing this package of Instructor Resources for the 17th Edition:
1. To equip you with all the resources and pedagogical tools you’ll need to design and deliver a course
that is on the cutting-edge and solidly in the mainstream of what students need to know about crafting
and executing winning strategies.
2. To give you wide fl exibility in putting together a course syllabus that you are comfortable with and
proud of.
3. To give you a smorgasbord of options to draw from in keeping the nature of student assignments varied
and interesting.
4. To help you deliver a course with upbeat tempo that wins enthusiastic applause from students.
We believe the contents of the package will be particularly informative and helpful to faculty members teaching
the strategy course for the fi rst time but we have also tried to embellish the content with ideas and suggestions
that will prove valuable to experienced faculty looking for ways to refurbish their course offering and/or to keep
student assignments varied and interesting.
A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE ENTIRE INSTRUCTOR RESOURCE
PACKAGE
The Instructor’s Manual for Crafting & Executing Strategy contains:
A quick look at the topical focus of the text’s 12 chapters (Section 1).
An overview of the 26 cases in the text, along with a grid profi ling the strategic issues that come into
play in each case (Section 1 and Section 3).
A discussion of the reasons to use a strategy simulation as an integral part of your strategy course. The
two web-based strategy simulations—The Business Strategy Game or GLO-BUS—that are companions
to this text incorporate the very kinds of strategic thinking, strategic analysis, and strategic decision-
making described in the text chapters and connect beautifully to the chapter content. The automated
online nature of both simulations entails minimal administrative time and effort on the instructor’s part.
You will be pleasantly shocked (and pleased!!) at the minimal time it will take you to incorporate use
of GLO-BUS or The Business Strategy Game and the added degree of student excitement and energy
that either of these competition-based strategy simulations brings to the course—see Section 2 for more
details.
Tips and suggestions for effectively using either GLO-BUS or The Business Strategy Game in your
course (covered in both Section 2 and Section 3).
The merits of encouraging your students to go to the Web site for the text and take the self-scoring
chapter quizzes that measure their command of the concepts and analytical tools presented in the 12
chapters (covered in both Section 1 and Section 3).
Ideas and suggestions on course design and course organization (Section 3 and Section 4).
Recommendations for sequencing the case assignments and guidance about how to use the cases
effectively (Section 3).
Our recommendations regarding which cases are particularly appropriate for written case assignments
and oral team presentations (Section 3).
7
Crafting & Executing Strategy 17th Edition
Two sample course syllabi (Section 4).
Five sample schedules of class activities and daily assignments for 15-week terms; 3 sample schedules of
class activities for 10-week terms; and 3 sample daily course schedules for 5-week terms. (Section 4).
A Test Bank for the 12 chapters that consists of 1100+ questions (Section 5).
A set of Lecture Notes for each of the 12 chapters (Section 6).
A comprehensive teaching note for each of the 26 cases in Crafting & Executing Strategy (Section 7).
In addition to the Instructor’s Manual, the support package for adopters also includes:
An Online Learning Center (OLC) The instructor section of www.mhhe.com/thompson includes the
Instructor’s Manual and other instructional resources. Your McGraw-Hill representative can arrange delivery of
instructor support materials in a format-ready Standard Cartridge for Blackboard, WebCT and other web-based
educational platforms.
PowerPoint Slides To facilitate delivery preparation of your lectures and to serve as chapter outlines,
you’ll have access to comprehensive PowerPoint presentations for each of the 12 chapters. hat the authors
have developed for their own classes. The collection includes 500+ professional-looking slides displaying core
concepts, analytical procedures, key points, and all the fi gures in the text chapters.
Accompanying Case Videos Nine of the cases (Costco Wholesale, JetBlue Airways, Competition in the
Movie Rental Industry, Dell, Panera Bread, Competition in Video Games, Google’s Strategy in 2008, Wal-Mart,
and Southwest Airlines) have accompanying videotape segments that can be shown in conjunction with the case
discussions. Suggestions for using each video are contained in the teaching note for that case.
Accompanying Chapter Videos There are accompanying videos for the chapters that you can show in
conjunction with your lectures.
A Comprehensive Test Bank and EZ Test Software There is a 1100+-question test bank, consisting of
both multiple choice questions and short answer/essay questions that you can use in conjunction with McGraw-
Hill’s EZ Test electronic testing software to create tests from chapter- or topic-specifi c lists. The EZ Test
software enables allows instructors to add their own questions to those that appear in the test bank. The EZ Test
program gives you the capability to create and print multiple versions of the test and to administer the test via the
Web at www.eztestonline.com. Tests can also be exported into a course management system such as WebCT,
BlackBoard, PageOut, and Apple’s iQuiz.
Instructor’s Resource CD-ROM All instructor supplements are available to text adopters in this one-stop
multimedia resource, including case and chapter videos, the complete Instructor’s Manual, EZ Test software,
and PowerPoint slides.
All these Instructor Resources included in the Crafting & Executing Strategy package gives you the capability to
custom-tailor your course using most any combination of the following powerful and proven teaching/learning
techniques:
Lectures (supported by Lecture Notes, PowerPoint slides, and chapter videos).
Case discussions (supported by comprehensive teaching notes and the videos accompanying nine of the
cases).
Oral team presentations on one or more assigned cases.
Use of either GLO-BUS or The Business Strategy Game to serve as an integrative, capstone exercise.
Both simulations are a breeze to administer, are automatically graded, and provide detailed data in the
form of a Learning Assurance Report showing how each student in your class performed vis-à-vis all
students at all schools worldwide that have played the simulation over the last 12 months (a population
of 20,000+ in the case of GLO-BUS and 40,000+ in the case of The Business Strategy Game).
Section 1 Instructor Resources, Chapter Features and Case Overview
8
Use of the chapter-end Assurance of Learning exercises that may be coupled with instructor-developed
scoring rubrics to assess course or program learning objectives. The exercises may also be assigned for
class discussion, oral team presentations, or written reports not linked to course embedded assessment.
Each chapter also contains Exercises for Simulation Participants that tightly connect chapter concepts
to the issues and decisions that students wrestle with when competing in either The Business Strategy
Game or GLO-BUS; these exercises are also appropriate for use with other strategy simulations.
The ability to choose among the above options, backed by the array of support materials in the Instructor Resources
package, give you enormous course design fl exibility and provides you with a powerful kit of teaching/learning tools.
We’ve done our very best to ensure that the 17th Edition package will work especially well for you in the classroom,
help you economize on the time needed to be well-prepared for each class, and cause students to conclude that your
course is one of the very best they have ever taken—from the standpoint of both enjoyment and learning a lot.
What to Expect in the 17th Edition
In preparing our revision of the text chapters for this 17th edition, we have strived to hit the bulls-eye with
respect to both content and teaching/learning effectiveness. The overriding objective has been to do three things
exceptionally well:
Thoroughly explain core concepts and analytical tools in language that students can grasp. The discussions
have been carefully crafted to maximize understanding and facilitate correct application.
Provide fi rst-rate examples at every turn. Illustrating the connection and application of core concepts and
analytical tools to real-world circumstances correctly is the only effective way to convince readers that the
subject matter merits close attention and deals directly with what every student needs to know about crafting,
implementing, and executing business strategies in today’s market environments.
Incorporate well-settled strategic management principles, recent research fi ndings and contributions to the
literature of strategic management, the latest thinking of prominent academics and practitioners in the fi eld,
and the practices and behavior of real world companies—weaving these things into each chapter is essential
to keep the content solidly in the mainstream of contemporary strategic thinking.
In addition, we have made a point of highlighting important strategy-related developments that permeate the
world economy and many industries—the continuing march of industries and companies to wider globalization,
the growing scope and strategic importance of collaborative alliances, the spread of high-velocity change to more
industries and company environments, and how advancing Internet technology is driving fundamental changes
in both strategy and internal operations in companies across the world. There is also coverage of corporate
governance, the keys to successful diversifi cation, and how Six Sigma, best practices, benchmarking, proper
workforce compensation, and a strategy-supportive corporate culture act to promote operating excellence and
effective strategy execution.
We believe this 17th edition incorporates all of the necessary elements to support your delivery of a successful
undergraduate or MBA strategic management course. Chapter discussions cut straight to the chase about what
students really need to know. Our explanations of core concepts and analytical tools refl ect current research and
are covered in enough depth to truly add value for the student--the rationale being that a shallow explanation
carries almost no instructional value. All the chapters are fl ush with convincing examples that students can easily
relate to. There’s a straightforward, integrated fl ow from one chapter to the next. We have deliberately adopted a
pragmatic, down-to-earth writing style, not only to better communicate to an audience of students (who, for the
most part, will soon be practicing managers) but also to convince readers that the subject matter deals directly
what managers and companies do in the real world. All of the chapters have accompanying videos.
And, thanks to the excellent case research and case writing being done by colleagues in strategic management,
this edition contains a set of high-interest cases with unusual ability to work magic in the classroom. Great cases
make it far easier for you to drive home valuable lessons in the whys and hows of successfully crafting and
executing strategy.
9
Crafting & Executing Strategy 17th Edition
Organization, Content, and Features of the Text Chapters
The 17th Edition has been reorganized to more closely link strategic leadership with the strategic management
process discussed in Chapter 2 and to consolidate the discussion of strategies supporting a company’s competitive
strategy that were previously included in Chapters 6 and 8 of the 16th edition into a single chapter. As with all
prior revisions, we worked diligently to make sure that this edition delivers quantum improvements in overall
content appeal and ease of student comprehension. As a consequence, we think you’ll be amply convinced that
no other leading text does a better job of setting forth the principles of strategic management and linking these
principles to both sound theory and best practices.
Furthermore, the refreshing facelift given to every chapter as concerns sharper defi nitions, more thorough
explanations, and highly relevant current examples has made the chapter presentations easier for students to
read and understand. Effective communication of core concepts and analytical tools in the chapters reduces the
need for detailed lectures on your part and frees time for more in-class debate and discussion, coverage of late-
breaking stories in the business press, and other means of driving home the principles of strategy.
No other leading strategy text comes close to matching our treatment of the resource-based theory of the fi rm.
The relevance and role of company resources and competitive strengths is prominently and comprehensively
integrated into our coverage of crafting both single-business and multi-business strategies. Chapters 3 through
8 make it crystal clear that a company’s strategy must be matched both to its external market circumstances
and to its internal resources and competitive capabilities. Moreover, Chapters 10, 11, and 12 on various aspects
of executing strategy have a strong resource-based perspective that also makes it crystal clear how and why
the tasks of assembling intellectual capital and building core competencies and competitive capabilities are
absolutely critical to successful strategy execution and operating excellence.
No other leading strategy text comes close to matching our coverage of business ethics, values, social
responsibility, and environmental sustainability. We have embellished the highly important chapter on
“Ethical Business Strategies, Social Responsibility, and Environmental Sustainability” with new discussions
and material so that it can better fulfi ll the important functions of (1) alerting students to the role and importance
of incorporating business ethics, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability into decision-making
and (2) addressing the accreditation requirements of the AACSB that business ethics be visibly and thoroughly
embedded in the core curriculum. Moreover, there are substantive discussions of the roles of values and ethics in
Chapters 1, 2, 10, and 12, thus providing you with a very meaty and comprehensive treatment of business ethics
and socially responsible behavior as it applies to crafting and executing company strategies.
The following rundown summarizes the topical focus of each of the 12 chapters in the 17th Edition of Crafting
& Executing Strategy:
Chapter 1 is focused directly on “what is strategy and why is it important?” There are substantive discussions
of what is meant by the term strategy, the different elements of a company’s strategy, and why management
efforts to craft a company’s strategy tend to be squarely aimed at building sustainable competitive advantage.
Considerable emphasis is given to how and why a company’s strategy is partly planned and partly reactive
and why a company’s strategy tends to evolve over time. There’s an important section discussing what is
meant by the term business model and how it relates to the concept of strategy. The thrust of this fi rst chapter
is to convince students that good strategy + good strategy execution = good management. The chapter is a
perfect accompaniment for your opening day lecture on what the course is all about and why it matters.
Chapter 2 concerns the managerial process of actually crafting and executing a strategy—it makes a great
assignment for the second day of class and is a perfect follow-on to your fi rst day’s lecture. The focal
point of the chapter is the fi ve-step managerial process of crafting and executing strategy: (1) forming a
strategic vision of where the company is headed and why, (2) the managerial importance of developing a
balanced scorecard of objectives and performance targets that measure the company’s progress, (3) crafting
a strategy to achieve these targets and move the company toward its market destination, (4) implementing
and executing the strategy, and (5) monitoring progress and making corrective adjustments as needed.
Students are introduced to such core concepts as strategic visions, mission statements, strategic versus
fi nancial objectives, and strategic intent. An all-new section underscores that this 5-step process requires
Section 1 Instructor Resources, Chapter Features and Case Overview
10
strong strategic leadership. There’s a robust discussion of why all managers are on a company’s strategy-
making, strategy-executing team and why a company’s strategic plan is a collection of strategies devised by
different managers at different levels in the organizational hierarchy. The chapter winds up with a concise
but meaty section on corporate governance.
Chapter 3 sets forth the now-familiar analytical tools and concepts of industry and competitive analysis
and demonstrates the importance of tailoring strategy to fi t the circumstances of a company’s industry and
competitive environment. The standout feature of this chapter is a presentation of Michael Porter’s “fi ve
forces model of competition” that we think is the clearest, most straightforward discussion of any text in the
fi eld. Globalization and Internet technology are treated as potent driving forces capable of reshaping industry
competition—their roles as change agents have become factors that most companies in most industries must
reckon with in forging winning strategies.
Chapter 4 presents the resource-based view of the fi rm and convincingly argues why a company’s
strategy must be built around its resources, competencies, and competitive capabilities. The roles of core
competencies and organizational resources and capabilities in creating customer value are center stage in the
discussions of company resource strengths and weaknesses. SWOT analysis is cast as a simple, easy-to-use
way to assess a company’s resources and overall situation. There is solid coverage of value chain analysis,
benchmarking, and competitive strength assessments—standard tools for appraising a company’s relative
cost position and market standing vis-à-vis rivals. An important feature of this chapter is a table showing
how key fi nancial and operating ratios are calculated and how to interpret them; students will fi nd this table
handy in doing the number-crunching needed to evaluate whether a company’s strategy is delivering good
fi nancial performance.
Chapter 5 deals with a company’s quest for competitive advantage and is framed around the fi ve generic
competitive strategies—low-cost leadership, differentiation, best-cost provider, focused differentiation, and
focused low-cost.
A much revamped Chapter 6 extends the coverage of the previous chapter and deals with what other strategic
actions a company can take to complement its choice of a basic competitive strategy and to employ a
strategy that is wisely matched to both industry and competitive conditions and to company resources and
capabilities. The chapter features sections on what use to make of strategic alliances and collaborative
partnerships; merger and acquisition strategies; vertical integration strategies; outsourcing strategies; and the
broad strategy options for companies competing in six representative industry and competitive situations:
(1) emerging industries, (2) rapid growth industries; (3) mature, slow-growth industries, (4) stagnant or
declining industries, (5) turbulent, high velocity industries, and (6) fragmented industries. The concluding
section of this chapter covers fi rst-mover advantages and disadvantages, including the fi rst-mover benefi ts
of pursuing a blue ocean strategy.
Chapter 7 explores the full range of strategy options for competing in foreign markets: export strategies,
licensing, franchising, multicountry strategies, global strategies, and collaborative strategies involving heavy
reliance on strategic alliances and joint ventures. The spotlight is trained on two strategic issues unique to
competing multinationally: (1) whether to customize the company’s offerings in each different country
market to better match the tastes and preferences of local buyers or whether to offer a mostly standardized
product worldwide and (2) whether to employ essentially the same basic competitive strategy in the markets
of all countries where it operates or whether to modify the company’s competitive approach country-by-
country as may be needed to fi t the specifi c market conditions and competitive circumstances it encounters.
There’s also coverage of the special issues of competing in the markets of emerging countries and the
strategies that local companies in emerging countries can use to defend against global giants.
Our rather meaty treatment of diversifi cation strategies for multibusiness enterprises in Chapter 8 begins
by laying out the various paths for becoming diversifi ed, explains how a company can use diversifi cation
to create or compound competitive advantage for its business units, and examines the strategic options
an already-diversifi ed company has to improve its overall performance. In the middle part of the chapter,
the analytical spotlight is on the techniques and procedures for assessing the strategic attractiveness of a
11
Crafting & Executing Strategy 17th Edition
diversifi ed company’s business portfolio—the relative attractiveness of the various businesses the company
has diversifi ed into, a multi-industry company’s competitive strength in each of its lines of business, and the
strategic fi ts and resource fi ts among a diversifi ed company’s different businesses. The chapter concludes
with a brief survey of a company’s four main post-diversifi cation strategy alternatives: (1) broadening the
diversifi cation base, (2) divesting some businesses and retrenching to a narrower diversifi cation base, (3)
restructuring the makeup of the company’s business lineup, and (4) multinational diversifi cation.
Chapter 9 provides comprehensive coverage of some increasingly pertinent front-burner strategic issues: (1)
whether and why a company has a duty to operate according to ethical standards and (2) whether and why a company
has a duty or obligation to contribute to the betterment of society independent of the needs and preferences of the
customers it serves. Is there a credible business case for operating ethically and/or operating in a socially responsible
manner? Why should a company’s strategy measure up to the standards of being environmentally sustainable?
The opening section of the chapter addresses whether ethical standards are universal (as maintained by the
school of ethical universalism) or dependent on local norms and situational circumstances (as maintained
by the school of ethical relativism) or a combination of both (as maintained by integrative social contracts
theory). Following this are sections on the three categories of managerial morality (moral, immoral, and
amoral), the drivers of unethical strategies and shady business behavior, the approaches to managing a
company’s ethical conduct, the concept of a “social responsibility strategy”, the moral and business cases
for both ethical strategies and socially responsible behavior, the concept of environmental sustainability, and
why every company’s strategy should be crafted in an manner that promotes environmental sustainability.
The contents of this chapter will defi nitely give students some things to ponder and, hopefully, will make
them far more ethically-aware and conscious of why all companies should conduct their business in a
socially responsible and sustainable manner. Chapter 9 has been written as a “stand-alone” chapter that can
be assigned in the early, middle, or late part of the course.
The three-chapter module on executing strategy (Chapters 10-12) is anchored around a pragmatic, compelling
conceptual framework: (1) building the resource strengths and organizational capabilities needed to execute
the strategy in competent fashion; (2) allocating ample resources to strategy-critical activities; (3) ensuring
that policies and procedures facilitate rather than impede strategy execution; (4) instituting best practices and
pushing for continuous improvement in how value chain activities are performed; (5) installing information
and operating systems that enable company personnel to better carry out their strategic roles profi ciently; (6)
tying rewards and incentives directly to the achievement of performance targets and good strategy execution;
(7) shaping the work environment and corporate culture to fi t the strategy; and (8) exerting the internal
leadership needed to drive execution forward.
The recurring theme throughout these three chapters is that implementing and executing strategy entails
fi guring out the specifi c actions, behaviors, and conditions that are needed for a smooth strategy-supportive
operation and then following through to get things done and deliver results—the goal here is to ensure that
students understand the strategy-implementing/strategy-executing phase is a make-things-happen and make-
them-happen-right kind of managerial exercise that leads to operating excellence and good performance.
We have done our best to ensure that the 12 chapters hit the bulls-eye in covering the concepts, analytical tools,
and approaches to strategic thinking that should comprise a senior/MBA course in strategy. There are new and
updated “strategy in action” capsules in each chapter that tie core concepts to real-world management practice
and that complement the fresh examples and illustrations in each chapter. There are accompanying videos for
the chapters. We’ve provided a host of interesting chapter-end Assurance of Learning Exercises that you can use
as a basis for class discussion or written assignments or team presentations used for assessment purposes. In the
event you have opted to utilize a strategy simulation as part of your course offering, we have created chapter-
end Exercises for Simulation Participants that provide a terrifi c way to tie the chapter coverage to the situational
circumstances that confront students in running their simulation company. We are confi dent you’ll fi nd this
12-chapter presentation superior to our prior editions as concerns coverage, readability, and convincing examples.
The ultimate test of this or any text, of course, is the positive pedagogical impact it has in the classroom. If this
edition sets a more effective stage for your lectures and does a better job of helping you persuade students that
the discipline of strategy merits their rapt attention, then it will have fulfi lled its purpose.
Section 1 Instructor Resources, Chapter Features and Case Overview
12
THE CASE COLLECTION IN THE 17th EDITION
The 26-case line-up in this edition is fl ush with interesting companies and valuable lessons for students in the art
and science of crafting and executing strategy.
There’s a good blend of cases from a length perspective—close to a fi fth are under 15 pages, yet offer
plenty for students to chew on; about a fourth are medium-length cases; and the remainder are detail-rich
cases that call for more sweeping analysis.
At least 21 of the 26 cases involve companies, products, or people that students will have heard of, know
about from personal experience, or can easily identify with.
The lineup includes at least 11 cases that will provide students with insight into the special demands of
competing in industry environments where technological developments are an everyday event, product
life cycles are short, and competitive maneuvering among rivals comes fast and furious.
18 of the cases involve situations where company resources and competitive capabilities play as large a
role in the strategy-making, strategy-executing scheme of things as industry and competitive conditions
do.
Scattered throughout the lineup are 9 cases concerning non-U.S. companies, globally competitive
industries, and/or cross-cultural situations; these cases, in conjunction with the globalized content of
the text chapters, provide abundant material for linking the study of strategic management tightly to the
ongoing globalization of the world economy.
3 cases deal with the strategic problems of family-owned or relatively small entrepreneurial businesses.
22 cases involve public companies, thus allowing students to do further research on the Internet regarding
recent developments at these companies.
9 of the 26 cases (Costco Wholesale, JetBlue Airways, Competition in the Movie Rental Industry, Dell,
Panera Bread, Competition in Video Games, Google’s Strategy in 2008, Wal-Mart, and Southwest Airlines)
have accompanying videotape segments that can be shown in conjunction with the case discussions.
A grid showing the issues that are prominent in each of the 26 cases in this edition is presented in Table 1.
Suggestions for sequencing the case assignments can be found in Section 3 of this IM. The 11 sample course
outlines and daily schedules of class activities in Section 4 provide further suggestions about the sequencing of
case assignments and how to integrate your coverage of the 12 chapters, the various case assignments, and use
of a strategy simulation.
Specifi c details about how to utilize each case (including recommended assignment questions and recommended
oral team presentation assignments are contained in the teaching notes for each of the cases (the TNs appear in
Section 7).
Sample course syllabi displaying possible case sequencing and suggested case assignments are presented in
Section 4 of this volume of the IM.
It is worth mentioning at this juncture that there is a comprehensive table of fi nancial ratios in Chapter 4
that provides the formulas and brief explanations of what each ratio reveals. Adopters of prior editions have
told us that students fi nd this table extremely helpful in guiding their analyses of the fi nancial statements
contained in the cases. You will probably want to call this table to the attention of class members and urge that
they make full use of the information it contains.
We believe you will fi nd the collection of 26 cases quite appealing, eminently teachable, and very suitable for
drilling students in the use of the concepts and analytical treatments in Chapters 1 through 12. With this case
lineup, you should have no diffi culty whatsoever assigning cases that will capture the interest of students from
start to fi nish.
13
Crafting & Executing Strategy 17th Edition
Table 1 A Quick Profi le of the Cases in the 17th Edition of Crafting and Executing Strategy
Accompanying video (Y = yes; N = no)
Size: Small (S), Medium (M), Large (L)
The manager’s role in crafting strategy
The manager’s role in executing strategy
Vision, mission, and objectives
Crafting strategy in single-business companies
Industry and competitive analysis
Company resources and capabilities
Global or multinational strategy
E-commerce strategy issues
Diversification strategies and the analysis of
multi-business corporations
Financial conditions and financial analysis
Staffing, people management, incentives and
rewards
Organizational structure, core competencies,
competitive capabilities, staffing
Policies, procedures, operating systems, best
practices, continuous improvement
Corporate culture issues
Ethics, values, social responsibility
Exerting strategic leadership
Making action recommendations
Case 1
Whole Foods Market in 2008–
Vision, Core Values, and Strategy
N
M
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 2
Costco Wholesale Corp. in 2008–
Mission, Business Model, and Strategy
Y
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 3
JetBlue Airways: A Cadre of New
Managers Takes Control
Y
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 4
Competition in the Golf Equipment
Industry in 2008
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 5
Competition in the Movie Rental
Industry in 2008: Netflix and Block-
buster Battle for Market Leadership
Y
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 6
Dell, Inc. in 2008–Can It Overtake
Hewlett-Packard as the Worldwide
Leader in Personal Computers?
Y
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 7
Apple, Inc. in 2008
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 8
Panera Bread Company
Y
M
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 9
Rogers’ Chocolates
N
S
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 10
Nucor Corp.–Competing Against Low
Cost Foreign Imports
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 11
Competition in Video Game Consoles:
The State of the Battle for Supremacy
in 2008
Y
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 12
Nintendo’s Strategy for the Wii–Good
Enough to Beat Xbox 360 and
PlayStation 3?
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 13
Corona Beer
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 14
Google’s Strategy in 2008
Y
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 15
The Challenges Facing eBay in
2008–Time for Changes in Strategy?
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 16
Loblaw Companies Limited: Preparing
for Wal-Mart Supercenters
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 17
Research in Motion: Managing Explosive
Growth
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 18
Adidas in 2008: Has Corporate Restruc-
turing Increased Shareholder Value?
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 19
PepsiCo’s Diversification Strategy in
2008
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 20
Robin Hood
N
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 21
Dilemma at Devil’s Den
N
S
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 22
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in 2008– Manage-
ment’s Initiatives to Transform the
Company and Curtail Wal-Mart Bashing
Y
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 23
Southwest Airlines in 2008: Culture,
Values, and Operating Practices
Y
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 24
Shangri-La Hotels
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 25
E & J Gallo
N
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Case 26
Detecting Unethical Practices at
Supplier Factories: The Monitoring and
Remediation Challenges
N
X
X
X
X
X
X
Section 1 Instructor Resources, Chapter Features and Case Overview
14
VALUE-ADDING STUDENT SUPPORT MATERIALS FOR THE
17th EDITION OF CRAFTING & EXECUTING STRATEGY
The text and text website include several kinds of support materials to help students grasp the material.
Key Points Summaries At the end of each chapter is a synopsis of the core concepts, analytical tools and
other key points discussed in the chapter. These chapter-end synopses help students focus on basic strategy
principles, digest the messages of each chapter, and prepare for tests.
Online Learning Center (OLC) The following helpful aids are available to students via the publisher’s
OLC at www.mhhe.com/thompson:
Self-Graded Chapter Quizzes The OLC contains 20-question quizzes for each chapter to allow
students to measure their grasp of the material presented in each of the 12 chapters.
Guide to Case Analysis This brief guide—designed especially for students unfamiliar with the
case method of teaching/learning—explains what a case is, why cases are a standard part of courses in
strategy, how to prepare for a class discussion of a case, how to prepare a written case analysis, what is
expected in an oral presentation, and the fi nancial ratio calculations that are used to assess a company’s
fi nancial condition. We suggest having students read this Guide prior to the fi rst class discussion of a
case.
Study Questions for Assigned Cases A set of PDF fi les containing study questions for each of
the 26 cases in this edition are posted; the ready accessibility of these fi les to class members eliminates
the need for you to provide study questions for assigned cases. The study questions provided to students
match those appearing in the teaching notes for these cases.
Accompanying Case Videos Some of the brief video segments that accompany cases are available
on the student portion of the textbook website.
PowerPoint Slides There is a selection of PowerPoint slides for each of the 12 chapters.
The Business Strategy Game and GLO-BUS Online Simulations Using one of the two companion
strategy simulations is a powerful and constructive way of emotionally connecting students to the subject matter
of the course. We know of no more effective and interesting way to stimulate the competitive energy of students
and prepare them for the rigors of real-world business decision-making than to have them match strategic wits
with classmates in running a company in head-to-head competition for global market leadership.
In Section 2 of this IM, we outline why using a competition-based strategy simulation as a course centerpiece
makes great sense and provide you with detailed suggestions for successfully incorporating either The Business
Strategy Game or GLO-BUS in your strategic management course.
Should you decide to incorporate use one of the two simulations in your course, the simplest (and usually the
cheapest) way for students to obtain the simulation is via a credit card purchase at www.bsg-online.com (if you
opt to use The Business Strategy Game) or at www.glo-bus.com (if you opt to use GLO-BUS). Purchasing the
simulation direct at the web site allows students to bypass paying sometimes hefty bookstore markups (a savings
that can amount to $10-$15). The second way for students to register for the simulation is by using a pre-paid
access code that comes bundled with the 16th Edition when you order the text-simulation package through your
bookstore—this requires use of a separate ISBN (the 17th Edition bundled with either simulation has a different
ISBN number than just the 17th Edition ordered alone. Your McGraw-Hill rep can provide you with the correct
ISBN for ordering the combination text-simulation package through your bookstore(s).
2
section
Using a Strategy
Simulation in Your
Course: The Compelling
Benefi ts, What’s
Involved, and
How to Proceed
