Strategic Management and Personal Media Players

orchard apple tree, Inc. in 2010 Assignment Questions 1. What argon the chief elements of Apples general hawkish scheme? How advantageously do the pieces fit in concert? Is the strategy evolving? 2. What argon the befall out elements of Apples strategy in computers, ain media players, and smartphones? Have its strategies in its core blood linees yielded mastery? Explain. 3. What does a rivalrous authorisation assessment reveal near Apples computer business, as compargond to the leaders in the personalised computer sedulousness? Use the methodology in disconcert 4. to support your answer. Does it appear that the companionships competitive associations in personal media players and smartphones or bullockyer or weaker than its position in computers? 4. Does it put to work good strategic sense for Apple to be a contention in the computer, personal media player, smartphone, and tablet computer industries? ar the value chain activities that Apple performs in computers , personal media players, tablet computers and smartphones very similar and compatible or be there very important disaccordences from intersection to product?Which of the four products linescomputers, tablet computers, personal media players, or smartphonesdo you think is most important to Apples future growth and advantageousness? wherefore? 5. What is your assessment of Apple Computers pecuniary outcome the past three years? (Use the monetary ratios in Table 4. 1 on pages 94-96 of the school text as a result in doing your pecuniary analysis. ) 6. What recommendations would you make to allow Apple to strengthen its position in its most important markets? What steps should it deliberate to ensure that the iPad becomes a succeeder in the food market and a major contributor to the high societys overall performance?Googles Strategy in 2010* Assignment Questions 1. Discuss competition in the pursuit labor. Which of the five competitive forces seem strongest? weakest? Wh at is your assessment of overall industry attractiveness? 2. How is the search industry ever-changing? What forces seem most give c bely to bring about major change to the industry within the near three to five years? 3. What are the key factors that define success in the industry? What are the key competencies, capabilities, and alternatives of productive search engine companies? 4. draw Googles customer value roposition and profit traffic pattern linked to its business model. What strategies has Google relied upon to build competitive expediency in the industry? 5. Have Googles business model and strategy proven to be successful? Should investors be impressed with the companys financial performance? How does the companys financial performance compare to that of Microsoft and Yahoo? Please conduct a financial analysis to support your positionyou whitethorn wish to use the financial ratios presented in the Table 4. 1 of the text as a guide in doing your financial analysis of the company. . What are the companys key resources and competitive capabilities? What competitive liabilities and resource weaknesses does it buzz off? What opportunities exist? What threats to its continued success are present? 7. What recommendations would you make to Googles top- caution team to protract its competitive advantage in the search industry? How should it best capitalize on its strategic initiatives in mobile phones, cloud computing, emerging markets, and other ventures? southwestward Airlines in 2010 Culture, Values, and Operating Practices Assignment Questions . Is there anything that you find particularly impressive about southwesterly Airlines? 2. What grade would you give southwestward management for the job it has through with(p) in crafting the companys strategy? What is it that you give care or dislike about the strategy? Does southwestern have a winning strategy? 3. What are the key policies, procedures, operating practices, and core values key sou thwesterlys efforts to implement and execute its cheap/no frills strategy? 4. What are the key elements of Southwests stopping point? Is Southwest a strong culture company? Why or why not?What problems do you foresee that Gary Kelly has in sustaining the culture now that Herb Kelleher, the companys ghostly leader, has departed? 5. What grade would you give Southwest management for the job it has done in implementing and executing the companys strategy? Which of Southwests strategy execution approaches and operating practices do you believe have been most crucial in accounting for the success that Southwest has enjoyed in executing its strategy? argon the any policies, procedures, and operating approaches at Southwest that you pass up of or that are not working well? 6.What weaknesses or problems do you see at Southwest Airlines as of mid-2010? 7. Does the AirTran acquisition make good strategic sense for Southwest? 8. What strategic issues and problems do Gary Kelly and Southwes t executives need to address as they proceed to penny-pinching the deal with the AirTran acquisition and contemplate how best to fuse AirTrans operations and AirTrans employees into Southwest? 9. What recommendations would you make to Gary Kelly and Southwest executives as the company heads into 2011? Competition in Energy Drinks, Sports Drinks and Vitamin-Enhanced Beverages Assignment Questions 1.What are the strategically pertinent components of the global and U. S. beverage industry macro-environment? How do the frugal characteristics of the alternative beverage segment of the industry differ from that of other beverage categories? Explain. 2. What is competition like in the alternative beverage industry? Which of the five competitive forces is strongest? Which is weakest? What competitive forces seem to have the greatest effect on industry attractiveness and the potential profitability of new entrants? 3. How is the market for energy drinks, sports drinks and vitamin-enhance d beverages changing?What are the underlying drivers of change and how might those forces individually or collectively make the industry more or less attractive? 4. What does your strategic group map of the energy drink, sports drink, and vitamin-enhanced beverage industry look like? Which strategic groups do you think are in the best positions? The worst positions? 5. What key factors determine the success of alternative beverage producers? 6. What recommendations would you make to Coca-Cola to improve its battle in the global alternative beverage industry? to PepsiCo? to Red Bull GmbH?