MgtS 4481

Group Project

Guidelines

The goal of the group project is to develop an understanding of the structure of a particular industry, along with the strategies of 2 firms in that industry. Thus, completing the group project will be very similar to completing the Cannondale case assignment, except that:

• You will have to gather the information.
• You need to analyze the strategy for 2 firms, not just one.

For the industry analysis, I expect you to include:

• Dominant industry characteristics (how big is the industry, how fast is it growing, how many rivals are there, are there strategic groups, etc)
• A Porter 5-force model of the industry, including the moderating effects of strategic groups on the power relationships
• A list of industry KSFs
• A list of driving forces likely to affect the industry over the next 3-5 years.

For each firm, I would like you to conduct a strategy audit, roughly paralleling that of the Cannondale case. For each firm, consider:

• What is the firm’s generic strategy, using Porter’s classification scheme?
• An analysis of each firm’s strategy using Hambrick & Fredrickson’s five dimensions of strategy.

As well, for each firm, I’d like you to try to develop an understanding of the firm’s resources and competencies, and how they “fit together.” As with Cannondale, I don’t want a list of stuff, but rather, I’d like you to try to focus on what you consider to be the firm’s critical resources/competencies. Going further than the Cannondale case, I’d like you to try to figure out how they all interrelate, if they do.

As with the Cannondale case, I’d like you to use the “triangle diagram” to assess the fit between strategy, the internal environment, and the external environment.

Finally, I’d like you to evaluate the effectiveness of each firm’s strategy. This should include an analysis of financial data (except for private companies, where financials are likely to be unavailable). I also want you to use the BSC to evaluate strategic effectiveness along multiple dimensions. For those of you with private companies, this will be even more important, because of the lack of access to financial data.

Revised: November 10, 2003