Exam 4: Business Level Strategy

Zara has pioneered "cheap chic" in clothing apparel. Zara offers current and desirable fashion goods at relatively low prices. To implement the strategy, Zara uses sophisticated designers and effective means of managing costs. These are all characteristics of which business level strategy?

Before the firm decides what products to offer and what benefits and features they will have, the firm must decide all the following questions EXCEPT

Firms implementing cost leadership strategies often sell no-frills standardized goods or services (but with competitive levels of differentation) to the industry's most typical customers.

Recently, the only type of car available for Anthony to rent on a business trip was a compact, fuel-efficient Japanese import. Anthony was surprised at the comfort and performance of the car. He is in the market for a new car and had previously considered only buying another luxury SUV. Now, he is thinking about the significant cost savings he would have if he bought the compact vehicle rather than a new SUV. This is an example of the competitive risk that

In the Chapter 4 Strategic Focus, Walmart made changes to attract upscale customers. These changes had which of the following results?

Focus strategies are

Unlike a cost leadership and a differentiation strategy, both focus strategies are less dependent on the completion of various value chain and support activities in order to compete in a superior manner.

In general, firms can be most effective if they develop business-level strategies that will serve the needs of the "typical customer" in the industry.

Because of its focus on innovation and quality manufacturing, Total Quality Management is not useful for firms which follow a cost leadership strategy.

A cost leadership strategy provides goods or services with features that are

Southwest Airlines' tightly integrated activities make its cost leadership strategy more vulnerable to imitation than if its activities were loosely integrated.

The products or services that are differentiated from others have qualities that are

Case Scenario 1: International Cow Packers. International Cow Packers (ICP) is a $12 billion meat processor (slaughter, processing, and packing). Founded in 1943, ICP has grown to become the largest beef and pork processor in the United States (revenues come 90% from beef and 10% from pork) and also has a growing export market to Japan. The company follows a focused cost-leadership strategy, delivering USDA-graded meats primarily to the institutional (schools, prisons, hospitals) and supermarket channels. ICP's entire value chain is organized to deliver volume product at the industry's lowest per-unit cost. Its supplier industries, primarily cattle and swine feedlots, have relatively little power since prices for these raw materials are determined in the commodity markets. While entry barriers to the industry are high due to high minimum start-up costs, industry rivalry is extremely intense - primarily due to the fact that three large companies (including ICP) control 80% of the market for processed meats. The threat of substitutes is high with an increasing trend for consumers to favor poultry and other non-beef proteins. Buyers are also powerful since supermarkets are relatively concentrated at a regional level and end-consumers have ample choices. -(Refer to Case Scenario 1) The supplier industries of International Cow Packers (ICP), primarily cattle and swine feedlots, are powerful because prices for these supplies are determined in the commodity markets.

Case Scenario 2: Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Company is famed for its creativity, strong global brand, and uncanny ability to take service and experience businesses to higher levels. In the early 1990s, then-CEO Michael Eisner looked to the fast-food industry as a way to draw additional attention to the Disney presence outside of its theme parks - its retail chain was highly successful and growing rapidly. A fast-food restaurant made sense from Eisner's perspective since Disney's theme parks had already mastered rapid, high-volume food preparation, and, despite somewhat undistinguished food and high prices (or perhaps because of), all its in-park restaurants were extremely profitable. From this inspiration, Mickey's Kitchen was launched. The first two locations were opened in California and in a suburb of Chicago, adjacent to existing Disney stores. Menu items included healthy, child-oriented fare like Jumbo Dumbo burgers and even a meatless Mickey Burger. Eisner thought that locating each restaurant next to existing Disney stores was sure to increase foot traffic through both venues. Less than two years later Disney closed down the California and Chicago stores and shuttered further expansion plans. Eisner cited overwhelming competition from McDonalds and general oversaturation in the fast-food industry as the primary reasons for closing down the failing Mickey's Kitchen. -(Refer to Case Scenario 2) Mickey's Kitchens was successful primarily because it was able to create a differentiated Disney experience that drew customers away from other fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's.

The integration of a cost leadership and a differentiation strategy

A nationwide chain of pet stores wishes to identify the tradeoffs that its customers are willing to make between low-cost products such as generic pet foods and differentiated features such as pick-up and delivery of pets for grooming. The best technique for this firm to learn this information would be to use

The typical risks of a cost leadership strategy include

Case Scenario 2: Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Company is famed for its creativity, strong global brand, and uncanny ability to take service and experience businesses to higher levels. In the early 1990s, then-CEO Michael Eisner looked to the fast-food industry as a way to draw additional attention to the Disney presence outside of its theme parks - its retail chain was highly successful and growing rapidly. A fast-food restaurant made sense from Eisner's perspective since Disney's theme parks had already mastered rapid, high-volume food preparation, and, despite somewhat undistinguished food and high prices (or perhaps because of), all its in-park restaurants were extremely profitable. From this inspiration, Mickey's Kitchen was launched. The first two locations were opened in California and in a suburb of Chicago, adjacent to existing Disney stores. Menu items included healthy, child-oriented fare like Jumbo Dumbo burgers and even a meatless Mickey Burger. Eisner thought that locating each restaurant next to existing Disney stores was sure to increase foot traffic through both venues. Less than two years later Disney closed down the California and Chicago stores and shuttered further expansion plans. Eisner cited overwhelming competition from McDonalds and general oversaturation in the fast-food industry as the primary reasons for closing down the failing Mickey's Kitchen. -(Refer to Case Scenario 2) Based on your own knowledge of Disney and the information provided in the scenario, does Disney appear to create value in its businesses primarily through a cost-leadership or through a differentiation strategy?

The risks of a focus strategy include

According to the Chapter 4 Opening Case, part of Starbuck's success in 2011 was the decision to