United Safety & Survivability Corporation: Strategies during COVID-19

Founded in 1984, United Safety & Survivability Corporation (USSC) was an American company headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, that began in a garage with just a few products and a dream to develop better and safer transportation solutions. Like most firms, as COVID-19 started to spread in the United States and around the globe, USSC found itself in uncharted waters. The transportation sector, in which USSC operated, was among the most affected by the pandemic as people stopped using public transportation or were confined to their homes. The uncertainty regarding the transportation industry’s future was as substantial as the drop in demand caused by the pandemic. USSC’s chief executive officer found himself in a difficult situation, as the company would soon run out of money. At the same time, there were no clear answers yet to fundamental questions about the industry’s future. USSC's leadership team had to quickly decide on both short-term (tactical) responses to COVID-19 and long-term (strategic) decisions, including decisions about its product portfolio and research and development strategy.

This case may be used in courses related to strategic management and entrepreneurship and can be adjusted to suit undergraduate-, graduate-, and executive-level programs. The case can be used at the beginning of the course to introduce topics like R&D and innovation strategies, corporate entrepreneurship, and strategic collaborations, or towards the end of the course to allow the students to apply these concepts to the challenges faced by USSC.<br><br>The case focuses on how a company can assess alternatives in times of unprecedented uncertainty. Students will debate the tradeoff between switching to survival mode and preserving cash versus striving for innovative solutions and framing the pandemic as a quasi-opportunity. Working through the case and assignment questions will give students the opportunity to do the following: <ul><li>Analyze the pros and cons of pursuing a conservative versus an opportunistic strategy when facing high uncertainty. </li><li>Discuss how firms can develop their portfolio in terms of moving closer to or away from their existing core competencies, while considering that such a decision should be aligned with external conditions.</li><li>Understand the characteristics and effectiveness of different R&D strategies to develop new technologies (e.g., internal R&D, alliances, licensing, etc.).</li><li>Based on the case insights, create an action plan for pursuing an innovative strategy when the timing is critical and resources to build a product from scratch are limited.</li><li>Discuss the importance of aligning a firm’s R&D strategy with critical factors such as market size, scalability, competitive advantage, and timing.</li></ul>

• Innovation
• R&D
• Uncertainty
• COVID-19