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Abstract to follow.

Designed as an in-class handout to update Anheuser-Busch and the U.S. Brewing Industry.

Updates McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. in 1990 (A).

Updates Sunrise Medical, Inc.'s Wheelchair Products.

Supplements the case.

Describes the opportunities that confront the African Communications Group, an entrepreneurial organization that plans to introduce a wireless pay-phone system in Tanzania. Provides a foundation for the analysis of value creation and of value capture. The possibility of entry by other companies, the presence of a large supplier, and uncertainties about demand all create important tradeoffs for the new venture.

Describes the challenges facing the Saturn Corp., General Motor's (GM) small-car company, as it enters a phase of transferring its knowledge, technology, and experience throughout GM. Describes the urgency of Saturnization at GM and the continuing pressure to retain traditional job design and vertical integration. Used to demonstrate the extraordinary time and expense required in some situations to generate competitive advantage.

Presents an analytical report on the company's competitive position and on the industry structure in 1991. Used to show how a company can generate value through steady, incremental investment over a long period in a business model tailored to the industry context. Also illustrates the challenges of market leadership.

Explains relationships between asset specificity, holdup, and vertical integration. In particular, it emphasizes solutions to the holdup problem through vertical integration and contracting.

A basic premise of strategy is that superior profits occur when a corporation secures favorable positions in attractive industries, and pursues economies of scope across business units. This note draws on research that documents the importance of industry, positioning, and corporate-parent effects on profitability. The research shows differences in the influence of the effects for high and low performers, and differences for firms that are in the process of achieving and sustaining performance.

Designed to illustrate the complexity of buyer-seller arrangements in an established industry. When movie studios negotiate with theater operators to show new films, the costs to the studios of making the films are largely sunk. Similarly, the costs to the theaters of showing films are also sunk. Thus, both parties to the exchange have high bargaining power and are vulnerable to hold-up. Allows students to identify the implications for industry structure. In particular, the case highlights the recent trend toward multiplexes and small screen sizes.

Describes U.S. antitrust policy, including major judicial decisions and their impact on competitive strategy. Omits information on the history of antitrust policy and on the specific prohibitions of the various acts.

Describes the competitive position of Arborite, a Canadian manufacturer of high-pressure laminates (HPL) (a product sold under the Formica name in the United States). Arborite's market share has slipped, and a new general manager must evaluate whether a change in strategy is warranted. Provides detailed information for Arborite and its competitors on the costs of performing the activities necessary to manufacture and market HPL.

Describes the opportunities that confront the African Communications Group, an entrepreneurial organization that plans to introduce a wireless pay-phone system in Tanzania. Provides a foundation for the analysis of value creation and of value capture. The possibility of entry by other companies, the presence of a large supplier, and uncertainties about demand all create important tradeoffs for the new venture.

Describes the pharmaceutical industry in the 1990s, with particular emphasis on the mergers between American manufacturers and prescription-benefits managers (PBMs). PBMs are distributors with unprecedented access to information on patient and physician characteristics. Students have an opportunity to analyze the mergers using transactions-cost techniques.

Describes the history of the competition policy in the European Union, and focuses on the evolution of pan-European and member-state statutes. The tension between policy and enforcement at various levels draws attention to issues of market definition, especially in merger policy.

Describes the challenges confronting a recent HBS graduate who has started a direct-mail toy company. The entrepreneur must evaluate industry conditions in both toys and direct mail, and determine whether he has developed a viable business concept. Presents detailed financial projections associated with each of three major repositioning options.

Describes structural conditions in the American baseball industry in 1995. Although this case covers conditions leading to the 1994-95 strike, it is designed primarily for analysis of the structural tensions that arise between suppliers, buyers, and rivals as industry revenues diminish.

Describes strategic acquisitions by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola in the late 1980s. The context allows students to evaluate the implications of the mergers for the competitiveness of the industry.

Describes the antitrust issues that arose in 1994 and 1995 with respect to Microsoft's marketing practices.