個案總覽

Singapore Airlines is widely regarded as an exemplar of excellence in an industry whose service standards are tumbling. What's not so well known is that the company is also one of the civil aviation industry's cost leaders. SIA's success in executing a dual strategy of differentiation and cost leadership is unusual. Indeed, management experts, such as Michael Porter, argue that it's impossible to do so for a sustained period since dual strategies entail contradictory investments and organizational processes. Yet SIA, and a few other emerging-economy companies, view the dualities as opposites that form part of a whole. SIA executes its dual strategy by managing four paradoxes: Achieving service excellence cost-effectively, fostering centralized and decentralized innovation, being a technology leader and follower, and using standardization to achieve personalization. The results speak for themselves: SIA has delivered healthy financial returns; it has never had an annual loss; and except for the initial capitalization, the Asian airline has funded its growth itself while paying dividends every year.

TelZip, a small mobile-network operator, has decided to shake up the European telecommunications market by offering "free forever" broadband service to customers who sign a long-term contract with the company. Meridicom, the dominant industry player, must decide how to respond. Joe Ulan, the incumbent's new chief marketing officer, gets conflicting advice: The product division heads don't like the idea of discounting their products or even of working together; the sales director wants to kill the competition with a price war. How can Joe turn this attack into an opportunity? Marco Bertini and Nirmalya Kumar, of London Business School, present this fictional case to explore the question, "What do you do when one of your small competitors pulls out its big gun?" Two experts comment on the case in R1007R and R1007Z. Georg Tacke, of Simon-Kucher & Partners, argues that simply matching a small competitor's prices is the worst reaction. Anne Gro Gulla, of Telenor Group, suggests creating offshoots of the main firm that might cannibalize the mother brand but avoid the greater evil of allowing it to be eaten alive by outsiders. HBR's online readers also offer their two cents. You can, too.

TelZip, a small mobile-network operator, has decided to shake up the European telecommunications market by offering "free forever" broadband service to customers who sign a long-term contract with the company. Meridicom, the dominant industry player, must decide how to respond. Joe Ulan, the incumbent's new chief marketing officer, gets conflicting advice: The product division heads don't like the idea of discounting their products or even of working together; the sales director wants to kill the competition with a price war. How can Joe turn this attack into an opportunity? Marco Bertini and Nirmalya Kumar, of London Business School, present this fictional case to explore the question, "What do you do when one of your small competitors pulls out its big gun?" Two experts comment on the case in R1007R and R1007Z. Georg Tacke, of Simon-Kucher & Partners, argues that simply matching a small competitor's prices is the worst reaction. Anne Gro Gulla, of Telenor Group, suggests creating offshoots of the main firm that might cannibalize the mother brand but avoid the greater evil of allowing it to be eaten alive by outsiders. HBR's online readers also offer their two cents. You can, too.

TelZip, a small mobile-network operator, has decided to shake up the European telecommunications market by offering "free forever" broadband service to customers who sign a long-term contract with the company. Meridicom, the dominant industry player, must decide how to respond. Joe Ulan, the incumbent's new chief marketing officer, gets conflicting advice: The product division heads don't like the idea of discounting their products or even of working together; the sales director wants to kill the competition with a price war. How can Joe turn this attack into an opportunity? Marco Bertini and Nirmalya Kumar, of London Business School, present this fictional case to explore the question, "What do you do when one of your small competitors pulls out its big gun?" Two experts comment on the case in R1007R and R1007Z. Georg Tacke, of Simon-Kucher & Partners, argues that simply matching a small competitor's prices is the worst reaction. Anne Gro Gulla, of Telenor Group, suggests creating offshoots of the main firm that might cannibalize the mother brand but avoid the greater evil of allowing it to be eaten alive by outsiders. HBR's online readers also offer their two cents. You can, too.

This case illustrates the evolving structure of the airline industry in Europe and the competitive determinants in the industry. This case initially outlines the context of the airline industry prior to deregulation. The industry's evolution subsequent to deregulation is then examined. We examine the competition between incumbents and new entrants and the arrival of low-cost airlines into the industry structure. The case illustrates incumbents' differing responses to the change in the industry's structure and the evolvement of new customer segments. The case further illustrates the differing competitive requirements as the structure changes in the period between 1993 to 2000 and beyond, and the incumbents' and entrants' choices as the basis of competition changes in the industry. Incumbents' and entrants' competitive positioning and the changes in positioning are also examined. Finally, the case also illustrates the possible new business models and their link to competitive positioning and industry structure. This case is placed in the years 1993 to 2000 when the deregulation unfolded in the industry bringing in significant and substantial changes to the industry's structure.

Established in 1857, the Birla Group has developed into one of the largest conglomerates in India. The firm has invested in a wide range of industries, including textiles, cement, tea, sponge iron and aluminum, and in dozens of small companies. The death of Birla's president in 1995 shook the company. His son, Kumar Mangalam Birla, took over at the age of 28 and, through the period of India's economic reforms, redirected the focus of the group's investments. Along with increased investment in holdover industries such as cement, sponge iron and carbon black, the group has pursued investment in new industries, including viscose staple fibre, non-ferrous metals, branded apparel and financial services. The reformed Birlafiber Group could be seen as following the model of General Electric circa mid-1980s, with a mixture of the old and the new, unsure of its future direction. Rival Indian conglomerates such as Tata and Reliance have also changed since the beginning of the economic reform period. They have shed moribund low-margin firms and industries and have concentrated on new high-margin, high-growth investments. Still claiming to be "Birla #1"-its rallying cry for several generations-is the group actually still number one, or is it being left behind by its more aggressive rivals?

Chinese home electronics manufacturer TCL has identified the need to internationalize. However, because the global home electronics industry is a rapidly changing industry and the key to success lies in product innovation, TCL must now evaluate its innovation strategies to remain competitive. Traditionally, TCL's product development strategy has focused on modular innovation. By looking at the different product innovation strategies pursued by such global market leaders as Samsung and Sony, TCL has an opportunity to evaluate the differences between modular innovation and architectural innovation strategies and assess the risks involved.

This note is an updated synopsis of the more detailed PEL-056: A Problem-Solving Approach to Designing and Implementing a Strategy to Improve Performance. This synopsis helps teams work through a problem-solving process of designing and implementing a strategy for continuous improvement.

Looking through the lenses of both macro and micro economic policy, this case examines how Singapore has achieved such stellar success throughout its history, from independence through 2008. The case discusses the different policy choices the Singaporean government has made as well as how the government's structure has aided development.

Incumbents will beat new rivals for at least the next few decades because they're the ones that can handle cars' design complexity.

The pressure to grow the top line is so intense that most companies pay too much attention to expansion, and not enough to building strong internal capabilities. A few companies start from the other direction: They figure out what they're really good at and then develop those capabilities (three to six at most) until they've created a set of complementary, best-in-class competencies. For them, strategy then becomes a matter of aligning what they do well with the right marketplace opportunities-and the market rewards them with sustainable, superior returns.

Most companies know that they need to be greening their offerings-if not to gain advantage, then simply to keep up. In this article the authors offer a framework for embarking on the green-product development process, introducing three broad strategies that companies can use to align their green goals and capabilities. An "accentuate" strategy involves evaluating products in the company's current portfolio and playing up or extending latent or existing green attributes (as Arm and Hammer did when it repositioned its 150-year-old baking soda as "the #1 environmentally sensible alternative for cleaning and deodorizing"). An "acquire" strategy involves buying someone else's green brand-an approach used effectively by L'Oreal when it acquired The Body Shop, Unilever when it acquired Ben & Jerry's, and Colgate-Palmolive when it acquired Tom's of Maine. Finally, companies with innovation expertise can use an "architect" strategy, building green products from scratch, as Clorox did when it developed its celebrated Green Works line. Unruh and Ettenson offer case studies, outline benefits and hazards, and describe the optimal organizational and competitive circumstances for each strategy.

The development of the smart grid--the integration of traditional elements of energy transmission and delivery with information technology--heralds a new era in the power industry. Many new business opportunities will be created as the smart grid gets developed. What strategies should Cisco employ to become a leader in this industry? What obstacles and challenges must Cisco overcome to compete successfully in this new industry?

In late 1996, Sherwin-Williams CEO John Breen sat at his desk, preparing for another meeting with his board of directors. The room was dark except for a small stream of light that escaped the curtains hung heavily over the windows. Outside, rain was falling onto the company's corporate headquarters and on the streets of Cleveland. Breen stared at the portraits of company founders Henry Sherwin and Edward Williams that loomed above him on the wall. What would they think about the company's direction under his watch? Both had invested their life savings to create Sherwin-Williams in 1870. More than 125 years later, a market shift was taking place. Some paint companies were experimenting with new formulations-using different materials to make paint that would send fewer toxins into the air. Would the founders agree with the decisions Breen had made as he guided the company into this new era?

Dale Morse, MD, MS, could feel the tension rising in the room. He was chair of a special meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) called for July, 2009, that would make recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on whether to prioritize vaccine distribution to protect the population against a possible H1N1 influenza pandemic in the fall. Dr. Morse was particularly concerned that if ACIP did not set priorities now, he and other state and local public health officials could be faced with a vaccine shortage amid high demand-a situation he described as a potential public health disaster.

A new empirical study compares innovative and competitive strategies. Blue Ocean holds its own-until competition erodes profits from innovation, after 15 or so years. The authors suggest a blend of the two approaches.

Organizations spend lots of time and resources trying to pick up their operational pace, in hopes of gaining a competitive edge. But when they work at warp speed, they end up lagging rivals in terms of strategy and performance.

By late 2009, Nokia was grappling with the decision of whether to recover its leading position in the high-profit developed markets, where they were losing market share to the likes of Apple and Samsung, or defend its market leadership in the low-margin, high-volume emerging markets. This case poses the following questions: Should Nokia stay the course, operating in both the developed and emerging markets, or should they forego one for the other? And what would this imply for the types of handsets and services they would need to offer?

The case explores how Tata Motors, India's largest automobile company, developed the Nano, the world's cheapest car. The case focuses on the translation of Ratan Tata's (Chairman of Tata Motors) vision of a safe affordable car for the masses by Ravi Kant, Managing Director of Tata Motors into the Nano Project. The case raises questions around breaking the price - quality barrier and changing existing internal processes to accommodate revolutionary new ideas. The dilemma of success - Tata Nano was a runaway bestseller - left Tata Motors debating how large a bet they should make on the Nano and what kind of capacity commitment this requires.

A survival strategy was needed for the Food Store department of the Northern Lakes Cooperative. The 85-person Food Store department, one of eleven departments at the Northern Lakes Cooperative, had not been profitable for years. While not profitable, it served the needs of its Co-op members by providing a grocery service and serving as an anchor in the Co-op Mall.