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Strategic planning has fallen from the pedestal it occupied when it came on the scene in the mid-1960s. Strategic planning failed because it is not the same as strategic thinking. Planning is about analysis--about breaking a goal into steps, formalizing those steps, and articulating the expected consequences. Strategic thinking, in contrast, is about synthesis. It involves intuition and creativity. The outcome of strategic thinking is an integrated perspective, a not-too-precisely articulated vision of direction that must be free to appear at any time and at any place in the organization.

The NutraSweet Co. has very successfully marketed aspartame, a low-calorie, high-intensity sweetener, around the world. NutraSweet's position was protected by patents until 1987 in Europe, Canada, and Japan, and until the end of 1992 in the United States. The case series describes the competition that ensued between NutraSweet and the Holland Sweetener Co. (HSC) following HSC's entry into the aspartame market in 1987. Describes the subsequent move and countermove in both the marketplace and the courts. Also, discusses the business "game" that takes place at both the tactical and value levels. Ends with the final countdown to the expiration of NutraSweet's U.S. patent.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 794-079.

Flour milling in recent years has had a great deal of consolidation. The fourth generation of a privately held firm is debating how to protect themselves in the industry as consumption, production, competition, logistics, technology, and patterns are all changing.

Sunrise's CEO must decide whether to intervene in a decision by a division, Guardian Products, to introduce a new lightweight standard wheelchair. Guardian wants to introduce the wheelchair to complement its line of commodity crutches, walkers, and other patient aids. If introduced, the new wheelchair will compete with an existing product offered by the largest and most profitable Sunrise division, Quickie Designs. The CEO hesitates to take action because he does not want to disrupt a precedent of total divisional autonomy that is integral to Sunrise's culture.

Describes the rivalry between two competitors who have attempted to become the dominant force in the emerging British satellite television industry. Can be used to examine issues of competitive positioning, technology adoption, and scenario analysis. Helps students make decisions given competitive challenges and industry uncertainties.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 794-031.

In today's fast-changing competitive environment, strategy is no longer a matter of positioning a fixed set of activities along that old industrial model, the value chain. Successful companies increasingly do not just add value, they reinvent it. The key strategic task is to reconfigure roles and relationships among a constellation of actors--suppliers, partners, customers--in order to mobilize the creation of value by new combinations of players. The authors provide three illustrations of these new rules of strategy. IKEA has blossomed into the world's largest retailer of home furnishings by redefining the relationships and organizational practices of the furniture business. Danish pharmacies and their national association have reconfigured their relations with customers, doctors, hospitals, and drug manufacturers, to enlarge their role, competencies, and profits. French public-service concessionaires have mastered the art of conducting a creative dialogue between their customers--local governments in France and around the world--and a perpetually expanding set of infrastructure competencies.

Executone has posted low returns in 1992 in the face of intense competition from AT&T and Northern Telecom, its principal rivals. Alan Kessman, president and CEO, is considering whether mid-course adjustments in strategy are necessary in the firm's telecommunications hardware and software businesses. Diagnosis of strategic issues in both the internal and external environment is a prerequisite to establishing a plan of action. Designed to illustrate concepts in strategy identification, evaluation, and formulation.

On November 9, 1987, the Government of India's Project Approval Board approved PepsiCo's second proposal to enter the country. The package that had been approved differed substantially, however, from the one that Pepsi and its local partners had proposed more than a year earlier. Pepsi estimated that the implied changes in project scope would increase the joint venture's initial investment requirements from about Rs. 200 million to Rs. 800 million, once start-up costs were taken into account.

Addresses the role of geographic scope in competition and strategy. Makes distinctions between the geographic scope of competition (or the effective area over which firms compete), the geographic scope of competitive advantage (or the geographic area from which a firm can draw locational advantages), and the geographic scope of strategy (the area over which a firm chooses to compete and locate its activities). The geographic scope of competition is influenced by technology, tastes, governments, and company strategy. Locational advantages are the result of favorable factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, firm strategy, structure, and rivalry. The firm may choose to compete in a single market (a geographically focused strategy), in all markets (a global strategy), or some combination of markets. The firm can choose the configuration (location) and coordination of its activities. The firm adds value to geographically dispersed units through the choice of markets to serve, the location and coordination of activities, and the active management of economies of scale, scope, and learning.

The author sets up a new metaphor for competition drawn from the study of biology and social systems. He suggests that a company be viewed not as a member of a single industry but as part of a business ecosystem that crosses a variety of industries. In a business ecosystem, companies "co-evolve" around a new innovation, working cooperatively and competitively to support new products and satisfy customer needs. In a large business environment, several ecosystems may vie for survival and dominance. In fact, it's largely competition among business ecosystems, not individual companies, that's fueling today's industrial transformation. Managers can't afford to ignore the birth of new ecosystems or the competition among those that already exist. McKinsey Award Winner.

Genzyme Corp., one of the largest biotechnology companies, has succeeded in developing, manufacturing, and commercializing its first therapeutic, a treatment for a rare genetic disease. Analysis of the case requires students to identify and understand how Genzyme has designed its strategy to effectively manage, mitigate, or exploit the uncertainties it had faced in the past. In 1993, the company faces challenges in managing future uncertainties involving the product's market, manufacturing, and pricing.

Describes events in 1991 involving Fleet Call, Inc., a potential competitor who plans to introduce an alternative form of mobile communication.