XMBA 508 Welcome to Competitive Strategy Dr. Selen Ünlüoğlu Office: C 822 Telephone: (232) Course website specifically for you: sunluoglu.weebly.com

A LEARNING CONTRACT Your expectations ? You tell me! My expectations (of you)? You guess!

Strategic Concepts presented by me Case Studies of Companies presented by you Strategic Debates by you – Peer to Peer learning Experiential – Opinions – Discussions – Creative Tension This course will be conducted much like a Professional Development Workshop Overview of Your Course:

Course Purposes and Objectives To introduce various strategy concepts and analytical frameworks to add to the portfolio of business knowledge, skills, and abilities To let you experience using various strategic tools To provide an opportunity to imagine creative solutions for solving problems To support and encourage peer to peer learning To encourage and support the sharing and then clarifying (after feedback) personal opinions, thoughts, concerns, and ideas

Class Assets What experience or knowledge or skill are you most excited about bringing to class?

Course Structure: Lectures Weekly Thursday 18:30 Duration Attendance Source of vital information! Assigned to small group (of about 3-4 students)

Assessment Outputs from in-class case analysis 60% Final Project30% Attendance to 2 Executive MBA Seminars 10%(2x5%)

SO FAR … …Any Questions?

Lecture: Basic Concepts of Strategic Management

Thinking Strategically: The Three Big Strategic Questions 1. What’s the company’s present situation? 2. Where does the company need to go from here? 3. How should it get there? strategy A company’s answer to “How it will we get there?” is its strategy

The Hows That Define a Firm's Strategy How to grow the business How to please customers How to outcompete rivals How to manage each functional piece of the business (R&D, production, marketing, HR, finance, and so on) How to respond to changing market conditions How to achieve targeted levels of performance Strategy is HOW to...

Strategy… competitive moves business approaches Consists of Management’s competitive moves and business approaches planning, decision-making,actions Combines planning, decision-making, and actions Strategies can be: OFFENSIVE OFFENSIVE (primary goal: grow market share; pressure competitors) CONSERVATIVE CONSERVATIVE (primary goal: avoid risks; minimize confrontations with strong competitors)

Copying competitive moves of other successful companies rarely works!

Sustainable An Effective Strategy leads to Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Four Strategic Approaches to Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage 1. Cost leadership (Advantage: Known for low prices) (Wal-Mart) 2. Differentiation (Advantage: Distinctive, desirable features to product or service) (Harley-Davidson) 3. Narrow market niche (Advantage: able to satisfy the need and desires of customers within a micro market) (Antique Car parts companies) 4. Developing superior expertise and resources (Advantage: able to make it difficult for competitors to replicate products or services) (Microsoft)

Changes may be necessary to react to – Shifting market conditions – Technological breakthroughs – Fresh moves of competitors – Evolving customer preferences – Emerging market opportunities – New ideas to improve strategy – Crisis situations Strategies are always works in progress… A Company’s strategy is partly Proactive and Partly Reactive

No two companies are exactly alike No two companies are exactly alike No two companies are totally different No two companies are totally different

What is the impact of environment in determining strategic style of the company? Based on your observation, which type of strategy suits best to your company’s environment? How did you make the environmental assessment? What do you know about Organizational DNA? 3/18/2016 Prentice Hall, Inc. © Your Strategy Needs a Strategy

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