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The Walt Disney Company : The Entertainment King

12:24 PM |

Will acquisitions & expansion in Media Networks affect any other SBU ? Substantiate.

If we design the BCG matrix for the 5 SBU’s of The Walt Disney, Media falls in Star which shows it has high growth rate and high market share. Since the media comes in the star framework of BCG Matrix. It is believed that they should make more investment (i.e. expansion) in the media networks and it will not affect other SBUs of Disney, In fact it will help them to improve upon their marketing strategies. While making any decisions related to investment or acquiring in the media networks they should consider the following factors:

1. They had acquired ABC Channel but unfortunately there was rift between ABC and Disney due to Disney's cultural micro-management. So Disney’s work culture and ethics was quite different from that of ABCs. So they may expand or acquire their media networks but before doing so, they should make sure that the company can handle high work pressure as Disney would have to avoid future controversies because that could affect its business activity.

2. Second thing is they should not go towards that media which does not have any relations with their core business. Because if you expand and invest in media which is totally opposite to your core business, you may not be accepted their which will mount unnecessary costs and losses and will also affect your core business which you are known for.

3. Moreover if we see the revenues generated by Media Networks through year 1996 to 2000, we can observe that it is continuously growing with average YOY growth of 25.43%, which is the maximum among all the SBU’s. This gives strong evidence that it has got potential to not only get cash but also help other SBU to grow or help them grow by sharing their revenues.

Therefore they should expand in those media networks which will help them to stick with their business philosophy, "timeless family entertainment". If they do that, that will also help them in marketing their business better because marketing is all about doing right things at right time at right place. Hence, expansion/acquisition in Media Networks is very much independent of their fate and will generate more cash and will contribute in increment of the Walt Disney Revenue, if done properly.

Contributed by:-

Amit Gunjan

Section A

Strategic Management

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The Walt Disney Company : The Entertainment King

12:13 PM |

The company should go for acquisition in which SBU? and why?

The Walt Disney Company has its roots lying deep within the Disney Brothers Studio started by Walter Elias Disney along with his brother Roy Disney in the year 1923.Disney is known to be the creator of evergreen characters like Mickey Mouse,Snow White ,etc.

The company went public in the year 1940 and further expanding into televisions and Theme Parks in the year 1955.The years 1971 and 1976 mark two major expansions of Disney with the opening up Florida and Tokyo Disney worlds. Besides this, it also went on to start Touchstone to target the adult movie-goers.

By the 1980s Disney as a company diversified into many businesses, incurring a heavy cost but was not able to generate significant financial returns from these areas. As a result, the overall financial condition of the company deteriorated and the performance of different divisions fell.

When Michael Eisner joined the company as the CEO in the year 1984 Disney invested heavily in animation technology and focused on the growth and development of its theme-parks. The investments paid-off and some Disney movies like “The Lion King” broke box-office records. However, Disney again incurred heavy investment and acquired ABC ltd, the second biggest acquisition in the history of US.

By 2000, Disney stepped into a number of streams including:

ü Media-Networks

ü Studios and Entertainment

ü Theme-Parks

ü Internet and

ü Consumer Products

The diversification strategy followed by the company was high on both corporate and operational relatedness.

The theme-parks generated more cash flows for the company; however this generation is approaching a stage of excess than what is required for the company to run efficiently.

However, the company has had a high market share with tremendous growth opportunities in its flagship unit i.e.Media Networks and Entertainment which is the reason why 50^thanniversary of Snow-White and the 60^th Anniversary of Mickey-Mouse were big hits.

The company should therefore, continue its focus on media and entertainment,its flagship units,as these areas have high market share and tremendous growth opportunities.It can even go for further acquisitions in this sphere, like its decision to aquire Buena-Vista distribution networks, and maintain its dominant position in this sphere.

Contributed by:-

Divya Shukla

Section A

Strategic Management

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The Walt Disney Company : The Entertainment King

12:08 PM |

Formulate & explain the BCG matrix for Walt Disney SBU's

The Walt Disney Company founded by Walt and Roy Disney in 1923 is today a highly diversified company with many Strategic Business Units (SBU’s) , namely: theme parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products, media network and internet and media marketing.

BCG matrix for Disney’s SBU’s:

Cash cow · Theme parks	Dogs · Consumer products
Stars · Studio · Media	Question mark · Internet

Low

Growth

High

High Market share Low

Ø Theme parks: Disney’s theme parks are considered to be cash cows with a large market share but low market growth rate. The maximum revenue of the company comes from the park. The company earned 6803 million in 200, but its market growth is low.

Ø Studio: Disney’s studio can be placed both in cash cow and stars, however shall be more in the stars. With a high market share and high growth, Studio still generates good revenue, despite being Disney’s first company due to its feature animation and motion picture, home video, television and cable production, and stage plays. But market growth is slowly moving towards the lower end.

Ø Media: media network will also be a star for the company as its growth in income increased with the acquisition of ABC television, TV and radio stations and in cable network such as ESPN, Disney channels. It had a high market share with a growth of 21% from 7970 million in 1999 to 9651 million in revenue in the year 2000.

Ø Consumer products: these mainly come under the category of dogs as the business growth and the market share are low.

Ø Internet: Internet can be described as question mark for the company. Internet has a high market growth. Disney has just entered in the market in 1996 and does not cover a large market share. Thus, adding up to this division in the grid. Also, Disney can any time exit the market as there are almost nil capital expenditures.

Contributed by:-

Surbhi Sondhi

Section A

Strategic Management

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The BCG Growth-Share Matrix

12:00 PM |

The Boston Consulting Group, a leading consulting firm, developed and popularized a product portfolio analysis framework in 1970 that helps managers develop organizational strategy based on the relative market share of businesses and the growth of respective markets. BCG Matrix helps firm to decide how much money to invest in its strategic business units (SBU).There are 2 axis and 4 quadrants in BCG Matrix. X-axis and Y-axis indicate relative market share and market growth rate respectively. Market growth rate is the projected rate of sales growth for the market being served by a particular business division. Relative market share is defined as the ratio of a division's own market share in a particular industry to the market share held by the largest rival firm in that industry.

In business, SBU is a profit center which focuses on product offering and market segment. SBU varies from company to company. In bigger organizations, a SBU could be a company division, a single product or a complete Product Line. In smaller organizations, it might be the entire company. After identifying the SBUs, the task is to categorize each SBU within one of the 4 matrix quadrants:

1. Stars (High growth, high market share)- Star SBUs have a high market share in a high growth market and typically need substantial investment to maintain and support their rapid and significant growth. Stars also generate large amounts of cash for the organization. Business strategies for these SBUs could be market development, product development, and backward, forward and horizontal integration.

2. Cash Cows (Low growth, high market share) -Cash cow SBUs have a large share of market in low-growth markets or industries. Because of their strong competitive positions and their minimal reinvestment requirements, these businesses often generate cash in excess of their needs. Cash cows are yesterday’s stars and the current foundation of corporate portfolios. Business strategies for these SBUs could be diversification, retrenchment, product development and ‘milk’ to fund other business.

3. Dogs (Low growth, low market share) -Dog SBUs have a relatively small share in a low-growth market. They may barely support themselves. In some cases, they actually drain off cash resources generated by other SBUs. Best strategies for these SBUs could be liquidation, retrenchment or divest it as soon as they get the best price.

4. Question Marks (High growth, low market share)-These SBUs have a low share in high-growth market. Question marks are cash guzzlers because their rapid growth results in high cash needs, while their small market share results in low cash generation. These are ‘Question marks’ because it is uncertain whether management should invest more cash in them to gain a larger share of the market or eliminate them. Business strategies for these SBUs could be market penetration, product development, and divestiture, keep it going and improve or sell it.

Furthermore, we can understand the BCG position of a SBU with help of a product life cycle curve given below:

Contributed by:-

Padmanabh Upadhyay

Section B

Strategic Management

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Samsung Electronics

11:51 AM |

Is SMIC a threat to Samsung Electronics?

Samsung is the largest conglomerate in South Korea and according to Gartner report it maintains a lead in the smart-phone market. It has stood against many brands like Philips, Kodak and Panasonic.Samsung is the market leader in memory chip technology and constantly remained ahead of its competitors. Samsung was able to create new market and was developing new applications of memory and latest better technology. Since their operations & their Net Income have always been increasing except when there was an economic downturn. However, even during a downturn they have always been able to maintain their profits and never ran into losses. They have always invested heavily in R&D and hired and tried to retain right talent and trained them so that they could effectively help Samsung Electronics to move ahead.

By 2010, China was expected to become the world’s second largest purchaser of semiconductors after US (Source: HBS Case, Samsung Electronics). And SMIC revenues have increased from $50.3 million in 2002 to $365.8 million in 2003 and have dual listing on the NYSE and Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In spite of all these facts, it is not a threat to Samsung Electronics. If we see their Operating Margin it is (-) 9.3% compared to 24.1% of Samsung. Moreover, Samsung seems to be a market leader in this industry as it has the highest profit compared to its competitors like Micron, Infineon, and Hynix. SMIC’s profit is less than Hynix and Infineon. So before competing with Samsung, SMIC has to first compete with Hynix and Infineon, thus it is definitely not a threat to Samsung.

Contributed by:-

Ravi Kant

Section A

Strategic Management

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Samsung Electronics

11:49 AM |

What advantage does Samsung get from undertaking differentiation strategy/ Cost Strategy? Explain.

“A leader of innovation with affordable price – Samsung.”

Samsung with its varied product range has covered all the categories in the consumer electronics which was one of the reasons for its success. Its Innovative products, adhering to the Quality and reliability of the product makes it stand apart from its competitors.

Innovation and R&D are the building blocks of Samsung. Samsung has invested heavily in Research & Development that helps the company to innovate and create new products that helped the company to grow into a Global powerhouse.Heavy investment in the semiconductors in 1983-85 initially cost much but later paid off to the company where it had a cost advantage compared to its competitors.

South Korea was the largest exporter of semiconductors exporting 25.1bn in 2004 of which Samsung alone exported for 22% of the total Korea’s exports.

The company set up competing product development teams throughout its operations to increase its efficiency and to get the better technology from its global R&D sites.

Cost effective value chain helped the company to sustain as a market leader for 1 years since 1992.

In the later generations the company started moving from legacy products to high value niche products and frontier products which gave great profit margins to the company making it still a market leader.

In 1994 Lee realized that Samsung had lost track on product quality and burned the shoddy Samsung products. In late 1990’s it could gain back its reliability and performance appreciation from its major customers.

Investment in HRM also added a great return for Samsung. Its strategy in adopting and managing people made it to be renowned across the globe.

In later years, Samsung started facing threat from the giants like China manufacturers. Cost leadership can have an advantage for a company, but to sustain for the future, it needs to adopt differential strategies based on the environment prevailing.

Contributed by:-

Kedareshwari Nanduri

Section C

Strategic Management

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Samsung Electronics

11:46 AM |

Does Samsung follow a focus Strategy? Substantiate

Samsung electronics emerged as a subsidiary of Samsung electric industries in the year 1969; provides consumer electronics, IT and telecom products.

It follows a focus strategy, as it caters to a niche segment of target market which has the potential to grow further and earn profits. Their focus strategy aims to service isolated geographical areas to satisfy the needs of customers with special financing, inventory or servicing problems or to tailor the products to the unique demands of the small and medium income consumers.

Products of Samsung range from frontier products (e.g.: 512Mbit DRAM) at the cutting edge of technology to legacy products (e.g.: 64Mbit DRAM) that Samsung offered to customers after the industry had moved on to later generations. Within each product generation, there also exist “specialty products” (e.g.: DDR2, SDRAM, Rambus DRAM) using customised architectures for niche products. The company simultaneously developed a flash memory chip for Sony Erricson and a flash memory chip customised for Nokia. After a generation had passed, however, legacy product lines could be transformed into high-value niche products. Samsung electronics follows a focused differentiated strategy for Rambus DRAM and Flash memory.

Focused differentiated strategy: Samsung launched new DRAM products (Rambus DRAM) with product specific applications which shared a common core design with DDR DRAM; Samsung’s Rambus differentiated itself from that of other DRAMs by having an enhanced component, a high-speed interface I/O. It is a differentiated and a customised product especially designed for laptops and personal game players. It is also differentiated in terms of quality and price from that of Samsung’s competitors. If we look at the average selling price of Rambus DRAM of Samsung, it is higher than that of Infineon (9.21 $ for Samsung and 8.45$ for Infineon).

Flash memory was tied to growth in digital cameras and camera phones (niche segment). For flash memory, there are no substitutes that can even pose them a challenge. Flash memory differentiated itself from other DRAMs as it can retain stored data in the absence of power supply as well. The growth of flash memory is expected to grow in double digits and so, the prices are likely to be higher compared to DRAM prices.

Contributed by:-

Sravya Neeli

Section B

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Singapore International Airlines

6:50 AM |

Will diversification be a good strategy for Singapore International Airline?

Singapore International Airline (SIA) was founded in the year 1972 and has evolved over the years. From being a regional airline, it has become a travel brand across the globe. SIA has not only been limited to its air services, it spreads its wings on the ground as well.

SIA has built wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures to provide services like catering, aircraft maintenance and terminal management. Moreover, SIA has its own school for training pilots and crew members. By diversifying into these related business activities , SIA is making itself self-reliant and will be able to provide better services than its competitors in the long run. Diversification is not just for one time survival rather helps in enhancing the ability of a firm to grow faster.

Diversification in the related activities enables SIA to achieve cost efficiencies and maintain high standard of services. It also helps in the transfer to knowledge across the verticals and provides a source of extra cash flow generation. This extra cash flow generation is very important for SIA to maintain its standards and retain the customers who are now growing price sensitive.

The Changi International Airport is an infrastructure marvel. It has extra ordinary facilities and depicts its superior quality management skills. It is one of the best airports in the world and is maintained by the SIA .This speaks volumes about the company. SIA is strategically diversified only in related areas. It is a good idea indeed because it creates an image of SIA as a true leader in providing a variety of services in the Aviation Industry. Diversifying in unrelated business activities would lead to dilution of SIA’s Brand.

Contributed by:-

Ridhi Mundra

Section C

Strategic Management

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Singapore International Airlines

6:41 AM |

What should the company do to sustain service differentiation if they plan to expand global/ regional/ local?

Singapore International Airlines (SIA) is known for it’s in flight services, flight performance and progressive performance in strategy development which nourishes a significant source of competitive advantage but their best strength is its high end services and global routes. This strength can easily be imitated by their competitors.

SIA had low cost competitors and customers were attracted to low fares. Hence,the company is facing dramatic environmental shifts, increasing competition, and changing customer demand. Singapore has a very low unemployment rate, this lead to difficultly in supplying high quality labor at low prices.

To sustain service differentiation, if SIA planned to expand regionally they could open an operating hub at the Asia pacific region, where labor rate per unit is lower, at better labor productivity .With improving economic condition of Asia pacific the demand for the air carrier is growing, hence SIA can increase the frequency of flight.

SIA planned to expand globally by investing in Virgin Atlantic –a British airline which has almost 36 destinations worldwide. This allowed the SIA to operate its aircraft on Trans Atlantic sector between US and UK and also the landing slot at the Heathrow airport.

SIA should continue to maintain good flight performance, in flight services and training of cabin crews or engineer to sustain service differentiation in local. Connecting with star alliance would help in increasing its profits, improve the economies of scale and connect it to sectors which it may not access to.

Contributed by:-

Rahul Budhia

Section A

Strategic Management

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Singapore International Airlines

6:19 AM |

Should the company go global/regional/local? Why?

Singapore International Airline (SIA) is one of the leading airlines in the international industry and is facing several competitive issues.

Post liberalization era, the players had to differentiate to get the market share. Singapore Airlines differentiated themselves by providing economy class meals, top-of-the-line technology, comfortable seating, effective staff, good maintenance etc. Their main point of difference was the ownership of the Changi Airport. These resources made Singapore Airlines’ operations inimitable.

There are certain region specific factors also contributing to its success -

· The Singaporeans had high standard of living and hence higher disposable income.

· The labor costs were also lower compared to that in US/Europe

· People in Singapore have a higher literacy rate.

· They have had exceptional hospitality skills and work ethics.

Thus, we can infer that most of the advantages arise as a result of its region. If Singapore Airlines goes for alliances, there is a high risk of its image getting tarnished. There could be differences between the services offered by Singapore Airlines and other airlines. The other airlines won’t have the same quality of hospitality and work ethics as shown by Singapore Airlines. This could be a cause of displeasure for the customers. Also, if the other airlines do not live up to the standards of Singapore Airlines, their image could be lost which could hit hard on its revenues. Hence, it will be profitable for them to cash their regional advantage than taking risk by going global.

Contributed by:-

Hari Krishnan

Section B

Strategic Management

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5:58 AM |

Wal-mart - Case Analysis

Strategy adopted by Wal-Mart-

Low cost- Wal-Mart created a huge customer base by adopting a low cost strategy. As the main component sold was food products, it comprised of 35% of sales. They focus on opening stores which are huge and provide value for money to the customer and this cost practice makes them cost leaders.

Location-Wal-Mart acquired volume through a careful consideration of locations away from the city; moreover this was adopted by them as they wanted to open huge spacious stores which would have been costlier in the city. Thus it was easier for them to go for internationalization and increase their market reach in different countries.

Competitive advantage of Wal-Mart-

Responsive supply chain/distribution network-The network was centralized and automated.Efficient distribution with cross docking and concentrating on Hub and Spoke model. The center position (hub) was occupied by the 84 distribution centres/warehouse which served other 150 stores within a 150 mile radius.

Hub &spoke Model:

Bargaining power over the suppliers- Wal-Mart had a higher bargaining power over its suppliers as the system was centralized and there was no decentralization of authority. The suppliers had no decision making power and this was difficult to be replicated by the competitors.

EDLP (Every Day Low Price) - They maintained everyday low prices which provided convenience to the customers. Consumers had access to a variety of products under the same roof and hence this confirmed customer loyalty. Wal-Mart was able to sustain its EDLP model with fewer expenses on advertising and matching volume driven strategy.

Recommendation-

Wal-Mart had a competitive advantage because of its responsive supply chain. The sustainability of the supply chain was outcome of the good relationship with suppliers since they treated them more than just partners. As Wal-Mart has already shown its commitment and seriousness in its operations so the relationship will prosper more over a period of time. Also, they have the benefit of exclusivity and no imitability because replication of the models and strategies require huge capital investment.

Therefore, building upon the existing distribution network would help them sustain their existing competitive advantage; moreover, internationalization could increase their market penetration and assist them in sustaining as the market leader.

Contributed by:-

Tanvi Lal

Section A

Strategic Management

Class of 2013-15

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The Walt Disney Company : The Entertainment King

The Walt Disney Company : The Entertainment King

The Walt Disney Company : The Entertainment King

The BCG Growth-Share Matrix

Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics

Singapore International Airlines

Singapore International Airlines

Singapore International Airlines

Wal-mart - Case Analysis