Strategic Management and Personal Media Players

apple, Inc. in 2010 naming Questions 1. What argon the chief elements of Apples general agonistic schema? How well do the pieces fit together? Is the schema evolving? 2. What atomic number 18 the samara elements of Apples strategy in data processors, individualised media players, and smartphones? Have its strategies in its core businesses yielded victor? Explain. 3. What does a competitive strength sagaciousness reveal virtually Apples calculating machine business, as comp bed to the leaders in the individual(prenominal) computer fabrication? Use the methodology in Table 4. to support your answer. Does it appear that the familiaritys competitive positions in personal media players and smartphones or stronger or weaker than its position in computers? 4. Does it institute good strategical signified for Apple to be a enemy in the computer, personal media player, smartphone, and tablet computer industries? atomic number 18 the value chain activities that Apple perf orms in computers, personal media players, tablet computers and smartphones very similar and compatible or atomic number 18 there very important take issueences from carrefour to product?Which of the four products lines&8212computers, tablet computers, personal media players, or smartphones&8212do you reckon is near important to Apples incoming growth and emolumentability? Why? 5. What is your assessment of Apple Computers monetary performance the past three age? (Use the pecuniary ratios in Table 4. 1 on pages 94-96 of the text as a guide in doing your fiscal analysis. ) 6. What recommendations would you shop to allow Apple to strengthen its position in its most important markets? What locomote should it take to ensure that the iPad becomes a supremacy in the marketplace and a major(ip) contributor to the clubs general performance?Googles Strategy in 2010* Assignment Questions 1. Discuss competition in the search industry. Which of the five competitive forces rec kon strongest? weakest? What is your assessment of overall industry attractive feature? 2. How is the search industry ever-changing? What forces calculate most standardisedly to bring intimately major change to the industry inside the next three to five years? 3. What are the happen upon factors that define winner in the industry? What are the key competencies, capabilities, and imaginativenesss of undefeated search engine companies? 4. find out Googles customer value roposition and profit formula linked to its business mildew. What strategies has Google relied upon to reach competitive favour in the industry? 5. Have Googles business model and strategy proven to be successful? Should investors be impressed with the go withs financial performance? How does the companys financial performance compare to that of Microsoft and chawbacon? Please conduct a financial analysis to support your positionyou whitethorn wish to use the financial ratios presented in the Table 4. 1 of the text as a guide in doing your financial analysis of the company. . What are the companys key resources and competitive capabilities? What competitive liabilities and resource weaknesses does it have? What opportunities exist? What threats to its continued success are present? 7. What recommendations would you eviscerate to Googles top-management team to sustain its competitive advantage in the search industry? How should it outmatch capitalize on its strategic initiatives in mobile phones, cloud computing, emerging markets, and new(prenominal) ventures? southwestern United States Airlines in 2010 Culture, Values, and Operating Practices Assignment Questions . Is there anything that you find particularly proud about sou-west Airlines? 2. What row would you tip over Southwest management for the subscriber line it has do in crafting the companys strategy? What is it that you like or dislike about the strategy? Does Southwest have a winning strategy? 3. What are the key po licies, procedures, operating practices, and core values implicit in(p) Southwests efforts to implement and take to the woods its low-cost/no frills strategy? 4. What are the key elements of Southwests polish? Is Southwest a strong burnish company? Why or wherefore non?What problems do you foresee that Gary Kelly has in sustaining the culture now that Herb Kelleher, the companys spiritual leader, has departed? 5. What grade would you give Southwest management for the job it has done in implementing and executing the companys strategy? Which of Southwests strategy execution approaches and operating practices do you believe have been most all-important(a) in accounting for the success that Southwest has enjoyed in executing its strategy? Are the any policies, procedures, and operating approaches at Southwest that you disapprove of or that are not working well? 6.What weaknesses or problems do you see at Southwest Airlines as of mid-2010? 7. Does the AirTran encyclopaedism make good strategic sense for Southwest? 8. What strategic issues and problems do Gary Kelly and Southwest executives need to address as they proceed to close the deal with the AirTran acquisition and contemplate how best to integrate AirTrans operations and AirTrans employees into Southwest? 9. What recommendations would you make to Gary Kelly and Southwest executives as the company heads into 2011? emulation in Energy Drinks, Sports Drinks and Vitamin-Enhanced Beverages Assignment Questions 1.What are the strategically relevant components of the global and U. S. boozing industry macro-environment? How do the economic characteristics of the alternating(a) drinking segment of the industry differ from that of other beverage categories? Explain. 2. What is competition like in the pick beverage industry? Which of the five competitive forces is strongest? Which is weakest? What competitive forces wait to have the greatest effect on industry attractiveness and the potential profitabili ty of new entrants? 3. How is the market for energy drinks, sports drinks and vitamin-enhanced beverages changing?What are the underlying drivers of change and how expertness those forces individually or collectively make the industry more or slight attractive? 4. What does your strategic group subroutine of the energy drink, sports drink, and vitamin-enhanced beverage industry see to it like? Which strategic groups do you think are in the best positions? The spank positions? 5. What key factors determine the success of alternative beverage producers? 6. What recommendations would you make to Coca-Cola to improve its engagement in the global alternative beverage industry? to PepsiCo? to Red Bull GmbH?