BU 481 Class 5 And 6 Winter 2015 Q Po Hellip 
Business Strategy & Competitive
Advantage
BU 481 – Session 5 & 6
1
Today’s Class: Creating Strategy
• What is Strategy?
– Chapters 2 and “What is Strategy” Reading
– Chapter 3 (Big picture of Diamond-E and Strategic Analysis)
• Elements of Strategy
– Goals, Core Activities, Product Market Focus, Value Proposition
• Generic Strategies
– “Generic Strategies” Reading
• Case: WestJet in 2009
– How Strategy Creates a Competitive Advantage
Course Roadmap
Strategy
Formulation
Setting Direction
Assessing
Performance
General
Manager
Implementing
Change
Strategy
Implementatio
n
Creating Strategy
“Diamond – E” Framework
Goals
Value
Proposition
Management
Preferences
Organization
Core
Activities
Product Market
Focus
Business Strategy
Environment
IMAX
Resources
What is Strategy?
• How the organization intends to compete and succeed in the marketplace.
– Way to translate general ideas about direction into actionable terms.
• Creation of a unique and valuable position involving the combination of a different set of activities.
• Expression of how the organization can be unique in a way that can’t be imitated by competitors.
– Its value proposition
• Strategy provides the firm with its overall direction, aimed at achieving sustained, superior performance over the long run in a competitive marketplace. “The concept of strategy will help you to sort out what a business is doing and what it is doing differently than its competitors, and to communicate and discuss your views on these points…[it] provides you with a starting point for analyzing and debating choices that affect the future direction of the business.”
SAA, p. 19
What is Strategy? (Article)
• NOT operational effectiveness
– Leads to imitation and homogeneity in most cases
• Rests on unique activities
– Being different than competitors
– Combining activities in different ways creating a strategic fit
• Sustainable strategy requires trade-offs
– Can’t be all things to all people
• Creating
Advantage
BU 481 – Session 5 & 6
1
Today’s Class: Creating Strategy
• What is Strategy?
– Chapters 2 and “What is Strategy” Reading
– Chapter 3 (Big picture of Diamond-E and Strategic Analysis)
• Elements of Strategy
– Goals, Core Activities, Product Market Focus, Value Proposition
• Generic Strategies
– “Generic Strategies” Reading
• Case: WestJet in 2009
– How Strategy Creates a Competitive Advantage
Course Roadmap
Strategy
Formulation
Setting Direction
Assessing
Performance
General
Manager
Implementing
Change
Strategy
Implementatio
n
Creating Strategy
“Diamond – E” Framework
Goals
Value
Proposition
Management
Preferences
Organization
Core
Activities
Product Market
Focus
Business Strategy
Environment
IMAX
Resources
What is Strategy?
• How the organization intends to compete and succeed in the marketplace.
– Way to translate general ideas about direction into actionable terms.
• Creation of a unique and valuable position involving the combination of a different set of activities.
• Expression of how the organization can be unique in a way that can’t be imitated by competitors.
– Its value proposition
• Strategy provides the firm with its overall direction, aimed at achieving sustained, superior performance over the long run in a competitive marketplace. “The concept of strategy will help you to sort out what a business is doing and what it is doing differently than its competitors, and to communicate and discuss your views on these points…[it] provides you with a starting point for analyzing and debating choices that affect the future direction of the business.”
SAA, p. 19
What is Strategy? (Article)
• NOT operational effectiveness
– Leads to imitation and homogeneity in most cases
• Rests on unique activities
– Being different than competitors
– Combining activities in different ways creating a strategic fit
• Sustainable strategy requires trade-offs
– Can’t be all things to all people
• Creating