Advance Competitive Strategy

(Elective)

Full Credit

Course Outlines, Sessionwise Details, Case Map and Evaluation Plan

NMP

Faculty: Veeresh Sharma

Advance Competitive Strategy consists of concepts and tools that facilitate parsimonious
deployment of organizational resource to create enhanced value for all stakeholders by building
on the fundamentals of competitive strategy in a volatile environment. It is appropriate for
organizations operating in multiple geographies that are inherently complex and different. To
excel, organizations need to perpetually update their mode of functioning and have to develop
new mindsets, skills, knowledge and competencies. Developing strategy is a good beginning,
proper implementation and instituting control systems make survival a strong possibility.
Advance Competitive Strategy imparts in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape
and organizational maneuvering of a higher level. SFI provide proficiency, ACS imparts
excellence in specialty segment by focusing on deeper understanding of competitiveness.

Objectives

Present course is an advancement on SFI. On completion of the course the students should be
able to:

1. Understand how the parts of a firm fit together and reconfigure how can they fit
together differently with higher value creation - the integration of a complex order and
of higher level.

2. Pinpoint, interactions among firm’s various strategic decisions and isolate the impact of
each individual element of strategy in terms of contribution it makes in creating
competitive advantage individually and in combination with other elements.

3. Assess types of volatilities that exist in external environment, nature of their complexity
and dynamism and management of such situations.

4. Manage the hyper-competition and relentless rapid obsolescence of competitive models

– prevention of strategic failures.

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 5. Determine from different alternatives, optimum resource deployment scenario.

Pedagogy

Pedagogy will consist of lectures, discussions including cases, quizzes, assignments and video
clips. Besides, students will have to work on a comprehensive term project to investigate and
validate some of the key learnings in a real world situation.

Session Plan, Case Map, Topics, Evaluation Components and Readings

Session Topic

One Scenario Planning

Two How strategists analyze the parts of a firm’s strategy. Interactions and
ability to spot interactions. Wedging between costs and Willingness to
Pay. Competitor’s analysis

Three Landscape imagery - Boundary drawing, Understanding group level

bargaining power, Adapting to/shaping the landscape imagery

Four Chaos theory, Complexity theory and Contingency theory

Five Types of volatilities/uncertainties and their drivers

Six Hypercompetition and its causes

Seven Management of volatilities and Hypercompetition.

Eight Where do successful strategies come from?

Nine Why do strategies fail. Dominant Design and Dominant Logic

Ten Straddling, Holdups, Slack, Recombining, Switching, Fighting,

Limitations.

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 Mid Term Exam

Eleven External threat and internal barriers to responses required for

avoidance of strategic failure

Twelve Limits and threats to sustainability. Transience of sustainability of

competitive advantage. Responses to threats to sustainability. Tetra
Threat Framework

Thirteen External, internal and dynamic consistencies in competitive arena

Fourteen Judo Strategy. Options when all strategies fail

Fifteen Adoption and implementation of changing strategies

Sixteen Sequence of actions and transitions

Seventeen Tools and Techniques:

Market Life Cycle-Competitive Strength Matrix – Push, Caution, Danger
Strategic Environment Matrix- Stalemate, Volume, Specialization,
Fragmentation

Eighteen Conflict for resource deployment and its resolution

Nineteen Project Presentation

Twenty Project Presentation

End Term Exam

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Cases:

1. Mobileye: The Future of Driverless Cars

2. How Ikea’s Strategy Was Formed
3. Apple's Future: Apple Watch, Apple TV, and/or Apple Car?2016
4. The Browser Wars: 1994-1998
5. Dogfight over Europe: Ryan Air
6. Uber Vs Didi

Notes:

1. All assignments and activities are individual, unless specified otherwise. Term Project is
a group activity

2. A very high level of academic integrity is expected and will be pursued.

3. Any kind of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism will lead to awarding 0/lowest
grade in the course and may lead to other disciplinary actions of very serious nature.

Cases, course material, contents, sequence and readings may be changed/modified depending
upon the instructor’s evaluation of the progress and need of the class.

Evaluation

Quizzes & Assignments 15%

Class Participation 20%

Mid Term 20%

End Term 30%

Term Project 15%

Term Project:

The class will be divided into heterogonous groups of 5 students each. Each group will be
assigned one firm from following list by the instructor. The group will prepare an advanced
competitive strategy for that firm. It will be achieved with the help of tools discussed in the
class.

1. Airtel

2. Google

3. Apple

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 4. Alibaba

5. Tesla

6. Walmart

7. Coke

8. Boeing

9. GE

10. Monsanto

11. Saudi Arabian Oil Company

12. Sony

13. Caterpillar

14. Levi’s

15. Paytm

16. Amazon.com

17. McDonalds

18. Puma

19. Zara

20. 3M

Project should contain recommendations to the organization for further sustaining competitive
advantage. Group will support the recommended strategy by providing reasons.

The Format: The report should not be of more than 12000 words. Project has to be printed in
Times New Roman, font 11, margins 1” on all sides of A4 paper. Project should be printed on
both sides. Only hard copy is acceptable. Should be illustrative (take help of graphs and charts)
but not overly ornamental. It should have a proper heading and index. It should have an
executive summary (of not more than 750 words at the beginning) and a conclusion (of not
more than 500 words at the end).

Notes:

1. All assignments and activities are individual (except the Term Project), unless specified
otherwise.

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 2. A very high level of academic integrity is expected and will be followed. No assignment
should be a cut, copy, and paste assembling of information from internet/any other
source. Every source must be acknowledged in any one of the acceptable methods of
referencing.

3. Any kind of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism even in one assignment/activity

may lead to awarding F grade in the course and will lead to other disciplinary actions.

Last date of submission is date of 16 th session. Only hard copy acceptable for evaluation (soft
copy will also be required for checking for plagiarism). Students may be asked randomly to
make a presentation of the project of 10 minutes duration anytime after 16 th session. The
number of slides for presentation cannot be more than 5.

The instructor may ask for additional information, clarifications and inputs.

Recommended Readings:

1. Grimm, C., Lee, H. and Smith, K. 2006. Strategy as Action. Oxford University Press,
London.
2. Somnath Lahiri., Liliana Pérez-Nordtvedt and Robert W. Renn, (2008), Will the new
competitive landscape cause your firm's decline? It depends on your
mindset, Business Horizons, 51, (4), 311-320
3. John, S. H., Ralph, L. K. and Howard, R. 2001. How to Think About and Act on
Uncertainties Affecting Your Decision HBP. Boston Product #7961BC-PDF-ENGFahey,
L., Randall, C., & Robert M. (1998). Learning from the Future. John Wiley and Sons,
NewYork.
4. HBR on Managing Uncertainty
5. Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming (HBR OnPoint
Enhanced Edition)
6. Eisenhardt, K.M. and Sull, D. N.(2002). Strategy as Simple Rules. In:HBSP (edt).HBR
on Advances in Strategy..
7. Ian, C. M., Preemptive Strategies, Journal of Business Strategy 14, no.2 (Fall 1983),
pp 16-26.
8. Ian, C. M., Alexander, B. van Putten, and McGrath, R. G. Global Gamesmanship. HBR
81, no. 5 (May 2003), pp 66-67.
9. Don, Sull. Why Good Companies Go Bad. HBR, 77 (4) July-August 1999) : 42-52
10. Rivkin, J.W. Why do strategies fail? HBS No. 706-433.
11. Burgelman, R.A. and Doz, Y.L. The Power of Strategic Integration. MIT Sloan
Management Review, Spring 2001.
12. Burgelman, R. A, Strategy is Destiny: How Strategy-Making Shapes a Company’s
Future (Free Press: Berkeley Heights, 2002)
13. Halaburda, H. and Rivkin, J. W. (2009) Analyzing Relative Costs, HBS Note (9-708-
462)
14. D’Aveni Richard (1994). Hypercompetition
15. McGrath, Rita Gunther:The End of Competitive Advantage