Memoranda
Some relevant frameworks are mentioned below, but you may apply any analytical tool we
investigated in this course. Consider the present and project the future of industry
structure, the company’s resources and activity systems, competitive dynamics (game
theory).
Prepare, alone or with one other participant, an answer the two questions . Use the frameworks below and add insights from your analysis. Be ready to
stand up in class and present it for about three minutes, sans slides but with the whiteboard, if
desired. Your peers will offer critique.
1. Perform industry analysis: How attractive is the industry? In terms of strategy, what has
the company done (or could have done) to compensate for structural disadvantages?
What has it done (or could have done) to benefit from structural advantages?
2. Assess resources and activity systems: What are some existing (or potential) internal
sources of competitive advantage? What can the company do to strengthen (or realize)
them?
Complete strategic analysis of chipotle (with some guidance)
Some relevant frameworks are mentioned below, but you may apply any and all of the analytical tools we investigated in this
course. Consider the present and project the future of industry structure, the company’s resources and activity systems, competitive
dynamics (game theory), and the role of technology (e.g., the company is/will be a victim or a beneficiary of disruptive technology).
1. Perform industry analysis: How attractive is the industry? In terms of strategy, what has the company done (or could have
done) to compensate for structural disadvantages? What has it done (or could have done) to benefit from structural
advantages?
Few industries are perfectly attractive or wholly unattractive. Here you combined industry analysis with a
description of how a company responds to the attractive and unattractive features of its industry. The task
explicitly calls for an industry analysis using the data in the case (up to 60 points). It then follows by asking
what the company has done (or could have done) to gain from the attractive features of its industry, and to
compensate for the unattractive features (up to 40 points for any combination of the two). A good answer
involves evidence from the case (what has been done) and offers advice that is based on case data (what
could have been done).
For an example of a good analysis, you may want to review Casadesus-Masanell’s Industry Analysis, where he
shows how Wal-Mart managed to succeed in an industry that is less than attractive.
2. Assess resources and activity systems: What are some existing (or potential) internal sources of competitive advantage? What
can the company do to strengthen (or realize) them?
