“Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance” describes how Louis Gerstner lead the organizational turnaround at IBM when it was at the verge of extinction. Louis Gerstner was the chairman and CEO of IBM from April 1993 to March 2002. Before joining IBM, he had worked on various consulting assignments at McKinsey and led successful organizational changes at American Express and RJR Nabisco. During the early nineties, IBM was rapidly losing its market share in most of the markets it catered to its competitors. The management was planning to break the organization into individual businesses. Soon after his appointment as CEO, Gerstner identified that the unique competitive advantage of IBM was due to its scale and broad-based capabilities, and therefore advocated that “keeping the company together” will help IBM to utilize this unique advantage by positioning itself as software integrator. Gerstner was instrumental in shifting the mental model of employees from self-centric Continue reading
Business Analysis Case
Case Study: An Analysis of Apple’s Product Development Process
New product development is a high risk proposition for firms to start as it involves high level of risk in targeting a budding market segment where customer wants are hidden and service or product requirements are implicit. On the other hand, new products often create considerable opportunities for firms to differentiate their offering (product or service) and helps in attaining a lead from competitors through differentiation. This lead can be termed competitive advantage. A successful new product launch creates industry wise unique standards, which may become barriers of entry for new firms trying to penetrate. It also helps in refreshing the minds of the engineering personnel; sales force and give them a sense of accomplishment. It also provides opportunity for corporate renewal and redirection to the firm for its long run planning. A study of the US market reveals that nearly 30,000 products are introduced yearly in the packaged goods Continue reading
SWOT Analysis of IKEA
Swedish company IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer since the early 1990’s. It sold inexpensive furniture of Scandinavian design. The company operated in 55 countries with a workforce of 76000. IKEA offered nearly 12000 items to the home furnishings market worldwide. It sold a wide range of products including furniture, accessories, bathrooms and kitchens at 186 retail stores in 30 countries across Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Australia. IKEA is well known for its exclusive model, low price, wide range of product and flat packing. IKEA’s success was recognized to its vast experience in the furniture retail market, its product differentiation and cost leadership. The company sold its furniture in kits, to be assembled by the customers at home. In addition to furniture, IKEA also sold utility items such as utensils, hooks, clips, stands, etc. IKEA’s founder Ingvar Kamprad (Kamprad) had built an international furniture chain Continue reading
Case Study of Papa John’s: Quality as a Core Business Strategy
Would you recognize a Papa John’s Pizza sign from a distance? Many people would, given the distinctive green and red emblem and logo, which is designed to attract attention and place the store in a flattering fight Papa John’s began as a small, one-store operation that evolved out of the need to rescue a failing tavern. Quick success meant expansion to 4 stores in two years and 23 stores in five years. Currently, Papa John’s plans to complete more than 2,000 units with over $1 billion in sales in a mature industry most felt was saturated with competitors. In order to survive in a highly competitive market place, Papa John’s needed to develop a distinctive voice. One clear message was needed to penetrate every aspect of the business, including hiring decisions, selection of locations, and all business strategies and tactics. At the strategic level, each of the big three pizza Continue reading
Case Study: A Look at Tesla’s Challenges Despite Success
Tesla is the leading American vehicle company manufacturing electric cars, solar roof tiles, and solar panels. Tesla Motors’ foundation belongs to two engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who established the company in 2003, attributing its name to Nicola Tesla. The integration of ingenious technologies and forward-thinking led to the creation of an environmentally conscious, powerful, and modern automobile, preserving the sustainability of energy. Elon Musk, as the CEO of Tesla Motors, managed to uplift the company’s name and the vehicles on the global level. Even though Tesla has been a successful manufacturer for over a decade, it still faces issues that are to be solved in the future. Among the main problems the car industry encountered was the issue of cash flows that turned into net losses according to the constant colossal investment in research and development of new vehicles. A currently best-selling model-Tesla 3-was a source of continuous Continue reading
Case Study: Qantas Crisis
The Qantas group aviation industry was established in 1920 in Queensland outback of Australia. It also known in another name is Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited. Red Kangaroo is the logo of the firm, Qantas group are well known its own two brand airlines such as Qantas brand and Jetstar Brand. The headquarters of the company are located in Mascot, Sydney, Australia with a vision of “World Best Premium and Low Fare Airlines.” By the end of June 2011, Qantas was flying to 208 destinations in 46 countries, operating more than 5,700 flights a week across all its brands domestically and more than 970 international flights. It moved 44.5 million passengers. The crisis which faced Qantas during 2011, is said have commenced in 1990 when the airline industry started going through a deregulation by the Australian government. During 1993 Qantas and Australian Airlines were merged and Qantas partly Continue reading