Strategy Andmarketing in the Digital Age

GEMBA XII– Theme 5

Strategy andMarketing in the Digital Age

5 – 9 May 2016, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai

Professors Judith Blumenthal and Allen Weiss

Grading for the Module:

Attendance and participation, plus:

Strategy: The average of unannounced quizzes and the in-class final exam.

Marketing in the Digital Age: a final-day, short-answer quiz that tests your understanding of all the concepts discussed during this class. Your ability to perform well on this quiz is dependent on your ability to understand the various ideas discussed during the lectures, cases and class discussions.

All assigned required readings and cases for all the week's sessions must be read and studied before the first session at SJTU. Focus on the required readings and being prepared to discuss.

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Thursday, 5 May

07:30Breakfast

08:30Strategy Session 1 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: The Concept of Strategy

In our introductory session, we will present key ideas that we will elaborate throughout the theme. As managers, you already know a lot about strategy. Our objective will not be to replace what you know, but rather to build on your knowledge and experience and provide you with concepts, frameworks, and approaches—with the goal of helping you become better strategic leaders. Strategy is a deceptively simple subject – successful strategies are always “obvious” in retrospect and yet frustratingly difficult to develop consistently. Research indicates that 70 – 80% of strategic actions result in failure. We think you can beat those odds!

Required Readings:

Articles:

Collis and Rukstad, Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? (HBR#11793)
Ghemawat and Rivkin, Creating Competitive Advantage (HBS #9-798-062)
Magretta, J., Why Business Models Matter (HBR #R0205F)
Porter, M., What is Strategy? (HBR #96608)
Waterman, et al., Structure is Not Organization. Business Horizons. June, 1980

09:45Break

10:00Strategy Session 2 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: Key Concepts in Strategy

For our first case, we will study a company that has established a unique position in the US grocery business. We will analyze Trader Joe’s—its historic success, its positioning, its expansion, and challenges the company may face moving forward. Our analysis will serve as a basis for us to consider a range of issues in strategy.

Required Case:

Trader Joe’s, HBS #9-714-419

Case Discussion Questions:

How do firms in the supermarket industry make money?

Using the data provided in Exhibit 2, conduct a financial ratio analysis. How do the results reflect the different strategies pursued by those four firms?
What do the results say about how firms in this industry can deliver strong financial returns in different ways?

What are the key sources of Trader Joe’s competitive advantage?
What are the main threats to Trader Joe’s competitive advantage? Is their advantage sustainable?
Would you/how would you modify Trader Joe’s strategy moving forward?

11:15Break

11:30Strategy Session 3 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: Key Concepts in Strategy (cont.)

We will complete our discussion of Trader Joe’s, highlighting key concepts in strategy: positioning, tradeoffs, alignment/fit, generic strategies, value chain analysis, and the role of organizational culture.

12:45Lunch

13:45Marketing Session 1 – Professor Weiss

Topic: A Digital Marketing Strategy and the State-of-the-Art Digital Presence

In this opening session we examine a digital marketing strategy and the considerations involved with developing such a strategy. We will also look at the state-of-the art; that is, what are the best companies doing online.

15:00Break

15:15Marketing Session 2 – Professor Weiss

Topic: KPIs,Conflict and O2O

We examine key performance metrics for digital strategies, as well as channel conflict that often operates when companies have offline and online strategies – this leads into a general discussion of O2O marketing.Social MediaSocial media is the darling of Internet strategies. So, we'll spend this session and the next discussing this subject and the major platforms of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram as well as WeChat and Wei

Friday, 6 May

07:30Breakfast

08:30Strategy Session 4 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: The Business Landscape and Industry Analysis

We will discuss the business landscape and industry analysis. Some of the earliest frameworks of strategic analysis were introduced in 1980 by Michael Porter in the now classic Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Companies and Industries. Central to Porter’s approach is the classic Five-Forces framework for assessing industry attractiveness. Today we will use an updated article and a classic case to review the essentials of industry and competitive analysis (ICA). We will also start to examine the usefulness of various supporting concepts like strategic groups and discuss the limitations and difficulties in applying the Five-Forces framework. These topics have become very much a part of daily business conversation.

Required Reading:

Porter, M., Understanding Industry Structure, HBS #9-707-493

09:45Break

10:00Strategy Session 5 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: The Business Landscape and Industry Analysis, cont., and Creating Competitive Advantage

We will analyze the Cola Wars case, using the industry structure and competitive strategy framework to consider Coca-Cola and Pepsi over 100 years of rivalry. New challenges exist at the end of the case, which we will consider in light of our understanding of industry structure, evolving rivalry, and the emergence of substitutes.

Required Case:

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010, HBS #9-711-462

Case Discussion Questions:

Why, historically, has the soft drink industry been so profitable?
Compare the economics of the concentrate business to the bottling business: Why is the profitability so different?
How has the competition between Coke and Pepsi affected the industry’s profits?
How can Coke and Pepsi sustain their profits in the wake of flattening demand and the growing popularity of non-CSDs?

11:15 Break

11:30Strategy Session 6 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: Creating Competitive Advantage (cont.)

This session will focus on the creation of competitive advantage. We will consider how firms create and build resources and capabilities along the value chain, leading to competitive advantage. Our discussion will be based on key articles.

Required Readings:

Collis, D. and Montgomery, C. Competing on Resources (HBR #0807N)
Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C.K. Strategic Intent (HBR #6657)
Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. The Core Competence of the Corporation (HBR #90311)

12:45Lunch

13:45Marketing Session 3 – Professor Weiss

Topic: Mobile Marketing

As smartphones dominate the user’s online experience, marketers are turning to mobile marketing as a way to reach and engage consumers. In this session, we discuss the latest trends in mobile marketing, with an emphasis on mobile purchasing, augmented reality and more.

Topic: Social Media (cont.)

In preparation for this session, do an online search for the kinds of metrics you can find for advertising on any of the social media sites.

Required Reading:

Article: Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing?

15:00Break

15:15Marketing Session 4 – Professor Weiss

Topic: Social Media as a Viral Experience

Social media is the darling of Internet strategies. So, we'll spend this session and the next discussing this subject and the major platforms of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram as well as WeChat and Weibo.

When social media propagate a complaint about poor customer service, an international media event ensues. How do viral videos spread and what can firms do about them?

Saturday, 7May

07:30Breakfast

08:30Marketing Session 5 – Professor Weiss

Topic: Search Engine Optimization

In the next few sessions, we look at how companies drive customers to their web sites (or retail stores). In this session, we’ll look at the evolution of SEO, including some details on what makes some companies’ web sites rise to the top of SEO rankings.

Optional Readings:

Online Book: (not included in the printed binder; available as a digital,separate file in SharePoint)

The Beginner’s Guide to SEO (available for reading at:

Article:How Goggle’s Algorithm Rules the Web (also available for reading at:

09:45Break

10:00Marketing Session 6 – Professor Weiss

Topic: Paid Search and Online Advertising

In this session, we take a quick look at two major forms of advertising on the web.

11:15Break

11:30Marketing Session 7 – Professor Weiss

Topic: Post Click Conversion

If you do anything on your web site other than put up passive information, then you need to understand landing page optimization. In this session we'll look at all the ways you can structure landing pages, which ways are effective and when.

Topic: Mobile Marketing

As smartphones dominate the user’s online experience, marketers are turning to mobile marketing as a way to reach and engage consumers. In this session, we discuss the latest trends in mobile marketing, with an emphasis on mobile purchasing, augmented reality and more.

12:45Lunch

13:45Strategy Session 7 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: Blue Ocean Strategy and Cirque du Soleil

Rather than competing within the confines of the existing industry or trying to steal customers from rivals, Cirque du Soleil developed uncontested market space that made the competition irrelevant. Cirque created what the authors call a blue ocean—a previously unknown market space. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid.

Required Readings:

Barney, J., Organizational Culture: Can It Be a Source of Sustained Competitive Advantage? (Academy of Management Review, 1986, 11,3)

Required Case:

Cirque du Soleil, HBS #9-403-006

Case Discussion Questions:

What is Cirque’s product and its strategy?
How has Cirque structured and supported its casts to deliver superior performance?
What are the challenges to Cirque’s continued growth and / or diversification?

15:00Break (prepare for opening celebration)

17:00G-X & G-XI Joint Session

18:00Opening Celebration for G-XI, Graduation Celebration for G-IX

Sunday, 8 May

07:30Breakfast

08:30Marketing Session 8 – Professor Weiss

Topic: Post Click Conversion (cont.)

09:45Break

10:00Marketing Session 9 – Professor Weiss

Topic: Content Marketing

The hottest marketing strategy on the Internet (although you wouldn’t know it in the press) is Content Marketing. We’ll discuss what it is and how companies use that to drive customers and increase conversion.

11:15Break

11:30StrategySession 8 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: Industry Evolution and Strategy Development

In today’s sessions, we will consider strategy under conditions of industry change, and what a company can do to achieve, defend, and renew its competitive position. Competitive advantages change hands as industries evolve and the bases for competitive advantage change. We will examine how external shocks and trends such as new technologies and competitive moves can fundamentally alter the competitive structure of industries, which in turn impacts competitive behavior. All industries evolve over time, and all market positions, no matter how well protected, can be competed away and weakened. Learning to assess the implications of changes early is essential for strategic success.

The Intel case, which we will discuss in our first session today, is very rich. It describes the stages in Intel's history, and will provide a basis for discussion of industry analysis and transformation, competitive strategy, and competitive dynamics.

Required Case:

Intel Corporation: 1968-2003, HBS #9-703-427

Case Discussion Questions:

What was Intel’s strategy in the DRAM industry?
What happened to their competitive position from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s? Were these changes the result of changes in industry structure?
What was Intel’s strategy in the microprocessor industry?
What threats has Intel faced in sustaining its competitive advantage in microprocessors and what strategies did Intel use to overcome these threats?
What are the biggest threats Intel faced at the close of the case? What strategies would you have proposed to deal with these threats? Explain.

12:45Lunch

13:45StrategySession 9 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: IndustryEvolution and Strategy Development (Cont.)

We will continue our discussion of Intel, and in the time remaining, discuss industry transformation more generally, based on the assigned articles.

Required Reading:

Johnson, et al., Reinventing Your Business Model (HBR #R0812C)

15:00Break

15:15 Joint Session - Professors Blumenthal and Weiss

In this session, Professors Blumenthal and Weiss will team up to lead a discussion of the Spotify case. We will consider the business model of Spotify in the context of the music industry, which has faced steep revenue declines since the advent of digital formats and the rise of digital file sharing. Will we also look at Spotify’s competition, and finally consider the long-term viability of Spotify’s business model, despite explosive user and revenue growth in 2014.

Required Case:

Spotify: Face the Music, IES473

Case Discussion Questions:

Analyze how the introduction of new business models affects the structure of the industry.
Analyze the power of the different players in the value chain, and the relationships that are established among them.
Analyze how value is created and captured in the changing ecosystem.

Monday, 11May

07:30Breakfast

08:30Marketing Session 10 – Professor Weiss

Topic: Online Business Models

The Internet has been hyped to have several, if not hundreds, of business models. This session will dispel this myth and show you the models that do exist.

09:45Break

10:00Marketing Session 11– Professor Weiss

Final Quiz – Digital Marketing

11:15Break

11:30 Strategy Session 10 – Professor Blumenthal

Topic: Wrap-up: Putting It All Together – Your Role as a Strategist

In this final session, we will wrap up the ideas discussed in prior sessions, and focus on your role as a strategist.

Required Readings::

Bradley, et al., Have You Tested Your Strategy Lately (McKinsey Quarterly, January 2011)
Gavetti and Rivkin, How Strategists Really Think (HBR #9661)
Wessel, M. and Christensen, C. Surviving Disruption. (HBR #R1212C)

12:45Lunch

13:45Strategy Session 11 – Professor Blumenthal

Final Exam

Exam will be given in class.

15:00Break

15:15 Faculty Evaluations

GEMBA XII, Theme 5, Strategy and Marketing in the Digital Age Syllabus,

5 to 9 May, Page 1 of 8