Strategies Beyond the Market

Course Number 1277

Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee
Fall, 20 Sessions
Paper

Career Focus

General management, strategy consultancies

Educational Objectives

This course is designed to help you better tailor strategy to a company's business environment.

Course Organization

This course is designed to help you better tailor strategy to a company's business environment. We will study ways to influence the cost positions of rival firms and their customers' willingness to pay. In turn, when choosing strategic positions, we will consider how rivals can impose additional cost on our business and reduce our customers' willingness to pay. In studying these strategic interactions, we will pay close attention to laws, regulations and social norms - factors beyond the market - because these factors often serve as levers to influence cost positions and the success of differentiation strategies.

For example, how can Amgen, a biotechnology firm that developed the first biotech blockbuster drug, slow down Genetics Institute, a rival that works on similar products? How should music companies adjust their strategy when peer-to-peer technology undermines their business model? Can Goodyear improve its competitive position by supporting stricter safety regulation? How did Clear Channel, the radio giant, use a regulatory change to become enormously profitable? And what strategies can Clear Channel pursue now to avoid consumer boycotts and political backlash? Finally, what does it take to succeed with real estate investments in the politically charged environment of inner cities? In Strategies Beyond the Market (SBM), we analyze a series of advanced strategic problems to show what successful companies do to shape the rules of the game to their advantage. SBM aims to deepen your ability to apply the concepts of competitive advantage and competitive dynamics.