“Perfect storm” of unfavorable industry forces.

Total 1500 words

Question 1

The financial crisis of 2008-2010 has been described as a “perfect storm” of unfavorable industry forces.

1. Concisely describe the mortgage-backed security industry before the financial crisis using Porter’s 5 forces model. (Mortgage-backed securities were created and sold by investment banks, like Bear Sterns & Goldman Sachs.)
2. Describe the 6 characteristics of the general environment of the mortgage-backed security industry and give specific examples of how 4 of them shaped the industry before the crisis.
3. Identify 5 examples of industry hyper-competition that contributed to the mortgage-backed security industry’s collapse.

Question 2

Analyzing the Music Recording Industry (businesses that own the property rights to popular music). Competitors in this industry include EMI Music Publishing (http://www.emimusicpub.com), Sony Music (http://www.sonymusic.com), Harmonized Records (http://www.harmonizedrecords.com )), and Sub-Pop Records (http://www.subpop.com/).

1. Identify 6 of the 7 segments of the general business environment that we discussed in class. Use specific examples from the music recording business to illustrate each segment.
2. Briefly describe Porter’s 5 forces model and identify each force. Use specific examples from the music recording industry to illustrate each force.
3. Briefly describe the Value Net and identify each of its 4 major components. Use specificexamples from the music recording industry to illustrate each component.
4. Identify your favorite music artist or group.

Question 3

Defending competitive advantage at Wal-Mart

1. Define the following terms and specifically illustrate each using the Wal-Mart example.

1. 1. 1. Resource
      2. Capability
      3. Core Competency

2. What are Wal-Mart’s primary isolating mechanisms?

3. List the 9 components of the value chain and use the Wal-Mart example to specifically illustrate 7 of the 9 components.

Question 4

Defending Competitive Advantage

1. Identify 3 factors determine the relative value of a resource to firms, and therefore competitive advantage. Identify these 3 factors and provide a specific, real-world example of each in the retail industry.
2. Identify the 3 basic types of isolating mechanisms and provide a specific, real-world example of each in the auto industry.
3. In class I argued that a resource or capability needs to have 4 characteristics in order to provide a firm with sustainable competitive advantage. Identify each of these characteristics and provide a specific, real-world example of each from the professional sports or entertainment sectors.

4. Question 5

5. 
   Big-Picture Strategy
   1. Concisely describe the Industrial Organization (I/O), Resource-based and Blue Ocean strategies, and highlight the basic differences among them.
   2. Briefly describe two examples of firms in the energy or food sector using I/O-based tactics.
   3. Briefly describe two examples of energy or food sector firms using Resource-based tactics.
   4. Briefly describe two examples of energy or food sector firms using Blue Ocean tactics.