Project 2 (Team project)
Objective: Analyze a listed company based on how it is responding to a big technology trend (e.g. AMD to cloud computing, ARBL to Li-ion battery trend)
Submission format: A word document converted to PDF. Page limit 5 pages including references (12pt font)
1. Choose company A: Please choose a listed company A. You will be referring to multi-year annual reports (ARs) spanning 3 to 5 years, CXO interviews during this period, and earnings call transcripts. Enter your choice in this sheet. Please give the reference (which annual report, page number, etc.) for every answer.
2. Choose a technology trend B: Please choose a big technology trend B that, in your opinion, is likely to significantly impact / already impacting the chosen company A's business. Enter the technology trend in the Google sheet.
3. Choose A's competitor C: Choose another listed company C that is A's competitor. Enter C in the Google sheet.
Part-A
4. Innovation dashboard: Based on the recent annual reports, present an innovation dashboard for company A. Make sure it covers elements from pipeline, velocity, and business impact.
5. Assessment of innovation dashboard: Based on sectoral baselines, write your comments on A's innovation dashboard. What additional information would have helped strengthen the dashboard?
Part-B
6. Acknowledgment of the challenge: Please refer to previous years' ARs of A. Mention the earliest evidence (if any) where A's management has acknowledged the technology trend B as a challenge and/or opportunity.
7. First steps towards the response: What triggered company A to initiate action as a response to the tech trend B? (e.g. Trigger for AMD's response was growth in the adjacent data center market). What was the initial response? When was this response created?
8. Strategic bet: Has the company made a strategic bet on this technology trend B yet? If so what is the bet? When did it make the announcement? What triggered it? (e.g. ARBL's billion-dollar bet on Li-ion Gigafactory). Using the real-win-worth-it framework, guess the ease with which the big bet passed the 3 criteria (real, win, worth-it).
9. Innovation vs complementary assets: Identify company A's innovation and complementary assets. How did management strengthen/protect its innovation assets and/or strengthen/acquire complementary assets in its strategic responses? Please justify.
10. Business model tinkering: Describe the business model (who-what-how) associated with this bet. How did the company tinker with its original business model to respond to the technology trend? If so, please assess the riskiness of tinkering through Zook and Allen's six-moves frameworks.
11. Strategic levers: Which strategic levers did company A utilize in executing the bet? Did it create an innovation sandbox (focused experimentation capacity)? If so, what were its elements? Did it create a platform? If so, briefly describe it. Did it access start-ups and/or other forms of open innovation? If so, briefly mention the nature of collaboration.
Part-C
12. A vs C on response to B: How do you compare A's response to that of competitor C to trend B? Consider dimensions such as speed, focus, partnerships, etc.
13. Competitive position: Have these strategic responses of A and C made a difference to their competitive position today? Do you will think their competitive position is likely to change in the coming years? Why?
