Simplify[in] - GCO Technology and Operations Strategy Oct2014
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Technology and Operations Strategy
Block Week in Argentina & Uruguay
17 December – 21 December 2013
Instructors: Nelson M. Fraiman ([email protected], 212 854 2076) and
Medini R. Singh ([email protected]. 646 823 5917
Summary
This course focuses on the roles technology & operations play in the
development and implementation of strategy. In the core Strategy Formulation
course, you learned about the foundations of corporate success and how
managers can devise a set of actions (the strategy) to achieve a competitive
edge. Strategy development, at a fundamental level, is to identify an effective
match between a firm’s distinctive capabilities and selected markets.
This course takes a new look at strategy formulation/implementation: we will
focus on a firm’s key operational and technological decisions (e.g., processes,
capacities, technologies, process improvement, project management, supply
chains) in order to understand how effective the firm’s resulting operational
capabilities (e.g., cost, quality, flexibility, delivery) match the markets it strives to
serve.
Conversely, we will also consider how to translate a business strategy into a set
of actions and how these actions can be measured and supported for continuous
improvements. However, given shifting market trends and evolving industry
dynamics, a short‐term match between capabilities and current markets does not
necessarily imply a sustainable competitive advantage. What operational and
technological capabilities a firm chooses to develop can have a profound impact
on its strategic options in the future. In other words, strategic operational
decisions made today will determine the firm’s operational capabilities tomorrow
which in turn influence its business strategy in the future. Consequently, we will
also try to emphasize the long‐term impact of strategic operational and
technological decisions. In addition to class time taught by Professors Fraiman
and Singh, there will be facility visits in both Argentina and Uruguay.
Faculty: Nelson M. Fraiman Professor Fraiman joined Columbia Business
School in 1995. He is a professor of practice in the Decision, Risk,
and Operations division and is director of the W. Edwards Deming
Center for Quality, Productivity and Competitiveness.
He teaches the core Operations Management and Strategy course
and the electives Retailing Strategy & Operations and Technology
& Operations Strategy. He is also the Faculty director of ECLA
(Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness in Latin America), a program for Latin
American entrepreneurs who aim to be successful across borders.
Prior to Columbia Business School he spent seventeen years in industry and
consulting. His last job was with International Paper where he was chief technology
officer for eight manufacturing divisions.
His current research centers on entrepreneurship and process improvement. He has
written cases on operational excellence on the Ritz Carlton Hotel and the supply chain
strategies of Lolita, Mango and Zara. He has also conducted executive education
programs in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Professor Fraiman
holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, an M.S., M.B.A., and a Ph.D., all from Columbia
University.
Medini R. Singh comes to Columbia from the Tuck School of
Business at Dartmouth. At Tuck, Singh taught the MBA core course
in operations management for the last six years. He has also taught
MBA electives on time-based competition and simulation modeling.
Singh has also taught in the Department of Industrial and
Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
where he won the 1991 Teacher of the Year Award. His research
interests are in the areas of modeling, analysis and optimization of manufacturing and
service systems. His current research focuses on the impact of demand and supply
uncertainties on the performance of supply chains. Singh has published numerous
articles on the impact of yield, demand and supply uncertainties on the performance of
manufacturing systems. He has also consulted for several Fortune 500 companies. His
PhD is from Carnegie Mellon University.
Group Project
Part of this course will be a hands-on laboratory in which firm sponsor projects that will
be attacked by student teams under the guidance of experienced professors. The
course is part of the Business School’s strategic thrust to better “bridge the gap
between theory and practice.” The course will emphasize the process of creating
actionable recommendations on issues faced by the sponsoring firms.
As part of the course you will be assigned to work in a group project with a specific
entrepreneurial organization. The idea is that you conduct a technological and
operational assessment of your firm and suggest what type of strategies your company
could use to improve on. You will need to contact your project firm towards the end of
October or early November.
Project Deliverables:
Teams will provide an action oriented project report to their client in the form of a Word
document (not more than 7 pages in length) in addition to a PowerPoint deck with
supporting exhibits as needed. This is to be a self-contained, fully documented
description of the team’s analysis and recommendations
Project Presentation:
You should meet with your assigned company, during late October and early
November to understand the firm, its strategy and the technologies that the company
is using/developing to achieve its goals. During the first day of the block week you will
have 7-10 minutes to present your findings. There will be a brief Q&A afterwards.
Project Report:
As part of the final project you will have to suggest strategies that your firm could
implement to improve the company’s performance. Please note that your report should
include:
1. Brief description of the company
2. Strategy
3. Existing operating and technology strategies
4. Suggested operations and technology strategies
5. Expected impact
The deadline for submitting your project report is Friday, January 17, 2014
Grading: Your grade in the course will be based on your individual as well as group efforts and
performance. Your performance will be judged through a variety of mechanisms that
will enable us to assess your understanding of the tools and concepts covered your
ability to synthesize, integrate, and apply them, and your contributions to the class's
learning experience. Thus, in determining your course grade, we will use the following
grading scheme to help us judge your performance:
Class Participation and participation in polls 40%
Project Presentation during block week 10%
Project report 50%
Case Questions:
Case: Where Cows are Happy and Food is Healthy
Questions:
1. What type of technologies would you use, if any, if you were to improve the process?
Case: Strategic Outsourcing at Bharti Airtel Limited
Questions:
1. What must Bharti do well to succeed in the Indian mobile phone market? What are Bharti’s
core competencies?
2. Do you think Bharti should enter the outsourcing agreements outlined by Gupta? What do
you see as advantages and disadvantages of such agreements? How do the different
outsourcing agreements work towards building these core competencies?
3. If you were Bharti, what major concerns would you have about entering an outsourcing
agreement with IBM? With Ericsson, Nokia, or Siemens?
4. How would you structure the agreements to address your concerns and capture any
advantages you have identified? What governance mechanisms would you design for the
agreements?
5. Assume the role of IBM or Nokia. What major concerns would you have about entering an
agreement with Bharti? How would you structure the agreement and the governance
mechanisms?
Case: Arcor: Global Strategy and Local Turbulence (HBS 9-704-427)
Questions:
1. How would you characterize Arcor’s international strategy historically? What were its sources of competitive advantage and how, if at all, did they vary across its key geographies?
2. How did the financial crisis affect Arcor domestically?
3. Looking forward, how might Arcor’s strategy in a region such as the U.S./Canada resemble or differ from the strategy it is pursuing in Latin America in terms of:
a. Whether to engage in local manufacturing?
b. Which products to prioritize?
c. Whether to sell under its own brand or as a private label supplier?
4. Which regions should Arcor prioritize given its resource constraints?
5. What other recommendations would you make to Luis Pagani about the architecture of
Arcor’s international strategy?
Case: Benetton (A)
Questions:
1. What are the most important elements of Benetton's logistics, manufacturing, and financial
strategies? (Answer the Poll question in Angel.)
2. How does it gain advantage over its competition in Europe? How does is manage risks to
its operation?
3. Which of these important elements of strategy and sources of competitive advantage can
it maintain in the U.S. market?
Case: Lolita
Questions:
1. What was Lolita’s business model? How would you explain the success?
2. Evaluate Lolita’s sourcing policy, supply chain management, and its logistics strategy. What were the major shortcomings? What should Cohen do to remedy these shortcomings?
3. What advice would you give to Cohen for Lolita’s growth? Which countries/region should Lolita target for future stores? Should it adopt a franchising strategy or open its own stores? How fast should it grow? What are the risks?
Case: Wriston Manufacturing Corporation
Questions:
1. What motivated the Detroit Plant Study? What are the key findings?
2. How do you explain the performance differences between the Detroit Plant and the other
sister plants?
3. What are your recommendations to Richard Sullivan regarding the fate of the Detroit Plant?
Case: Tata Consulting Services: Selling Certainty
Questions:
1. Evaluate TCS’s competitive position in the global service delivery business.
2. Is the “Experience Certainty” strategy proposed at TCS low-cost or differentiated?
3. Evaluate the proposed strategy from the perspective of TCS.
4. What implications does this new strategy have for customer selection, contract pricing,
human resources, global delivery footprint, inorganic growth and R&D at TCS?
5. Consider in greater depth the expansion of TCS’s delivery footprint, particularly in Latin
America. Does this expansion make sense for TCS?
Case: Tata Consulting Services Iberoamerica
Questions:
1. What was the prime motive behind expansion in to Latin America for Tata Consulting
Services (TCS)? What was Gabriel Rozman’s argument for TCS’s expansion into Latin
America?
2. Why Rozman decided to locate Tata Consulting Services Iberoamerica (TCSI) in
Uruguay? Do you agree with his rationale?
3. Who are the competitors for TCSI? What advantages do they posses compared to
TCSI?
4. In your opinion, being the first Indian software company to establish operations in Latin
America was an expression of Tata Consultancy Service’s strategic vision or just
corporate hubris?
Technology & Operations Strategy - Fall 2013 - December 17 - 21, 2013 - Block Week in Argentina and Uruguay
Group 1 Eric Hu [email protected] Danielle Kuchinskas [email protected]
Robtec Kazushi Udagawa [email protected] Laura Wu [email protected] Rohan Yelvigi [email protected] Juhana Putkonen [email protected]
Group 2 Ajay Vasudevan [email protected]
Richard Barakat [email protected]
ECLA Kristen Ballinger [email protected]
Eric Wiegand [email protected]
Neil Uchitel [email protected]
Group 3 Natalie Centeno [email protected] Mo Jardaneh [email protected]
UlaSoft Scott Morris [email protected] Anya Soubbotina [email protected] Katerina Vorotova [email protected] Nishidhdha Shah [email protected]
Group 4 Justyna Kuczaj [email protected]
Kimberly Rust [email protected]
Editoriales Stephan Hirschler [email protected]
Mapas Tiffany McQueen [email protected]
Muge Sencalis [email protected]
Group 5 Melinda Roylett [email protected] Justin Meno [email protected]
Lolita I Ali El Hamidi [email protected] Matthew Ouwerkek [email protected] Bernard Milan [email protected]
Group 6 Tara Axler [email protected]
Jamie Karper [email protected]
Lolita II Annie McAninch [email protected]
Jasdeep Sahota [email protected]
Kiley Smith [email protected]
Tal Sheynfeld [email protected]
Group 7 Naheema Mehta [email protected] Elizabeth Schneider [email protected]
TVG I Robert Tawse [email protected] Leon Ojalvo [email protected] Tyson Peschke [email protected]
Group 8 Brent Bowker [email protected]
Maximilian Crown [email protected]
TVG II Jennifer Holm [email protected]
Andrey Menemsh [email protected]