Please study the following cases and answer the questions in English or Chinese.
Case Scenario 1: Walt Disney Company. (20%)
Walt Disney Company is famed for its creativity, strong global brand, and uncanny ability to take service and experience businesses to higher levels. In the early 1990s, then-CEO Michael Eisner looked to the fast-food industry产业as a way to draw additional attention to the Disney presence存在outside of its theme parks - its retail零售chain 链was highly successful and growing rapidly. A fast-food restaurant made sense from Eisner’s perspective观点since Disney’s theme parks had already mastered掌握rapid迅速的, high-volume大容量，大批量food preparation, and, despite尽管somewhat undistinguished平凡的；混杂的food and high prices (or perhaps because of), all its in-park restaurants were extremely profitable有利可图的. From this inspiration灵感, Mickey’s Kitchen厨房was launched. The first two locations were opened in California and in a suburb边缘of Chicago, adjacent邻近的to existing现存的Disney stores. Menu items included healthy, child-oriented以…为方向的fare 食物like Jumbo Dumbo珍宝小飞象burgers汉堡包 and even a meatless素食的Mickey Burger. Eisner thought that locating each restaurant next to existing Disney stores was sure to increase增加foot traffic through both venues场馆. Less than two years later Disney closed down the California and Chicago stores and shuttered further expansion扩张plans. Eisner cited引用overwhelming 压倒性的 competition竞争from McDonalds and general一般oversaturation过饱和in the fast-food industry as the primary reasons for closing down the failing Mickey’s Kitchen.
Questions:
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1. Based on your own knowledge of Disney and the information provided in the scenario, does Disney appear to似乎create value in its businesses primarily through a cost-leadership or through a differentiation strategy? (5%)
我认为迪士尼采取的业务层战略是差异化的战略，无论是从材料中提到的发展快餐业务还是它本身已经发展成熟的主题公园业务和零售业务来看，它出售的产品和服务都是价格相对昂贵，同时具有一定的独特性。迪士尼就是希望通过这种产品的独特性来吸引顾客购买，同时获得较大的利润，例如材料中提到的Jumbo Dumbo burgers 和meatless Mickey Burger。
2. What resources and value-chain价值链activities活动 did Disney try to leverage影响力through the opening of Mickey’s Kitchen? （7%）
迪士尼主要希望利用的资源，是原有的主题公园的产生的人流人们对于迪士尼品牌的认可，而旅客进园游玩同时产生了对于快餐店的需求，这是迪士尼希望利用的价值链。迪士尼把Mickey’s Kitchen设在Disney stores的旁边，这加大了餐厅的人流，同时在Disney stores的游客需要进餐的可能性会更大。
3. Why do you think that Mickey’s Kitchen failed? （8%）
正如Michael Eisner说的那样，Mickey’s Kitchen是败于强劲的竞争对手McDonalds，同时市场过于饱和亦是其失败的原因。从战略管理的角度上来看，迪士尼注重差异化的战略，但是在快餐业的竞争上来说，人们更倾向于购买物美价廉的产品，就像McDonalds和其他一些连锁快餐店。同时Mickey’s Kitchen所希望达到的产异化效果并没有真正达到，例如汉堡包的改变只是微乎其微的，并不足以得到顾客的青睐，这也是由于对手的强大以及自身的经验不足所致的。
Case Scenario 2: Plasco. (20%)
Plasco is a $3 billion U.S.-based manufacturer制造商of flexible plastic软塑料
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products like trash废物cans罐, reheatable可重新加热的and freezable冷冻food containers容器, and a broad range of提供广泛的other plastic storage存储containers designed for home and office use. Historically, Plasco has been the category种类killer for most of its products and has devoted tremendous极大的resources 资源 to new product development on an ongoing前进basis 基础- this research intensity强烈has allowed the company to release, on average, a new product every day over the past five years. Despite its past strength and high brand awareness意识, Plasco’s profitability赢利能力has been eroded损坏by dramatic引人注目的increases增加 in the cost of plastic resin树脂, the primary input into its plastic products. Moreover, the retail零售channel has experienced rapid consolidation巩固resulting in a shift变化in the balance of power from branded manufacturers like Plasco, to strong retailers like Wal-Mart, who in turn have been unwilling to help Plasco absorb吸引the higher resin costs. Enhancing Wal-Mart’s power is the fact that it can always turn to alternative替代high-volume大容量sources of consumer plastic products like Sterlite. Further hampering 妨碍Plasco’s recovery 恢复is the emergence出现 of feisty活跃的little foreign competitors like Zig Industries, a $250 million Israeli firm that has begun to take part of Plasco’s market share in plastic toolboxes. Ironically讽刺地, Plasco was the first company to offer plastic toolboxes some 20 years ago. This innovation创新changed the market dramatically引人注目地and Plasco’s first mover strategy rewarded报答it with a rapidly growing new segment部分and a dominant占优势的market position. Today, Plasco’s toolboxes are viewed as rather boring, while Zig’s products are ingeniously巧妙地designed to catch the customer’s eye in the aisle 通道(better merchandising推销the product) and capture捕获their interest (and pocketbook pocketbook) with many new and novel
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新奇的features产品特点. Zig is also able to provide this new line of toolboxes at between 10% to 15% less than Plasco.
Questions：
1. Is Wal-Mart Plasco’s competitor or its customer? Why? (5%)
沃尔玛是Plasco的客户而不是竞争者，虽然两者存在一定程度上的角力。Plasco生产塑料制品，然后批发给沃尔玛，沃尔玛再零售给普通消费者。两者在进货的时候会存在一些摩擦以及选择的问题。
2. Is the toolbox business a slow-, standard-, or fast-cycle business? Why? （7%）
我认为工具箱是一种慢周期的产品。可以从3个方面来分析，第一是科学技术进步的推动力，塑料工具箱的研究需要的技术从现在来看，是极难得到巨大的突破的。第二是需求变化的拉动力，人们对于工具箱的需求不是特别的旺盛，对于一般人来说，也不是会经常用到的产品。第三是企业之间为了攫取竞争优势而产生的内在驱动力，由材料中看到，Plasco一直以来在工具箱市场遇到的竞争对手是比较少的。从以上的三个方面来看，工具箱业务是一个慢周期的业务。
3. How can a small player like Zig be such a successful competitor against a large, established firm like Plasco? （8%）
毫无疑问，小公司击败大公司，需要的是创新。Plasco在20年之前作为首家公司就开始生产塑料工具箱，但20年以来在产品的改善上一直乏善可陈，令顾客产生了boring的感觉。Zig作为一家以色列公司，继承了以色列人创新的传统，以顾客为中心，锐意进取，为顾客提供了良好的体验。从战略管理的角度上来看，Zig 采取的业务层战略可能是注重于差异化的战略，在塑料工具箱这样一款慢周期的产品上，任何的改进都是巨大了，这是Zig 取得优势的关键。
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Case Scenario 3: Jewell Company. (20%)
Jewell Company (JC) is a $2 billion diversified多样化的manufacturer and marketer of simple household家居items项目, cookware厨房用具, and hardware五金器具. In the early 1950s, JC’s business consisted组成solely单独地of manufactured curtain窗帘rods竿that were sold through hardware stores and retailers like Sears. Since the 1960s however, the company has diversified多样化的extensively广阔地 through acquisition获得into such businesses as paintbrushes画笔, writing pens, pots and pans, and hairbrushes毛刷. Over 90 percent of its growth can be attributed to these many small acquisitions, whose performance it improved tremendously惊人地through aggressive侵略性的restructuring调整 and its corporate emphasis强调on cost-cutting and cost controls. While JC’s sixteen different lines of business may appear显得quite different, they all share the common characteristics特性of being staple主要产品manufactured items and sold primarily主要地through volume大量retail channels like Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart. Because JC operates each line of business autonomously独立自主地(separate manufacturing, R&D, and selling responsibilities for each line), it is perhaps best described as pursuing追求a related有关联的linked diversification多样化strategy. The common linkages联系are both internal内部的(accounting会计systems, product merchandising推销skills, and acquisition获得competency能力) and external外部(distribution分布channel of volume retailers). JC is presently目前contemplating预期 the acquisition获得of Plastico, a $3 billion U.S.-based manufacturer of flexible plastic products like trash cans, reheatable and freezable food containers, and a broad range of other plastic storage containers designed for home and office use. While Plastico has been highly innovative创新的(over 80% of its growth has come from internal new product development), it has had
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difficulty controlling costs and is losing ground against powerful customers like Wal-Mart. JC believes that the market power it wields 使用with retailers like Wal-Mart will help it turn Plastico’s prospects前景around.
Questions:
1. How might JC's related diversification strategy result in economies of scope范围and market power? (5%)
JC公司在每种产品的生产上采取独立运作的方法，他们的销售的时候只代表自己一条生产线的产品，这大大地提高了他们操作上的灵活性，具有侵略性地占领市场，同时他们的产品具有相似的特性，同时在内部上是有联系的，他们在采取一些战略的时候也可以互相呼应，形成巨大的市场力量。
2. Why would the acquisition of Plastico be good for JC? (7%)
首先，这是一次一次并购行动。以并购行动的好处来看，可以做以下分析。第一，Plastico是一家市值比JC本身还要高的企业，如果并购成功，毫无疑问，JC将能极大地扩大企业的规模，促进企业的成长，第二，JC公司一直奉行在公司层实施多元化的战略，而并购Plastico将能轻易地进入塑料制品行业，同时有利于减少投资成本和生产经营成品。第三，并购Plastico能将两家公司的优势结合，这也是材料中有所提及的，Plastico公司在和零售商的角力中处于下风，而JC公司有能力解决这一问题，新公司的管理能力，面对竞争和抵抗风险的能力将会大大增大。
3. What difficulties might you expect JC to encounter related to its acquisition of Plastico? (8%)
首先是估价的问题，虽然时值上Plastico比JC高，但是Plastico的经营状况并不是十分理想，相方对于公司的估值一定会有一些分歧。另外，无论Plastico的估值如何，JC公司都可能会采取借贷的方法来进行并购，加上原来Plastico可能存在的债务，组成的新
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公司将会存在巨大的债务压力。第三，由于两家公司原先存在的诸多差异，在并购之后是否可以顺利的融合也是可能会遇到的问题。第四，JC原本已经是一家非常多元化的公司，并购Plastico后，新公司将会变得极度的多元化，同时也是一家十分巨大的公司，新公司将会遇到极大的管理难题。
Case Scenario 4: Syco Inc. (SI). (20%)
Syco, Inc. (SI) was founded the late 1800s and grew through acquisition from being primarily主要地a large discount retailer into a highly diversified多样化的firm. Beyond retailing零售业(still SI’s dominant支配的business), by the middle of the 1990s its lines of business included significant有效的market positions in insurance保险, consumer credit cards, stock股票brokerage佣金, commercial商业广告and residential住宅的real estate房地产brokerage, and an online Internet portal在线门户. Each of the non-retail businesses was average in its relative industry performance. Consistent一致的with the decentralized分散的structure结构 at SI and arms-length保持距离型corporate oversight监督, each of these businesses was also rapidly developing their own unique brands and customer following. However, within a short period周期of time it became apparent显然的that the retail business was failing. SI’s vast巨大的mall-based department store holdings were suffering from deferred推迟maintenance维护 and merchandising推销that did not appear to be popular with its once large consumer base. At the same time, highly efficient有效率的and focused low-cost competitors like Wal-Mart were beginning to take significant market share from SI. On the verge濒临of bankruptcy破产by early 2000, SI’s management chose to sell off its insurance保险, real estate and stock brokerage units单位; it also spun off裁掉its credit card and portal门户businesses in separate public offerings.
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Questions:
1. Why do you suppose SI entered the non-retail businesses through acquisition? Is this a cheaper route路线than starting up these businesses from scratch从头开始? （10%）
我认为SI通过收购来进入非零售类业务的战略是对的，毕竟对于以零售业务起家的SI，保险，股票，门户网站等行业的跨度太大。相对于从头做起，我认为收购是一个更加低成本的方法来进入这些业务。只是SI的收购进行得太过快速，公司的资源被过分地分薄，同时由于收购得到的业务过分分散，没有形成规模经济。最终基本的零售业务也出现下滑，甚至于公司也濒临倒闭。
2. Why do you suppose that SI sold off or spun-off its non-retail businesses?（10%）
SI公司出售这些非零售类的业务，是必须采取的措施，但却不一定有效。因为公司的资源已经被严重的分薄了，失去的客户也已经是既成的事实，再从新争取消费者的信任也要下一番功夫。更严重的是，已经有沃尔玛这样的巨头崛起，再从新掌握主动权几乎不可能。总的来说，我预计SI仍然能够维持下去，但是难以回复以往的光景。
Case Scenario 5: Heartsong LLC. (20%)
Heartsong LLC is a designer and manufacturer of replacement更换heart valves 心脏瓣膜based in Peoria伊利诺州的第二大城, Illinois. While a relatively相对地small company in the medical医学的devices设备 field, it has established已建立的a worldwide reputation名声as the provider of choice of high-quality, leading-edge 尖端的artificial人造的 heart valves心脏瓣膜. Most of its products are sold to large regional 地区的hospital systems and research hospitals around the world, though primarily主要地to customers in the U.S. and Europe. Specialty
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专业 heart centers are another emerging新兴的, but fast-growing market for its valves瓣膜. Heartsong has recently embarked从事on an expansion膨胀；阐述strategy that requires要求it to increase its volume, which in turn 依次 will demand要求more component构成的parts than it can source domestically国内地- both from an economic and volume体积standpoint观点. The firm has determined that such growth is only viable可行的if it produces these parts itself overseas海外for a lower cost, or outsources把…外包the production entirely完全地to a joint venture合资企业it establishes建立with a local manufacturer, which could both produce the parts more cheaply and in higher volumes. It is considering starting up an owned production facility设施in Luxembourg卢森堡, or seeking a joint venture合资企业with a precision精度manufacturer in China.
Questions：
1. What opportunities and threats might Heartsong be exposing遭遇itself to via通过the Luxembourg expansion proposal扩张的建议? (5%)
卢森堡拥有优质的生活条件，是不少人向往的工作地点，能吸引到不少的高端人才加入。同时卢森堡的经济发达，拥有多个高度发展的行业，例如金融业和机械制造业，能够给Heartsong公司提供良好的配套。
但是卢森堡同时是世界上人力资源成本最高的国家之一，这可能是Heartsong公司最需要考虑的问题。同时如何发展新兴市场也是需要面对的问题。
2. What opportunities and threats might Heartsong be exposing itself to via the China expansion proposal? (7%)
中国是世界是最大的新兴经济体，同时拥有各类专业人才和较低的人力资源成本，自然资源也极为丰富。此外，高技术类的外资进入也会得到当地政府的支持。中国以及其周
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边国家同时也是Heartsong需要大力发展的新兴市场，投资中国将会更有利发展这一市场。
中国由于政治因素，环境因素等原因，吸引国内外高端人才肯能会比较困难，同时引进高科技类的设备也可能会遇到阻碍或者是有所顾忌。同时，由于是与中国国内的企业合资，在管理上可能会遇到一些冲突。知识产权的保护也需要格外留意。
3. Which option would you recommend? (8%)
相对来说，我会更建议Heartsong在中国投资，虽然中国存在诸多的缺点。但是公司寻求的是一种扩张的战略，必须要面对更多的改变和挑战，相对来说投资在卢森堡给公司带来的变化和机会是远不如在中国的，即便投资卢森堡看上去会更稳当一些。
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