 |
 |
        |
||
COURSE MATERIALS |
 |
|
|
Buy
the book
| About the Authors
|
||
| Top of Page |
COURSE OUTLINEOverviewThe goal of Judo Strategy: Turning Your Competitors' Strength to Your Advantage is to help managers learn to compete more effectively with larger or stronger opponents. This is a challenge faced by businesses of all ages and sizes, ranging from tiny start-ups to established giants seeking to expand beyond their core. The central message of Judo Strategy is that companies facing more powerful opponents should avoid head-to-head struggles and other trials of strength. Instead, by employing speed, agility, and creative strategic thinking, they can shape the dynamics of competition in ways that prevent rivals from taking full advantage of their superior strength. At its most effective, judo strategy can even transform an opponent's apparent advantages into strategic liabilities that undermine his or her ability to compete. The book is based on research in a wide range of industries, including consumer goods (Drypers), retailing (Wal-Mart), airlines (Frontier Airlines), financial services (Charles Schwab), software (Intuit, Inktomi), and networking equipment (Juniper Networks). Course ApplicationsJudo Strategy can be used as a three- or four-module sequence in undergraduate, MBA, and executive education courses on corporate strategy, strategy and technology, or strategy and entrepreneurship. It can also serve as the basis of a shorter elective focused on the issue of competing with stronger opponents. Within a traditional course on competitive or corporate strategy, Judo Strategy can be used in a module on competitive dynamics. Some of the ideas from Judo Strategy are being taught in the core required course on competition and strategy in the first year of the Harvard Business School MBA program, as well as in the Advanced Management Program and in the Program for Management Development. Suggested Case/Chapter Pairings [All cases can be purchased through HBS Publishing]Selected chapters can be assigned to teach different aspects of judo strategy. The book chapters will help students to understand the theory and concepts, while specific cases allow the instructor to go into greater depth. Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 8 represent the core conceptual chapters, which can be used to aid in teaching the concepts of "movement," "balance," "leverage," and "sumo strategy," respectively. Chapter 2: Movement.The core idea in chapter 2 is that through movement, a company can best position itself for the battles that lie ahead. By making the most of agility and speed, you can undercut a stronger opponent's ability to compete on the basis of size and strength and seize a critical edge early in a bout. The following three techniques embody the different aspects of movement.
Cases Bitter Competition:
The Holland Sweetener Co. vs. NutraSweet (A), 9-794-079 Additional CasesScott Cook
and Intuit, 9-396-282 Teaching ObjectivesThe teaching objectives of this chapter are to: 1) expose students to the advantages of keeping a low profile early in a competitive battle and the problems of provoking retaliation by "mooning the giant"; 2) explore the advantages of segmenting the market in unique ways; and 3) highlight the importance of scaling an organization as quickly as possible to take advantage of first mover advantages and potential network effects. Ideal CasesBitter Competition: Holland Sweetener vs. NutraSweet Company is a great series of cases for teaching about the dangers of attacking a superior competitor head-on. While it is a "negative lesson," it illustrates the importance of the puppy dog ploy when entering a market dominated by a large, powerful incumbent. By contrast, Capital One Financial Corporation is a positive example of defining the competitive space and following through fast, while operating under the radar screen. The case on Scott Cook and Intuit allows for a discussion of how Intuit "defined the competitive space" within the personal financial software world; the case on RyanAir explores RyanAir's initial failures when it failed to play the puppy dog and attacked British Airways head-on. RyanAir then fundamentally repositions the company (a strategic move which we describe as Ukemi in Chapter 3). Available Teaching NotesBitter Competition:
The Holland Sweetener Co. vs. NutraSweet (A)-(G), 5-795-164 Chapter 3: Balance.In judo strategy, balance serves both defensive and offensive goals, often at the same time. Preserving your balance is central to avoiding defeat. But in judo strategy, balance is about more than staying on your feet. In mastering the principle of balance, you also learn to rechannel your opponent's attack and stay on the offensive. By understanding the following three techniques, you can incorporate balance into your strategy.
CaseseBay, Inc., 9-700-007 The Browser Wars: 1994-1998, 9-798-094 Additional CasesLeadership
Online: Barnes
& Noble vs. Amazon.com (A), 9-798-063 Teaching ObjectivesThe teaching objectives of this chapter are to explore: 1) how to minimize conflict with a larger competitor by finding ways to cooperate; 2) how to avoid head-to-head responses (tit-for-tat), but at the same time, remain on the offensive; and 3) how to push (or pull) your competitors off-balance by turning their momentum to your advantage. Ideal Cases eBay is the best case to teach about gripping competitors and potential competitors as well as an excellent example of avoiding tit-for-tat. The case describes in some detail the early alliances with AOL (which we use in the book as an example of gripping), and the repeated attacks by Yahoo!, Amazon, and Microsoft. The eBay case allows for a more general strategy discussion of online auctions as well. For teaching "pushed when pulled," the Browser Wars case allows for an indepth discussion of both Netscape's strategy to become a dominant player early in the browser business and Microsoft's brilliant response. The case outlines how Microsoft decided to "embrace and extend" Netscape's strategy, which is a variation of push when pulled. Microsoft, with very judo-like moves, announced that it was too "weak" to compete with Netscape head-to-head in the early days when Netscape had 90% market share; instead, it needed to embrace all of Netscape's standards and technology and then work to extend them. The Amazon.com case also allows for discussion of balance techniques in the context of Amazon.com's competition with Barnes and Noble, and the Wal-Mart case can be used to examine push when pulled. Finally, the Novell case is an extended example of going head-to-head (the opposite of avoiding tit-for-tat). Available Teaching NotesThe Browser
Wars: 1994-1998, 5-700-046 Chapter 4: Leverage.Leverage lies in identifying the things that your opponent holds most dear and then forcing him to choose between destroying those resources and responding to your attack. The following three techniques will help you find your opponent's points of vulnerability.
Cases Cola Wars
Continue: Coke vs. Pepsi in the 1990s, 9-794-055 Additional CasesPower Play
(A): Nintendo in 8-bit Video Games, 9-795-102 Teaching ObjectivesThe teaching objective of chapter 4 is to explore the different ways a judo master can exploit leverage to bring down a larger, more powerful player. The three cases examine: 1) how a company's historical strategy and assets can be liabilities; 2) how a company's partners can limit its degrees of freedom and reduce its ability to respond effectively; and 3) how new companies can force their competitors to cannibalize themselves or lose market share. Ideal CasesThe Cola Wars Continue case is an ideal example of how a dominant player (Coke) must deal with a smaller, more aggressive competitor (Pepsi) over a long period of time. The case allows the instructor to examine Coke's historical advantages in the soft drink market, and why it was so hard for Pepsi to break in. Much of the discussion can then build on the theme of why Pepsi was able to establish itself as strong number two after almost fifty years of failure. This case also goes into numerous judo tactics which are not discussed in the book. Similarly, Matching Dell examines the difficulty that Dell's competitors face in trying to match Dell's strategy. Students can calculate the cost differentials between Dell and its competitors, which underscore how and why Dell was able to leverage its competitors' historical strategies in distribution and manufacturing. Finally, the Merrill Lynch case looks at how Merrill responded to Charles Schwab and how it dealt with the problems of cannibalization. This case looks at the "object" of judo strategy, rather than the protagonist. Several additional cases can be used to augment the discussion of leverage. The Power Play (A) and (B) cases, for example, illustrate classic examples of leverage, where new competitors bring out new products, forcing incumbents to cannibalize themselves. Similarly, the Southwest Airlines case, much like Matching Dell, looks at how Southwest built an airline system which leveraged the incumbents' historical investments in hub-and-spoke networks. And CNET (which is covered in Chapter 7 of Judo Strategy) looks at how the current leader in online technology news put its competitors, Ziff-Davis and IDG, into a classic cannibalization dilemma by leveraging their historical customer base and existing assets in magazines. Available Teaching Notes Cola Wars
Continue: Coke vs. Pepsi in the 1990s, 5-794-143 Chapter 8: Sumo Strategy.The core idea in chapter 8 is that companies have two basic alternatives for responding to a judo master: they can use judo to respond to judo and win through superior technique; or if they are large and powerful, they can try to change the rules and force head-to-head competition, which we call sumo strategy. The following three techniques embody the essence of sumo strategy. ·
CasesDuPont's
Titanium Dioxide Business (A), 9-390-112 Additional CasesCompetition
Policy in the European Union and the Power of Microsoft, 9-701-043 Teaching ObjectivesThe purpose of teaching a module around sumo strategy is to examine the tactics of large, powerful companies trying to compete against judo strategists. A module on sumo strategy has three specific objectives: 1) to demonstrate how companies can use price signaling and other types of signaling to minimize competition; 2) to show how large companies can use their balance sheets to reverse successes by smaller companies; and 3) to illustrate the antitrust problems a company can encounter waging an all-out campaign against smaller competitors. Ideal CasesDuPont's strategy in Titanium Dioxide Business is a classic case in capacity signaling. While the data are somewhat dated, the case is still the best vehicle for illustrating how a company can calculate demand and capacity within its industry, and then use announcements of capacity additions to reduce its competitors' incentives to expand. Pepsi vs. Coke in Venezuela looks at the flip side of the Cola Wars case by exploring how the dominant player can strike back against an upstart by buying its way into a market. In Venezuela, Pepsi had a dominant position historically by virtue of its relationship with the largest bottler in the country. Rather than try to compete against the bottler, Coke took advantage of its strong balance sheet to buy the bottler and effectively steal all of Pepsi's market share over night. Finally, in Microsoft 2000 as well as Competition Policy in the European Union cases, one can examine how Microsoft has used its market power and why antitrust authorities have attacked the company. +- All cases can be purchased at HBS Publishing.
|
|
| Top of Page |
(All cases can be purchased from HBS Publishing.) Chapter 2: MovementThe Puppy
Dog Ploy
Define
the Competitive Space
Follow
Through Fast
Chapter 3: BalanceGrip
Your Opponent
Push When Pulled
Chapter 4: LeverageLeverage
Your Opponent’s Assets
Leverage Your Opponent’s Partners
Leverage Your Opponent’s Competitors
Chapter
5: Palm Computing
Chapter 7: CNET Networks
Chapter 8: Sumo StrategyUnnerve
the Competition
Lock
‘Em Up
|
|
|
|
||