Description

Strategy Table: Use Your Own Case Template

Instructions

1.    List all group members and identify who will be responsible for submitting this completed Strategy Table on the platform

2.    Outline your business challenge
Please write a paragraph in the box below to outline 1) the specific business challenge that a member of your team is facing that you would create a strategy table for as a group*, 2) the uncertainties with respect to addressing the challenge, and 3) the economic implications.

*Important: If you choose to use your own case, please make sure that you do not share any private or confidential information about your company with your group.

As you learned in Section 1, good strategy is developed in response to a specific business challenge. To support the learning objectives of this exercise, you must choose a strategic challenge that:

·         Creates substantial uncertainty as to the right path forward for you and your team

·         Requires you to address several distinct uncertainties (i.e., make multiple choices) in order to compose your response

·         Requires you to make hard-to-reverse commitments in order to overcome the challenge

·         Creates an economic upside / downside for your team, such that there is real profit at stake

An example of a business challenge that meets these criteria would be:

“At our pharmaceutical company, the Medical Affairs unit handles complaints filed when a consumer believes they have experienced an adverse effect of one of our products.  At the time, our Medical Affairs team was using outdated software to manage the incoming cases, and as a result, cases were being resolved late or sometimes lost.  We had budgeted for a major system upgrade to address the problem, but an economic downturn forced budget cuts that made the investment a big risk for our team.  We had to consider a range of alternative responses to the cut, including not upgrading and running the risk of an FDA fine.”

3.    Identify decisions
In the “Strategic decisions” column of the Strategy Table in the next page, list all of the major decisions that your team is facing in setting the future strategy to address the outlined business challenge. You may remove or create additional decision rows as you feel appropriate

4.    Sequence decisions
Order the decisions that you have identified from those that require the highest commitment from your organization at the top, to those that require the least commitment at the bottom.

5.    Justify your ordering of organizational commitments
In a few sentences, please explain in the box below your rationale for ordering the decisions the way you did. How does each decision affect the decision in the next row?

6.    Develop alternatives
For each decision, develop a comprehensive list of potential alternatives, filling in the cells at right. Avoid dismissing ideas because they initially seem unlikely—whether because they are too extreme, too different from the current way of doing business, or other reasons. Refer to the case materials again for thought starters.  You may add columns to the ‘Alternatives’ section of the table as needed.