Case Study for Business

Assignment Questions for Six Cases

Please word-process answers to the questions and turn in a hard copy of your answers on the day we discuss the case in class. Please give elaborate and well-reasoned answers to show that you have grasped the ideas in the case. Thanks.

Case# 1 - Kodak and the Digital Revolution

1. Evaluate Kodak's strategy in traditional photography.  Why has the company been so successful throughout the history of the industry?

2. Compare traditional photography to digital imaging.  What are the main structural differences?  Will digital imaging replace traditional imaging?  How have value creation and value appropriation changed in digital photography relative to traditional photography?

3.  Evaluate Kodak's response to Sony's introduction of the Mavica in 1981.  Was it appropriate?

4.  How would you assess Fisher's attempt to transform Kodak?  Why did it fail?

5.  What is Kodak's current position in digital imaging?  Would Kodak's position be different had the company adopted a different imaging strategy in the eighties and the nineties?  Evaluate Kodak's strategy from the mid-1980s onward.

Case# 2 - Google Inc.

1. What were the key factors behind Google's early success?

2. Do you expect the search business to become more concentrated (i.e., dominated by fewer

firms)? Is search a winner-take-all business?

3. In addition to enhancing its core search businesses, should Google also branch out into new

arenas? Which of the following would you recommend: 1) building a full-fledged portal like

Yahoo!’s; 2) targeting Microsoft’s desktop software hegemony; and/or 3) becoming an e-

commerce intermediary like eBay?

4. Do you view Google’s distinctive governance structure, corporate culture, and organizational

processes as strengths or potential limitations?

5. Finally, how will you relate this case to the concepts learnt in the course so far?

Case# 3 – Apple Inc.

1. What were Apple’s...